She's your friend; you should visit her.

While a busy week has prevented me from doing so before now, it's finally time to rewind to last weekend and tell you all about my fantastic trip to northern California. Due to the conflicting calendars of the people we were visting/who were visiting us, I ended up making a separate trip upstate from Lauren and Jenn, who experienced beautiful San Francisco this weekend. The occasion for my trip was my awesome Boston roommate Maddy's spring break, which brought her back to her hometown of San Mateo. Allie, fellow BU in LA-er and friend of Maddy, accompanied me on my adventure.

We left LA around 7:15pm on Friday night, armed with Lady Gaga cds and a bag of snacks to get us through our road trip. We set out in Allie's "mom car" (we use the term lovingly, her 2010 Dodge Journey rental was perfect for the long trip) and rolled in to San Mateo around 2am, where we were greeted by Maddy and her parents. After a brief sleep, we got up bright and early, ready to make the most of our short time in the north.

From the second we decided to visit, Maddy had an itinerary planned that would show us as much of the Bay Area as possible. We took a scenic ride along the coast, stopping at several beaches to admire the view.

Allie and Maddy at Ocean's Beach in San Francisco, our first stop of the day.

From Ocean's Beach we drove to Pacifica before taking Devil's Slide and Highway 1/The Pacific Coast Highway past Half Moon Bay all the way to Santa Cruz. The drive was absolutely gorgeous- driving along the PCH is something we've wanted to do ever since arriving in California, and I'm glad I got to do it in such a beautiful area.

We stayed in Santa Cruz for a while walking around and having lunch before heading back to the San Mateo area. We went to Seal Point Park, where you can see the entire Bay and San Francisco in the distance.

We spent our remaining time exploring San Mateo and seeing various places where Maddy has worked, gone to school, etc- it was great to be able to put an image to the name of these locations I've heard her talk about all the time.

Saturday evening we walked to downtown San Mateo and had a delicious Indian dinner at Bombay Garden and frozen yogurt from Yogurtouille (San Mateo's version of our beloved Yogurtland) before taking in a late 3D showing of Alice in Wonderland. Despite struggling to stay awake after a very long day, we all enjoyed the movie.

After a much-needed full night's sleep, we set out to spend Sunday exploring San Francisco. Our first stop was the Golden Gate Bridge! It was definitely number one on my list of things I wanted to do. We found a great drive-off point where you could take pictures and admire the city and Alcatraz from across the water.

Since that was our only pre-planned activity in the city, it was all exploration after that. We ended up driving to the famous Castro district to walk around. I think I can officially say I'm in love with San Francisco. It is a beautiful city with so much culture- every neighborhood has its own distinct feel, and the atmosphere and architecture are unlike any other city I've visited.

Amazing graffiti in the Castro.

After realizing we were super close, we set out on a new mission to find the Tanners' house from Full House (would you expect anything less from a TV major?). And, thanks to a little Blackberry Google magic and a GPS, we were successful!

After that, it was time to head downtown for lunch. I had made plans to meet up with my old skating coach and one of my favorite people, Beata, whom I hadn't seen in over four years. She used to teach me on the east coast but moved back to her home area of Oakland in 2005, and she was one of the first people I thought of when planning my NorCal trip. She met us at Mel's Drive-In, a great 50s themed diner, and catching up with her was absolutely a highlight of the weekend.

We weren't ready to leave San Francisco, so we decided to take a detour and hit up a few more of the major tourist attractions. We drove down by the water past Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf, admiring the cable cars along the way.

Sadly, it was then time to bring Maddy back to San Mateo and grab our bags for our long journey home. After a sad goodbye, we left around 4:30pm, stopping for gas and Starbucks before another long drive. The drive is a long one, and 250/375 miles are on I-5, a straight, dark road with not much around, but Allie and I kept each other entertained with the help of the radio, Gaga, and Justin Bieber (that one is all Allie's fault). We finally succeeded in our quest for In-N-Out in Kettleman City, about 2 hours north of LA, and also followed the Oscars on Twitter. We got home around 11:30, just in time to get a full night's sleep before another long week of internships and classes. All in all, it was an absolutely fantastic weekend- I can't wait to return to San Francisco for a much longer visit sometime. I've been told repeatedly that it's one of the most beautiful cities in the US, and I now understand why. And we were fortunate to have a wonderful tour guide who knew her way around the area and welcomed us into her home- thanks, Maddy!

Stay tuned for so many more LA adventures! It's been an eventful week filled with east coast visitors.

-Erin