In the City by the Bay, Day 1.

There are many perks of being married to my husband, but one of the most interesting is that I frequently get to tag along when his job takes him to new cities. Some I can’t join in on (I wasn’t sad to miss Middle of Nowhere, Georgia, especially because I got to stuff my face with popcorn and watch Scarface and then Red came home a day early to surprise me on my birthday), but so far I’ve been able to experience Chicago, Orlando, and now San Francisco. The best is when he’s free to wander the city with me, but even on my own, it’s still great.

I was especially psyched for San Francisco because I have friends there. Friends! The best part of any new city! I wouldn’t have to figure it all out for myself! I had ready-made tour guides waiting to feed and entertain me. On top of that, San Francisco is fantastically vegan-friendly, so I didn’t feel pressured to schedule every snack and meal. (All the same, we bought a guidebook and I printed VegNews’ list of top eats in the Mission.) We still packed trail mix and bars and little things like that to sustain us, and for breakfast, I baked up Vegan Brunch’s Cocoa-Raspberry Muffins (with bonus chocolate chips, because you have to) and Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins. They survived our first flight in fine style but several were smashed in the overhead bin during the second. Damn, muffins. They were still delicious, though.

Travel days are almost always a waste, so there’s not much to talk about there. Our first flight was half-empty, which meant that not only was I able to stretch out and snooze with my head in Red’s lap (he is an excellent pillow, in case you were wondering), I could have had an entire row all. to. myself. I know, right? When was the last time you weren’t jam-packed into an airplane?

On our second flight, I was sandwiched between Red and a gentleman who was headed to Santa Cruz on business, that business being a medical marijuana dispensary. This conversation served basically to prepare us for the hella amount of weed we would run into in San Francisco. As I’ve said before, I don’t care one way or the other, but it was profoundly odd to be walking down the street and get a massive secondhand hit. I wasn’t sure whether to be grateful or bothered, so I mostly settled for amiably confused.

By the time we got to our hotel, it was about 2pm California time, which meant our stomachs thought we were just about due for dinner. Red had eaten less than I had during our flights, so he was fading fast. Friends to the rescue! I hit up my girl B, writer, ecofeminist vegan, and recent San Francisco transplant, and she and her man scooped us up in their pimp ride and got us fed at the St. Francis Fountain and Diner. I was super-excited to finally meet them in person. (If I offended anyone with my use of the world “pimp,” you were probably overdue for it if you’ve been reading the blog for any length of time. Plus, that car deserved a mention.)

I didn’t get a picture of him, but while we waited for our table, we had the chance to snorgle an adorable blue pit bull puppy as he and his person tried to go for a walk. I say “tried” because it was clear they couldn’t get more than a few steps before being accosted by loving strangers wanting to nom on his silky baby ears. Red and I missed Lucy already, so it was nice to get a little taste of pibble love on our first day away from her.

We also got in some good hipster-watching. Left Coast, I treasure you.

Then! Food! I chowed down on the Vegan Thing, which is a pile of home fries, Daiya, guacamole, scallions, and salsa. It is assuredly not good for you, but it is very very delicious and it hit the motherloving spot after our long-ass day. I managed to stop at half so I could walk back to the car, but it was tough. Red enjoyed a Devil Burger, which involves grilled onions and seitan (two of his favorite things), so he was pleased.



After that, our awesome friends dropped us off at our hotel so we could pass out and let our body clocks reset. Thanks, awesome friends!