So I made it to San Francisco and it's been a great time! It was hard to leave everyone in Portland, to say the least, but I feel excited and ready to go. My first leg of the road trip was down to San Francisco. It was a very beautiful drive and surprisingly did not feel like 10 hours. Seriously, it went by so fast! It was gorgeous scenery and I had my ipod and thoughts to keep me company :) I got to San Fran and as soon as I saw the Golden Gate bridge and Bay Bridge I got the strangest rush. I can't really explain it, it could have just been excitement, but something in me noted that I needed to remember that feeling I got for the future, something tells me this place will be significant in my future...I don't know, I'm just sayin!
I kind of got lost on my way to my friend Jessie's apartment, but it was worth it because I got to drive more around this awesome city. It's so beautiful. The only times I've been here have been on mission trips, so we've had a day or two to see more of the nicer areas but not much time, and it was very fun. Jessie's apartment is so amazing too! It's so cute and in one of those old town home buildings in a great accessible area of town! Very fun, although if I ever lived here there is NO WAY I would be able to keep a stick shift...to say it's been challenging to park on these hills is an understatement! :) Not to mention I have huge blind spots because EVERY inch of my car that I'm not inhabiting is filled with my stuff! I have been in a constant state of prayer that no one will break into my car! Good news so far!
Today Jessie had to work so I just got up and got ready and took my car down to the Marina. It's been a gorgeous and sunny day here! No fog! I walked through a great park and without knowing it ended up on a trail that dropped me right off onto Fisherman's Wharf area. So I spent the day getting Starbucks, walking around shops, and taking lots of pictures! I took a Ferry tour around the bay and we went underneath the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz. It was awesome! I made friends with a guy I was buying water from named Ulysses (sp?) who was originally from San Diego and lived a while in Portland, so we had a lot to talk about. He proceeded to tell me about his experiences being high in Belize, which made for interesting stories, but turned out quite humorous. He was nice and I ended up staying in the smoothie store he worked at for about 45 minutes just chatting.
I walked all the way down to Pier 35 where a huge cruise liner was docked and they were boarding. And then on down to 33 before turning around and going to a seafood cafe on the corner with great people watching and bread bowl clam chowder. I stayed there for a while reading "Chasing Daylight" by Erwin McManus. SUPER GREAT. That's right, not just SUPER and not just GREAT but SUPER GREAT book. Needless to say it was very inspiring. Then capped off my day with a chocolate milkshake from Ghiradelli Square and walked back to my car. Oh my gosh! I almost forgot, I saw the COOLEST thing on the way back to my car. There were all of these pelicans in the water which I've seen before, but it must have been dinner time because they all of a sudden all starting flying and diving into the water to get fish. It was so cool I stood there and watched that for a good amount of time...I was very entertained :)
So now I'm waiting for my friend to get back from work in just a couple minutes and we're going to go hit up a happy hour or something, and then I'm off again bright and early tomorrow morning for good ol' Los Angeles. I'm feeling sort of like an impostor in California though haha, don't know why, and all day people kept asking me where I was from, so I don't think I've mastered the whole "California Girl" vibe yet, but seeing as how it's barely been 24 hours since I even crossed the state border I guess I'll cut myself some slack :) Patience has never come easy for me ;)
