Some people like to go sight-seeing when they travel to a new city. I for one am a different type of traveler: the friend-seer.
I planned my most recent trip to San Francisco to see a bunch of friends of mine that live out in the bay area. I have been to San Francisco before, but usually I stay in Redwood City with my parents while visiting my grandparents and I rarely actually get to experience anything fun in San Fran. So this time around I decided to make it a trip where I go to the city, get a hotel and not have to cater to someone else's schedule, and just do whatever it was that I wanted to do...and I did exactly that!
I arrived in San Francisco on Thursday night. I booked 3 nights at the Hyatt at Fisherman's Wharf, which I felt was an ideal location in terms of walking distance to places I'd like to go. It was also a really good deal for a Hyatt in San Francisco, largely due to my IBM discount (remember I used the same discount for my massive 30th birthday in Scottsdale last year). On Thursday night, I met up with Ashley, her coworker Kelley, and my friend Brian for dinner at E Tutto Qua, a quaint Italian restaurant along Columbus Ave in North Beach. I was able to catch some of the Heat - Spurs game there, sadly witnessing LeBron cramp up in the 4th quarter and the Heat would eventually lose game 1 of the 2014 Finals. :( Most of Thursday night was spent bar hopping around the Mission area and I was very drunk by the end of the night. :D
I spent most of Friday afternoon (yes, I maintained my sleeping habits this trip and would wake up around 11am everyday) exploring the city on my own while my friends were working during the day. I walked to Chinatown and grabbed fusion-styled lunch at The House, recommended to me by friend Tony. The meal was alright, but I think I should've gotten the salmon roll appetizer instead of sashimi. However, the grilled sea bass was amazing. I don't think I've ever had such a flaky, tender, and juicy fillet of fish before. I walked some more around the city looking for a jacket since I had stupidly forgotten to pack one and I knew I would want one at the Giants baseball game later that night. Most of the shops around Fisherman's Wharf were tourist shops where all the jackets had a SF logo on it. :/ Fortunately, I found one shop called San Frantastique that sold jacket/hoodies that were logoless and perfect for my taste! WOOHOO!
Later that evening, I had some drinks in the Financial District during happy hour while I waited for dinnertime. It was funny to see people all dressed up professionally in downtown and I felt a little out of place with my casual v-neck t-shirt and blue jeans. For dinner, I met up with Brian at Hog Island Oyster Co. where we had a table along the bay and enjoyed 24 fresh raw oysters! :P
Food is a big thing for me. I love trying food and will eat almost anything. Unfortunately my interests don't always line up with my friends who have a less broad palette of tastes, so traveling alone is sometimes better so I can actually try everything I'd like to. I'm glad Brian is a fan of raw oysters like myself. :) After dinner, Brian, James, and I went to the San Francisco Giants game where I treated my friends to the game. I got us tickets on the lower deck behind the Giants' bullpen and the seats were great! I also had Matt Cain pitching for one of my fantasy teams, which made cheering for the Giants even easier.
After the game, we got some drinks and then met up with some of Brian's friends. Although I think I drank too much throughout the day and had to call it a night at 1am. UGH. Maybe I'm getting old, or maybe it was too much food and drinking and not enough exercise. *shrug*
On Saturday I grabbed lunch with Sam who lives in Los Gatos. He drove up for the day to hang out and we did lunch at Tony's Pizza Napoletana. My friend Matt had actually recommended this place and I stumbled upon it on Foursquare with it's high 9.6 rating. We walked over at noon and waited in line shortly because we were okay with eating outside. Funny, only in San Francisco will you have a table that's slanted while you eat, lol. Sam and I share similar adventurous tastes, so we got the Guanciale pizza with quail eggs. :)
After lunch, Sam took me to one of his favorite little bars in Chinatown called Li Po Cocktails. It's really something you would probably miss if you walked by, but they have really strong Mai-Tai's there that were delicious. After a drink, I had plans to meet up with James and Mariana for dinner at Burma Superstar (yes, even after a full lunch I had a huge dinner just 4 hours later LOL). Burma Superstar is famous for their Tea Leaf Salad, which I tried and was pleasantly satisfied. I also got some spicy lamb curry and it was delicious.
Later that night, I had plans to meet up with Tony at Raven nightclub. I got there just before 10pm while Brian and Tony had not arrived yet. It was hilarious though. There were 3 large bachelorette parties going on and for a short while I was the only guy near the dance floor with maybe 20 or 30 ladies going crazy. You'll find a picture below. I drank 4 A.M.F.s that night and didn't feel that drunk...maybe my tolerance is too high.
And so concluded my last night in San Francisco. At this point I had seen 6 of the 9 friends I hoped to see (Ime was out of town, Vinh doesn't like going out, and Varian was too busy with family). On Sunday, I walked over to Brian's place near Polk street, which was a mile away from the Hyatt. I decided to take the scenic route though Lombard street on my hike over, which turned out to be a very challenging idea. The whole neighborhood around Lombard is so steep, and trying to haul my luggage around up and down the steep slopes was a workout. I ended up taking plenty of water breaks haha, and eventually I made it to his place after 30 minutes. For lunch, we grabbed sandwiches at Blue Barn, one of his favorite places to eat around his apartment. One thing I enjoy doing is visiting a friend, seeing how they live, and going to places they like to eat. That to me is the way to go; this is friend-seeing travel anyway! After lunch, my flight didn't leave for a few hours, so I did some work from Brian's apartment, played some PS3, and then left San Francisco in the evening.
This was a good trip for me since it was what I wanted to do and not so much what someone else wanted to do. So many trips I travel are for weddings, bachelor parties, birthdays, etc. And while that is all fun too, it's nice to be a little selfish when I can. Seeing my friends out here made me happy, 'cause without friends I think the city would've been boring (I'm just not into sight-seeing).
Anyhoo, upcoming I have...
Jun 13-15: City Pool Tournament in Tucson
Jun 27-28: USBC Open Championships in Reno
July 4th: Visiting Mike in Washington DC
...so expect more blogging to come in the near future!!!
Oh and by the way, I just coined the term
"friendseeing" on Urban Dictionary. :P
