San Francisco!

For the 8th time in my life, I found myself in the foggy city of the north. I flew in on Friday for a pre-op appointment and it drizzled all day long. On Saturday, my friend (and partner in crime) Corey flew up to hang out with me, baby me for my surgery, and see the town.

So on Saturday we had Sushi at the Sushi Boat restaurant and went on to Union Square. We shopped in a couple stores and then walked up to Chinatown. Corey bought a tea set. There was a store called Red Blossom Tea Company (http://www.redblossomtea.com/) where we learned a lot about the fine art of tea, smelled many great teas, and bought a few.

From there we took a cable car to the Wharf to have clam chowder in the famous San Francisco sourdough bread bowls. We walked around Pier 39 and then back to Ghiradelli Square to have hot fudge sundaes. After a long day, we were happy to climb on the bus and work our way back to the hotel to nurse our food comas.

On Sunday we got up early and had complimentary breakfast at the hotel (a major plus in my book). We headed over to Golden Gate Park to see the Japanese Tea Gardens and the Conservatory of Flowers.

Corey and I tend to get so distracted by things to do that we push ourselves to the brink of starvation. We made a plan not to let this happen anymore, but I think it did. Lunch was gyros at the Park Gyros place and then on to the Wharf to rent bicycles to ride across the bridge! From the Wharf to the end of the bridge and back is about 13 miles I guess. It was getting close to closing time and the lady told us it takes the average tourist 2.5-3hrs to do the ride. Well, Corey and I are not your average tourists. I guess you could call us super-tourists. We did the trip in just under 2 hours. And that's with plenty of picture stops along the way. Yeah, we know we're awesome.

After the long, arduous bike ride (dude, SF has hills) we were ready for some pasta in Little Italy (North Beach). After wandering around in the dark with a crappy map, we finally found it and stuffed ourselves on lasagna and ravioli. We found a cute little gelato place to finish up the meal. We hiked up to the cable car stop with our gelatos to end the perfect day. Back at the hotel, it finally occured to us how we could make tea without a microwave (or stove). We used the coffee pot in the hotel to make hot water, then placed one of our blooming teas into the pot. This one was a jasmine lilly and tastes like jasmine tea. Very cool.

Early Monday morning we got on the train to the hospital for my surgery- a necessary evil of the trip. It went much better than I expected. The surgeon removed the fistula and did one last (crossing fingers) angioplasty. I no longer have a noisy little frog jumping around in my wrist. He took me off the coumadin and put me on Plavix, which is kinda like coumadin but works a little differently. I have a follow-up scheduled for December 3rd, but if I'm feeling good and not having any symptoms I just have to call in. I only have to go if things aren't looking good. At that time he'll send me back to work and take me off the Plavix. By the time Corey and I got back to the hotel, my groin was quite swollen from the angioplasty and looked like I had a "package". I called the nurse to be sure it was ok and she just said to watch it for the next hour. It didn't get any bigger, so it was no big deal. It hurts a little though, but I've got plenty of pain killers saved up (and they gave me more).

That night we took the hotel shuttle back to Union Square and ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory on the roof of Macy's. For dessert we each had a cheesecake of our own. I had a chocolate mousse cheesecake and Corey had a red velvet cake layered with original cheesecake. They were very good.

On Tuesday we hit up the stores again in Union Square. Corey and I got new shoes at DSW. If you've never been in a DSW, I highly recommend it. This one was two stories and almost twice the size of the one in San Diego. We went to Sephora and The Body Shop then headed out to the Embarcadero. The Embarcadero has lots of shops and a farmers market, as well as the ferry boats that shuttle commuters across the bay. We ate at a highly ranked sandwhich shop and had another dose of gelato. We met up with one of Corey's friends from high school and had hamburgers and ice cream (yeah, I know) for dinner.

Gelato and new shoes!

Wednesday was time to go home, so Corey's friend drove us to the airport where we made oragami creatures and drank hot chocolate until it was time to go. We had a lot of fun, and Corey being there took a lot of focus off my surgery and allowed me to enjo myself. I can't wait until the next adventure!