A Lap Around The Bay
What started out as a simple trip to Ikea to pick up some parts for a TV console I am planning to build turned into a tour around the Bay Area.
- San Jose to Mountain View – I have got to move closer to In ‘N Out. What was once a weekly habit when I lived in Southern California is now a special once in a while treat.
- Mountain View to East Palo Alto – When I get to Ikea, there is a security guard standing outside the parking garage making a slashing motion across his neck. A little weird, was there a crime scene at Ikea or something? I assumed the garage was full and went to the Best Buy to wait a little bit. Still can’t figure out how Best Buy stays in business. This was the second time I went into Best Buy to look at a TV I’m interested in buying and there were no sales people around. Finally called Ikea and found out the store was closed due to a break in their water main.
- East Palo Alto to San Carlos - I decided to stop by Woodcraft which is a cool store full of woodworking products you can’t find at the local Home Depot. Finally got the metric ruler I had been looking for. Can’t believe how hard it is to find a metric ruler.
- San Carlos to Emeryville via San Mateo Bridge – Still needed my Ikea fix, love the Lingonberry drink, and had nothing better to do. So I decided to head to the other Bay Area Ikea. Don’t think I’ll be headed to Emeryville again anytime soon. This place is a traffic nightmare. I should have headed into Berkeley for some Top Dog or Bongo Burger, but just wanted to get home after walking through Ikea. This time around I actually followed the shopping path instead of swimming upstream by going through the checkout lines first like I usually do. But at least I got the cabinet door hinges and Lingonberry drink concentrate I wanted.
- Emeryville to San Jose via San Francisco – I actually wanted to get back home as quickly as possible which would have been to go down the 880. I figured I knew my way around Emeryville, but a combination of poor planning and poor sign placement caused me to head towards the Bay Bridge. I figured what the heck, I hadn’t seen San Francisco in a while, but 4 bucks later and a couple of stalled cars on the bridge made me regret this decision. But at least I got to do 90 down the 280. Still annoyed that slow cars kept drifting into the left lane. That’s the passing lane damn it, its called the passing lane for a reason! At least I got home without getting a ticket.
At the end of the day, it was all worth it for the Lingonberries, did I mention that I like the Lingonberries?