Josh visits San Francisco

My friend josh came to town to visit me this week. It was his first time in San Francisco, so I tried to show him some neat places. Arriving on Wednesday evening, I picked him up and took him down to fisherman's wharf where we walked around for a little while. We walked from Ghiradelli square down to Pier 39, and on the way had tons of fun. We saw a street artist making spray-paint art, and he had this huge crowd gathered around him! It was kind of cool, but really, it was the crowd that drew the crowd around him. While down there, we saw the guy that hides behind bushes and then freaks people out... and then asks them for money... it was so funny. I had heard about this guy before, and I'm so glad I got to see him! it was really funny to see people jump.

Eventually we drove over to the Metreon to get tickets for Harry Potter, and although we got to the movie theater at 9, we couldn't get tickets until the 11:30 show! So we got our tickets and then walked up to Union Square so I could show josh, and we were hoping to find something yummy for dinner. We saw this little thai place, so we ran in. It gets so cold at night! So I like to move briskly. I got yummy pad thai and a thai iced tea, and josh had pineapple fried rice (I liked my dinner better than his... haha, but i think that worked okay for him because I don't think he really felt like sharing with me anyway.) After dinner we finally got up to Union Square and we decided to spend some time in Borders because it was the only place open. We searched the entire store for a Post Secret book (didn't find one... at B&N I would know exactly where that is...) and towards 11, we decided to grab a hot drink and head over to the movie theater. We got hot chocolates and they were AMAZING. On top of the drink, the barista put whipped cream and shaved white chocolate, and then a chocolate stick (which immediately fell into the bottom of my cup). We decided not to put lids on our hot chocolates (which was a huge mistake) because as we walked back to the movie theater, I kept spilling.

We had great seats at the theater, and over all I really liked the movie. I didn't really enjoy the whole teen drama/romantic comedy feel it had... the Harry/Ginny, Ron/Hermoine love drama was a little overthetop for me, but I hardly remember the book at all... so maybe it was there and I just don't remember. Helena Bohnam Carter was amazing! She kind of stole the show for me.

When the movie was over, it was about 2:30am... and we had about an hour drive back home :-(
I was exhausted by the time we got home! The drive seemed even longer because I was trying so hard not to fall asleep!

The next day (and I feel really badly about this) I woke up around 10:45... and I found josh wide awake... he had been up since around 9, just chilling in his bed... sorry josh! Well, I got showered pretty quick and we made breakfast and made a plan for the day. We wanted to go back to the city to rent bikes and just see what kind of trouble we could get into.

We got to the city around one on Thursday and I was like "Josh! Let's drive down Lombard street!" (Because as much as I hate doing super touristy-cliche things... I really wanted to drive down the "crookedest street" in the nation... and I figured that when my family comes out here, we would probably drive it, but the probablity of me driving is low... So, we did it! It was everything I thought it would be, and while we were going down the street, we noticed a sign for an estate sale on the street! So, we drove a block over, parked, and went over.
We had to walk up the street to get there, and when we got into the house, we both noticed our legs were shaking! It was pretty funny, but kind of sad too. Well, the estate sale was pretty neat. I was expecting the house to be beautiful and old and kind of fancy just because all the houses on the street are really nice from the outside, but the house was a little dilapidated and was gutted out on the inside of the kitchen. The ceiling was caving in, and the kitchen hadn't been updated since the fifties at least. The previous owner was a San Francisco artist, and tons of her paintings were for sale, as well as a really big collection of glass-blown clowns (which made me think of the glass blower in Grapevine who I have a little crush on simply because he's a glass blower... but that's really another story). She had some fur coats for sale, but I didn't get one... although I will need to get one before I go to Russia... just because I feel like you need to have a fur coat in Russia in the winter.

When we left the sale, we went over to the Marina, and parked in 2 hour parking (I was determinded not to pay for parking since I spent about $35 on parking the night before). Then we walked over to some pizza place josh wanted to go to and we shared a yummy pepperoni and pineapple pizza (my favorite!) I love the Marina, there are tons of really cute shops on Chesnut street, and there are some really nice houses with pretty gardens. After lunch, we walked over to the Palace of Fine Arts, and climbed up onto a ledge and read a newspaper and soaked in the sunlight and heat from the concrete we were perched on. With about twenty minutes to spare, we walked over to where we had left the jeep... but we really didn't remember where it was parked, so we had to do a little investigating. (I'm working on trying to remember things... it just is a slow process).

