She-Dracula on the Oakland Bridge (San Fran, CA)

"Name the singer."

"Joe Walsh."

"OK - that was soooo easy," as JW's distinctive guitar style is wailing on the radio and his nasal love song to the five boroughs of NYC fills the car.

"What movie was it written for? Perhaps one of the best/worst movies of all time." There is a short pause - I already know the answer, since I am the moderator of this here game. "WARRIORS!" And of course I have to waggle my fingers with pretend bottles and do the shout-out in falsetto: "Come out to plaaaaaay."

DAYS 18 & 19 - SAN FRANCISCO (In the City)

I have spent much time in New York's Chinatown, familiar with the layout, and know all of my favorite shops and restaurants. But this is a parallel universe: a major metropolis with hilly terrain unfamiliar to me, trolley cars clanging, blue sky everywhere and the Pacific Ocean always looming in the distance. Same smells, same vendors with familiar tchotka, same thickly accented epithets urging you into their place of business. I feel like I am in the Wookie bar in Star Wars, twice removed.

We meander about and find a great local restaurant - it is incredibly busy and we are the only Caucasians in the place. My veggie lo mein is some of the best I have had since teaching in the mid 80's in Liaoning province. However, His dish is nasty. NOTE TO SELF: always get the veggies because you never know when there is a homeless cat wandering about in the back (lame joke from teaching in China.)

We manage to find the most awesome Halloween party ever. It must be - since hundreds of people in some of the most outrageous costumes are snaking their way around every venue of a mega hotel: escalators and cattle chutes, camera bulbs flashing and people posing. After nearly two hours in pre-party mode with the escalation already in progress, we get to the front of the line.

"That will be $100," a female Dracula tells us.

"Like... for both of us?!" He asks. We look at each other with horrified grins.

"No - that's $100 apiece."

"You mean - there's a DJ?... I don't know what live performer I would see for that kind of money," I whisper to him.

And the Walk of Shame back down the escalator and cattle chutes isn't so much that, because the night has been splendid with humorous folks we met along the way - and the pictures were better.