I Left My Heart in San Francisco

Over the weekend, Alex and I went to San Francisco. It was sort of an on-the-whim trip...I had a free ticket on Southwest that I needed to cash in, and since he can fly anywhere he wants every weekend (okay, so there is one perk to being a traveling consultant), we decided to fly to the furthest destination possible: San Francisco. It was great! However, I had NO IDEA that it would be so cold! I mean, it's like a billion degrees here, so I figured that California had to be about the same, if not hotter. But no. Apparently temperatures in San Francisco never really rise above 70 degrees, depending on your location in the city. I was sure glad I took a pair of jeans and a light sweater.

Alex and I flew in Friday evening. And listen to this! I had a very brief layover in LAX and I saw a CELEBRITY! Brigitte Neilson and a greasy-looking male compadre were walking through my terminal, followed by a guy with a videocamera. (Kate tells me that was probably her husband, and they were probably working on their new reality show.) Okay okay, I know she's a very D-list celebrity, but still...I'm just a Midwestern gal and stuff like that is exciting, okay? LAY OFF ME.

So we arrived in San Fran and took the train to Alex's cousin's apartment, near the southeast corner of Golden Gate Park. The three of us went to a local bar and had a couple of drinks, and we even witnessed a full-fledged BAR FIGHT! I had never seen two men go at it like that...they were knocking over chairs and swinging punches and grabbing each others' sweaters. From that moment, I knew it would be an AMAZING trip.

The next morning, we woke up early and walked around Golden Gate Park. The Japanese tea garden was amazing, even though it cost $4 to get in. Ridiculous. The dahlia garden was incredible too. I wish I had some pictures to share, but they are currently being held hostage on Alex's camera and I won't be able to get them until Friday. Oh well, c'est la vie. Around 10:30am, we met up with Alex's cousin and had brunch at the Pork Store Cafe on famous Haight Street, where all of that 1967 Summer of Love stuff took place. It's a very artistic area (is that a nice way to say it was full of hippies and pipe stores and retro consignment shops? either way, it was cool, and we kept getting whiffs of the wacky weed, haha). We went to a Giants game after that and watched them get slaughtered by the Pirates, but I'm sort of glad Barry Bonds wasn't playing. I don't think I agree with the whole using-steroids-to-break-the-home-run-record thing, and it seems like most of the city agrees.

After the game, we did all the touristy stuff: walked to Union Station, Chinatown, North Beach, Fisherman's Wharf, etc. We never really got a good view of the Golden Gate Bridge because of the fog, but that just means I'll have to go back someday! We ate at a wonderful Thai place for dinner, though I can't remember the name. Then we went out to bars in the Mission District. It was really foggy on Sunday morning, but Alex and I were fixin' to see the Pacific Ocean. We hopped on the train and rode it to the coast, and though the wind was fierce and the water frigid, we rolled up our pants and splashed around for a couple of minutes before scurrying back to the protected side of the sand dunes. After that, we visited the place I had been yearning to see for, like, my entire life: the Full House houses. I think they're technically known as the Painted Ladies, and they sit on the east side of Alamo Square. You know what I'm talking about though...at the end of the opening theme song, the Tanners and Uncle Jesse and Uncle Joey all sit on a picnic blanket in a park in front of these beautiful, colorful, Victorian row houses. Alex and I trooped up the heart attack-inducing hill to this park and posed like we were having a picnic, of course. What else would we do? I kept expecting John Stamos to pop out of the bushes or something. I might photoshop him in to the picture, and then send it to people as a Christmas card. By the time we'd had our fun looking at the Full House houses, it was time for me to hop back on the train and head to the airport. Next time I will find you, John Stamos. You can't hide forever!!!