Monday we met up with our friend Erin (and ex-Seattlite) and her new husband at their beautiful apartment in the Nob Hill neighborhood. It seems like everyone pays a crazy amount of money to rent or own in SF, and they are no exception. Her husband Martin is my kind of guy. Their place was stacked floor to ceiling with bike frames and parts. I pointed out to Jane that my habit wasn’t nearly so bad.

“See? Most bike people have way more than 2 bikes.” I don’t think it impressed her.

We cracked open some bottles of cheap Andre (extra dry, of course) and soaked in the sun on the roof of their complex. Martin had to go to work for an “emergency” Fox shock demo at his work, so he cut out early. The rest of us went to see Seattle’s The Dutchess and the Duke play a bar called Hemlock. An old friend of Jane’s named Adam met us and we all had a pretty great time. It was an extremely intimate set with a hundred or so crowding around the band playing acoustic without any amplification. Some of the songs gave me chills in a great way.

Tuesday we met up with Paul and walked down towards the Wharf to do some touristy stuff together. Erin rode out on her bike to meet us and show us where to get some clam chowder in a great sourdough bowl. Everyone else was disappointed with the amount of soup, but I loved the bread enough to not mind.

Across the dock was the Musée Mécanique. It was free to get in and had tons of old coin operated games and shows. We spent a long time messing around there, getting our fortunes told, playing games, and riding mechanical horses. It would have been an easy to miss attraction if Erin wasn’t there to show us where it was.

She rode out to a job interview from there, and Paul, Jane and I rode a streetcar back around the city to go visit the Castro district. There were penis chocolates to be eaten after all.

Erin met with us and showed us what turned out to be our favorite bar in the city, Zeigeist. They had pitchers of margarita, 5 dollar burger/homefry plates, and a huge patio with metal music playing. I was pretty stoked on that place.

Rabia met up with us and we had a Nova night at our hotel. That means that we ordered a pizza, bought some drinks and watched Nova on PBS. We are pretty much nerds. Mike rode out to join us in dorking out.

All I really remember about Wednesday can be summed up in one word. Burritos. Normally I ignore all “best burritos ever” comments because they come from people that haven’t spent any real time in San Diego or people that are vegetarians. These burritos in the Mission are legit. Believe the hype. Still, San Diego is better. Sorry, folks.

Thursday was a beautiful train wreck. Erin S. came out from Seattle to visit her Grandma in Palo Alto and we went to the park first thing after breakfast to … well… drink a little bit. It pretty much continued throughout the day and into the night. We took the BART (train/subway) out to Oakland to see Mikes band play and taunt the audience. The night was a little hazy. I think we got more burritos in the mission. I pretty much remember two crack head ladies doing the robot on the street corner. That might have been my imagination, but Jane confirmed it for me. Still, she might be messing with me…

Friday was thankfully more low key. We slept in a bit and grabbed some great breakfast at Boogaloos before driving down the coast a bit to soak in the sea breeze. It was a little too much breeze, but I’m not complaining. I think I was on day 4 or 5 of my short wearing reign. It was pretty awesome. I tanned up real good.

We picked up Mike and got some ice cream at a place called Maggie Mudd. It was delicious. Jane has been whining for a good banana split for weeks, and it really delivered.

We went back to Mike’s apartment and watched a movie called Southland Tales. I can’t even begin to describe how insane that movie it. It hurts my brain just thinking about it.

We finally went to Erin W and Martin’s for dinner that night with Erin S. To make it more confusing, the two Erins’ friend Aaron (sorry for the typo!) from Eugene came over as well. Erin W made the most delicious gumbo I’ve ever had. She is a teacher at the culinary institute there, so I figured it would be good… but wow. It was a 3 day process to make apparently. 1 with the stock and another for cooking down the rue. It was worth it. I’m hungry now…

They kept the drinks flowing (kind of a theme here?) and I kept bugging Martin about wanting to ride a bike of his. It was a single speed with swept back handle bars in a nice upright position. I’ve wanted to build something like this, so I was curious to try one out. He one upped me and suggested we try it on their 3rd story roof. We did scary little circles around and he snapped some photos of us being stupid. I’m hoping to get some of those soon. Did I mention it was scary?

The next morning we checked out and bid farewell to the city. I missed a turn out towards I-5 and ended up having to pay a second toll that day (I would have already had to pay one). We opted to drive to Eugene to visit some friend who just had a beautiful baby girl. They took us to a little restaurant and we got a chance to see how big she had gotten. Erin W was up to spend some time with her sick father so she came out with her step mom too. It was really a friend filled trip.

We drove up to stay the night in Hillsboro, OR with my mom again. We slept in Sunday morning and woke up to a pretty awesome breakfast. It was nice to be so close to home. We weren’t in a real hurry to get back, so we left around noon.

Norman greeted us at home with probably the best dish he has ever made. I can’t remember the name of it, but it was a french chicken dish that he spent a whole day on. Somehow the sun followed us too, because Seattle had record high temperatures for an April. It was a great way to cap a great trip.