Along with the hilarious gift items, there were also some really beautiful earthenware bowls and teapots, scarves, tapestries, and I think I noticed decorative swords for sale in nearly every shop. (Careful, kids.) We lunched at a vegetarian restaurant called “Lucky Creation”, where I enjoyed the best potstickers of my life and my friend had the “sizzling spicy shrimp balls”,³ which was poured into a hot iron dish in front of us so we could see the sizzling action first-hand.

Then on to City Lights bookstore, one of our regular stops. Instead of looking at books this time, I just sat and enjoyed the feeling of an independent bookstore filled with people.⁴

As the sun went down, we swung by a local Italian restaurant, Trattoria Contadina, for a scrumptious dinner.⁵ Later in the evening I researched ground transportation from Dulles airport back to DC, and thought about how sad I’ll be to leave my favorite city.⁶

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1. It is, in fact, the oldest Chinatown in North America.
2. I don’t need to pretend.
3. When his food arrived, I quipped, “Shouldn’t they be a little smaller than that?” and sniggered quietly for a few minutes.
4. I also discovered that one of my favorite versions of Pinocchio, beautifully written and illustrated by French graphic artist Winshluss, now has an English language version. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t carry the French one, but ultimately happy that it’s been brought to an American audience. Be prepared, though, for an unconventional, graphic, and occasionally obscene retelling. As one reviewer on Amazon puts it, “No child should ever see a woman riding Pinocchio’s face.”
5. I had a beet/arugula/ radish/goat cheese/pistachio salad, followed by ravioli, and then  a spumoni cake with four delicious flavors of gelato for dessert.
6. Especially since summer is in full swing by now back home; 90-degree temperatures and suffocating humidity.

Then we drove ⁴ over to Mount Tamalpais,⁵ hiked to the top,⁶ and enjoyed even better views of Marin, San Francisco, Sonoma, and the park itself. I made the mistake of identifying a large bird as a vulture, but was quickly corrected by a fellow hiker. “It’s a condor,” he said, “Calling it a vulture is the biggest insult in the bird world.” Sorry, condor.⁷ After chatting in the gift shop with an elderly woman wearing a tiara,⁸ we reluctantly left the park, accompanied by an escort of seven or so cyclists. Crossed a mist-cloaked Golden Gate Bridge, parked, and ended the day lounging in a sunny park with some fresh pastries from a local bakery. Not bad, eh?

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1. After being previously awakened at 4:30am by a prank call to our motel room. Insider tip: If you ever decide to prank call somebody in a motel at 4:30 in the morning, try to think of a better pitch than “There are starving children in Africa so we’re charging you extra to park your non-hybrid car.” Not especially believable. The man in the room adjacent to ours went into a 10-minute yelling fit when he got the call just after us. And the motel staff said the police were on their way. There’s a special place in hell for people who prank call at 4:30am.
2. Yes, I think banana slugs are cute.
3. Ten points to anyone who can tell me the real name for a group of chipmunks.
4. There were so many bicyclists on the road that–at times–it seemed like we were on a large two-lane bicycle path. I loved seeing the sheer number of cyclists in Marin County. Wish we had that kind of bicycle traffic in the DC area. Maybe then it would be a bit safer for cyclists.
5. Or “Mount Tam”, as it’s affectionately called by locals.
6. Where we saw a guy on a nearby cliff getting ready for some rock climbing and enjoyed the shocked reactions of other tourists: “What’s he doing?” “I can’t believe he’s that close to the edge!” “Is he still standing there??” Apparently they didn’t know about rock climbing. And how sometimes people do that.
7. I guess it’s much more exciting, though, to see a critically endangered species. Glad condors are still out and about in California.
8. And buying a surprise for my mother!

