While still recovering from our crazy trip this summer, we got a little bit stir crazy with sitting at home and going back to "normal". So when an opportunity arose for Justin to go to San Francisco for a conference, we decided to #YOLO hard, make the most of it and spend another 2 weeks in a car together driving the Pacific Coast. Because why not? Bonus to the fact that timing works out and we're meeting 10 friends in LA for a musical festival at the end of the 2 weeks. It's a trip we've been talking about for years, and if we keep saying next time, it seems to never happen.
So earplugs in, Advil packed, car rented, let's go!
To add to the craziness of the trip, the night we left, we had tickets for a show we've been looking forward to for so long. We got to see the God of trance, Markus Schulz himself (and pose for pics with him!), before grabbing a 3am shawarma and barely making it to the airport for our 5:30 flight. That same group of friends we'll be meeting in LA for the festival, all got matching black shirts with his name and we stood out quite a bit.... Especially the two of us.
In our yesterday's clothes, Justin and I made it to our Airbnb in North Beach by 1pm and were ready to start our trip. Surprisingly, both of us slept right through the flights (the connecting flight in Toronto, I opened my eyes to hear them saying we're landing..... I didn't even realize we had taken off, let alone already landed). So I highly recommend dancing all night before getting on a plane. You then also sleep through the entire 6 hour flight, even justin who never sleeps on planes!
Our first day was spent walking around the Fisherman's Wharf. The very first thing we did was get clam chowder, because SF and that's all we've been talking about anytime we ever mentioned California. With a belly full of chowder and calamari, and garlic breath from the cheesy fries, we wandered the wharf full of life, buskers, and artists. It was SO lively on a beautiful sunny California day.
We were advised to make it to Twin Peaks for sunset at 5:01. It's the best panoramic view of all of San Francisco - throw in a sunset....and it's quite breathtaking. Also cold. It was like a switch from not a cloud in the sky to a bone chilling cold. We did the touristy pics and started making our way down the mountain on foot. It was quite a long twisty walk but it was stunning. We made our way to the Castro District - one of the gay capitals of the world. It was buzzing on Saturday night and we found ourselves at the Hot Cookie, apparently the best chocolate chip cookie in the world. Who were we to not try it for ourselves?! So with a ridiculous amount of genitalia pictures staring at us from the collages on the wall, we melted into this cookie in silence and devoured it. We also ordered the Fudge Packer which was even better! And I'm not even a cookie person.
We wandered the streets, took it all in, had a few good laughs, and started making our way into the Mission District. This is where the night life is at. We found ourselves at a bar trying to figure out what SF has to offer on a Saturday night as it's our only one here. Nothing seemed to pop out that we would miss out on - no shows or events - so we made it back to the Airbnb and didn't feel bad that it was only 9pm. After our night and having walked for 7 hours straight, we were ready for bed. We'll just have to go out another night.