We took off not so early on Friday morning for San Francisco. Our plan didn’t leave until 9:40, so Brent and I took advantage of the time we had to relax before our trip. The plane ride was nice and quick as it was a direct flight down there. We arrived and our friend picked us up from the airport. It was so good to see her and her almost 8 month old son, my buddy (Josiah). We actually flew into Oakland, so we headed over to Berkley to see where our friend’s husband works and to pick him up. They were nice enough to drive me into downtown San Francisco to go to my race expo. (There will be more on that when I post about the marathon). We hung out at the expo for a couple hours and then made our way out of town to go back to our friend’s house, Emi and David. It was so great to start catching up on life as they had moved away at the beginning of June from Bozeman. It really made me miss all the times that we hung out. I love good friends! They decided to take us out to an all you can eat sushi place which Brent absolutely loved. It was great food, but I didn’t over indulge as I wanted to have a good day before race day. At dinner, when I was finished eating, I took my little buddy and me not being a mom, I didn’t move any thing out of the way on the table. Two seconds after I was holding him, he found my ice water and dumped it all over us. It was so funny. The servers all rushed over to help clean up the water, but all I could do was laugh. It didn’t seem to bother Josiah at all. One of the best babies I have ever been around. We left and went back to hang out at their home.
Saturday we decided to have a touristy day and went into the city to hang out. We went to most of the iconic places to see, Lombard Street, Golden Gate Bridge, and so on. It was a beautiful clear day. After wondering around for the day, we made our way down to Fisherman’s Warf where we ate our clam chowder in the sourdough bread bowls. It was delicious. We wondered around some more before our friend’s went and dropped us off at our hotel we had reserved for race night. I wanted to be close to the start so that they didn’t have to try and get me into the city early in the morning. We checked in and dropped off our stuff before Brent and I headed out the door to go meet some of our other friends. Since I already had dinner, I treated myself to a little dessert as we watched our friends eat dinner. We hadn’t seen these friends in over a year, so it was great to catch up for a couple hours. Luckily I had plans to spend two days with my friend, Christina, later on in the week after Brent left town. Brent and I went back to the hotel so I could try and get a decent nights rest.
I woke up early race morning…but the rest of the race details will have to wait till a later post.
After the race, Brent and I walked 3! miles up to the top of Golden Gate park to meet our friends. Traffic was busy close to the finish, so we didn’t mind a walk and it was a nice cool down from the race even though I had finished two hours prior. It was a beautiful walk as the sun was starting to come out. We chatted with another couple that was walking back from the race as well. We met up with our friends and relaxed in the park. My friend had brought us lunch so we had a picnic in the park. We were next to the carousel, so we all went for a ride with Josiah before heading out of town. Not before we drove by the Painted Ladies. We went back and relaxed at there house for a moment. It was nice to sit down on a couch for a while. We then went out to have dinner at In-N-Out because I needed to have a true California experience by eating there. It was my first time. Brent’s friend came and met us for dinner. It was great to see him and Brent really enjoyed catching up with him. I almost forgot how many people we knew that lived around the bay area. We headed back to get some early shut eye as I was exhausted and Brent had to get up early for his 6 am flight. Thanks to our friend again for waking up extremely early to take him to the airport which was a 45 minute drive away.
Monday and Tuesday were my days with my friend, Emi and my buddy Josiah. We went for a tour at the Jelly Belly factory, went to an Asian market which I love because it is hard to find things in Bozeman, made and awesome curry together, watched a chick flicks, went on walks, and just hung out. It was a great relaxing time. Not that often that I get to actually relax on a vacation.
Wednesday Emi took me to the Bart, the train system, so that I could make my way to hang out with my other friend. It was an hour ride to the minute. I took that time to read a book. Good thing that I decided to bring one. I hung out with my friend Christina in San Francisco for a few hours. She took me to some of her favorite places. Favorite coffee, ice cream, french macaroons, beach and more! Then we made our way to her house to walk around and explore. We ate Burmese food which was delicious. We went back to her place and watched a move together and relaxed.
We woke up at a decent time so that we could go explore San Jose, a vineyard, Santa Cruz and my favorite have dinner at the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay. We went to her favorite taco truck turned into an actual building because they did so well. We hung out on the beach for a couple hours where we saw some seals play just off of the shore. At the Ritz Carlton, Christina is an awesome Pastry Chef here, we were served an awesome seven course meal. I felt out of place surrounded by rich people, but it was such a blast. Her co-workers treated us so well. Did I mention that we only had to pay for the main course?!?! Loved it and my time with my friend.
She took me to the Bart and I rode back to my Emi’s house. I got in later than I had originally wanted to only because I had to wake up for the early flight. Emi woke up at 4 am to take me to the airport where we were able to chat some more before I took off. I loved my time with my friends and Josiah loved me too! It was great. I miss hanging out with all of my friends, but am excited as Emi and Josiah are coming out here in a few weeks to visit. Hopefully I can convince Christina to come and visit soon as well.
I could have gone into so much more details about the trip, but here are some pictures to help you get a better idea of what I saw and did. The trip was great!
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