i wanna go back to my city by the bay ...

Earlier this month, Allison and I headed north to San Francisco for what has become our annual Girls-Only Weekend. This year, we decided to invite Diana to join us ... which made the trip even more fun because she hadn't been to SF, other than to drive through it on a trip home from Marin. The weekend started out on a bad-foot when our flight was delayed 3 1/2 hours ... which means we didn't get into SFO until after midnight, and the last BART train. We arrived at our hotel, the Sir Francis Drake around 2am, but Allison was still excited because they had fuzzy socks for sale in our closet!

The next morning we woke up early and started the day off with coffee at Espresso. Being the good friend, I offered to throw away our coffee cups ... which I now know is not a smart thing to do when wearing brand-new, unscuffed boots. In a nutshell, I ate shit in front of everyone, including the SFD Beefeater. I quickly jumped up, telling everyone I was fine, but five minutes later, I noticed blood coming through my leggings. We stopped on someone's stoop so I could put a SpongeBob bandaid on, but by the end of the day, that was the least of my problems. My knee had bruising, a huge scab, and I couldn't bend it. Almost two weeks later, the thing still isn't back to normal. I will say I was a trooper though and still walked everywhere.

We spent the morning at the Wharf, visiting the Musee Mechanique. If you haven't been, I highly recommend you stop by. It's located in an old packing building at the end of the Wharf and it's free. It contains many of the old coin-operated games from Playland and Sutro's Baths (see Diana get her ass kicked by the arm wrestling machine!). It also has amazing views of Alcatraz and Marin County.




Of course, no trip to SF would be complete without an Irish Coffee at the Buena Vista. We managed to get a seat inside, which was tough, and enjoyed more than a few of the famous drinks ... you know, it was really just to numb the pain of my knee :)


From there, we headed to Ghiradelli Square and then back to the Wharf for some clam chowder and fresh crab. I swear, NO clam chowder in southern California even compares to any clam chowuder in NorCal. It just tastes so much more fresh up there. Anyway, that afternoon, we headed back to Union Square, with a pit-stop at the Rogue Ale House in North Beach. Surprisingly, they had Butte Creek on-tap, which I have never seen outside of Chico. Diana and I opted for a sampler.


Once we arrived back at the hotel. we did some shopping. One thing I love about the city during the holidays is how everything looks so festive. Macy's has wreaths in every window and Saks had giant snowflakes hanging off of its facade. It puts me in the Christmas spirit!


That night we cabbed it across town for dinner at my absolute favorite restaurant in the world ... ABSINTHE!!! We had an attentive waiter and a very hot sommelier :) The food was amazing, fried chickpeas were amazing, the proseco was amazing, and of course, the company was fabulous!


The next morning, we took the cable car down to the Union Street shopping area and bought out half off Jest Jewels inventory. If you have never been, go! They have the most amazing jewelry and gifts, but the best is their cashmere pashminas in every color for only $50! I knocked off half of my Christmas list in that one store.


Then it was onto the Palace of Fine Arts, which hands-down is one of my favorite places in the world. The architecture is phenomenal and I never get tired of it. It is peaceful, comforting, and beautiful all at once.


We finished up our trip with a visit to the beach so we could take pictures of the Golden Gate ... and it was a perfect day to do so! The skies were clear, the sun was out ... and I couldn't have asked for anything else. So until next year San Francisco ...