Not yet named travel entry: A wondrous weekend West

I spent a lovely weekend before my birthday in San Francisco where my fellow traveler and I went there to celebrate a friend's son's first birthday.

Party planning always includes a foray to the beach
(Aiden, Brigid and Hilary)

We knew that we would be heroes if we could figure out a way to get out to San Francisco for the little one's birthday.  When the save the date came out, about 6 weeks before the party, the airfares were outrageous - $400 round trip.  However I was determined to get there; I missed Brigid's (the mom) visit for Hilary's (the follow traveler) birthday in early February because of a long standing commitment in Killington, VT. So, I wanted to make things right with the world. 


I'm an avid fan of Airfarewatchdog. I've signed up for their alerts for many different trips: San Diego, Austin, Boston and always San Francisco. About 10 days before the party, an alert came through for  $248 tickets round-trip to San Francisco for the weekend on Delta. Within 30 minutes for getting the notice, I confirmed with Hilary that she still waned to go and bought the tickets.

Happy 1-year old baby faces.

We flew in on Friday afternoon and red-eyed home on Sunday.  We landed in time for a nightcap at our hotel, the Palace Hotel, on Market Street. (My home away from home in San Francisco.)  We made sure that we touched based with Brigid to help plan for the party.

San Francisco is always on my favorite places in the world, and during the first weekend of March this year, it was also incredible warm. Days were in the 70s, which meant, Brigid's mandatory evenings at the beach.  Not that it was any hardship.

The days were clear and sunny.  Such a treat for March in San Francisco!  We could see with our unaided eyes the Farallon Islands which are usually enshrouded in fog. As there was no weather approaching, just clear skies, we each took turns from assembling the cupcake picks and passed the binoculars among us to spy on the islands in better detail.

The Sunset is a great show at a birthday party

The party was such a fun event. It was a "one-year-old's birthday for adults," with grilled chicken and burgers and lots of local wine and beer. There were a handful of little ones to play with and plenty of grown ups to chat with. Our hosts were thrilled to have their house full of friends and loved ones, while the man of honor was a champ and held up though the party with aplomb.

One of the rare treats on a March day like this in the Outer Sunset was the ability to actually watch a sunset.  The western wall of the apartment is mostly windows, opening out to the houses behind and the beach beyond. Friends stood side by side to chat as parents held their kids u, all to watch the sinking golden drop melt into the sea at the horizon. Though I didn't capture it on film, we did see the green flash of lore.

The next day, I caught up with a college friend of mine who lives in the bay area.  We settled on Olea in Lower Pac Heights/Nob Hill for brunch before we ran down to the Mission for Ice Cream.  As I expect from San Francisco eateries, the food was sourced locally, organic and fresh.  The setting was a casual bistro and it was quintessentially Californian - like refined salt of the earth. In addition, they serve Blue Bottle Coffee - the only other coffee that I will drink in San Francisco outside of Peet's.

The moon in the East.

The next day's sunset.

After brunch, we walked back to the hotel to plan the rest of the day.  We were on a mission to go to the Mission, and it was all about ice cream. I would have been remiss if I didn't get some of my beloved Secret Breakfast from Humphry Slocombe. However, Brigid is a Bi-Rite devotee, and we needed an ice cream off to settle this.

My unofficial winner of the CaseyFest 2012 Ice Cream off

As we hop on the BART, Karen, my college friend, remembers that my birthday is upcoming, and turned our quest for ice cream into an impromptu CaseyFest celebration. We were going to get a pint of Secret Breakfast and a pint of Bi-Rite's Salted Caramel to bring back for the ultimate taste test. I had to sacrifice my El Farolito burrito this trip.  I would have been trying to pack 10 lbs of sugar in a 5 lbs sack.

After running around through the Mission, we head back to the Palace Hotel.  Brigid picked us up with all of our belongings and we return to the beach for a nice picnic celebration.  It is amazingly warm and we have crudité, hummus, olives and crackers while enjoying drinks.  It was a lovely afternoon spend with wonderful friends.  When the sun set this day, it got cold fast.  We returned from the beach and got ready for our trip out to the airport.  It was tough to have to start saying good bye when we had felt that we had just arrived.

Pete and Brigid were amazing hosts for our stay and Karen is always a good sport when I'm come to visit. This is what these trips are all about, seeing people you can about and spending that quality time in very uplifting local ways.  Everyone was on the beach because it was so lovely out, and we chimed right in. So I left a little melancholy, but I know that I'm only a six hour flight away from seeing everyone again. 

Hils & I on the beach

Karen & I on the beach

For more images from the weekend, please visit my facebook page.