San Francisco

Last month Sara, Marie, Amanda, and I met up on what has become our yearly girls' getaway.  This year we went to San Francisco.  California had been having a drought, which meant perfect weather for weeks on end...until we arrived.  It downpoured the entire time we were there, but the trip was still fantastic.   

Day 1:  We all met in Denver and got to navigate the BART subway system which is filled with happy, inventive homeless people (one had fashioned a chair out of a cardboard box and duct tape) and hipsters.  We didn't quite fit in and the BART makes a horrible noise like it's about to tear itself apart as it re-enters the atmosphere.

Day 2:  We bought a cable car pass and rode to Coit Tower to have breakfast at Mama's, only to find the line for the restaurant, which might have had six tables total, was halfway down the block.

We quickly abandoned that plan, rode to Fisherman's Wharf and ate breakfast at Hollywood Cafe.  It had such good food and the world's largest fruit bowl as a side dish with everything imaginable and, in true California style, it was all sustainably grown.  This is the moment I realized that I live on the wrong coast.

Because it was raining, we decided to wait it out at the Cable Car Museum, which is the workshop where they run all the cables for all the cable cars.  It was unexpectedly very cool.

Still raining.  So we headed to Ghirardelli Square, thinking we could probably kill hours in the shops.  I do so love a shop that offers you a square of chocolate EVERY time you enter the door!

Marie, Sara, and Amanda not staying dry.

Next stop was the Boudin Sourdough Bread Factory for a tour.

There were two things I wanted to do before we came 1) See the Golden Gate Bridge and 2) See some wild sea lions.  I SORT OF took care of both.  I could just BARELY see the bridge....

....and these sea lions are KIND OF wild, I guess.

Friday night we took the sunset cruise to Alcatraz.  We couldn't see the sun, but we did get to see the hospital wing, which is normally not open to the public and doesn't have electricity.

Escape to Alcatraz

San Francisco from Alcatraz (I'm sure this is normally a lovely view.)

Day 3: We gave up all hope of seeing the sun and decided to rent a car and leave the city.  On our way to Big Basin Redwoods State Park, we stopped at an In-N-Out Burger and tasted their soggy cardboard fries.  I had never seen a redwood before and this was an amazing deviation from our original plan of staying in the city.  However, like everything else on our trip, the rain made it tough to do things like look straight up to see the tops of the trees.

Amanda, the Treehugger

A fallen tree goes allll the way down past a tiny Sara.

Redwoods make Marie look especially tiny!

We drove back along the coast and, through the fog, could see patches of the famous rugged coastline.  The farms that line the road are all organic.  I love them.

We ended the trip at Church Chow with our friends Jossie and Brian.  I forgot to get a picture, so I guess that means that we'll have to go back soon to get one!

It's been really hard for me to figure out how to describe San Francisco.  It's not beautiful, but it's not ugly.  It's not somewhere I'd want to live, but it was fun to visit.  The architecture of each little city block is so varied and interesting.  The cable cars are novel and fun.  Plus, you can't beat a place with "wild" sea lions.  I'd go back, but maybe next time I'll go when it's sunny.