This city. Our first time around, we were here for less than 48 hours – not even close to enough time to fully explore and appreciate it. Even now, at the end of our three day stay, I feel we’ve barely scratched the surface.

We did do a lot this weekend, even with our post-Yosemite exhaustion. So since I have nothing to do for the next few hours except sit on a bus, here’s a quick recap of our weekend in San Fran.

Day 9 // San Francisco, part two
We pulled up to our hostel on Friday way too early and way too tired. When we finally checked in and got our rooms around 11am, all we could think about was a shower and a bed. Three days without running water made even the tiny little hostel bathroom the most luxurious thing I had ever seen.

We didn’t do much that day honestly. We desperately needed some recovery time. After the greatest shower ever, we knocked out for most of the day. We finally got up around 4pm (only cause we were starving, I definitely could have slept till the morning). We got dressed and went to dinner in Chinatown at a restaurant the hostel had recommended called Hong Kong Clay Pot. It was good but nothing out of this world special which was pretty disappointing since SF’s Chinatown is supposed to be one of the best.

After dinner, we headed back to the hostel and met up with a few people from our Yosemite trip who were still around for another night. We hung out drinking and talking in the common room and then decided to check out this jazz saloon down the street. The place was actually pretty cool, very different from the typical bar scene. Much older crowd though but we had a big group and still had a great time. Zoe and I headed back to the hostel just past midnight. After randomly talking to some people who were hanging out at the bar next door and witnessing a drunk driver hit a cop car, we reached our level of excitement and called it a night.

Day 10 // San Francisco, part two (continued)
On Saturday, Zoe’s sister picked us up around 9:30am and we headed to Berkeley. Zoe actually has quite a bit of family in the Bay Area and it was her little cousin’s third birthday. We spent the morning at a park, playing around with little kids, and enjoying the sunshine. We left around 1pm and grabbed lunch at this little Middle Eastern grocery store / restaurant. We headed back to SF around 3 or so and drove around for a bit. Zoe and I had bought tickets for another comedy show that night so once her sister dropped us off, we took a power nap, showered, and headed out to union square. We grabbed dinner at this retro 50s style restaurant called Lori’s Diner. It was absolutely delicious and we ate way too much. The comedy show was just across the street at Shelton Theater, featuring the Secret Improv Society. We got there a bit early and just sat around at the bar. But the best part? Free Oreos while we waited. Brilliant.

The actual show though was sadly disappointing. Maybe it was just a bad night but we both felt like the cast didn’t have much chemistry between them and a lot of the scenes fell flat. I’d be willing to give it another chance because the reviews online were just amazing but unfortunately for us, that night just wasn’t the best.

We got out around midnight and since we had a big day planned ahead, we just headed back to our hostel for the night.

Day 11 // San Francisco, part two (continued)
My favorite day from the weekend. We slept in until 9am for the first time in the entire trip (what is my life right now that waking up at 9 counts as sleeping in…) and after a free hostel breakfast, we headed out to bike the Golden Gate Bridge. We rented our bikes from Dylan’s Tours because not only did they offer the cheapest hourly rate but they also had a discounted daily rate with the hostel so it was perfect for us either way.

We biked to Fisherman’s Wharf and down Jefferson all the way down the Golden Gate promenade and up the trail to the bridge. It was a beautiful and surprisingly warm day, up in the 80s and sunny. Even so, the bridge was foggy and cool. I was in shorts and a summery top but at least the exercise kept me somewhat warm. Biking the bridge was insanely cool. You couldn’t see much because it was so foggy but it was still an incredible feeling.

About halfway through, the biker in front of me braked suddenly and I couldn’t react fast enough. I stumbled off the bike, managing to jump off as it fell over. Lucky too cause I had my camera around my neck. Unfortunately the bike wasn’t so lucky. The front wheel was stuck at a weird angle from the fall. I stood there not knowing what to do as cyclists whizzed past me. It had all happened so fast and Zoe had been in front of me and had continued on without seeing what happened. The kid I had run into immediately hopped off and came over to apologize and help. Not that it was his fault at all but it was incredibly nice of him to make sure I was okay. He helped me fix the wheel, apologized again, and rode off. But as soon as I got back on the bike, I realized something else was wrong. I was trying to pedal but the wheels weren’t moving. I know nothing about bikes and helplessly stood there staring at the pedals trying to fiddle with the chains and wondering how I was gonna get off the bridge with a broken bike. Not a minute had passed than three cyclist came up to me and asked if I needed help. I told them the pedals weren’t working and they immediately got off their bikes and between the three of them fixed it in about ten seconds. After making sure everything else was okay, they sent me on my way. I was totally blown away from the kindness. This city is truly incredible.

I finally got to the other side where Zoe was waiting at the look out point. After a few pictures, we continued down the trail to Sausalito. We parked our bikes, bought our ticket for the ferry, and grabbed lunch to go while we waited.

We got back to Ferry Building around 3 and biked back to Fisherman’s Wharf. After dropping our bikes off, we headed back to the hostel to shower and get ready for that night. What was happening that night you ask? WELL. It turns out our friends from the first bus had finished their trip and were back in San Fran for the night! We were so excited to hang out with them since we thought there was no way we’d see them again any time soon. It completely made our weekend. We met up for dinner and then went back to the hostel to drink and hang out before going to a bar. It was Sunday and pretty dead but we still had an amazing time. We stayed till closing, took a cab back, and knocked out.

We had an early wake up call this morning cause our bus was leaving at 7:30am. So we’re definitely struggling a bit. After more goodbyes (for real this time cause most of them were heading to the airport and leaving America) we were off. I can’t believe how quickly this trip has gone by but I’m so excited for the next few days camping down the Pacific Coast Highway. I’ll probably write again from the airport on Wednesday night so until next time!