We’d been looking forward to San Francisco for a very long time. We have both visited the city in the past, but never together. And this time we had some very good friends to see! The first hurdle in getting to the bay area was figuring out what to do with the bus. I ruled out SF completely. Just the thought of those hills and the density of people scared away any idea of trying to park the bus there. So we took to the Boondockers website for help and found it in Stockton! A couple weeks ahead of time (one of the most pre-planned parts of the trip), we secured a safe parking spot at a private residence a little over an hour away from the city. We looked into getting train tickets, but our friend was gracious enough to pick us up and take us back into town.

So we came to land in Trevor and Julie’s apartment on a Friday night, and as soon as we had arrived there a near-week of fun ensued. When Julie had asked me previously about what we’d like to do while in town, I replied with “Eat and drink.” By this point in the trip, Steven and I are more interested in enjoying our company than anything else. Especially now that we’ve reached the West coast, any thing that we’ve missed can easily be remedied with a couple days off work and a car to get us there quickly. I think Julie and Trevor were very glad to hear that, and we were all able to relax and go out without a plan, enjoying time spent together and whatever trouble we could stir up by the seat of our pants.

Some highlights of the weekend included lots of delicious food, both out and at home, two picnics at two different sunny parks, and rooftop shenanigans. There was a dancing robot, late night jenga, shipping container storefronts, and watermelon in my beer. And folks, that was just the weekend.

Things continued going well as my cousin Benjamin returned from out of town on Tuesday morning. It’d been too long since we’d seen him, and it was great to catch up. He’s been living in SF for a few years now and knows his way around town pretty well. While talking about Steven’s need for a haircut and the top dollar demanded from the local barbers, Ben volunteered to do the job himself since he does his own hair all the time anyway. We thought that sounded like a good deal so we made our way to his apartment. He also has a nice rooftop for hanging so we sunned ourselves before breaking out the clippers. I think he did a great job, and we ended the night at Julie and Trevor’s with homemade pizza.

All in all, SF was everything we’d hoped for and more. We hated to leave it and our friends behind but we feel good that we won’t be too far away. We ended the trip with one last meal out, then J&T drove us back out to Stockton, where our bus patiently awaited us and the journey north ahead.