Thursday afternoon Zach brokered a flight to San Francisco to some city in Colorado.  The jet was flying empty to San Francisco to pick up a client, so Zach and I, Zach’s parents, and Zach’s brother and sister-in-law all hopped on for a quick trip to San Francisco. I’m not the ‘last minute’ type and usually have a really difficult time going places on such short notice. I had plans to go up to Logan for the Senior Interior Design Exhibit, but was more than willing to make an exception for one of my favorite cities!

The Bay area holds a special place in my heart, considering I did an internship there at Mauk Design the summer before Zach and I got married. We both did internships in California, but Zach was over 4 hours away in San Luis Obispo working for Classic’s Hangar there. We met up almost every single weekend in Monterey, which was half-way between. That’s where he proposed.

We arrived in the evening to our hotel in Union Square and ate dinner nearby before rushing off to the Oakland A’s game. It was Mark, Jeanene, Rachael, and Chad’s first time riding the BART. We rode over to the Oakland Coliseum and headed over to the Team Shop for some A’s Gear. Turns out the beanies chosen by Chad and Mark were probably the best purchases considering they wore them several times during the trip. The A’s lost, but it was still fun to sneak into closer seats and do the wave/chant/yelling at the churro guy.

The next morning we rode the Trolley down to Fisherman’s Wharf. We ate delicious clam chowder and sourdough bread and then headed over to an even more poisonous area of town, Ghirardelli Square. We had ice cream, hot fudge sundaes, and bought way too much candy. The reality of our food choices hit us pretty hard, so we decided to walk the rest of the way back to the hotel. Then the girls and guys went their seperate ways: Girls went to the shops and the mall, the guys went to see a movie. Then for my FAVORITE part of the night: Foreign Cinema in The Mission – a must when Zach and I go to SF.  There were six of us, so we couldn’t all fit in one cab.  In front of the hotel was this extremely cheesy limo and they agreed to take us all for a sweet deal.  Zach enjoyed the empty liquor bar.

I had the most amazing Quail…yes, little baby birds that looked so helpless…but it was so good! I don’t know if everyone enjoyed the meal as much as we did, but it was a good time!

The romantic mood of the restaurant took a turn for the awkward when the movie that was playing started getting super scandalous. After our Journey home on the BART, we found a Coldstone. Yes, I had Cake Batter ice cream…I haven’t had it in over NINE weeks. It wasn’t as amazing as I remembered, sadly.

The final day we went down to the dock for a Ferry ride to Alcatraz. We were really shocked when we heard the tours were completely booked until Monday morning! So we missed our chance at Alcatraz, but we did enjoy some more amazing Seafood and Crepes at Pier 39. We even stumbled upon the same arcade game museum Zach and I had been to almost three years ago. We played games, old and new, and took some time to check out the ships and submarines.

After the Pier we walked as far as we could before we found a taxi…and then DROVE to Fillmore Street.  We shopped a bit, as much as the men could tolerate, and had dinner at Balboa Cafe.  Those were our last moments in the city, because right after dinner we had to head off to the airport.

Overall, the weather was AMAZING for San Francisco.  Not even a drop of rain the entire time; a modern miracle.  We had some awesome food, great company, and good laughs.  A perfect quick trip.  Thanks Mark and Jeanene for such a fun visit to The City by the Bay – we didn’t want to come home!