A Full House Afternoon in Hayes Valley

Because it was his last week of having to work from California (thankfully!), Bogdan had to be in the office on Friday instead of working from home. We had first thought that we could fly home on Friday evening, but his boss had mentioned that there was the possibility that he would need Bogdan to stay late. At noon on Friday, Bogdan called and said that he was pretty much finished with his work, and that it would be pointless to stay the night in Pleasanton. His boss was more emphatic on this issue, and urged us to book a room at the Westin St. Francis and for us to have a fun last night in San Francisco. So I packed both of our things, checked out the hotel in Pleasanton a day early, and picked Bogdan up from work.

There was one area that we hadn't explored the previous weekend (due to exhaustion, really) that I really want to see - Hayes Valley and Haight Ashbury. That afternoon after checking in to the hotel, we started walking toward Hayes Valley. I knew it would be a rather long walk (and probably hilly) but I didn't know it would take us through such seedy areas. Bogdan's mind still fresh on the Mission began complaining, "where are you taking me now?" Almost suddenly, the homeless morphed into the hipster and we found ourselves on the lively Hayes Street among cute boutiques, modern furniture stores, and loud cafes. After an appropriate amount of time for shop browsing (including a stop at the cutest candy store ever) we continued our walk to Buena Vista Park.

The park is situated on the top of a hill and beautiful Victorian houses line the perimeter - including the famous "Painted Ladies" of which you've probably seen before in photographs (and/or on the Full House intro). The park was full of young people - on picnic blankets, walking with friends, playing with their dogs or being obvious tourists trying to get their photo of the Painted Ladies just right.

We then made our way down the hill to Haight Street and just really enjoyed this more residential and real-life area, one where we'd be happy to live (if we were interested in moving to S.F., which we really aren't). Later that evening we realized we had never been to Nob Hill, despite it being adjacent to Union Square, so we made the long, steep climb to the top where Grace Cathedral sits perched above the city.

That night we were tired from all the walking (and the hills) and had an unpretentious dinner at a hole in the wall bar, sparsely populated with just us, the bartender and her friends, and a few young adults in suits who were having a Friday happy hour after work.