City by the Bay

We made it back from San Francisco safe and sound on Wednesday. The trip was awesome! We walked miles and miles taking in the sights, sounds and people of San Francisco. Even though we didn't make it on a wine country tour, there was more than enough stuff to cram into our six short days in the city by the bay.

Joe and I got into San Fran on Thursday, a day after most of the crew had already arrived. After some quick shopping on Ellis and Market Streets, we did a quick trip up to the Castro District and did some more touring around the shops. After dinner in the Castro, we relaxed in Hotel Fusion on Thursday night and prepped ourselves for a day of touring on Friday.
Friday morning, we all headed up the hill on Powell St. to a breakfast place called Roxanne's. Afterwards we took the Muni to Haight-Ashbury District and walked the length of Haight to Golden Gate Park. On the way, we toured lots of the quirky boutiques and shops along the way, where the guys found lots of things to check out. We caught a bus up to the Golden Gate Bridge and spent the remainder of the afternoon on the Bridge before taking a very crowded transit bus through Chinatown back to the hotel.





Friday night was the Blogger Reunion party organized by Darrin, Jimmi and Dan. It was in a bar near AT&T Park near Darrin's house. Joe and I headed home early as I needed to get some rest for the Pride 10K in the morning. Patrick had arrived at the hotel on Friday as well, but we missed him while travelling around on Friday night.

Saturday morning, Patrick and I took the train to Golden Gate Park for the annual Pride Run. It was a beautiful morning and approximately 600 people showed up to run either the 5K or 10K. I ran a 38:40 which was good enough for third overall and first in the Men's 30-39 category. Afterwards we hung around for food and medals and proceeded to work our way back to the hotel downtown to get a rest and some food before the festivities of Saturday night.

The gang broke into several groups for dinner and then rejoined before heading to the Castro again for the Street Party. They had closed down six or seven blocks of Castro St. where tens of thousands of revellers had collected to party, dance at numerous DJ stations, watch the 'shows' from the second-storey apartment windows and meet and visit new people. We stopped briefly at one of the blogger's condos nearby that Jeff knew for a bathroom break and a refill on the drinks before heading out on the street again. The Muni trains and buses were packed by the end of the night so we all proceeded to walk back downtown along Market.



I woke up Sunday morning near death. I had caught Skybar's cold and along with a hangover and the sore muscles from the day before, I had only enough energy to endure the Pride Parade and walk through the Street Fair at the Civic Center Grounds before returning to the hotel and bed for the rest of the night. The rest of the gang went out to a bar named Metro in the Castro. I wish I had gone, since that was the only night that Joe and I were there that anyone went out to a gay bar!

Oh well. Monday was my shopping day, and we hit up some stores on my list in SoMa and the Financial District. Monday night everyone was feeling pretty tired and we hit the sack early. Tuesday, Joe and I went for breakfast and toured through the Financial District to the Embarcadero and Ferry Terminal, took the trolley to Pier 39, toured around there then walked through the Anchorage and Cannery areas and Ghirardelli Square before catching the trolley back to the hotel. We finished off our shopping, ate Vietnamese and prepped for the trip back to Calgary.



All in all, a very interesting and exhausting trip. Six days flew by like that! It was fun to have all the gang together and I can't believe how quickly everything came and went. We have lots of memories and shopping items to remember the trip by!