The City by the Bay

I have been back  home in Seattle for over a year and a half now and this is my first post…. for shame Maria… for shame.

I originally said that this was my travel blog, but still neglected to write about my New York at New Years experience (don’t fret.. it will happen, eventually) or my time last summer in Nova Scotia for Saba and Doug’s wedding (two of my closest friends from living in NZ).

With a recent trip to San Francisco  a few weeks ago, I realized how seriously neglectful I have been of this thing.

While I don’t have time to fill in  the few of you out there that read this thing  (or happened to stumble across it in a google search), I can attempt to give you a brief update on my life since I got home in November 2012

1. I got a job at Entercom Seattle (radio, well now I’m actually doing digital… minor technicalities)

2. I got an apt in Seattle (although, I need to move)

3. I got a cat (I also apparently love to use parentheses)

NOW, back to last weekend.

I arrived in SF late Friday night.  I went down for the weekend to visit one of my really good friends whom I met at Entercom, Natalie. Her husband got a job at twitter so they moved down to SF last September.  Originally, my plan was to hang out with Natalie, my former roommate from OZ Liz (who was flying over from Australia for a conference), and my cousin Hayley. Liz unfortunately ended up not being able to make the trip. Although that was a bummer, it also means I have another excuse to plan some Maria/Liz trip somewhere (in case you haven’t noticed I am severely effected by the travel bug, I also tend to digress… a lot).

Anyway, I arrived Friday night to the fabulous Natalie picking me up in the airport. I should also mention that it was a full moon AND Friday the 13th. But, don’t you worry, there were no horror stories that night. Except for the fact that San Mateo (where Natalie lives) shuts down at 10:00pm.  We ventured out to their neighborhood bar called Paddy’s (ironic I know) for a beverage and then called it a night.

Full Moon – Friday the 13th

Paddys! SF Style

Day two consisted of shopping and Natalie insisting that we get our nails done. I should preface this with the fact that I have  had exactly one manicure previously (with Saba the day before her wedding).  My fingernails have never grown past my finger tips due to the fact that I may or may not bite them. Sigh.  So my manicure artist/lady/what have you, was obviously THRILLED when she saw the length and conditions of my nails. In fact, I distinctly remember her giving an obvious sigh of relief when she was finished.

That evening we went to Natalie’s  husband Mark’s friends house for a BBQ.   Now the thing to remember about SF, is that places are freaking expensive.  This guy was a free-lance IT guy (with about 7 different monitors on one computer table) who had a top floor apartment with an amazing view of Alcatraz. We had steaks, hung out on the porch (or inside on the couch if your name is Maria and you get cold super easy), and then ventured down to Buena Vista for what is said to be the “original” Irish coffee.. I will say it was pretty delicious.

The view.. this pic doesn’t capture it very well

 

Natalie and I

Irish Coffee

Day Three. I forced Natalie to do touristy stuff. I had really REALLY wanted to see Alcatraz.  Unfortunately, we didn’t think about the fact that it might sell out (idiots).  So when we go to book the tour the only thing  that’s available is the “Escape from the rock and city tour.”  It might not be Alcatraz, but hey its a boat cruise and city tour all in one! winning!  Oh wait, not so much (sorry, Natalie don’t kill me for including this)

Notice my positive twist at the end while Natalie is trying to check out if there are any hot dudes on the bus.

We show up at 10:00am that morning only to discover that it’s a 3 hour bus tour, followed by a boat cruise. Yeah… we had thought it was ALL  a boat cruise.   We did learn a few things though, like Van Ness is the widest street, rent control buildings do exist, the real estate value of every single area we drove through (I think our driver might have been on the market…. just a hunch),  and which highschool our driver attended.

Cliffs End

Cliffs End

moi

 

It actually wasn’t all that bad.   Our driver also talked about the 3 people who escaped from Alcatraz, why  the tenderloin is called the tenderloin (something to do with bribing cops with steaks), and some other bits and bobs.  It was 10:00am in the morning, you couldn’t have really been expecting to pay attention, especially when I was expecting a cruise!

I was proud of Natalie for doing it with me though. She grew up in SF so a 3 hour bus tour I’m sure was not her ideal way to spend a Sunday morning. Afterwords it was off to loop around the rock a few times and head home.

Proud of this pic.. a wind surfer (I think is the name)

Alcatraz.. although the building vaguely resembles entercom.. kidding, kidding

The rock

 

Day Four – It’s Monday. Natalie has to venture into work and I head into the city to meet my cousin Hayley. Ironically enough we made plans to watch the American World Cup game when neither one of us is all that into soccer (for shame!!!). So we spent the majority of the time catching up and waiting for Natalie to get off work.  Hayley and I then decided that we would have a sleep over at her place (which actually kind of worked out beautifully as the next day was her birthday).

Hayley and I

Day Five – My last day in SF and Hayley’s birthday.  After running a few errands (ahem Hayley), we head into the city.  Hayley works at the De Young Museum cafe which just so happens to be in the golden gate park.  So we decide to walk around the park, grab food at her cafe and finally I force her to check out the exhibit in her museum.  It was actually a pretty fantastic day.

Hayley throwing up the deuce deuce on her birthday

Golden Gate Park

It ended with Hayley bringing me back to the city, Natalie bringing my stuff with her to work (as it was sporadic last-minute plan to have the Monday night sleep over) and then saying goodbye to my two lovely ladies.

All in all it was a great trip, and just reinforced my need/want to travel again.  Hopefully next time, I will get out of the continental US.