Anything But Rice-A-Roni

The countdown is on until I officially start my vacation.

My extremely kind father and I will set out in the dark of night (or morning, depending on how you look at things), leaving Cincinnati at a truly bleak and black 3 AM, destination: Louisville.

Now, I know the River City isn't the most exciting of locales, but it's merely a stop on my journey West (long live the CVG boycott). My 6 AM flight takes me to Chi-town for a brief respite (do you think the bars there will serve Bloody Marys at 7:30 AM?), and then I will make it to my first real vacation stop - San Francisco.

I scored a sweet deal on a hotel - the Hyatt Regency San Francisco for $75 a night. They were the only schmucks who would take my uber low ball Priceline bid on a four-star hotel. The hotel sounds pretty nice - it's steps away from the Ferry Building, looks on to the water, and was even featured prominently in Mel Brooks' movie, High Anxiety.

Jinkies.

I've packed about a million different accessories to dress up or dress down the arsenal of black clothing I've packed for the journey. My red-and-white polkadotted rain boots are also making the trek as the forecast for Eugene and Portland includes nothing but rain.

My suitcase includes a good variety of pleasure reading and I also hope to tick away my birthday and Christmas thank you note list while I'm gone.

And though I intend on avoiding any bit of work on this adventure, I might have to take care of a cookbook duty or two, though I am really contemplating putting it off until I come back.

I've got both my Flip and still cameras packed, so I intend on doing some blogging while I'm exploring CA and Oregon...

Wish me luck on finding the REAL San Francisco treat.