Spring Break Day #1: Round and Round the East Bay

Hello from the Yay!  Yesterday was my first full day of the "vacation" part of my Spring Break.  It consisted of a bit of a tour of the East Bay.  (click on images to see larger version)

Start: El Cerrito - I'm staying at a Super 8 in El Cerrito.  It's pretty nice.  The room has a separate little living area with a couch, table and desk; plus, there's a fridge and microwave.  The hotel has free wi-fi and a continental breakfast every morning.  A big bonus, which will be very helpful later in the week, the BART station is close enough that I can see it from my window.

Stop #1: Richmond - Being Saturday, Mr. Trizzle had to go into work.  He was in trial most of last week and had several witness rosters to fill out, plus some filing to do and an appellate brief to finish.  His office building and the adjoining courthouse sort of look like a middle school built circa 1950.  I liked his office because his desk reminded me of my daddy's (see photo).  I think the tree adds just the right amount of needed color.

Stop #2: more Richmond - After finishing up and Mr. Trizzle's office, we headed to The Legend's house to visit him.  He wasn't there. :(  We had tried calling first, but his phone was off.

Stop #3: El Cerrito again - It was well after lunch time (for me, Mr. Trizzle often forgets to eat) so we headed to El Cerrito Plaza for lunch.  And guess what we saw!  Berkeley students protesting. Imagine that.  Apparently they don't want Panda Express on their campus for a bunch of reasons.  They were handing out pamphlets that articulated their reasons in one very long quote with bad grammar and poorly structured sentences.  These reasons included that the food isn't healthy, the inauthentic nature of the cuisine will offend the authentic diversity on the campus, and the chain doesn't buy local "animal friendly" ingredients.  Ummm.... ok.  After eating at Panda Express, Mr. Trizzle wanted his picture taken with the protesting panda.

Stop #4: Berkeley - After lunch we headed to Mr. Trizzle's house in the Berkeley hills so I could watch him do his laundry and chat with The Legened on gchat.  (Ok, ok, I was supposed to be working on my paper, but it was frustrating and my seat on the bed was not comfortable, and there's a bit of animosity in that house.)  Somehow, all this took several hours, so by the time we left it was after 8pm.

Stop #5: brief layover in another part of Berkeley - We had to drop off some stuff Mr. Trizzle had borrowed from his friend J.  It was quick stop on the way to dinner.

Stop #6: Albany - Dinner time!  We had yummy (and cheap enough) burritos at Gordo's in Albany.

Stop #7: El Cerrito - We headed back to El Cerrito Plaza to do some grocery shopping at Lucky's.  I figure, being in a hotel for a week and a half, I'm not eating out every single meal.  So, we picked up some snacks and sandwich materials.  that way I can  also pack Mr. Trizzle lunches for work.  (Like I said before, he forgets to eat.)  Mr. Trizzle was so funny in the grocery store, "isn't this place huge?!"  It was the same size as all our Pick 'N Saves back home, but it is much bigger than the grocery stores out here, so I'll give him that.  El Cerrito Plaza is one of my favorite places out here.  Besides having a big grocery store, it has a Ross, and my absolute favorite, a brand new HUGE Jo-Ann.  ;)

Stop #8: Back to Richmond - Last stop of the evening, Mr. Trizzle had to pick up some more files from work to work on that evening and today.  It only took a few minutes.  He just had to sort through those huge stacks on his desk and pull out all the DUI's and petty thefts.

End:  Back at the Super 8 in El Cerrito.