Category: Travel

Starbucks Around the World: Palo Alto, CA

There’s a small possibility I might not go back to Chicago after all.  While you’ve been having 100+ degree heat and torrential downpours all week, I’ve been hanging out in the South Bay, just about 35 minutes(ish) outside of San Francisco.  Aside from being able to wear a three-quarter length shirt, fashion scarf, and no socks 365 days a year, there are also a plethora of Starbucks around here.  This one is in Palo Alto, and I visited here while checking out the farmers market in town.  My long-time friend Terri fled from Chicago winters a little over two years ago and hasn’t looked back.  After spending a day here, I don’t blame her.

Especially convenient to this particular Starbucks photo is the firework-esque mural behind me… because that’s about as patriotic as I get.  So Happy Independence Day, because our freedom and the state of Capitalism in our country has afforded me the privilege of visiting this, my 29th Starbucks around the World.

Leaving my heart in San Francisco…

Want the truth?

It is dangerously easy to fall in love with this city…

I had the teensiest of legs up coming to San Francisco for the Dance/USA conference in that I was born in the area and had family I could stay with.  Because we’d often come back to visit, I’ve seen the major sites already: The Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Fisherman’s Wharf, Pier 39, Ghiradelli Square, Lombard Street, and the list goes on.

So, knowing I had limited time outside of a conference room during my three days here I didn’t want to revisit things I’ve already seen.

I chose, instead, to just walk.

Even though I’ve been here a countless number of times, this is the first time I’ve visited as an adult.  I was surprisingly disoriented, being used to a really strict grid system, but SF is quite small by comparison to Chicago and after I got my bearings I really started to enjoy my walking tours and trips on the BART.

Produce market in The Mission

Without any goals or preconceived destinations, I feel like I got to walk among San Franciscans as if I was one of them, and, I gotta tell you, I could get used to that.  In both neighborhoods I visited (Union Square and The Mission) I found happy accidents such as live music performances, farmers markets, and fantastic murals to gaze at.  Not to mention the fantastic weather and interesting mix of Victorian and Spanish Colonial architecture.

In most cities I feel like I have to squeeze it all in. I have to see as much as possible in a limited amount of time, and take the city by storm.  Rarely do you get the opportunity to sink in and go at a normal pace, and maybe it’s for that reason that you start to miss home or feel like “it’s a nice place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there”.

San Francisco was dangerously different.  I never felt like a tourist (even when I was wearing a big conference name tag).  I fit right in.  I didn’t feel like walking the bridge or hitting the nightlife; I felt like shopping for deli meat and bananas.  It felt like home.

Does San Francisco have this effect on everyone, or is it just me?

Starbucks Around the World: San Francisco, CA

Ok, I have a confession to make.  So without experiencing their legendary service, I can’t automatically assume that any Starbucks store gets my thumbs up of approval.  What I CAN say is that San Francisco is awesome – as are the dance bloggers I’ve been hanging out with here. With all the techno-talk and tweeting I didn’t even have time to actually go inside this Starbucks to buy a beverage (hence the nervous endorsement). But like I always say, Starbucks is like the Catholic Church… you can go to any one in the world and pretty much know what you’re gonna get.  I can’t imagine this store on the corner of Powell and I-don’t-remember near the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts would be anything but exceptional.

Sweaty and Sossy in St. Louis

Round two of the Summer ’12 “Places I’ve never been tour” began just a day and a half after returning from Cleveland.  The primary objective of visiting St. Louis was the Spring to Dance Festival at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.  As such I spent my evenings seeing some of the best dance in the nation (including favorites BalletX and Sossy Mechanics), and took the opportunity of spending my three days here exploring a new city. I really didn’t try to cram it all in; my goals for St. Louis were cathartic, relaxing, and free.  Here are the highlights:

The St. Louis Zoo

Tucked way back in the Forest Park area of St. Louis, the zoo is totally awesome – if you can find it.  I drove round and round and eventually found the North entrance.  If you can happen to find it, go, and DON’T PAY FOR PARKING.  There’s free street parking everywhere; I parked directly across the street from the $15 pay lot.  I’m pretty sure that St. Louisians (?)… Louistons (?)… that people from St. Louis can’t parallel park which accounts for the plethora of available free spots.

