san francisco

steve and i were both anxious to get to san francisco - steve to meet his gang of best men for the weekend and skip town to tahoe for gabe's bachelor party, me to explore the city. from our vantage point, SF is a west coast city with an east cost mentality. it feels like a mix of so many places we have visited and lived, but yet it is so distinct. it's easy to fall in love with this city and fall hard.

steve-less for the weekend, kate and her sister-in-law, rachel, came up from LA to explore the city with me. i wanted a real introduction to SF's neighborhoods from the perspective of a local. we got just the kind of intro we needed from kate's cousin, who gave us a glimpse of life in berkeley, and from leslie, a great friend who moved from arkansas to SF five years ago by way of spain and france.

we dropped our stuff at the hotel, said goodbye to steve, and struck out up a steep hill to grab a quick cocktail at the the top of the Mark Hotel to take in a panoramic of the city. the fog already blanketed our view of the golden gate bridge, but we happily sipped our $14 martinis like the tourists that we were.

next, we hit the BART at rush hour to meet kate's cousin, ashley, at little star pizza in albany, a charming suburb of SF near berkeley. visiting with ashley and her three engaging sons (6, 3, and 9 months) was rejuvenating, as she warmly described the pace of work and life in the bay area.

saturday morning, we hopped the MUNI to meet leslie in cole valley for brunch at zazie. leslie arrived early to snag us a prime seat on the sun-lit back patio, and, after one of the best mimosas of my life, i knew immediately leslie knew exactly what was up. brunch turned into a full day and night of neighborhood hopping.

from there we blazed a path across the city, leslie leading the way through the haight district, the castro, and into the mission. we stayed put to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather at zeitgeist, a dive bar where we set up shop on the patio with the hipsters sunning themselves over pitchers of lagunitas and stiff bloody marys. we continued down valencia street for some authentic grub at a local taqueria and then made the obligatory stop for a cone at bi-rite creamery next to delores park.

after a cloudless afternoon, we made it through golden gate park to the bridge to find it once again completely covered in fog. the obligatory bridge picture just wasn't meant to be this trip! leslie and her boyfriend dropped the three of us off at the hotel after a family-style dinner in chinatown.

thanks to leslie for proving what we suspected to be true - public transport is prevalent and efficient. good food is ubiquitous. the hills are steep, and the weather is moody, but people are active and interested. san francisco is an amazing place to visit and to live.