San Fran – part 4

Woke up in the morning with sore thighs (Ugh – the hills are so steep in SF) but ready to do some more exploring. Our hostess and host had to work all day so Gerry and I decided to wander…

It was a BEAUTIFUL day for walking around …

First we hit Herbivore for a big breakfast and then walked into Haight-Ashbury to see what all the hub-bub was about.

Lots of pretty houses. Lots of bong shops. And I was excited to stumble onto a Bettie Page clothing store where I proceeded to try on every dress they had in stock. (Poor Gerry. Thank goodness they had a “husband couch” in the back for him to sit on.). There were at least 5 dresses I wanted but calmer heads prevailed and I settled on a pink and black Summer Breeze dress (only mine has a full skirt instead of a pencil).

I also bought a Lux Deville clutch purse

eeek it’s so sparkly and pretty.  🙂

Completely satisfied with my purchases (no buyers guilt at all – I’m on holiday!!) it was now Gerry’s turn to do something fun so we hit up a bunch of tattoo shops. Introduced ourselves to other artists and chit-chatted about tattooing. Mostly I looked at my iphone while Gerry and his buddies gossiped about ink and needles.  🙂

They all kept asking us if we had visited China Town yet. Neither Gerry or myself were very interested … We have a large China Town in Vancouver and a really beautiful (and incredibly tiny) China Town in Victoria. We felt like we could skip it and it wouldn’t be a big deal but everyone we talked to insisted that we visit. So we did.

It was really pretty …

But like every China Town I’ve ever visited it was full of tourist stores that sell crappy plastic trinkets.

I actually ended up being a tourist and buying FOUR “San Francisco” aprons because they were so retro looking and cute *laugh*

But we left kind of “meh“. Maybe if we had gone on a tour with a guide who could have filled us in on the history – it would have been more interesting.

We tried to find something to eat in the area but with my “no gluten or soy” rule it was really hard so we walked to the downtown location of The Plant (which we had tried to go to the day before) and walked in the door about 3 minutes before closing (phew!).

They have a really nice menu with GF and Vegan items clearly marked (oh how I appreciate that). I had a Green Curry vegetable dish (sans tofu) that was quite good.

Gerry had a “Plant” burger … that was yum.

Then we hopped on a cable car (Gerry had never been on one) and we took it straight to the top of California Street. I don’t know if you can see it in the photo … but the hill was so steep that it looked like we were in the movie Inception and the road was coming up to fold over us.

Gerry was scared shitless the entire way. *laugh*

We headed back to Jane’s to chill out and have a nap before dinner but we ended up cuddling with the dogs instead.  🙂

The Twins (aka Malcom and Angus) are hairless crested rescues and I was warned that they were a little neurotic … but they weren’t as bad as I thought they were going to be.

Perhaps because I came with treats … that broke down the “I’m not sure about you” wall pretty quickly.  🙂

Geordie (a greyhound rescue) is super mellow and likes to watch everyone …

I tried to give him some attention but The Twins really took all my attention. In fact they insisted on it. *laugh*

Then it was time to go to Millennium for dinner!! I’ve been to San Fran 3-4 times doing book promotions but I’ve never had a chance to go to Millennium … so it was really wonderful to be able to share the experience with Gerry, Jane & Travis.

The restaurant itself is beautiful!!

And the food was sublime.

Dear Lord. I wish I had worn my eating pants! *laugh* We ordered A LOT of food and then suddenly all these other dishes started showing up. Gifts of food from the staff of the restaurant!! It was so nice of them.

I also met a really sweet woman (Sorry. I’ve forgotten her name. Bad Sarah.) who I believe was the bartender who told me how much my books meant to her. It was so lovely to hear and she made me a CRAZY yummy drink with ginger. Gosh it was good.

Millennium lived up to their reputation and then some. The entire night can be summed up by two words. FOOD ORGY!! 🙂

Best of all I had a bit of a perfect moment. Do you ever have those? Where suddenly you’re IN YOUR BODY and you realize how present you are in the moment. That you can hear, taste, feel everything and then time stops for a second so you can appreciate where you are?

I looked across the table and saw the love of my life (and best friend Gerry) and to my right was Jane…

Excuse me for a second while I geek out: If you had told me when I was a teenager that I would be friends (and having dinner) with Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Go’s. My 14 year old self would have told you to “shut up!” and then she (I) would have started bawling with joy.

I used to look at photos of the Go-Go’s in magazines and think “I could be friends with them. I bet they’d like me.” and now here I was out for dinner with Jane and she is even cooler and sweeter in person. Dreams do come true kids.

I also used to think that Matt Dillon would want to be my boyfriend if he met me … that hasn’t happened yet but I think there is still time.  🙂

It was a night full of laughter, food, groans of ecstasy and more food. It was a WONDERFUL night.

We crawled back to the car and as soon as we got home – I un-did my pants … and fell into a food coma.  🙂

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