It all started 3 years ago, on a cold, London day in January. It was the first day of a new semester at King’s College London, and I was waiting for my creative writing lecture to start. This girl slid into the seat next to me and politely asks, “Aren’t you in my poetry class too?” That, my friends, was the voice of Chelsea Melone.
Our friendship began easy enough, with lunches between lectures, coffee shop hangs, and of course, fully swooning over our Scottish Professor. And after adventures along canals, midnight bowling rocking Ron Burgundy stashes, and a beautiful beach day in Brighton, — our friendship was sealed. Last spring I flew east to run around Del Ray Beach with her, and on a beautiful day in February we reunited in San Francisco. But we were long overdue for a reunion.
It’s a quick jaunt into the city from Sacramento, so I was over the moon when Chelsea called and we arranged to meet for a weekend there. Leading up to the weekend there were constant texts about things we needed to do, places we needed to eat at, and most predictably things we need to Instagram.
I arrived at our hotel in Ghirardelli Square, and saw how unbelievably gorgeous the interior of our room was. TALK ABOUT BRICK WALL GOALS.
We wandered around the city until it was time to get ready for dinner and Trevor Noah. That’s right, we had a chance to see the Daily Show’s Trevor Noah live. We were moderately to fairly intoxicated as one does when they’re on vacation.
But that only added to the hilarity of the ensuing show. While he’s no John Stewart, Trevor holds his own on TDS, and his stand up is outstanding (Apologies for the puns). We cackled the night away.
The next day we headed out to explore the city a bit more. And if history tells us anything, I have a knack for making my friends come sob at old art with me. We headed off to the Legion of Honor Museum which definitely doesn’t look like a building in San Francisco. It was our own little slice of Athens, and we proceeded to sing every song from Hercules. (And then I cried about Rodin and Monet, because that’s so very typically me.)
Not to be outdone, we headed over to the De Young Museum where my friend Shayan met up with us. In the De Young’s sculpture garden, there’s this little gem hidden down a path. The James Turrell Skyspace is incredible. It’s this weird dome structure that creates a different feeling through light dependent on the time of day. And the three of us spent at least an hour there — taking pictures, chatting, and listening to Chelsea sing. When the sun set we headed back to our hotel to change and get ready for dinner along the bay.
Monday morning we headed to my all time favorite breakfast place in the city: Dottie’s True Blue Cafe. I’ve been over-indulging at Dottie’s for at least a decade. Their original location was the coziest place, but could only fit 7 or 8 tables. The line to get in took hours and it was well worth it. These days, they can serve more customers at once, but the wait can still take hours. Again, I say: WORTH IT.
We spent the next few hours in a food coma wandering the Haight/Ashbury area. After I dropped a few too many dollars on records at Amoeba, we returned to the hotel to say our goodbyes and my lovely friend headed off to continue her adventures to Florida, London, and New York.
I continue to feel so thankful that I have made such incredible friends along the way.
Until the next Tiny Travel...Cheers!