We found the car and drove a few blocks to Fort Mason and parked in 2 hour parking again! Yay! And after stopping by Starbucks... we went across the street and rented some bikes! We were told that we could only have them out for an hour... but an hour and twenty minutes at the most because the guy was closing at six. We started biking along the Marina boulevard, and were going much faster than the commuters stuck in traffic! I really wanted to go up to the bridge and bike across, but josh was like, "that's so far! I don't think that's going to happen!" but I was determined! So, we biked pretty fast to the base of the hill that the bridge starts on, and we decided to go up. I felt like a total weakling because forty year old men would speed past me on the super steep inclines! And, I was also having a hard time with my gears... like, really... I drive a stick-shift and mountain bike... I should be able to figure out the gears on this bike! Well, we made it up the hill and onto the bridge! Oh it was amazing! And the fog was everywhere, and it was really windy! The views were so neat, and we were on the side of the bridge that pedistrians don't go on, so it was extra nice. Biking around the huge red pillars was kind of scary because for a little moment you would have to really work to bike against the wind, and then you would be pushed back to the straight path at a high speed when you turned! I almost fell once when my hand kind of spasmed on the brake! We made it to the end of the bridge and then biked back, and then we got to go down the hill that was so hard to go up! It was really rewarding! And I didn't even care that I had rented a bike that had a little fanny pack on it! It was a great new experience in the city.

After we returned the bikes, we went up to the park around Fort Mason, and sat on top of the hill looking out at the water, and watched some people swimming in the bay. Those people are so brave! The water is freezing! When the sun started setting and as the fog rolled in, we went back to the car to go find something to eat for dinner. We drove over to the Mission, and went to a little Mexican food place on Valencia. We ate at the bar, and although the food was really good, I have to say, I prefer Tex-Mex to authentic Mexican food. They did have a really good salsa, though... and a mariachi band. And by mariachi band, I mean two old men playing a guitar and an accordian. After dinner, I was craving gelato... but didn't really need it... so we decided to look for Birite (it's apparently the best ice cream in San Francisco... and it's conveniently there in the Mission). We found it, but it was absolutely packed! The line was out the door and down the street, so we nixed the idea and started making our way back to the car. We got home around ten and decided to go to bed since josh's flight the next morning was at 6:15... which meant that he should probably get to the airport around 5:15, which meant that we should probably leave my house around 4:10 to be safe.

I woke up Friday morning at 3:30am, and I'm pretty sure one of my other roommates had just gone to bed because I heard him scrambling around in the kitchen when I woke up! I don't remember the last time I woke up that early! That's more of a weekend bedtime for me! Well, I had to get up so early because I had to go to work Friday, and we were going to be going into the city and meeting with stores... so I needed to look put together and fabulous. So I got up and adrenaline kind of took over. I got ready, and tried to make myself look older, but that doesn't really work very well... and I ended up just looking pretty. I went to make sure josh was awake at 4, and he wasn't, so I had to wake him up! He seemed a little out of it, and I'm sure I interupted a mesmerizing dream. I was ready to go on time! Kudos to me, I have to say. Sadly, punctuality is not one of my strengths. Well, we got out the door and blasted a really neat radio station for our drive down to the airport. I love this radio station! Their DJs actually mix the music and only have commercials one time an hour. Driving into the city, it was still foggy, but the darkness was turning lighter, so I think josh got to experience it a little bit. I got him to the airport at 5:30! And then I left and drove back to through the city and back across the bridge to go to Melissa's.

I got to the city where Melissa lives around 6:10, so I went to Peet's for coffee and breakfast. While I was there, I worked on catching up on my internship work and then around eight I left and went to Melissa's. She lives up on a hill and has a beautiful backyard filled with flowers, herbs, chickens and fruit trees. We watched the Today show, and planned out where we needed to go while we were in the city. I cannot believe how skinny the lead singer of All American Rejects has gotten! Ugh... he is not looking very good. Even though I think it's great that he's lost his old waistline, he definitely looks like he's doing too many drugs. Oh and what's going on in Florida? The parents of 16 kids were killed this week? What? All for a safe that the suspects were unable to open? Didn't these criminals learn anything from Dick Hickok about searching for safes? Oh it's such a sad situation.

While making our list of places to visit, Melissa told me that we were going to go visit a store called Brown Eyed Girl. It must be my kind of store! In the studio we all joke that the song was written about me. Eventually we played dress up with the jewelry and got all ready to go down to the city. We had a great day, and some positive interactions, but it was so hard because we would go into stores and I wanted to try on clothes and buy everything! I managed to show some will-power however, and we left the city in the afternoon. I sat in awful traffic trying to get back to Petaluma! My leg was hurting so much from sitting on the clutch! But eventually I made it! And then I went over to Lisa's to hang out with her girls. We had so much fun!

By the end of the night, though, I had almost been up for 24 hours! It's been a good week though!