Road Trip, Part IV: San Francisco (The Final Chapter)

We had one final day in San Francisco, so we took the opportunity to be tourists. First, we went to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was cold and chilly, as San Francisco often is. Luckily, the sun was out, so it wasn't so bad.

Afterwards, we went to the Haight-Ashbury district, where we did some vintage shopping, ate lunch at a cafe and met up with our local SF friend Canada to visit Amoeba.







Sanrio and floral Doc Martens in a store window along Haight street









I'm a bit obsessed with Elvis, so needless to say, I fell in love with this display they had at Amoeba below. Canada was full rock n' roll in leopard print and black leather; such a contradiction to my aqua hippie slip-dress and pink hairbow.

Road Trip, Part II: Big Sur

After lunch at the Madonna, we continued up the coast to the Fernwood Resort in Big Sur, California. We settled into our tent cabin (where Elyse is smiling in our bunks), and then went down for some sound check by Jonathan Wilson with Dawes as his backing band. I was feeling a little bit country, a little bit girly in a ruffly gingham skirt and pink crushed velvet bow.

When the sun set, and the millions of stars appeared, the bands started to play. Jonathan Wilson, The Felice Brothers, and Conor Oberst set a perfect folksy soundtrack to the forest setting. After the show, we all hung around a bonfire with the members and friends of the bands until the wee hours of the morning.

Road Trip, Part I: The Madonna Inn

Along my road trip up the California coast this month, my friends and I stopped at the legendary Madonna Inn for lunch and slices of pink cake in their cafe.

The Madonna is a pink, fairy tale, dream world. It looks as if Hansel and Gretel created it, if Hansel was a flamboyant interior decorator and Gretel was a pompous diva. When we got there, we walked up to the bakery display, where they had the most beautiful, Barbie-play-kitchen, looking cakes, especially the ones that were bright pink. After we were seated, we all girled out over the pink sugars, rock candy, and the decadent goblets they gave us for our waters. We took paper napkins and sugar packets, all personalized with the Madonna logo, as souvenirs.

Elyse and I both got slices of cake. She got german chocolate, and I got apple cinammon, which was the one with the pink icing.