I’ve been to a couple of free zoos and generally find them to be lame, which you excuse them for because, you know, it’s free.  The St. Louis Zoo claims to be America’s #1 zoo, and while I can’t say that for sure since I’ve only been to like 5 zoos, I will say that it was beautifully landscaped and the animals look happy and content.  My favorite area was definitely the apes, where I giggled like a little girl at the zoo (a pun, but, not really) as the orangutans summersaulted down a hillside and covered themselves with sheets while making eyes with the audience.

St. Louis Art Museum

“Dedicated to Art and Free for All” graces the proscenium of the beautifully situated St. Louis Art Museum.  I mainly decided to stop here because it is free and air-conditioned.  What a pleasant surprise to find Monet’s Waterlilies and Degas’s bronze dancer statue in the impressionist wing.  I spent some quiet time on top of the hill overlooking a scenic lagoon that hinted at memories of the Palace of Versailles from my trip to Paris oh, say, 15 years ago.  If I ever return to St. Louis, I’m excited to go back here and see the highly anticipated new wing of the museum opening next week.  In the mean time, things are a bit amiss due to the construction, but overall I found this place to be an absolutely lovely place to spend a solitary afternoon

Citygarden

A rather small-ish version of Millennium Park in Chicago, this was my resting spot on a self-guided, meandering, walking tour of downtown St. Louis. With the sweltering 95-degree heat on my brow, the fountains and wading pools were a welcome diversion (as was the super hip ice cream man who drove up to save the day for all the sweaty kids (ok, and grown-ups too).  I then perused the rest of downtown on foot, including a trek down to the Gateway Arch, and then promptly turned around when I saw the amusement park-type lines of tourists waiting to go up to the top.

Also,

This morning I explored the Ferguson Farmers Market with great delight since produce isn’t nearly as far along up in the “north country” of Chicago.  Ferguson is the epitome of small town America, and like most typical small towns seems to suffer from a case of Wal-Mart…. what with its quaint downtown business district that consists primarily of empty storefronts.  I really want to like Ferguson, though, and thoroughly enjoyed being part of the healthy turnout at the farmers market and taking a sweaty stroll through charming neighborhood near the downtown core.  If in Ferguson and in search of a meal, go to the Brewhouse, not Marley’s.  Just trust me on that one.

Starbucks Around the World: Springfield, IL

I certainly didn’t need coffee in my state’s capitol. This store just off the expressway showed little to no evidence of the Land of Abe Lincoln, but made for a great place to pee.  My travel companion got me a bottle of Tazo iced tea while I paced nervously in front of the retail shelves waiting for the lady in front of me to finish. This was the first time in quite awhile that a barista tried to upsell me a pound…

“I see you looking at some of our coffees there.”

“Oh, I’m just waiting for the ladies room” I said.

“Well, you should pick up some anyway!”

I’ll think that over, guy, but really, I just need to pee.

All retail attempts aside, the staff at this Starbucks were lovely.  They were friendly and it was a nice, cool respite from a hot and sunny Route 55 to St. Louis…. and so I give it a thumbs up.

Starbucks Around the World: South Loop, Chicago

Ok.  So, being two blocks from one of my five jobs, I visit this Starbucks quite frequently.  But this particular visit was purely for personal gain and healthy snacks from the adjacent Jewel prior to a day’s car trek to St. Louis.  I made it one of my standards… Iced coffee with a pump of peppermint and soy milk (try it! it’s delicious!).  I was delighted to find one of my former students behind the counter, who not only gave great service but informed me he was running four races this season (2 of which are half marathons).  Way to go, Alex! And way to pick an honorable place of employment that gives nice benefits, free coffee, and a snazzy apron.  Even though it was packed when I walked in, the line moved fast and overall the South Loop store gets a thumbs up from me.

There’s more than corn in Elkhart, IN

Having previously stopped in Elkhart, IN on the way to Cleveland, I wasn’t exactly needing a reason to go there again.  But with excitement rising for my pending trip to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally this August, and the promise of lower sales tax in the great state of Indiana, it was only natural to make a stop-off at the Hoosier Harley store.

Elkhart, my friends, does not disappoint (insert rolled eyes here).  Aside from being ignored entirely by every employee in the Harley shop, the marquee sign includes a lovely Bible quote along with the store hours.  Next to the shop is Lucky’s donuts.  that also serves Thai food.  The biker dudes, bible verses, coconut curry / donut smell wafting from Lucky’s, all combined with a full half mile of fast food restaurants and a Wal-Mart made for what I consider to be the ultimate Midwestern small town experience.  And now that I’ve described it for you, you don’t need to go there.