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January 5th 2007

Published: January 22nd 2007

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Lani

Mavericks

Jimmie and I were planning on going back to L.A. today and stay with Kelci until Jimmie flies out on the 8th, but Kelci called and said she was going to Big Bear to snowboard for the weekend. We decided to call City Center Hostel and see if they had a private room available for the night, then go to Shay’s Saturday and head to L.A. Sunday for Jim to fly out Monday. I thought I wasn’t going to see SF on this trip and I wasn’t that concerned, but as we got closer to the city, I was really looking forward to spending a night there. We stopped at Mavericks (big waves) on the way. I LOVE San Francisco. Northern California really. There is just so much there and it is so beautiful. Luckily, the hostel had a room and after checking in, we parked the truck in a garage for the night and walked to Union Square (my least favorite spot in San Fran). After spending no time in Union Square, just enough to stop at Macy’s for the bathroom), we walked to and through Chinatown on Grant Street, went to North Beach and had coffee (and listened to

Mavericks

some guys with guitars singing outside…they were really good) at Café Trieste (the best latte’s ever). It was so nice to sit outside and watch passerby’s while drinking coffee and listening to music. We then decided to walk up Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower, ugh. After resting while enjoying the view, we headed back to the very interesting Tenderloin district (hostel location) by going through Chinatown again, this time on Stockton (it runs parallel to Grant, but is not touristy at all). It was around 5pm and Stockton was bustling with all the locals getting groceries and such. It is so fun to be the only non Asians in sight. We stopped at an Mela (an Indian/Pakistan restaurant that Gretchen and I discovered in September) and had a great meal. The place has some of the most amazing wall/ceiling tile work (imported from India). Then it was back to the hostel. We were exhausted. The next day we left after the toast and coffee at the hostel. We wanted to go to Café Trieste again for coffee, but North Beach was packed with people milling about and we could not find a place to park (it was Sunday and evidently

Leave only footprints

North Beach is a popular spot on Sunday morning). I suggested we go see the sea lions at Pier 39 (a must do) so we walked around the Wharf area for a little while (it was early and there was hardly any people…nice) the watched the seals for at least 45 minutes. They are so fun. We then went to Sausalito to eat at Il Piccolo, this little sandwich shop that Heather found when she was visiting in September. It is so good (see pictures). I had the Cinque (5) Roasted Eggplant and olives. It may be the only non meat sandwich. We sat outside at the picnic table and had the best view of San Francisco across the bay. We talked to the new owner, Kristof, and told him we would recommend his place, so if you go, tell him where you heard of it.

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