I'm glad you've found some peace. Maybe someday I'll find some myself.

The Blogathon continues. Get ready for the longest entry in the world (it should really probably be three separate entries).

Part of the reason Dante could justify his spring break jaunt to Los Angeles was because there was a major gaming conference in San Francisco, which is just a day's drive away. He got a student pass, and we decided to make a weekend of it.

Therefore, on Friday, Jenn and I took off work, Nick joined us, and the four of us packed up Jenn's car for the drive to Northern California. Equipped with Girl Scout Cookies, XM radio, and graphic novels (for Nick and Dante, anyway), we knew we'd be set. And, aside from a stop for Taco Bell, we powered through the drive. We took the highway route, which Jenn noted was full of "purple mountains majesty above the fruited plain."


After about six hours, we arrived at our hotel in San Francisco, the Embassy. It was not the nicest place (especially after promising us parking on the property, and then telling us it was full--don't worry, I "Jersey"ed them into a solution). And, due to the Grateful Dead concert that night, it was full of self-proclaimed "Deadheads." (Well, the ones that weren't too high to speak proclaimed it.)

We decided to wander around our area for dinner, since there seemed to be highly-rated restaurants every four feet. And Dante's roommate Mark was in the area for GDC, so we were able to meet up with him. After exploring for about 45 minutes (with a foray into a shop to buy hats!), we found a 50s diner. Then, everyone but Mark followed it up with drinks at a bar called Olive. Olive was a highlight for me, since they had cocktails without hard liquor. I hadn't been able to order a cocktail since turning 21, so I was very excited.

We told amusing stories in the bar until it hit midnight, and we realized we'd been awake and moving for far too long, and we were going to get up far too early to justify ordering any more drinks. Thus, we went back to the hotel for a few hours of sleep.

We had to wake up early to get Dante to GDC on time, so Jenn, Nick, and I basically guaranteed ourselves a long day of exploration. We somehow drove our way around the city's insane streets (comparable to Boston--the one-way streets are similar, but the steep hills replace the winding turns), dropped Dante off, and solidified our parking spot (rather aggressively, I might add), all before breakfast.

But, since the parking spot battle was so competitive in our hotel situation, we couldn't drive until we wanted to go home. So, it was walking exploration for us. But that's fine, because we're from Boston. Boston's a walking city. Hubris led us to believe we were made for this.

We started by walking toward Fisherman's Wharf, planning on finding breakfast along the way. It took an hour, but we found an amazing place, Miller's East Coast Deli, serving what we referred to as "East-Coast proportions." The food was delicious and plentiful...though it defeated Nick. For those who attend, I recommend the Challah French Toast, and would advise consumers (ahh...!) against ordering side dishes, as they are largely unnecessary.

Full to the brim, we figured the walk to Fisherman's Wharf would ease the over-eating guilt. Especially since it was largely uphill. It was nice, though--the weather (which had been predicted to be cold and windy) just got warmer and more beautiful as the day went on.

We made it to the Wharf, and spent a long time walking out on a giant pier, and basking in the sea breeze, plus the beautiful views of Alcatraz, the skyline, and the Golden Gate Bridge. This was my first time in San Francisco, and I was really excited to see all of these things. One goal we'd all set was to venture to the Golden Gate Bridge and walk along it, especially since it was my first visit.

When we consulted our map, it looked like the bridge was about the same distance away as we'd already walked. We figured, that was an easy walk, so we should definitely do it.

On the way, we stumbled into a lot of really fantastic things:

1) The park, full of random exercise equipment, views of the city, and sprawling grass where we could nap.

2) The Beach. I capitalize it, because I'm pretty sure it wasn't real. This probably stuck out to me as the most memorable view in San Francisco, because of how ridiculous it seemed. On the East Coast, a beach is a place to relax. But, frequently, that isn't how it turns out. People get sunburned. Kids annoy their parents. Couples fight. I'm not saying that's all the time, but it happens. These unpleasantries are as present as the pleasantries. Not on this Matri--I mean, "beach." We walked past (all at once): an elderly couple holding hands and smiling on a bench, a younger couple flying a kite, a little girl making a sandcastle, a man playing catch with his son, a few high-school age kids playing frisbee, several dogs off-leash and playing in the surf, a family on bicycles...and everyone was happy. This is not something I've ever seen before. It looked like a damn painting.

3) A pier with a Golden Gate Gift Shop (where Jenn purchased a fantastic sweatshirt), and sea lions just swimming around in real life!

It was about this time that we started questioning how long we'd been walking. The first walk seemed so much shorter than this one...but there were fewer distractions. We just kept wondering aloud, "How close is that bridge?" It didn't seem to be getting much bigger...and we really felt like it should have by then....But, it was too late to turn back.

So, we soldiered on, embracing the blistered feet and tired legs as a sign that we must be approaching it soon. Although, I admit, the stairs leading up to the bridge? Not exactly what we wanted to see.
We finally reached our destination (jubilation!), and we spent a long time soaking in the views, and discussing how more people jump off the Golden Gate than any other bridge. Fascinating stuff.

