In July, my college girlfriends came out to San Francisco for a quick weekend of fun... and our favorite thing together - a Justin Timberlake concert. Well actually, if it was the whole *N'Sync group that would have been even better, but JT is a close second :).
Seven friends flew out on Thursday and left that Saturday, which created a whirlwind of fun. I wished they could have stayed longer, but since it was in the middle of Heart Walk season, I was already exhausted before it even began.
Anna and I were the first to arrive and met up at the Westin Hotel in the Financial District, where we were going to be staying. We walked around trying to fnd somewhere for her to find lunch and then settled into our room. The other girls all flew into Oakland and took the BART over the Bay, which was an adventure (apparently) for these hot, blonde, white girls. Apparently, they felt a little out of place in Oakland.
Laura arrived next from Southern California so Anna and I walked over to the BART station to pick her up, then we headed to H&M and Banana Republic to do some shopping, but not before stopping at the concierge to get some dinner recommendations. An hour later or so, Jodi, Darlene, and Amanda all came in from Las Vegas and we met them at the BART station. Then we all headed back to the hotel to meet up with Jami, who drove down from the northernmost part of California.
We barely had enough time to put their luggage away before Tiffany arrived from Danville to have dinner with us. Luckily she had her big SUV, which we all crammed into. Unfortunately, Briauna's flight had been delayed so instead of coming in at the same time as the Vegas crew, she didn't get in until after dinner. Poor girl!
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| Amanda, Tiffany, Jodi, Jami, Darlene, Anna, Laura and I (yes, I am the only non-blonde) |
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| Anna and Laura |
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| Jami, Darlene, Anna and Laura |
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| Me, Tiffany, Jodi and Amanda |
We had a blast catching up at dinner and reminiscing about the old days. We also tried to plan out the rest of the weekend which is no easy task with so many people. The other girls really wanted to do a Segway tour, but Tiffany and I tried to convince them that something like the Go Car Tours would be better. Luckily, with our powers of persuasion we were able to do so, which we all now know was the better choice :) Not that Segways wouldn't have been fun either, but you can see so much more with the little cars.
After dinner, Briauna finally arrived, and we drove over to pick her up. Then Tiffany drove us all down Lombard Street and dropped us off at a karaoke bar that the concierge had recommended. Now, I've been in a lot of karaoke bars in my life, ranging from dive to dazzling, but I can honestly say this bar was the worst one EVER.
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| Nighttime at Lombard Street finally with Briauna |
The place was filthy, mildewy, and the karaoke books smelled like poop. What was even worse, we sat next to a fan covered in the biggest dust bunnies I've ever seen. Trying to make the best of it, we put in a couple songs, even though by this point everyone was crashing. And we waited... and waited...and waited... while the other five people in there sang one lame song after another.
Finally, we got called up and we all sang Justin Bieber's "Baby" together and danced our butts off. Laura busted out the Ludacris rap part so well she amazed even me and I still can't hear that song without smiling. After we finished, we waited around again only to find out that the bartender was not going to play anymore of our songs until we bought alcohol. Hater! That was enough for us, so we left and headed back to the hotel, which was probably good because I was so tired - at this point it was like 3 am!
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| Me, Anna, and Jami dancing at the karaoke bar |
One thing I learned during the trip is that I'm weak when it comes to sleep deprivation next to all of these moms :) I need my eight hours, and I was dying without it. I had high hopes of going running each morning with Briauna but I couldn't even find the energy to answer her phone calls to tell her no.
The next day, I booked us a Go Car tour and we headed down to Fisherman's Wharf to begin. After a lengthy period of paperwork and training, we paired off into cars, took lots of photos, and then hit the road in our little road warriors. Matt and I had rented these little cars in San Diego years ago and loved them! They have a built-in GPS-guided storytelling system. Though you can also turn off the GPS guide and just listen to music. We decided not to pay the $5 or $10 extra for the faster cars, which we should have done. We might have been fine if two of the cars were not so slow compared to the others. Jamie and I had the lead and had to keep pulling over to let Jodi, Darlene, Amanda, and Anna catch up.
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| Our Go Car crew - me and Jami, Briauna and Laura, Jodi and Amanda, Anna and Darlene |
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| Anna and Darlene |
We drove through the wharf, then along the coast near the Maritime park, and the swanky Marina. We had to keep stopping, of course, to take group photos. We asked the same runner to take our photo several times as we just happened to catch him along our tour. Next, we continued along the coast to a view of the Golden Gate Bridge. We were having so much we decided to keep going down to the Presidio, then to South Beach (which I've never been to but is gorgeous), and into Golden Gate Park - which was BEAUTIFUL!
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| A pitstop at the Marina |
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| Jami and I being the Golden Gate Bridge |
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| Enjoying the view |
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| Another pit stop |
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| Pulling off the road while waiting for the slowpokes |
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| At Golden Gate Park |
After this, we realized we were running late - so I tried to get us on a shortcut (off the easy, flat path and through the busy city streets, going up and down the hills). The route was shorter, but the map hadn't shown us the hills we'd be going up and down (not quickly navigated with cars that only go up to 35 miles per hour). Luckily, most other cars were pretty forgiving - we slowly climbed our ways up the hills and they would get stuck behind us. Jami and I had a blast laughing at the whole scenario, while blasting 90's music from our tinny car radio.
