Atlanta in the HOUSE!!!

San Francisco here I come! I'm writing as a guest here on the Martin and Lauryn show, it's kid sister Krista, and boy do I have a lot to say about my recent visit to see these two weirdos out in California. I stayed 4 days and walked a thousand miles while visiting the Bay area and also brought some good ole southern sunshine out there with me. I first got off the plane and made my way on BART (San Francisco's version of MARTA for you atlantians) to meet Lauryn, and I have never been so excited to see her in my life. Eight months is a long time to go without seeing your favorite sister (yes I know she is my only sister...). Her workplace is AMAZING, a beautiful dance studio where we got to take a class to show how out of shape we both were. Everyone there was really nice, although I found it weird that they were all asking me where I was from because I was where Lauryn was from... Atlanta duh. That day she toured me around the Mission. We stopped and took pictures in this graffiti alley. Lauryn is telling me to look down in the photo.

This next photo is my favorite.

We ate crepes, got ice cream, sat in the park to people and dog watch, as well as catch her up on all the family drama. It's so different to see the life of a city girl, no getting in your car and driving, but strolling down the sidewalk block to block. We had dinner at one of their favorite burrito places and chilled out at the apartment.

Saturday's theme: Up! So while Lauryn was at work on Saturday, Martin took me around to all the great parks they love. I loved them too but there sure was a lot of, me- "So Martin which way now?" Martin- "Up!" We hiked up to two beautiful spots that overlook the city. Stunning sights amongst all the concrete. We went through the upper Haight (pronounced like hate) which is similar to Little 5 points (again for those who are reading this from Atlanta). We walked through Golden Gate Park, saw the rose garden. Caught the train down to the pier to see the Farmer's Market which had fresh fruit stands, as well as coffee, desserts, peanut brittle, you name it you could buy it. I got a hot cross bun and a rasberry croissant to tie me over. We met Lauryn for lunch at a local sandwich shop and ate at a park. Martin left us for his improv class, so the two of us set off to do my two touristy things. Lumbard Street and Coit Tower. Lumbard is neat to see, Lauryn described it well, it was like watching a ballet of cars coming down the street. We then hiked UP! to Coit Tower which really just ended up being a tourist trap with two funny stories. First, after waiting 15 minutes to get on the elevator to go UP! the tower, we get on and the operator closes the door, everyone is silent and all you can hear is typical elevator music. And then the operator guy goes... "So welcome everyone, this is the elevator", we all just started laughing at the simplicity of the statement. Second, after looking around at the top we had to wait even longer to get back down the elevator (we couldn't figure out how there were three times as more people waiting in line to go down than there were up seeing as how the same amount of people can fit going up as well as down). The couple behind us irritated Lauryn by saying that they had now done Coit Tower and the Golden Gate Bridge... the only two things to see in San Francisco! Lauryn almost turned around to scold them, there is certainly a lot more to the city than that! That night we went to a show to see the ODC dance company from her work. Great show, still can't believe she has such an amazing place to work.

Sunday we traveled to Mier Woods to see the red woods.But before we left, for breakfast we ate at this place that makes the most amazing breakfast burritos! Best meal of the whole trip. On the walk home they took me to see the shoe garden and the "Painted Ladies".To get to Mier Woods we had to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge. We stopped on a little side trail,

Lauryn and Martin may plan a trip back to go hiking further on it. When we got to Mier (pronounced mirror) Woods... more walking, I think I'm up to 20 miles by now. Never felt so small standing next to those giant trees.

We brought lunch and ate under the shade of trees at the top. A friend at her work told us about a bar in the middle of one of the trails and by golly we were going to find it! It's a private club called the Tourist Point that's open to all visitors so we stopped and had a pitcher of beer and chatted til it was time to make our way back down.

At the bottom there was a fallen redwood that had been converted into a bridge. Lauryn made us do an on site dance performance, I'm sure she will post it in all it's embarrassing glory. We then drove on the coastal highway to the beach and then back home.

I passed out first, still adjusting from being on east coast time and walking all day.

Monday (which is also Lauryn's day off) was girl time. We relaxed and went shopping! I love that San Francisco is all about local artists. Bought stuff from a store called Upper Playground and P.KOK both local neighborhood shops with really great clothing. We had planned to eat at a BBQ joint that day (didn't want to make Martin suffer) but of course it was closed so we had to settle for some delicious cheese steaks instead. Tough luck, but just one more excuse to go back and visit. They dropped me back off at BART and it sucked, pardon my french. I took the red-eye flight back to Atlanta which everyone and their mother was taking too! Got in at 6:30am, got picked up from MARTA at 8am, and went straight to work at 9! I'm young and can do that! Needless to say I was asleep by 8 that night, thanks dad for turning off all the lights! So to summarize my trip: I love my sister more than anything, she and Martin make the cheapest and most entertaining tour guides, San Francisco is soooo different than anywhere else in so many great ways, I will always remain a southern girl who vacations a lot in San Francisco!!!! Love you Martin and Lauryn! Can't wait to see you again!