After checking into the Holiday Inn near the San Jose airport on Sunday evening, I went out looking for a sports bar to have some dinner. I ventured into downtown San Jose and found a place to park, carefully looking to make sure there were no hidden no parking signs (like San Francisco).
I found a spot and began walking all around downtown San Jose. After walking several blocks and taking a few different turns, I realized I never checked to see which street I was parked on. I remembered, this was a mancation, and I didn't care.
Thinking I should at least have an idea of where I was parked I traced back my steps and remembered a few landmarks, like a McDonalds and a couple other restaurants nearby. I took off back the opposite way I came. A trolley runs through San Jose, and there are tracks right in the middle of downtown. There was quite a bit of foot traffic tonight.
I walked past the Improv, which had a sign reading Tom Green was performing tonight. He was very popular when I was in high school, and I even remember watching the Tom Green Show, like a group project in high school. I contemplated on checking on ticket prices for the show, but decided to head out for food options, and then check back in.
Walking around the corner I found Dive Bar, and it looked intriguing. I peered in to scope it out, and put it on my mental list. I walked a few more blocks and found a sports bar. It was Game 2 of the NBA Finals between the Lakers and Celtics and the sports bar was packed, so I headed back the other way.
I headed into Dive Bar, and there were about 3 or 4 large flat screen TV's in the place, so I took a stool at the bar and watched the game. Not too much longer after I arrived, a girl sat a few stools from me. After a few minutes, she pulled up a seat next to me, and asked me who I was rooting for. I said I didn't really care, and she said she was rooting for the Celtics because she had a bet at work.
We talked about all of the Boston Celtics fans in California, something I was surprised with when I was in San Francisco for Game 1 of the NBA Finals. I asked her if it was because of the hatred for the Lakers, or if there were just a lot of Celtics fans in California. She said it was a little bit of both.
Destiny and I talked for several hours, and she worked for a cosmetics company in an upscale part of town. One funny part of our conversation was her questioning my diet, because of the complexion of my skin. I said it wasn't a special diet, but I tried to eat healthy, saying I eat fresh spinach out of the bag like potato chips (I don't eat potato chips), and I try to have a fresh fruit smoothie every day. She asked me about my trip and the wedding, and I said it was the perfect trip since I was, "ridin' solo". Apparently, I had been listening to Jason DeRulo a bit too much, and she replied, "how low?". I didn't catch on at first, until she mentioned the song. I am a little slow at times.
Dive Bar was an interesting name for this establishment, because it's pretty much the opposite. It's certainly not a dive, but compared to many clubs, it could be considered one. It has only been open for a little over five years, and had a very friendly staff, and the patrons seemed to be mostly regulars.
One conversation with a couple guys sitting down the bar from me was about homeless people. One guy (Richard) always carried several one dollar bills around for homeless people. This prompted a response from his friend, that reminded me of an asian comic I can't think of. He said, "What happened to quarters....now it's five dollar bills", in a sort of broken english. That was in response that homeless ask for dollar bills, when they used to ask for quarters, or change.
Afterwards, I walked over to the Pita Pit and had a Philly Steak Pita. It was very delicous, and had just about everything inside it. I had no problem finding my car, as the location reminders really helped...otherwise I would have been lost.
The Flight Home
I woke up early enough to scour the Internet for a but, have some coffee and get ready for the flight home. I had enough time to drive back in downtown San Jose one last time to have another memory of my last day in California.
I dropped my rental car back at Enterprise around 10:00 a.m., or shortly before so I had enough time to get through security at the airport and get settled in for the flight home. Security was a breeze, and I headed over to Burger King for a couple of cheeseburgers for a brunch. Then, I went over to Martini Monkey for a drink. The bartender, Gerardo, was talking with a gal at the bar, explaining the triple distilled vodka, and how Jack Daniels is the best bang for your buck when it comes to alcohol.
The flight boarded right on time, and it was a much faster flight back to Minneapolis than the flight from Minneapolis to San Jose. There was about zero talking on the flight. Not a thing was said, it seemed. It had the feeling that everybody had a California hangover, and was just tired and ready to go home. Maybe that was just my feeling, and it was rubbing off!
The only talk of the flight came in the descent into Minneapolis. A 2-year old girl in the row in front of me was screaming...no howling...as we made the approach. It was really bad, and many passengers were looking back, surely embarassing for mom and dad. It didn't bother me at all, because if I was that age, I would have done the same thing. At touch down, the mother said that it was probably her 40th flight in two years.
It seemed like the longest part of the day was the layover in Minneapolis, which was nearly two hours. I sat at Skol Cafe & Bar and watched the news and Wheel of Fortune before the connecting flight to Peoria boarded. The atmosphere in Minneapolis was much different, and I think that just may be my thoughts. Of course, flying from Minneapolis to San Jose, my thoughts were much higher, while now I was just wanting to get home.
The connecting flight went smooth, and again seemed to go very quick. It was just a 49-minute flight. I was looking at a longer drive from Peoria to Macomb! When we reached Peoria, we walked outside, and it was about the same temperature as California, but the humidity really came at you. It was like walking into a wall. I miss the Illinois humidity. People call me crazy, but that is something I would really miss about a midwest summer, is the humidity.
Once back home, it's back to work, prepping for this weekend's Class 3A/4A state softball finals in East Peoria. IHSSN goes back to high school sports after a great "mancation".
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