Anniversary

This weekend was my fifth anniversary with my girlfriend. She and I went down to San Francisco this weekend to have fun and celebrate.



We left Friday after work. We drove down and found a parking garage around the corner from the hotel we were staying at, which was located 1 block from Union square in downtown. We checked in and wandered off to go find dinner. We took a taxi ride out to a club called Kelly's Mission Rock, out to the east on the bay. The website indicated that there was a restaurant there, but when we arrived near nine at night, there appeared to be only security guards/bouncers at the entrance. We asked if there was food and they said no, so we ended up having the cabby drive us back to union square and dropped us off back where we started for about 25 bucks. :(

We asked a local hotel for suggestions and went to a sea food restaurant, because we are on the coast and fresh sea food would be good (thanks for planting the seed for that one, dad). We walked in and got seated and looked at the menu: very expensive. Lucy had a thought, maybe this is one of those places that charges you a lot for a very small amount of food, and both of use were hungry enough to eat half a cow. We stood up and walked out, and went to an Italian place down the street. This meal was most excellent! Absolutely fantastic! The muscle appetizer we got came with 'classy' fries wrapped in newspaper and stood up in a conical holder (pictures coming soon). The meal was excellent, the waiter was very nice, and we had a great time. We had dinner there for at least two hours, and left after midnight to go to the hotel and sleep.

I awoke early, after the alcohol was done processing in my body that usually happens, and went out to get us coffee from starbucks (it was the only thing around) and met Lee on the street out front on my way in. I stopped and talked to him for a moment on my way out and got his picture (coming soon).

We went out and wandered around downtown, got muni (public transit) passes for the weekend, and then I believe we hiked into China town, which was only a few blocks north of our location. We found the same little baggage store we went to shortly after arriving in California the first time, and bought Lucy a new purse/bag, and I picked up a new camera bag for cheap too! The zipper on it will likely not last a month, but it only cost me 10 bucks, so whacha gonna do?

We then caught a trolley and rode it north to Ghirardelli Square, where there was a chocolate festival. They wanted 10 dollars for 6 tickets for tasters of various things. I said no, as for 10 dollars I could buy a lot more chocolate than 6 tasters of things. We walked by the tents and looked, and wandered to an upper area where there was more tastings and passels of people. I bought a tube of chocolate covered coffee beans. :)

We then stopped in a bar for a beer and an aperitif, but the muscles we ordered there were no good, the one I grabbed was still covered in ice! We sent them back and paid our bill and left. I had been watching the wind blow the people outside and was upset with myself for not having packed anything more than a dress shirt for warmth. I decided that I needed to buy myself something warm.

We caught a bus back to Union Square and were wandering around trying to find the North Face store we had seen earlier in the day, and wandered by the Oakley store. I am a sucker for Oakley glasses so I had to stop in for moment. I found this awesome old skool military style jacket and decided as soon as I put it on to get it. It ended up being way cooler than anything else I found in any of the stores we went to for the rest of the weekend, was seriously warm, and looked ultra cool! I am so pleased with my purchase. I am glad I didn't pack appropriately. :) Interesting, isn't it?

We were running out of time and hurried back to the hotel to change and catch a 5 dollar taxi ride to the comedy club where we went to see Paul Mooney, the guy who did negrodomus on comedy central's chappell show. It was a pleasant evening and the comedy was good.

We ended up in another Italian place for dinner. While sitting there I noticed someone walking by who looked familiar. I thought about it hard for a moment and then said to myself, "Breck!". I jumped up out of my seat and ran out the building and yelled "Breck!" at the guy. After a second or two he stopped and looked back, slightly confused like. I said "Do I know you?" as I approached and he said "I don't know, maybe..." and then he recognized me. He is someone I know from my private (nearly Mormon) high school in Utah. He has only been living in the city since June, and came from graduate school (architecture) in Georgia. We chatted for a moment
and traded #s and then I went back to dinner. Maybe next time I am in town I will get together with him, this weekend was about me and Lucy though. We caught the bus back to the hotel and went to bed.

The next morning we slept in, got up, and after putting our stuff in the car we went for breakfast. After that we wandered the shopping district, going into ultra fancy clothing stores and looking at things we cannot buy. It was fun. We then went back to Kelly's Mission Rock to hear some good beats that were going to be played there all afternoon/evening. We milled about for a while and then wandered over to a nice sitting area in the outside of the club that was right on the dock area. There was a bouncer there guarding the entrance and we asked if this was a VIP area. He said, "In about 20 minutes it will be, but you are alright now, go ahead", so we went in and sat and mingled and drank and danced and we were VIP for the rest of the night. We were able to come and go in that area all night long! :) That was pretty cool, even though it means nothing at all. We met some nice people, one really good dancer, an Asian from LA, and then headed out around 7ish I think. I passed out in the car and slept all the way home.

We had a great weekend and lived it up in San Francisco. It cost a lot of money, but I told Lucy our mantra for the weekend was, "It's our fifth anniversary", so pretty much anything went, cost was only a consideration in trying to keep things from getting out of control outrageous, but pretty much we did what we wanted to. It was a nice feeling, and we lived like ballers (for the most part) for the weekend. It made me glad we don't live there though, as everything there was so much more expensive than it really needed to be. I love the city but really am glad I don't live there. It would be fun, but it would be really hard too. I guess that is why there are so many people leaving the bay area and moving to the outlying areas, like Sacramento. It's just too expensive to be able to afford to live in the bay area.

Hope you had a good weekend too!