San Francisco Girls Weekend

This past weekend, I enjoyed a girl’s weekend in San Francisco with my friends Meredith and Whitney from Baylor. Meredith moved there this past fall for a religion and arts PhD program at UC Berkeley in Berkley. Whitney lives in LA, so San Fran was the perfect in-between spot for us to meet. I’ve never been to San Francisco so it was great to visit and have a local to show us around!

Meredith picked me up from the airport on Thursday night and we got frozen yogurt and caught up on each other’s lives since we haven’t seen each other in nearly a year! Friday morning I worked while Meredith went to class and then we hit the town. We had lunch at a cute little café in Berkley, did a little shopping, then drove across the Bay Bridge to the port of San Fran. We walked all the way down to Pier 39 (the Fisherman’s Wharf) and back. Along the way, we saw a sea lion, several fisherman pulling our loads of fresh crab, were asked if we were married or single by a friendly gentleman who we quickly declined, were asked what we were doing later by an outgoing silver robot impersonator who got so close that his metallic paint nearly rubbed off on us, had to resist the many offers of palm readings and bike cart rides and thankfully didn’t encounter the “Bushman” who apparently likes to jump out and scare unsuspecting pedestrians in that area.

After a nice glass of sangria by the bay and a deep discussion on faith (I love talking to Meredith about this kind of stuff!), we picked up Whitney from the airport and kicked off the reunion weekend at a quaint restaurant in Berkley.

Saturday we hit up San Fran starting with an amazing brunch outside in the sun at Zazie in Cole Valley then headed to Alamo Square Park to lay in the grass then take a quick pic in front of the “Painted Ladies” aka the Full House house (if only Uncle Jesse had been there). We created our own jams by singing Pickers tunes in the car with the windows rolled down as we headed down Lombard Street (the crookedest street in the world) to Union Square and Chinatown. After walking quite a ways, we tried to catch a trolley back to the square. After standing at the trolley stop for about 30 minutes, we had an inkling that our ride wasn’t coming. We asked the trolley driver of a different route what was going on and he casually replied “Oh, they didn’t tell you? That trolley line is out of service.” No, they didn’t tell us. Oh well, at least we tried.

That night, we went to The Top of the Mark for cocktails and an amazing view of the sunset behind the Golden Gate Bridge. We headed to the Mission District for a light dinner and great conversation. Gah, I miss these girls! We were at the point in the night where we needed to either rally and keep the night going, or call it a night and head home. We got to the car and one person said, “I’m feeling a little tired” and without skipping a beat I said “Start the engine!” Relieved that we were headed home to our pjs and beds, we all died laughing for a good two minutes before we could actually start the engine. I can’t remember the last time I laughed that hard. We made a quick midnight pit stop at Safeway for a box of amazingly moist brownies and went home and crashed from our big day in the city.

We slept in on Sunday morning, had breakfast at a creperie then walked around the Berkley campus where we saw a student dance club perform an interestingly motivational dance in the square and then were serenaded by a unicyclist in full tie-dye playing a recorder/lute as he rode around campus (I felt like I was back in Portland!). I was sad to leave these girls after such a great reunion weekend, but we decided to have our next West Coast Summit in Portland in August. So at least we have that to look forward to! Thanks Meredith for hosting Whitney and I in your city this weekend. lylas