SB 2012 (part 1): San Fran

Being back in school definitely has its benefits.  And after two miserable weeks of midterms, you get rewarded with a week off.  The genius of spring break.

For my week long break from classes, I decided to visit one of my very best friends, Alaina, who moved out to San Luis Obispo to teach at Cal Poly University.  It was timed quite well since I could spend a full week with Alaina and then head to Vegas to celebrate the wedding of my very first dc friend, Ali Hamrick.

Since San Luis Obispo (called SLO by the locals, apparently) is in the middle of the state of California, I had the option to fly into either San Francisco or Los Angeles and then Alaina and I would spend the weekend in either place.  I clearly opted for San Fran.

I was told that San Francisco is called “the city” in Nor Cal. And it was definitely unlike any other city I have ever been to.  It has the ‘anything goes’ attitude of NYC, the neighborhood feel of DC, and the ease of a Californian lifestyle.  I loved it.

I arrived Friday night and since I was on east coast time, we crashed right away.  Saturday morning we were up early and headed into the city to begin our day of playing tourist.  We headed to the bay and walked around Ghirardelli Square and Fisherman’s Wharf.  We walked down several of the piers, including pier 39 with all the sea lions! We had a delicious seafood lunch in the wharf then headed to Presidio Park on the bay and spent a few hours relaxing on the beach with a beautiful view of the Golden Gate Bridge.  Thankfully, the weather cooperated as it was 75 degrees and sunny for both days.

After our first day of adventure, we checked into our boutique hotel in the Union Square neighborhood.  The highlight of the hotel was this sign at which point we decided that San Fran was not meant for overweight people.

Saturday night we ventured out in Union Square for dinner and drinks.  After our sushi dinner, we ducked into a little dive bar called the White Horse Tavern.  At this point in the evening, highlights included the worst sangria I have ever had in my life, meeting members of the Duke basketball team, and Alaina legitimately spilling popcorn across the entire bar.

Sunday we did more exploring, this time by simply walking and walking.  We walked through several neighborhoods, my favorites being Nob Hill and Russian Hill.  The houses were beautiful and with those hills, we definitely got our exercise for the weekend. We had brunch in Nob Hill, walked down the famously crooked Lombard Street and then ended back up at the waterfront. 

After meeting up with a few friends, we had Ghirardelli sundaes as our last stop.  After making Alaina promise we could stop at In-N-Out for dinner, we were on our way to SLO J