Next we headed to the edge of wine country, arriving at Matanzas Creek Winery for a much-anticipated wine tasting and tour of the estate. Like the classy people we are, we sampled five wines (two white and three red) plus another couple, including a fun dessert wine that tasted vaguely of tropical fruit. The wine was, of course, excellent, but the most exciting thing about this particular winery was the grounds. Nestled on the slope of a small mountain and overlooking a lush valley, Matanzas Creek is known for two things: their wine and their lavender fields. (They even have a lavender festival each year, and sell lavender sachets, soaps, perfumes, candles, and lotions, alongside their wines.) We explored the gardens, saw a few beautiful trees, and even spied some wildlife. The setting was so gorgeous, in fact, that an excited bride-to-be was having her wedding photographs taken there.

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1. If you’re ever traveling north from San Francisco, take Route 1, the winding coastal highway through Marin County, rather than the faster Route 101. You won’t regret it. Spectacular views of mountains, cliffs, the ocean, and even a few birds of prey enjoying the warm air currents. It’s probably an extra twenty minutes, and well worth the time difference.
2. Although, admittedly, it could have been a trick. Maybe they’re just biding their time.

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As someone who can easily spend two or three hours in even the tiniest reptile exhibit, I was delighted to discover that the museum had a special “Summer of Slither” exhibit going on. Among many things, I got to see large and small monitor lizards, boas, camera-shy geckos, an agitated rattlesnake, and an extremely bored Burmese python. It pretty much spent its day watching small children on the other side of the glass and pondering which it would devour first, if given the chance.⁴

We also had our carbon footprints measured using a dubious set of scales, and saw one of the best planetarium shows of my life. It’s amazing how far planetariums have come since those fourth grade field trips. Another highlight was the Academy’s living roof, an impressive and beautiful endeavor several years in the making. They sculpted hills on the roof of the building and planted them with hardy, native plant species, constructing natural irrigation systems using rainwater.⁵ I think I spied some solar panels up there, too.

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1. I was tempted to take the giant robot snake from the film Anaconda with me because, guys, how often do you get to see a robot snake B-movie superstar? Especially one that co-starred with Jennifer Lopez and Crooked Nose Wilson.
2. I should clarify that by “fun” I mean a fairly predictable plot with well-choreographed fight scenes and an action-packed finale full of surprises. As a friend who hadn’t seen it [accurately] described it, “sort of like Seven Samurai and 300 had a baby”.
3. The man who introduced the film asked if we needed anything prior to starting, and some wiseass in the audience said “Yeah, a new curtain!” You can’t really see in the photo how many rips there are in that curtain, but it was in sad shape. The theater was built in 1939, and if I were just a little bit richer I’d buy them a new curtain. If you find yourself in San Francisco, definitely visit this gem of a theater and support its continued existence!
4. There was also a grinning albino alligator. And sharks. I always wonder which is more cruel: putting large predators behind glass or putting delicious children on the other side of the glass. I was tempted to tell the kids that the glass had a special sensor that could detect excessive noise or tapping, and would trigger a mechanical arm to scoop them up and deposit them inside the alligator/shark/python habitat. There are, perhaps, reasons I shouldn’t be a parent.
5. Excess water filtered down into the park aquifer to be used for irrigation in other areas of the park, an especially nice touch.

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1. Against all logic, this restaurant is housed in an Irish pub.

The thing that always astonishes me when I travel to the west coast is how easily succulents grow in the wild, on people’s doorsteps, on walls, everywhere! I will never get used to rounding a corner and seeing a jade tree or a huge, basketball-sized rosette. In DC I have to raise my succulents indoors, with careful watering and maybe a few loving songs. If you don’t believe me about the sheer number and beauty of succulents in San Francisco, I’ve included photographic evidence in this post.

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1. I am succulent obsessed and not ashamed to admit it.

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1. In and out, line included, in under five minutes.
2. Mymy Coffee Shop, on the corner of Larkin and California. Awesome menu, yummy food. If I lived here I would go every week.

1. Yes, I know it’s wrong to eat crèpes in Japantown. But there were TWO crèperies there! What was I supposed to do, ignore them both?
2. It took me a good 10 minutes to pry open the tin with a nickel I had in my pocket. It turns out there is a beer-flavored version of the same candies. Who knew?
3. Surprisingly, it was right near our scary neighborhood.