San Francisco (Vacation Pt. 1)

The summer semester ended last Monday, but before the grades were in we were already on our way out of town for a week of coastal adventure. We left on Friday the third, headed for a couple of evenings in San Francisco to start. That evening we met my friend Wendy and her boyfriend Stuart. It had been almost a year since I had seen Wendy, the only high school friend with whom I keep in touch. It was really fun, we headed to the Castro neighborhood where we grabbed a bite to eat and caught some singer/songwriters at Cafe du Nord. It was a good space for bands and we really enjoyed seeing live music (something we miss in Eureka).

Wendy and Stu




The next day we decided to take it easy and concentrate our explorations to the Mission neighborhood. It was fantastic! Bustling with a very diverse crowd, although I must admit we embraced the Mexican influence wholeheartedly. Our first stop was La Taqueria where we ate some yummy tacos (breakfast!)




We cruised down Valencia St and Mission St, sort of zigzagging around. After a good cup of coffee we headed for the Mission de Dolores and the accompanying park where we relaxed with all the picnicking locals.




We wondered around looking for murals and got lucky at 24th and Balmy, incidentally I also enjoyed a super delish burrito at Taqueria Vallarta at that same intersection. Here's some samplings of the street paintings:

Homage to ancestors






Homage to Mexican Cinema




Homage to Women Artists



You know this one!



We headed back to the hotel early and took a quick nap before meeting up with Wendy, Stuart and their friend Yoichiro for some good Thai food in the North beach neighborhood.




After dinner we hung at a place called Specs. We walked home which was quite fun in a group. Chinatown was totally deserted, it was almost eerie. Originally, we had planned to go sailing with Wendy on Sunday, but were also eager to keep going South before dark. The sailing excursion was to last until around 6pm... too late for us. We met up with Yoichiro instead in Japantown for a tasty lunch before heading down to Santa Cruz.

CD with the Japantown Pagoda