Flashback to December 2010, when Mikey and I arrived in San Francisco. We arrived on a thursday after a stunning whirlwind of preparation. My sister and our best friends drove us to the Asheville Airport, and on the way every moment felt heavy and epic. I tried to comprehend: "we're actually doing it, the round the world trip thing, this is us, doing it. Oh my goodness!"

The plane ride to San Francisco was quite possibly the worst I've ever had, due to the two year old sitting next to me. Little Johnny kept throwing his sippy cup full of milk at me, while crying and screaming. My patience was tested, and I was reminded why I don't have one of those little people of my own.

When we arrived in San Francisco, we took the BART to the Embarcadero, and walked 10 blocks or so up to the Fort Mason Hostel in the Marina. The hostel is set up on a hill where you can see the Golden Gate Bridge, the staff there is mostly friendly, and I recommend it.

We stayed in San Francisco for three days. One day we wandered around Haight Ashbury, as Mikey had never been there. We spent a long time in the costume shop, looking at capes :) Afterwards we walked through Golden Gate Park, and I kept saying, "I love this city!" The park is always the same, full of runners and ladies pushing baby carriages, people walking their dogs, homeless people asleep on benches or tucked into the bushes, people offering you every drug but mostly weed.

I showed Mikey where I went to school for a summer in 2007, at the American Conservatory Theatre on Grant Ave, and I was pleased with myself for remembering where everything is downtown. I was also reminded, as we walked around downtown, that Christmas shoppers are CRAZY.

We visited two Cafe Gratitude locations while in San Francisco. Cafe Gratitude is probably my favorite place to eat in the whole world. They specialize in raw food but have added some cooked food to their menu. Mikey and I had our 1 year anniversary dinner in Cafe Gratitude in the Mission. A mariachi band from off the street serenaded us as we ate.

The night before we left, Mikey and I ended up playing cranium in a bar in the Marina with three French girls. I thought, how can they play this game in a foreign language?

San Francisco is my favorite city, and I was glad to see it hasn't changed much. The crazies are still crazy, preaching on the BART and in the streets. The sensory overload is especially strong around Christmas, and you can still catch random whiffs of pot from undisclosed locations on the busy city streets. Never a dull moment, hee hee.