BAY AREA!

After we wound our way up the gorgeous California coast we found ourselves in the Bay area. 

Over the years a lot of our close friends have relocated to the west coast and one of the best parts of this trip is that we are getting to visit these great people in their great cities (as opposed to waiting for them to have to come back through NYC for one reason or another… which is what we normally seem to do.)

San Francisco was our first stop – and we stayed with our dear friend Jessma who is there studying jewelry making.  Jessma lives on Nob Hill (and FYI, parking is really tricky in downtown San Fran) in a cute studio – and she was gracious enough to let us stay two nights – SLUMBER PARTY! Since we’re gentlemen we took her bed and made her sleep on our camping futon mattress (she insisted…).

The hills of city can be really intense to drive on – I had never seen anything like it.

We divided time in San Fran between doing some very touristy things, walking around the city and catching up with friends.

We walked around the water front, saw the Sea Lions on pier 39, climbed Telegraph Hill and took in the view and drove down Lombard Street.

Driving down Lombard Street!

Our first night there, Carly got us tickets to a preview of the new show at ACT, and while Jessma, Max and I went to that Sean met up with an old friend, Phil.

The weather over the weekend was beautiful and on Sunday Jessma, Ryan, Carly, Max, Nash and I had a picnic in Golden Gate Park.   The city really reminded me of New York in a lot of ways – and spending an afternoon picnicking and hanging out in a beautiful city park really made me feel like I was back home.  It was a perfect afternoon.

Our last morning in San Fran we had an amazing breakfast at Tartine, and explored Crissy Field.  Later that afternoon we headed over to Berkley to stay with my cousin Greg, his wife Katharine and their son, Jack.  Berkley was awesome – super beautiful – and it was so great to spend some time catching up with Greg and Katharine! I wish we had spent a little more time there (next time!!).   

The next morning it was time to venture north!!

Here is a photo we took of Nash that makes us laugh.