When Sourdough Bread Bowls Make You Cry: a Tale of San Francisco

Today was the San Francisco part of our road trip. We were at Disneyland on Tuesday (AMAZING. Like really it's hard for me to even talk about about how much that place means to me, even though I've attempted it multiple times on this blog already) and then we drove north yesterday and spent today exploring San Francisco.

Let me just say, driving around San Francisco is an interesting experience, to put it ridiculously mildly. Especially when there's construction. The hills in this city are absolutely insane. And the architecture and unique color of every different building makes you want to do the obnoxious tourist photo thing with like...every building.

We finally made it to Fisherman's Warf, and then things started easing up. I love Fisherman's Warf. This is also an important place for me and my family, and it was interesting to do all these things here that I haven't done for a decade. By interesting I mean amazing and wonderful and incredibly painful. We passed the puppet shop where my sister and I got into a huge argument, and the weird saddle statues where my seven year old brother took a splits pic, (that one up there is mine in honor of him) and we saw the sea lions, and we went to the crepe place we always go to, and I snapchatted my brothers a picture of Bubba Gump to make them jealous. (I did that with Inoventions at Disneyland too, obviously.)

We also went to some new places, and both felt very adventurous and like we were going off the beaten path. It felt like we were in true San Francisco, and not just touristy San Francisco. We went to the amazing Pirate Shop/Writing Tutor Non-Profit started by Dave Eggers, 826 Valencia. If you are ever in the Bay Area, make sure to go to this place. It's truly hilariously amazing. We walked down Valencia street and found not one, but TWO used book stores that we stopped at, and a really cool chocolate shop called Dandelion Chocolate that had been recommended to us by a Tumblr friend. This is where a bunch of people were on their laptops, writing, and I thought, I want to be a starving artist in San Francisco, living the true bohemian life. Okay not really, but its a romantic idea.

Then of course, we ended the day with sourdough bread bowls and Ghiradelli Square. The sourdough bread bowls really got to me, for some reason. It's one of those things my mom absolutely loves, and I have to not think too much about that or about getting funnel cake at Disneyland or my brothers dancing as we walk past Fantasmic or I could make myself cry on that bench on Pier 39 looking out at the ships. Our bodies are strange things that can be absolutely completely filled with wonder and enthusiasm and excitement and adventure and at the same time, also completely filled with nostalgia and homesickness and just missing your mom so much your stomach hurts. It's just so much muchness in one body, but maybe that's what makes us human.

(Yep, I took a picture of the bread bowl to send to my mom. I am not ashamed.)

Because those sourdough bread bowls definitely weren't making the seagulls teary.

Love you, San Francisco. Mom I wish you were here. I'll see you soon.

Sarah

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