Matt & Josh live beside the Corona Heights Park which is sandwiched between the Castro & Haight Ashbury. Their neighborhood is quite quiet despite being right in the middle of everything. For my second day, Josh suggested that I climb to the top of the park for a panoramic view of the city. The view from the top is indeed a 360-degree vista of the city. I was able to do my requisite grounding by sit on a rock. After a sufficient time, I headed down the hill once again.
My first goal for the day was lunch at Kitava, another 100% gluten-free restaurant. Their menu was diverse, their amount of choices left stumped for a minute. I finally decided on General Tso’s chicken which was breaded in a cassava starch. I realize that my choice was the most basic of basic dishes, but I’ve missed this meal since going GF over 2 years ago. It seemed like a light and healthy choice with it’s steamed broccoli & white rice. The part that was only marginally healthy was the kombucha. I say that because it was a version that still had some residual alcohol. I rarely drink, and if I do it’s never at 11am. I had a bit of a buzz before finishing lunch. Good thing I was in the mood to hike it off!
I continued down Mission Street with the goal of walking to the city’s center. I admired SF’s newest & tallest skyscraper, the Salesforce Tower. The tower was designed by Cesar Pelli who also designed Winston-Salem’s tallest building. Both buildings are known for their phallic shape.
I walked and walked and ostensibly, returned to the guys’ apartment to change my shoes. It turns out what I really needed was a nap. After sitting for a moment to change my shoes, I fell asleep for a few short minutes. It was just long enough to break my momentum. About 3pm, I decided to catch up on emails and complete mundane things like paying bills. No matter how glamorous the locale, being gone for over a month means that you have to work at some point, somewhere.
I chose early on, to not stress and instead to go with the flow. That day, the flow stayed on the couch. I won’t beat myself up because I estimate that I had urban hiked 15 hilly San Francisco miles at that point.
Josh & I got ready to meet Matt for dinner & a show. They already had plans with their friends that evening and luckily Matt was able to score another ticket to the show. Dinner was attheir favorite French bistro. I had the trout amandine, with capers. It was fantastic!
I had high hopes for the show because it starred one of my favorite drag queens, Varla Jean Merman. I’ve been a big fan of hers since seeing one of her movies, Girls Will Be Girls. The show was part of Sketch Fest and originated in Province Town over the past summer. It was written by Peaches Christ who was the costar. The Whining is a horror movie parody show loosly based on the Shining but it referenced other classic horror movies. There were also a ton of RuPaul’s Drag Race references(i.e. tongue pops, & Miss Vangie). I laughed through the whole show! It was smart, hilarious, & quirky. After the show, the stars spoke a bit about their collaboration. It sounds like future projects will be just as funny. The stars were available for photos afterward, so I asked Matt & Josh to loiter with me.
If there was an award for incessant babbling, our Lyft driver could’ve been a contender. He knew a little about everything…which is always a good reminder for me to keep quiet in social situations. I myself straddle the annoying conversationalist line at times. Just because you know things doesn’t mean you need to share them. Matt reminded be why I cancelled my subscription of Mental Floss years ago. Trivia is like crack to me. Useless facts are like metal shavings to my magnetic brain. I don’t have the social skills to bring them up in casual conversation. LOL.
Once safely delivered to Matt’s apartment we didn’t have much time to socialize. Matt’s day starts very early and mine would need to start obnoxiously early. We said our goodbyes and promised to see each other soon.
Up next: return to LA & dinner with Beaux
Josh, Peaches Christ, me, Matt, & Varla Jean Merman 
Oranges and Chinatown 
Salesforce tower 
Gluten-free general tso’s chicken
The Traveling Burd 