Upcoming Travel Diaries – The Prequel

Where: San Francisco, CA

Trip Dates: April 5 – April 10

Is the Cam Fam Coming With?: Yes

Potential for Blog Fodder: High…with the boy on spring break from his preschool – and who doesn't need time to recharge their batteries after months of snack time and nap time? – we're taking advantage by spending five nights in Aaron's favorite American city.

Of course, it earned this appellation after all the nights I spent there without my family. In fact, this'll be my first time in The City while the sun's up since 1997.

We'll be renting an SUV while we're there, which in itself is an act of insanity. I've braved the roads of Boston at rush/happy hour and San Francisco is a kajillion times worse, kids. But, we've got friends and family to visit, so I'm content to take an airbag or two to my mug, if it means something to write about.

The only certain destinations are an A's/Indians game in Oakland on April 6 and a stop to see some of my wife's family during the week.

Guess which one I'm looking forward to.

My hope is to get about two hours out of Jalen at the baseball game, before he turns on the sport's, uh…"methodical" pace. He loves the legendary "Homer at the Bat" episode of The Simpsons and the possibility of Darryl Strawberry serving up my Mr. Pibb and chicken strips behind Section 116 is…wait, don't wanna jinx it. Currently, Jalen's most excited about seeing this guy, which is understandable since I can't name much of the 2008 roster, either.

Meanwhile, a visit with Mrs. Bootleg's side of the family looms. Who are these people? Well, we had one of her cousins at our wedding – open bar that wifey and I paid for. Early in the evening, I glanced over and found several barely-sipped beverages in front of him. Turns out, he was ordering Courvoisier and other libations he couldn't otherwise afford just to test them…to see if he liked them. That night, the results of my identical test on him came back.

Another cousin – female, but at our wedding, too – bowled over every single woman to catch Mrs. Bootleg's bouquet. Then, there's her aunt who CAN'T CONTROL THE VOLUME OF HER VOICE! Sweet, sweet lady and a phenomenal cook, but she can't say anything without YELLING. Right about now, is where I'd make the comparison to Sinbad, but it's been 15 years since he's been in the news and…wait, what's that you say?

Sinbad's beefin' with the Clinton campaign?!

And, there's your convenient blog conclusion.