Saturday:
- Pulling over on Treasure Island before continuing on the Bay Bridge to see the night skyline of San Francisco, with brightly lit ferry boats crossing under the distant Golden Gate Bridge, the air filled with the rich scent of the salty sea.
- Driving by Pixar Studios and seeing the larger-than-life lamp from the opening credits
- Stopping into random Irish pubs in the Inner Richmond district to find some beer and chips only to find that all of their kitchens were closed already. A bartender, upon seeing my Smitten with the Mitten Michigan t-shirt, asked if I was from Michigan, because she and the other bartender were both from Ann Arbor. “Yep, I just moved here tonight after traveling by train for three days!” She then proceeding to ask me what kind of shot I would like (Kamikaze please!), and so Jess, myself, and the bartender welcomed in our first night in San Francisco.
- Coming into our new home away from home (Jess’ friend Kevin) and seeing all of his Star Wars memorabilia, as he has worked for both Dreamworks and Lucasfilm, and has met George Lucas. Kevin, upon learning of my own geekdom, offered to take me to Lucasfilm when he is next invited to a screening. There I can not only see the Holy Grail from Indiana Jones but also Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber! Ah!
Sunday:
- Seeing Lucasfilm, the Yoda fountain, and Darth Vader and Boba Fett costumes!
- Hearing a street band play outside of City Lights Bookstore
- Walking through Chinatown and seeing old Chinese men playing their strange single-stringed instruments on the sidewalks
- Stumbling upon the Chinatown Music Festival to see a bunch of Chinese 5 and 6 year olds singing a Spanish counting song, followed up by a song about a monkey, complete with hand motions and kazoo playing. The last song of their performance? Singing in the Rain, of course! Nothing screams China like Gene Kelly.
- Eating delicious pizza in North Beach aka Little Italy, and then asking the waitress about good places to go dancing. She wrote us out an entire list of places to check out, when to go, if they have covers, and where all the hot guys are. She was the personification of a San Franciscan: she came specifically to SF from out of state, loved the city and wanted to share it with others, and was very friendly.
- Walking across the Golden Gate Bridge but not actually seeing it or the water below or the cables above. Hello fog!
Monday:
- Having some random guy on the street tell Jess and I after we were finally able to cross the street: “You two pretty ladies! I’ve never seen cars stop and wait for people to cross the street like that.”
- Hearing Russian, German, Chinese, and French all in one day
- Being on a bus filled with 20-something professionals and old Chinese ladies jabbering away
- Almost sliding right off my bus seat and into the aisle as we descended one of SF’s many steep hills
- Having a *hopefully* successful second interview at HarperOne
- Enjoying a happy hour beer and burger surrounded by the skyscrapers of San Francisco
Adventures in a Western Land 