Like No Time Has Passed...

Kevin and Dana, friends from Raleigh who now live in Philadelphia, were in San Francisco this weekend as part of their week long vacation to SF and Napa/Sonoma. Kevin and I have known each other for 17 years....since 6th grade. His family lived across the street from my family and we hung out with the same group of friends all through high school and beyond. We even spent a summer in Mexico together, which I know will seal our friendship for the rest of our lives. We got to see Kevin and Dana last summer at their home in Phillie, so it was great to have them on the west coast in our 'hood.

Yesterday, we started out with a trip to the Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building, then did a driving tour of the city, passing through the Castro and the Haight (hippy-ville). This was Dana's first trip to SF and she wanted to see "the crooked street" for herself, so we had a few beers with lunch at The Grove, then walked to the "curvy" part of Lombard. Dave and I had only driven it in the past, so it was neat to get the perspective on foot. My "San Francisco Secrets" book gives a few more details on Lombard that I think are interesting:

"Lombard has eight turns in a space of 412 feet.... The colorful floral gardens of Lombard Street began in the 1940s when a resident of the street imported thousands of hydrangeas from France. The gardens are communally owned. The slalom descents that wind down Lombard were designed in 1922 to make the streets more accessible to automobile traffic, like switchbacks on a mountain road."

Here are a few photos from their visit:

After our daytime jaunt, we met up again that evening for cocktails at our apartment, then had a great meal at Hyde Street Bistro and capped the night off with cocktails at a local bar in the Marina. We loved seeing them and it reminded me how grateful I am to have friends in our lives that, even when we can't see each other as much as we'd like, we get to spend time when we can and our conversations pick up right where they left off...like no time has passed.