In an unexpected move and a perfect ending to our tour , somehow I led us down the exact part of Lombard Street that is most popular. We were quite a sight in our caravan of tiny cars, weaving down the crooked street. The schmucks footing it down the street loved it, laughing and yelling out cheers! We got some awesome photos too from the bottom of the street looking up at the rest of the "sea of yellow".
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| Coming down the hills |
After we turned our cars back in, we went through another round of endless paperwork. We were STARVING and headed over to Boudin for lunch who is famous for their clam chowder and bread bowls. On the way to Boudin, we all bought scarves or beanies from a street vendor to prepare for the concert that night. Then, we fought our way through the crowds, and seagulls, at Boudin and finally sat down to eat for the day.
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| Finally eating lunch! |
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| Amanda, Darlene, Laura, and Jami |
By the time we finished lunch, it was time to head back to the hotel to get ready for the concert. Since we had a hard time finding taxis, we started walking. Finally, we grabbed a taxi and those who hadn't showered headed back. The rest of us ended up walking a couple more miles before finding another taxi. We got back exhausted but had to also prepare for the concert.
The concert was taking place at Candlestick Park, and having been told by concierge that traffic was going to be a nightmare, we headed out in two different cars two hours before the concert - to ensure we got there in time. Somehow, we really didn't have much traffic until we got to Candlestick. Then we sat, for what felt like forever, in the parking line. After paying $40 (yes $40!) to park inside, I was directed by the attendants to park right next to a group of porta-potties. And not just near the honeybuckets, but literally right next to them where a line of people were standing to use the toilets. As Laura tried to argue with the parking attendant, that we don't want to park in front of "the crappers", I fought through the line of people with the nose of my car trying to force them to move, so I could park. It was the most ridiculous situation. On one hand we have the parking attendant yelling that we have no other choice, those of us in the car angry that we just paid $40 to park in front of toilets, and then we have people in line yelling at us for taking their spot to line up. And seriously, who can not wait to use the restroom inside the stadium!
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| The car that didn't have to park by the poopers |
We made the best of the situation though, laughing our heads off, especially when Laura rolled down her window and started offering people hand sanitizer as they walked out of the porta-johns. People actually accepted it and were rather happy to have it! That is, until some pothead girl asked if we had put marijuana in the sanitizer.
At that point, we decided it was time to stop people-watching and head into the stadium. We joined up with the others girls and then we waited and waited and waited for Justin to come onstage. Finally, a DJ came out and started playing music, so we danced our hearts out again for another hour until Justin finally decided to join the party.
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| Heading to our seats at "The Stick" |
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| Found this photo on Star 101.3's website and still can't stop laughing at Jami's hand placement! |
Overall it was really cool to see Justin and Jay-Z perform together. You could tell they were having a lot of fun. But, in some ways, I was also disappointed - mostly because my expectations had been clearly misguided. I assumed that Justin was going to be headlining the concert with Jay-Z as opener. Not having been to a true rap concert, besides the Nelly concert in Orem, UT, (which I don't think counts), I wasn't sure what to expect.
In reality most of the people at that concert were there for Jay-Z... not JT! I should have known better, especially in the Bay Area. Alas I hadn't and felt a bit disappointed, especially when it seemed to have changed the dynamic of the whole concert. First of all, I've never smelled so much pot in my life! And then, JT didn't do much dancing. Probably because he knew most of this crowd wouldn't appreciate it. Now I actually like some of Jay-Z's songs. But I didn't think he made for a very exciting concert and then all his songs started sounding the same.
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| Getting ready for the concert to start |
Throughout the concert, Justin would sing a song or two and then Jay-Z would do a song or two himself, while Justin played an instrument of sorts. Then, they would do a song together and Justin would start over again by himself. The concert ended with JT & Jay-Z singing "Forever Young" as a tribute to Trayvon Martin. Really?! I mean it's a nice gesture, but a little too political for me.
All in all I enjoyed seeing Justin perform - especially with my girls. We always used to love going dancing and since we didn't get a chance to do more of that during our trip, this worked out well.
After the concert, we sat in the parking lot for hours talking. Then we battled our way out and didn't get back to downtown SF until midnight. Laura and I walked to a local diner to grab some food while the rest of the girls headed back to the hotel.
The next morning Briauna was flying out early. So she woke us up to grab some breakfast together and to shop in Chinatown. We all headed out and strolled through Chinatown until the girls all had to leave for the airport. Then Anna and I headed back to check out of the hotel and I dropped her at Golden Gate Park to do some exploring on her own while I headed home to sleep!
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| I hate goodbyes |
Such a short trip with my girls but still a blast! I have so many amazing friends, but there is nothing like my college friends who struggled through the single dating life with me. We all agreed that we need to plan another trip soon. Probably not in SF again, which was too cold - especially in July!
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