FINAL SCORE: San Jose 3 - Vegas 7

March 18, 2019

San Jose was something I wish I could have stayed longer for. First of all, it was way too expensive - I paid $150 for a hotel room across from a Denny’s… but that’s showbiz baby (actually it’s Silicon Valley, so, that’s why). California reminded me of Florida, but WAY prettier and less flat. Perfect weather, no humidity. I got to the airport Sunday night after work, I left work at seven and my flight was at 8:25pm. I ran.

Since Southwest has been cancelling flights due to the Boeing aircraft incidents, standby passengers are not exactly favored when trying to get on a flight. So instead of flying directly into San Jose airport from Tampa, I had to fly to Vegas Sunday night, spend the night in the airport (good thing my flight there was six hours so I slept on the plane), then hopped onto a flight to California at six in the morning. Needless to say, it was fucking brutal.

I usually work Wednesday’s at my bar job, but I decided it would be smart to take off and spend at least two days in California. I rented a car, got some fancy breakfast at the first place I could find, took a nap and then started to get ready for the 7pm game. Meanwhile, I’m still on eastern time so my jet lag is kicking me in the ass.

Turns out, Andrew, my fellow What the Pucker, knew a girl in Cali who worked for the Sharks. I was waiting until the last minute to buy my ticket, like I always do, because I can find insane seats for super cheap. Well, no need, because they both hooked it UP. She texted me and told me to meet her in a certain section after she gave me a free ticket. I had no idea what was going to happen next.

She introduced herself, I thanked her a million times over again and she brought me down to the tunnel where the players come out. I got to fist bump each player, with my huge Devils tattoo on my arm sticking out, as they headed onto the ice for warmups. I also got to stay there and watch warmups from the glass. Once it was over, she handed me a HUGE bag of Sharks gear, and I headed to my seat. I didn’t go through it until I got home to Florida, and I’m still shocked that this girl that I have never met gave me a memory I will never forget (shoutout to you, Tina, you’re awesome).

This was a time where playoffs were about to be clinched, and it was against Vegas, so the crowd was pretty much sold out. One thing that shocked me was that the Shark Tank was so small - unlike any other arena that I have been to, there was only two tiers. No third level. My free seat was front row on the second level, but I headed down to the security guard on the first level (while the Sharks were already losing pretty bad), and asked to sit front row because nobody was there. He said “I didn’t see anything.”

After the game, I just uber’d back to my hotel. I wanted to have an early morning to explore. I woke up, got ready, checked out of my hotel and started heading towards Big Basin Park, filled with giant redwood trees. The drive from San Jose was an hour-and-a-half, and an entire hour of it was winding up this huge mountain to get to this park. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, and I pulled off the road numerous times just to take pictures of the altitude I was at. It was CRAZY. One step and you’re toast, and I was driving up it.

I got to the park, saw tons of redwoods along the trail, but I was by myself so I was kind of scared of mountain cougars and such, so I kind of trolled behind this couple that was in front of me. Because if I’m getting eaten, you are too. The redwoods were absolutely gorgeous. It blew my mind. I have not seen nature like that in my entire life- truly.

 

 

After that, I drove an hour and a half to San Francisco. I had no idea where I was going to stay, but I was winging it (that’s why I rented the big van to sleep in - or maybe because it was just super cheap). I googled the best restaurant by the water - it brought me close to pier 39 AKA Fisherman’s Wharf. Since I didn’t pay for the game, I treated myself to a nice lunch.

I met a couple cool people while I was there; we all sat around and bullshitted for about two hours until I went off to go check out Alcatraz (the old prison island), and pier 39. For those of you who don’t know, pier 39 is kind of like a boardwalk with shitty food and smelly sea lions occupying the entire dock. I got ice cream and sat and watched the sea lions bark at nothing and get in fights for two hours.

Next up was the Golden Gate Bridge. I just had to. I was so exhausted at this point, had to catch a flight out of San Jose at eight in the morning, and was far from it - California traffic ain’t no joke. The weather was fighting against me, 50 degrees and windy as could be. I tried to walk over the bridge, but it was SO cold and too long. I turned back, sat in my car, listened to John Mayer and honestly teared up because the sight was so beautiful. You could see EVERYTHING. And my advice to you - type in “Golden Gate Bridge” on your GPS, the best place to stop at is the FIRST exit that you see, make a right.

 

 

Earlier in the day, my mom had called and said her boyfriends sister offered me a place to stay. I have never met them in my life - but, San Fran is expensive, and I wasn’t going to pass that up. I got there around 10pm, and they welcomed me with open arms. Offered me a Stella, we sat and talked for a couple hours (I might’ve just been rambling and they just listened), but, it was a good time. I headed to their spare room and slept like a baby, woke up too early for my liking, got breakfast with them and then headed to the airport.

All I kept thinking to myself was how much I’d love to move to California.

Recommended things to do in San Jose / San Francisco:

I pretty much covered that above. But, there are SO many cute food places in San Jose, I will give them that. Otherwise, it is such a boring, expensive city that people commute to to work on tech stuff. However, the mountains/hills around there are GORGEOUS.

San Francisco was very different from San Jose, it was more condensed, busier, no “mountain views.” But that is the beauty in California, you could drive to one coast and snowboard, and go to another and lay in the sun.

If you’re in San Fran, go to Fisherman’s Wharf. It is crazy touristy, but it is well worth it. And of course, the Golden Gate.

Also, people think California is all organic plant based bullshit (food wise), let me tell you- every food place I went to was soooooo good.

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