San Francisco!

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The San Francisco trip was incredible! We did tons of eating, tons of shopping, and tons of sight seeing.

The first day, Mer and I explored the city and did a little shopping. That night, Jason came over from Berkeley to go out to dinner with us! We went to the Bluejay Café. I had crab cakes, they were delicious!

On Friday, Beth had the day off work, so Mer, Beth and I went shopping. We went all over the place! It was sort of a rainy day, so we tried to stay inside shops. I was feeling pretty sick that day. I was on antibiotics for my neverending cold, and had been feeling better the day we left for the trip, but the airplane messed me up! I couldn’t hear out of my left ear, which was pretty uncomfortable. We stopped into a pub and I had a hot toddy, and it definitely made me feel better.

We ate lunch that day at a little Italian place. I had sausage pasta. Mmm. That night, Jason met us out again, along with Beth and Renee’s friend John. We went to this restaurant called Chow. By then, I had called some doctor friends and picked myself up some Sudafed and some Mucinex, hoping to open up my ears. Dinner was delicious! Everyone kept telling me to plug my nose and blow to clear my ears, but I have a lot of trouble doing that because when I was about 10, I broke my ear drum. That was incredibly painful, so I’m always cautious about my ears these days. Anyway, after two beers, and the sinus drugs, I got a little bit braver and blew just a LITTLE bit harder. My ear unclogged! HOORAY! We had a big toast to celebrate. For dinner, I shared a pizza with Mer, and had a salad. We got awesome goat cheese for an appetizer.

On Saturday, we did a bunch more shopping! Renee, Pete and Dan came this time also. We shopped all day, but spent the afternoon at a pub enjoying amazing cheeseburgers. AMAZING ones. The Banana Republic downtown was the biggest store I think I’ve ever seen. The petite section was the size of the entire Banana Republic at Easton in Columbus! There were two stores, winding staircases, BATHROOMS. It was incredible. I bought some jeans.

Saturday night, we had cocktails at a fancy lounge, then headed to Suppenkuche, the traditional German restaurant. We had an AWESOME TIME! The bartenders were so nice, and they helped you decide which German beer you’d like the best from their extensive draft selection. I had Franziskaner, which was soooo good. Dinner was incredible too. We ate a ton of meat. We traded bites, and Beth’s was definitely the best. She was brave and ordered the “Roasted Suckling Pig.” It was SO good. The waitress was awesome. I asked her if the T-shirts they were wearing were for sale, and she said “Yes! They’re $20!” Then she whispered, “If you tell me it’s your birthday, I’ll just GIVE you one.” I replied, “IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!” Renee said, “It’s my birthday too! I’ll take a Medium!” Hah! Renee, Mer and I all got free shirts.

We also tried these shots called Underberg, they’re little bottles called “digestives.” They’re supposed to make you feel better after a hearty meal. They’re fun because everyone gets their own tiny bottle, and you POUND them against the table over and over again to shake them up. It’s fun because it causes a scene. Then you drink the whole bottle at once. It tastes like licorice and it really DOES make you feel better! After Suppenkuche, most people hung out, but Mer and I went to bed right away. We were so full from meat and beer!

On Sunday, we went downtown to the Ferry Building to see the bike race. It was the first day of the Tour of California, and there were tons of people there! We watched for awhile and then Mer and I walked to Fisherman’s Wharf to see the sea lions. They were the CUTEST. They’re so funny! I took some movies of them, check them out:







That afternoon, Dan had a barbecue! Beth got him some fancy meat for Valentine’s Day, so they grilled that up, along with a bunch of other stuff. It was fun to be able to grill out in February!

Monday was our last day. Mer and I walked to Golden Gate Park, which is HUGE! We went to the Japanese Tea Garden, and had tea and snacks and walked around and took one million pictures! It was beautiful. That afternoon we did some shopping, and for lunch we ate Belgian Fries! They had tons of dipping sauces to choose from. I had Curry Ketchup. YUM.

Monday evening, we went over to Beth’s apartment to have some beers. Her apartment is SO cute. Tons of pink and vintage! After beers, we went to Chow. I wanted to go there again because the first night was so delicious! This time we went to the other location, Park Chow. We got the best table, upstairs by the fireplace! More delicious food and beers.

On Tuesday, we flew home, and I wish the vacation would never end!