Be Sure to Wear, Flowers in Your Hair...

I'm home! And back to work! Total BOO on the work bit. Anyhoo, San Francisco was super fun and I thought it would be best to tell you all about it via gratuitous use of photos. Cause who doesn't like stories with pictures?

The night before we left, Bethany and Al threw a party, complete with a bonfire, a keg, and BOTH of my little sisters. Good times! Matthew was super into pictures that night, as illustrated by his enthusiastic thumbs-up:
The gals in the picture are my lovely sister Lauren, Jenny, Bethany, Bethany's sister Ryan, and Lindsay.

And here's me and Lauren being silly... I would have a silly picture with Kyle, but she bonged one too many beers and after she threw up on the deck, Bethany and I put her to bed.

And the next afternoon- off to San Francisco! My favorite quotes from our trip there both came from the same Detroit Airport employee. They have these new machines when you go through security that blow puffs of air all over you to check you for explosive powders and whatnot. The guy explained to me how it worked and I said, "Oh, that's really interesting." His response, "Yeah, I'd rather have a raise." Touche. The same guy also told Cory that going through the machine was like getting a blow job.

Anyhoo, the main reason for our trip was to visit with these two guys- David: And our former Portsmouth roommate, Ryan:
We stayed with Ryan all week. Ryan lives above a bar and has at least three official roommates, two of whom are growing battle beards. Actually, I don't know if they're really battle beards but they are impressive beards, nonetheless. And those beards really seemed to bring the ladies, too. Either way, Ryan's roommates were very friendly and very nice to let us take over their living room every night.

Ryan lives within walking distance of a pier with a great view and a nice park. Here are Cory and Ryan taking Baby for a walk...(that island in front of them, on the left, is Alcatraz)...And speaking of Alcatraz, Cory and I went there and we had a great time. We walked to Pier 33 from Ryan's house to catch the ferry, not realizing until about halfway there that it was a REALLY long f'ing walk. But we are hardcore. And the blisters will eventually heal....

Here's a view of San Francisco, as seen from Alcatraz Island...

See those super long roads that are all uphill? I think I walked most of those at some point during this trip.

Cory and I learned a lot of new things about Alcatraz. It was taken over by Native Americans in the '60's, and they lived there for 19 months and eventually earned more rights for Native Americans in the end. They also spray-painted a lot while they were there...

I also didn't know that Alcatraz has a unique ecosystem and is home to tons of really beautiful flowers...

And it's a nesting spot for TONS of birds. No, seriously, more birds than you've ever seen in one place in your entire life. All you hear while you're there is birds, and the entire island smells like bird poop. For those of you who know me and my feelings about birds, you will understand why scenes like this are very scary for me:

Here's Cory on some steps in front of the...cell house, I think? I forget...

Then here's me...see all that white on the ground around my feet? Seriously, bird poop. The guy who welcomes you to the island points out that anywhere there isn't bird poop on the ground is where someone was standing.

Here's the cell house, inside:

Notice how everyone is wearing headphones? The audio tour was complimentary when you paid for the ferry ride over there. It was kind of funny cause the audio tour directs you where to go, and everyone kind of walked and turned and stared at things like zombies. Me and Cory, included.

Cory in solitary confinement:

Someone I talked to after we got home told me they went in this exact cell and swore it was haunted, but I only saw some yuppie girl who stood in there for way too long while we were waiting to take this picture. She didn't look like a ghost but what do I know?

Completely unrelated to Alcatraz, here is Ryan's dog baby and her new favorite toy, courtesy of the lovely LaurenSmash...

When I said in a previous blog that Shayna's dog is one of the only dogs I like, one of the other dogs I was referring to is Baby. Cause she's awesome.

Here's a painting of our dearly departed friend Brandon, done by Ryan:

The first few days we were there, it was regular, windy, chilly San Francisco weather. We carried sweaters everywhere and the wind was so crazy, it blew up my dress and flashed by bottom to the citizens of the city. But then on Wednesday, it was suddenly SUPER HOT! Like 95-100 degrees. And since this NEVER happens in San Francisco, no one in the city has air conditioning. So there is no relief from it, anywhere. You're sweating in the street and decide to go to a restaurant? It's hotter in the restaurant! It's hotter in the stores! Even the hotels don't have air conditioning.

But...it was a great time to go to the beach! The ocean is my favorite place to be, on either coast.

I'd never actually touched the Pacific, though, and it turns out that even when it's been close to 100 degrees outside for days, the water is still so cold it hurts to stand in. So I just kept running in and out till my feet got used to it a bit...

Cory and David are a lot braver than me...here they are THINKING about going in...

Then here they are, actually in the water. They're crazy.

Anyhoo. The reason we specifically chose last week to take our trip is because Ryan is graduating from the SF Art Institute with his Masters and he was having his final show last Friday. Here are a couple of his newer paintings....

This cut-out painting is actually his roommate Conner. He did one of David, too, but I realized too late that I forgot to take a picture of that one.

The rest of our trip was filled with lots of walking, shopping on Haight Street, eating at various burrito and pizza places throughout the city, general hanging out, and a really fun night with David's roommate, Ert. She took us to a bar called the Tonga that had fake rain and thunderstorms, live music, and delicious drinks. We also went to a few skateparks and hung out with Ryan's sisters in their non-air conditioned hotel.

On the way home, our flight was cancelled. We were re-routed and had a layover in Vegas, and got home just in time for the drunkest part of Dawn's college graduation party. Sara grabbed Jenny's boobs in front of my grandma and Stuart took all of his clothes off (luckily Stuart waited till after my grandma left).

Here's me and my friend Dani...

Here's Dani's husband, Tim, carrying Dawn (chair and all) to the keg to make her do a keg stand...

And here's Dawn doing the keg stand while Cory laughs at Stu's ridiculously creepy, "Don't be scared, Dawn."

So that's what I've been doing for the last week or so. Really good times. Now we're home and I suddenly seem to be sick. I think being in the extreme hot and then coming home to the cold, damp weather caused it, but I'm actually not minding the current chilliness outside cause I needed a break from the heat. But I could definitely do without this sore throat and runny nose. I totally meant to go to sleep early last night to help get rid of this sickness but then Cory and I started watching season 3 of Weeds and stayed up too late. That show is seriously addicting. Anyone who hasn't watched it, you're missing out.

This concludes our photographic tour of Erin's mid-May adventures. This weekend is Memorial Day Weekend and I have a half day on Friday, no work Monday, plans for a night at Mike and Stephanie's house, a college graduation party, and Lauren's birthday party to look forward to! Summer-summer-summer-TIME!

Have a lovely Tuesday, everyone!