Vegan Burnout: In the City by the Bay, Day 4.

I was free until dinner, so I headed back to the Haight to meet up with my friend Josh. Despite not having seen each other since grad school (so, 6ish years ago), we fell into an easy conversation as we walked. And walked. Jesus H., how we walked. We walked through Golden Gate Park, all around the Haight, to his house (where we paused to leash up his roommate’s dog), then walked some more. I saw many interesting things, most of which distracted me from my aching legs and ass.

Conservatory of Flowers.

California Academy of Sciences.

You know, how you do.

Twin Peaks! This is major for some of you, I know.

The view from Josh’s place. I swear the Golden Gate Bridge is out there somewhere.

I wish I had a photo of Mini the furry (not wrinkly) Shar Pei, but she was very happy to be out for a walk and not inclined to pose for pictures. She did help me miss Lucy ever-so-slightly less, though.

Views from the park where we took Mini.

Amongst Josh’s other excellent qualities (writer, world traveler, soccer fan), he is vegan and tends bar at Millennium. SCORE. If Yoga on the Labyrinth was my only San Francisco must-do, then Millennium was a close second. Because he is a kind and generous person, Josh suggested that Red and I come in for dinner on our last evening in town, sit at the bar, and he’d take care of us. I didn’t care how far I had to walk—I would have dinner at Millennium.

After we dropped Mini off at home, we had a very long, serious discussion about what to have for lunch. Because Josh knows food (like, really knows food) and I could barely find my way around the city unassisted, I deferred to his suggestions.

We settled on Herbivore. I was feeling like ramen would be a good idea, and Herbivore does a very good ginger ramen. It was warm and spicy and did the trick. I don’t remember what Josh had, probably because I was too busy slurping my ramen and giving up on making any sensible use of chopsticks to notice.

After lunch, Josh walked me to the tiniest little Whole Foods in existence so I could pick up some fruit and snacks. I think Red wanted bananas. Conveniently, it was right next to my bus stop, so we hugged and promised to see each other when Red and I got all dressed up and went to Millennium.

I could have crashed when I got back to the hotel, but it was not to be. Red and I had dinner plans with Giselle, my soul sister. I hadn’t seen Giselle since 2005, when I visited her and her husband at their home in Mexico. She is currently based in Oakland, which is a short BART ride from San Francisco. Y’all have probably heard shady things about Oakland, but I’m from Baltimore, so I have little fear of urban dangers. I think this concerns Red sometimes. Giselle met us at the BART station, and we walked (more walking, dammit) to Souley Vegan. With apologies to Jane Austen: It is a truth universally acknowledged that if any city is in possession of at least one vegan restaurant, it will be a soul-food joint. I find this very comforting.

The food was awesome. Red had barbecue tofu, which he thought would be a sandwich but was really just a pile of tasty tofu on some lettuce leaves. Not a hardship. Giselle had spaghetti with falafel, which is not a combo you’d ordinarily think would work, but it did. And I had this yummy little bowl full of grits, jambalaya, and popcorn-fried tofu. Maryland is not really Southern enough for grits to be A Thing here, but I love them, so this was a special treat. Giselle and I had some sake-spiked lemonade, which was delicious. I don’t really like sake, but I liked this.

Really, I was just so happy to see my friend and for she and Red to finally meet. Giselle and I have seen each other through some fairly shitty times, so for us to finally be together as people with semi-coherent lives and decent measures of grown-up happiness was a joy. I was so sad when we parted company at the BART station, but I can’t wait to do it again.