Jenny Lewis: The Best Reason for a Girls' Weekend in California

Before I started the fall quarterback in September, my friend Kendal and I met up in San Francisco for a girls' weekend. The main reason we made the trip was to see Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins perform "Rabbit Fur Coat" in full for the album's 10 year anniversary tour. I saw the same show in Los Angeles earlier this year with my friend Bri, but I couldn't resist buying tickets to see it all over again months later. Jenny is one of the only artists I've traveled all over the country to see. I've been a super fan since I was 14. She's just so lovely.

Anywho, I flew in from Seattle and Kendal flew in from Chicago and we met up at the airport and then quickly made our way to the Hostel we booked. Usually, we tend to favor Airbnb when we travel, but San Francisco is hella pricey, so we settled on a cheap hostel instead.

It ended up working out just fine, though, especially since it was in such a great location (and breakfast was included). I think the girls we shared a room with came to San Francisco just to shop. They literally spent all night trying to stuff the absurd amount of shopping bags they had into their six extra large suitcases. It looked like hell. Different strokes... Also, there was this funny little car rental place we could see from our window, so it was entertaining to watch people drive off in these tiny cars.

We wandered around in search of a quick bite before heading to the show. We found an Ethiopian place offering a cheap veggie platter so we split it. Yum, it totally hit the spot.

Jenny was amazing, and Ben Gibbard ended up being the special guest that night, which was awesome since he actually appears on the "Rabbit Fur Coat" album. We had a sneaking suspicion he might be there. Here's a clip of them playing "Handle With Care," one of my favorites from the album. Too bad M. Ward and Conor Oberst couldn't be there, too!

The next morning, we took an Uber to Fisherman's Wharf to see the smelly sea lions. Our driver insisted that we check out Lombard Street on our way down, so he dropped us off at the top of the hill.

Whenever I'm in San Francisco or even certain parts of Seattle where the hills are just insane, I can't help but think, "Hmm, I don't think people should be living here," haha. There's literally a street in Seattle that makes my ears pop whenever I drive up or down it. How does anyone live on such a steep incline like that?? Chaos!

We walked up and down the touristy strip in Fisherman's Wharf where we saw Alcatraz, a man making bread, and lots of seagulls. After stopping at CVS for coconut water, we made our way to the Golden Gate Bridge.

We sort of figured we'd just take public transit the whole time we were in SF, but it ended up making way more sense to alternate paying for Lyft or Uber rides. From Fisherman's Wharf to the Golden Gate Bridge, it's about a 45-minute ride via the bus/train, but it's only a 15-minute car ride. In order to maximize our touristy exploring, we ditched the public transit idea.

Kendal and I had planned on either walking or biking across the bridge, but we couldn't make up our minds about it once we actually got there. It was super windy and we were already freezing, so we said, "Ah, screw it, let's go get coffee instead."

We walked all over the city and eventually, made our way to the Castro district. The last time I was there, Harvey Milk's old camera store wasn't much to see. They had signs in the windows and plaques dedicated to him, but it was nice to see they've actually made some changes this time around. It's now where the Human Rights store is located, which used to be across the street. How appropriate!

We grabbed lunch at Slurp Noodle Bar where we had a hilarious view of a fat little pug, and then we ate giant cookies at Hot Cookie before leaving Castro Street.

We had dinner plans with our friend Shaun later that night, so after resting for a while back at the hostel, we headed out again to explore Chinatown before taking an Uber over to Shaun's place.

Shaun's husband, Michael, totally loves Skymall magazine. Everything in their apartment is something you've probably seen in one of those strange magazines but would never actually buy for yourself. This included fun, colored lights throughout the apartment, an automated soap dispenser in the bathroom, an electronic wine bottle opener, and this odd deer head that was designed to fit inside your wine bottle to I don't know, maybe make it appear as though the deer is bleeding into your cup? Oh Michael, I love you.

We ate at Gracias Madre around 10pm which made me feel so European. The place was vegan, packed, and I was a bit drunk from the deer blood wine. The three of us had fun catching up, laughing, and avoiding eye contact with the little man coming table to table with his guitar to serenade the ladies.

In the morning, Kendal and I shared our last coffee together at Four Barrel Coffee while we waited for our table at Mission Beach Cafe. The girl working the register at Four Barrel is my favorite Mod Cloth model which was so random. I actually don't know for SURE if it was her because I was too nervous to ask, but I'm 97% sure it was. She was so pretty and even told me she liked my shirt! *swoon* After breakfast, we bummed around for a while until it was time to head back to the airport.

We visited the Mrs. Doubtfire house and read the messages fans have left all over the rocks outside for Robin Williams. I still get sad when I think about him. :(

Kendal looking a little on the bright side. It was still too cute not to share, so deal with it, y'all. I miss my girl all the time, so spending the weekend with her was such a treat. BFFs since 7th grade; she's my person. Thanks for reading! xo