Be sure to wear a flower in your hair...

The end of May, I went on an amazing girl's trip to San Francisco with Emily. The first day started off really early here in Texas with an alarm set for about 4am. Our flight left Austin at 7:30am, but because of time change, even with our lay-over in Denver, we landed in San Fran at 10:30am. After gathering our luggage and boarding the BART, we were set for the city. Em and I had looked at the map and found that the BART station was fairly close to our hotel...on the map. And, we naively thought "we can walk it." Well...on the map it is very close, and I suppose 1.5-2 miles isn't that far, except that it is straight UPHILL. with luggage. Oh. My. Goodness. We thought we'd never make it. And, when we did, I'm sure the people at the front desk thought something was terribly wrong, because here we are in a city where the high for the day was hovering around 60, and we were redfaced and s.w.e.a.t.i.n.g. The first two pictures are of aforementioned hills.

After checking in, resting and chugging a gallon of water, we made our game plan and attacked. First stop, Chinatown...

...and lunch. We knew we wanted to eat in Chinatown, but being tourists, we had no idea where was good, what was good, etc. Well, after a bit of walking and observing, we were hit up by some very timely, very wise marketing. On the street were some people handing out fliers for their restaurant with an offer of free potstickers. Genius. So, being the suckers that we are, we ate there. And, so did many other flyer-toting people. It made for fine people watching. And, it was pretty good food. Also, to Emily's amusement, I said hello Gig 'Em to the fellow Texas Aggie dining there (we are everywhere).

By this time, it's later in the afternoon, and we decide to head toward Haight and Ashbury and the ocean. Again, amazing people watching. Said hello to some incredibly interesting people and eavesdropped on some crazy conversations. We made a stop in a small grocery store, and I use the word store loosely - it was the size of a small souvenir shop, but they had delicious fruit. Then we made our way to the Pacific....

....but not without first living out my part of the song. I really don't like this picture, but I wanted to prove I wore a flower in my hair in San Francisco.

I wish I had a picture of our faces the first moment we walked over the sand dune and saw the ocean. I have seen the Pacific and Atlantic several times, but this was different. God-breathed. Creation on display. And, He hung the sun so perfectly in the sky. It took my breath away. I often wonder how people don't believe...especially at that moment.

We walked, lost in our own thoughts, for awhile on the beach. The air was crisp, the water was cold, but the overwhelming feeling of peace was perfect.

Across the street from the beach entrance was a coffee shop, and quite possibly the best cup of coffee I have ever had. We sat outside, listening to and watching people pass by, talk, and be. It was the perfect ending to the first day.