The timing was seemingly great, because Dante finished with GDC at that exact moment. Looking at our trusty map again, we noticed that Dante was about the same distance away as we were from Fisherman's Wharf. We decided to meet back there, and then hopefully meet up with Nick's cousin, who lives near San Francisco.

And when Dante was over halfway there when we were less than a quarter of a journey back, we knew there was a problem. And when we consulted the map again, we noticed a detail we'd missed all day: "Condensed Map." What we'd interpreted as under two miles, was four and a half. And now that we knew we had over four and a half miles to go (because the condensed part started way after the beginning of our trek to the bridge), we were suddenly hit by how long it was going to take, and how our feet were seriously in pain--and, more importantly, how we were definitely not going to make it back in time to meet Dante, Nick's cousin, and make our dinner reservation.

Our solution was to have Nick's cousin pick us up and drive us to the Wharf. Unfortunately, the Wharf has no parking, so Nick's cousin felt more comfortable going somewhere else, and the resulting difficulty finding Dante/a place for coffee made the evening a lot more complicated. It took too long, so we missed our dinner reservation--which we were able to push back. Finding a cab was near-impossible during the preliminary St. Patrick's Day celebrations, but we finally managed to, and sped to the Cliff House, which was our major splurge for the weekend. With upscale dining, fine wine, and views of the ocean, we definitely lived it up.

Sidenote: This Chardonnay was really, really good.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel and calculated our days' walk: eight full miles. And, having to wake up early once more to get Dante to his plane back to Boston, we went straight to bed. I don't remember the last time I've been so exhausted.

Jenn, Nick, and I planned to take advantage of the early hour again, this time to venture to Muir Woods, and then drive the "scenic route" home. But first, we had to check out, get the car, and navigate to the airport, in order to say a sad goodbye to Dante.

Now, Muir Woods is about half an hour north of San Francisco. Aside from a quick stop for Starbucks, we were there pretty quickly. It was unexpectedly busy, so we had some parking issues, and unfortunately, I did not get in for free for bearing the same name--though I did try.

It's surprising how much fun we had at Muir Woods. Just running around the trail, taking cinematic photos, and enjoying the scenery. Plus, I get street cred. for recognizing that it was totally Endor in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (confirmed by Nick's iPhone). We must've spent two hours with our photo shoot here, not to mention the Gift Shop.

Then, finally, it was time to go home. And, like the day before, our map-related decisions led to our own demise. We'd heard that the Pacific Coast Highway (commonly referred to as the "PCH," or "California One," if you like the Decemberists...which I do) had the most beautiful views you could ever see. Though we knew it'd be much slower, we decided to make the day a sightseeing road trip--it was only 1:15 PM, and there was no real rush to get home. A few extra hours of ocean and cliffside wouldn't kill us. We even stopped for an outdoor lunch in Sausalito, at the Paradise Bay.

We each had three glasses: water, soft drink, and an alcoholic beverage. It was silly.

Once back on the road, the views definitely lived up to expectations. Highlight for me: listening to "California One/Youth and Beauty Brigade" while driving on California One. It was...amazing. We stopped a few times to take pictures, all the while planning to turn inland once it got dark--since the other highways would be significantly faster, and every town we passed had a connection to at least one of them.

Alas, 'twas not so. It turns out that there's a stretch of the PCH that does not have any inland access...for 150 miles. And those 150 miles are unlit, on the edge of cliffs overlooking the ocean, filled with winding turns, so you really can't go above 40 mph. And that stretch is exactly where we were when the sun went down. The turns make it so that 150 miles don't get you very far. And worse, there's no cell phone signal--so not only can you not call/text anyone, but Nick couldn't see where we were on his iPhone's GoogleMaps app. We were cut off from civilization...and immediately put right back into our horror movie mindset (a la Mojave Desert).

When we did get stray cell phone service, we found out that not only was Dante's plane forced to do an emergency landing in Hartford due to unsuitable conditions at Logan Airport, but Liz, Liz, and Anthony were stranded in Los Angeles until Tuesday morning (obviously we gave them a place to stay!). And when we could check a map, we were always much farther away than we thought we should be.

All in all, with Jenn and Nick driving (I felt sick and ended up passing out), we made it to Los Angeles at 2 AM, after we spent somewhere around five useless hours on the dark PCH before we found a connection to the 101.

And had work the next morning.

What a relaxing vacation, hmm? The only silver lining is that it was now officially BULA's Spring Break, so we didn't have class this week. In true L.A. State fashion, however, relaxing didn't quite schedule into the weekdays, either.

Stay tuned for our St. Patrick's Day adventures, Erin's parents' visit, and more.

(If you made it through this lengthy entry, I applaud you and love you. You clearly love us enough to bear with me.)

--Lauren

Photo cred. in this entry is shared between me and Jenn.