Around Oakland...

Here are a few pix from driving around in Oakland...

Oh yeah dude, Grillz!!! The "Best Gold Teeth"!

Merritt Bakery

Years ago, when we used to visit Thane during his grad school years (mid 90's), we went to Roscoe Chicken and Waffles in Oakland. We thought it was meh. Since we like trying new places, I sought out rec's from various sources. One of my former students who now lives in SF recommended a new and hip soul food place, Brown Sugar Kitchen as well as a Filipino Vegan place (WTF, right?) called No Worries. Then, I remembered an older post by the knowledgeable Wandering Chopsticks (link at end of post) about this old school bakery near Lake Merritt in Oakland.

The drive up and Apricot Tree...

We left last weekend at the ungodly hour of 2:30 am. You heard that right, "a.m.". Hey, we wanted to beat traffic and while we were dead tired later that evening, it was worth it not having to deal with lots of vehicles on the freeway...

Sunrise somewhere north of L.A.

Seen in Chula Vista...

Obama "lawn art" seen on a Chula Vista street (1st near J)

The tarp or plastic sheeting was a bit weathered...

I wonder if this was an old trampoline?

This was so random, just driving along and then, whoa, what's this?

Day 8 Highlights...

Here are some pix on our way down to LA...

I forgot what mountain this was but it was somewhere near Santa Barbara...

Day 7 Highlights

Yesterday was so damn tiring. Before our foray into the Guadalupe Dunes, I made Bert turn the car around so I could get a photo of this fantastic mural featuring a cholo praying, the Virgin of Guadalupe and a goateed homie priest. This was a book keeping business, believe it or not.  Seriously though, murals like this have a lot of personality and I totally dig that!

Day 6 Highlights

After having a great breakfast at mhy Ninang's, we made our way down the PCH. This is somewhere near Big Sur...

Day 5 Highlights

This was such a long day. To start off, my godparents took us out for breakfast at this local spot in Carmel...

Lavender blooms...

Day 4 Highlights...

I just realized I'm starting off another post with a "bridge" photo! What's cool is that our "Fast Trak" pass that we use just for the 125 in San Diego works here as well.

After having spent a few days across the Bay, we headed over to the other side on our way to the Monterey Peninsula...

Day 3 Highlights

Those of you that know my penchant for quirky roadside attractions slash art slash whatever will probably recognize this...

Day 2 Highlights

We're currently in the Central Coast right now. I have some downtime at the hotel while TC and Bert check out the pool (which TC deemed unfit to swim because she saw ONE bird feather in it.

Here are some bits from Day 2:

Crossing the Richmond Bridge...