Well, I suppose I should do a San Fran update! Um, well...the whole trip was just sosososo amazing and good for me. It was exactly what I needed right when I needed it. I was on top of a mountain, on the beach, inside of a redwood tree, inside a prison cell, pretty much living in Amoeba Music, at an earthquake party, watching way more Gilmore Girls and SVU than is probably healthy, dancing with motherfucking Blake Sennett and feeling great about life 24/7. I love to travel by myself because it forces me to act as my pure self and nothing else. I don't have to worry about the preconceived notions of people I know, and I don't have anything to rely or lean on. It's just me and the world, take it or leave it.

April 16:
My flight was at 7:30 Easter morning, so needless to say I was incredibly tired and the sheer length of the flight took its toll on me. I felt like a 7 year old, I was so excited and anxious to get to San Francisco! Once I did get there, I was so happy to be met by the little seen face of my cousin Andrea and get into a car whose stereo was playing Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Everything was so green and pretty and the citizens of the Castro were out in full force for Easter brunch. I've never seen so many Easter bonnets!

obligatory out the plane window picture!

again!

just one more.

April 17:
The day started off at China Beach which was beautiful and then we proceeded to some shopping in the Haight. I've never felt more at home than when I was in the Haight. I could just feel energy and passion and youth all around but at the same time there was a cool slacker element to it. All I know is that I could very easily live the rest of my days in Amoeba (aka heaven), and that my prom dress is amazing. Then we ate lunch in North Beach and I saw where the whole beat culture came to life. Then a quick stop at Fisherman's Wharf (aahhh! tourists!) to pick up Alcatraz tickets. Thennn we headed down to Bottom of the Hill to the Say Anything show to find that it was sold out. I was pretty bummed, but when we got home I had two voicemails to cheer me up one from Shaant from CIWWAF and the other from Greg Wood from Punchline. And we ended up having dinner at a taqueria where Beck once played an impromptu set only to be confronted by an angry mariachi band, so all was not lost!

this was my first time seeing the golden gate bridge!

china beach.

it's all about the sea foam!

sea lions, man...sea lions!

fisherman's wharfff.

it looks like disneyworld.

i blame the lack of say anything tickets!

April 18:
Easily one of the best days of my life. I was at complete ease with the world and myself, with only The Elected, a five pound bag of jellybeans, some good company, and sheer nature to blame! We drove over the bridge to Marin county to take a little hike through Muir Woods where all the Redwood and Sequoia trees are and then drove all the way up Mount Tamalpais to be met with one of the most amazing views I've ever been witness to and then all the way down it to Stinson Beach where I went in the Pacific Ocean for the first time in my life. And we ended the day at an earthquake party, because it was the 100th anniversary, at which I ate the most sinfully horrible pizza ever, viewed the most amazingly bad movie ever, inadvertenly became a very creepy person and ate jello!

ggb!

i love this bridge a lot.

hey there's the bay bridge!



see guys, i was really there!

haha, i'm wearing that shirt right now.

howdy sailor!

muir woods.

i couldn't stop taking pictures.

aww yeah!

i've never been so completely fascinated by nature.

so, funny story...this little kid is like chasing this poor little guy around going, "CHIPMUNK, WHAT'S YOUR MIDDLE NAME?!"



furthering the bear agenda...much to stephen colbert's chagrin!

climbing mount tam...everything was so green. i was trying to get the vultures, but err...failed.

from the top!

you could see everything.




stinson beach.


it was cold.

baby in a wetsuit!

these are from the top of a little look out point that Andrea took me to.


there's just nothing but ocean for miles and miles...it's overwhelming.


probably my favorite picture i've ever taken.


hey guys! i'm in a WWII lookout bunker!

this reminds me of neil young's greendale.

April 19:
Alcatraz was pretty cool. I felt like I got a lot more out of the tour than most people might because of American Studies, Parisi would have been proud. There were just too many people there though, there were lots of nuns! Afterwards we went to Hard Rock for appetizers and had the biggest tool of a waiter ever.








bay bridge

haha, freedom?

the warden's house.



yeah, AIM!

April 20:
I've never been so excited by art before! We spent a ton of time in the SFMOMA and I pretty much bought out the entire gift shop for Caroline and Robert. Took it easy after lunch and watched Tivoed episodes of Gilmore Girls and SVU and then went to pick up Aunt Susan and Uncle Andy at the airport. They took us to a diner for obligatory cheese fries and gravy (don't hate of the cf&g!) And we drove home through the Tenderloin, which was interesting because of its proximity to the really touristy area of San Fran. No pictures for some reason!

April 21:
My last day in San Francisco made me just oh so content and thrilled to be alive and in love with music, but mostly just in love with Blake Sennett and beautiful strangers. We spent the morning in the Mission, got coffee and did some shopping. Aquarius Records was pretty amazing...if I had a record store, that's what it would be like...except with lower prices. Then we spent the afternoon shopping in Union Square with Aunt Susan after lunch at a really nice Southeast Asian restaurant. We hit up Nordstrom and Anthropologie (two pairs of shorts for $40...aka steal of the century!), and quite a few shoe stores. Then we met Uncle Andy back at their hotel and ate at the hotel restaurant, Cortez, which was way too pretentious for my tastes, but the food was good. And then...and then...THE ELECTED SHOW! For those of you who may not know, The Elected is Blake Sennett, the guitarist from Rilo Kiley's side project, and Andrea and I are both majorly obsessed with RK, Blake, The Elected...pretty much the whole shebang. Oh, and not to mention the fact that Blake was Ronnie on Salute Your Shorts and Joey the Rat on Boy Meets World, yesss! The minute we walked in, Norfolk and Western was playing and Blake comes over from the bar and starts dancing with us, and we pretty much died and spent a good ten minutes freaking out. But, that aside, the show was so good. Jake Bellows from Neva Dinova played a solo set which was amazing. And the Elected put on such a mindblowing show it was ridiculous. The chemistry between Blake and Mike Bloom is a beautiful thing, and they're just such honest to goodness talented musicians. I knew they would play a good show, but I never imagined it would be THAT good! So, after the show was over I was approached by this gorgeous boy who comes over to me and says something to the effect of, "I was sitting in the back doing some sketches and I drew this for you," and hands me the sweetest sketch of myself, and I like automatically fall in love and go crazy over this guy thanking him and dying and then he's gone and I don't even know his name and I'm stupid and didn't have him sign his sketch and now I'll never see him again, ever. But still...wow. Haha, so after that we went over and talked to Blake for a while and took some obligatory pictures and realized that three so unphotogenic people should never be in a picture together and cracked up at the hideousness of about 30 previous attempts before finally getting a halfway decent looking photograph. He was just such a nice and geniune guy who seemed to always be having a good time and didn't mind having a real conversation with us. It felt so good. We got home at 1:30 (which made it officially Andrea's birthday!) and had to leave at 5:15 for the airport the next morning which meant getting less than an hour of reluctant sleep. And then I went home, and that was that!

haha

no seriously...hahahaha!