Wednesday March 25:
Drove up to Fremont in Mom's car. I love my mom but she's a consta-talker so I now must express thanks to everyone who worked on the Mamma Mia! soundtrack. It was one of the few CDs we could both listen to and it drowned out Mom's chatter nicely.
Arrived in Fremont around 1. Parked the car at Rhonda's (it's a complicated relation, suffice it to say she's family). Visited for about an hour over freshly baked chocolate chip cookies before picking up Laurise from school. Had spaghetti for lunch. Picked up Andrissa from school who was bummed because the only other girl on her wrestling team quit that day which meant to continue wrestling, she'd have to practice on boys which is not something she nor her father were keen on. Around 5ish Rhonda dropped us off at the BART station and we rode it into San Francisco.
Lugged our bags uphill from the Powell station to Union Square. Checked into the Westin St. Francis. Beautiful hotel. Mom loved the architecture and history. Great views. Unpacked and hit Cheesecake Factory on the root of Macy's. We sat outside which was fine while the sun was up but got a bit chilly after dusk with our frozen drinks.
Thursday March 26:
Caught a cab over to Golden Gate Park. Walked around. Hit the de young museum. Mom drooled over the Yves Saint Laurent collection (I'll admit it was amazing). Then we wandered through the Warhol exhibit which was a full sensory experience-- art, music, light installations, film, projections, etc. Pretty cool stuff and appropriate for the SF vibe. Enjoyed the rest of the museum. The coolest thing that we saw was the AL Farrow Cathedral piece-- made from 2,000 gun parts. It was incredible.
Walked next door to the Japanese Tea Garden. Snapped a ton of pictures-- all of the flowers were in full bloom, the weather was beautiful. Mom got a bit tired of posing and cranky when I made her climb the steep bridge but she got over it. Surprisingly I had zero allergy problems the entire time. Pollen must not be a trigger.
Went to Sears Fine Foods for dinner where we had the best gourmet burger ever. Kobe beef, aged white American cheese, on a bed of field greens. Delish! It was a slow night so the executive chef came out and chatted with us.
Tried to get Wicked tickets for that night but it didn't happen. On our way back to the hotel from dinner, we passed a Borders and I just happened to notice the sign in the window saying Amber Benson was doing a reading/signing at 7pm. It was 6:55pm. So of course I drug Mom in there. Our to-go desserts melted a little bit (hers: coconut flan, mine: hazelnut mousse) but oh well.
Back at the hotel we called it an early night since we'd gotten up so early and done so much walking. Mom got to watch her Thursday night shows (Grey's, Private Practice, etc.) Strangely the hotel's direct TV did not carry a CW affiliate so I missed Smallville. No big. On the plus side whoever had stayed in the room before me had DVR'ed the BSG finale so I watched that for a second time while enjoying a night cap and my soupy mousse.
Friday March 27:
Got up early again. Hit all of the Union Square shopping opportunities (Neiman Marcus, Saks, Macy's, etc). I didn't buy too much-- only a hoodie, a henley and a mark ecko bag. I tried on a wonderful Michael Kors dress that fit like a glove and was flattering to boot but was on sale for a meager $398. Yah, I don't wear dresses enough to warrant that.
Met Rachel for lunch. Rachel as in almost-sister-in-law, former roomie from SC, concert partner Rachel. We hadn't seen each other since after she graduated in 1994. It was awesome! We chatted and chatted and chatted. Mom hit the fabric stores while we sat in Union Square catching up. Did I mention we talked? Hehe. There's just so much that goes on over 15 yrs and I was fairly engrained in her family for so long that there was a lot to talk about. We barely scraped the surface! But it was kinda cool how alike we are on things over the years-- like our love of Shiraz and fascination with 12/21/2012.
Rachel headed back to UC Davis and Mom and I went to get changed for our cabaret show. Regina was supposed to have flown in the night before but a snowstorm in Denver caused all of the flights to get cancelled. So she was going to have to meet us at Club Fugazi.
The show, Beach Blanket Babylon was HIGH-larious! Oh my gosh, if you're in SF, I highly recommend making the time to catch it. It's a cabaret of popular culture and we all enjoyed it immensely. Afterwards, we went to an Italian restaurant (can't remember the name) for dinner. Regina and I had gnocchi which were delish. I forgot what Mom ordered. Wish I had been taking foodie pics all this time, all of the food we had was amazing. After dinner we walked around SF: saw the church where Marilyn Monroe got married, the oldest saloon in town. Caught a cab back to the hotel and hit the Clock Bar for late night drinks. Two Mary Pickfords and Mom and I were tipsy. The vibe was pretty cool in there though it surely was breaking some fire code for the amount of people crammed into such a small space.
Saturday Marcy 28:
Packed our bags and prepared for check-out. Met Regina at Sears Fine Foods (again) for breakfast this time. Had great conversation over sweedish pancakes and french toast. Unfortunately Mom had to work the next day and we still had to trek out to Fremont, spend some time with the Randall's and hit the road so our day was cut a bit short.
I learned that I LOVE San Francisco. Having now visted both it and LA as an adult, I can say unequivocably that I'm a SF girl. The surf may be better down south, the temperatures warmer but I felt completely at home in the hustle and bustle and culture of the city.
Here are the pics from the trip:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lystrahawk77069/SanFranciscoMarch2009
