Day Seven: On a Mission (Jen again)

For our last full day of travel together, we decided some good old wandering was in order. We took an undisclosed means of transportation over to the Mission District. Our first order of business was breakfast burritos at Breakfast Little, which a friend of Trish's had recommended to her very passionately. They were not wrong. Instead of rice in their breakfast burritos, you get crunchy tater tots as part of your bundle of deliciousness. The artwork on the walls was also gorgeous. 

Trish and I had a vague itinerary of: wander wander wander, ice cream, sit in a park (I know, we're such over planners). And so, we wandered the Mission district, popping into every store that caught our fancy. This included a delightful comic bookshop where I bought some zines about what happens after magicians graduate their magic schools and find themselves with student loans and unemployed. And of course it also included a bookshop, Dog Eared Books, where I made a traditional book purchase (Book count 11-13 depending on how you choose to define zines). 

We paid a visit to 826 Valencia, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting under-resources students with their writing skills. They have a delightful pirate themed store that held much bounty (and lots of drawers in the walls for some reason, which, was kinda awesome). Plus helpful tips on uses for lard. And, of course, a tiny theatre where you could sit and watch a fish tank. 

Although we passed a few ice cream shops along the way, we eventually made out way to Bi-Rite Creamery. Part of the Bi-Rite Market (which originally opened in 1940), the Creamery was opened in 2006 and was the first shop to use local, organic dairy from a local family creamery just outside San Francisco, and they make their many recipes from scratch. I selected a combo of Triple Chocolate Coconut and Lavender Honey, while Trish went for Toasted Sesame and Tiramisu. 

Treats in hand, we made our way over to the Mission Dolores Park. Much to Trish's joy, this turned out to be an off-leash dog park. We settled in on a sunny patch of grass atop a hill, enjoying our ice cream and watching many fluffy pups running in circles. We stayed for a while reading and relaxing in the sunshine. 

Eventually we resumed our walking, and came across an alleyway filled with all kinds of activist murals and positive messaging. 

We headed back to our hotel to drop off our purchases, and prepare ourselves for an evening venture out to a bar call the Lost Cat. Although it required walking up several hills, and then down several hills (which Trish assured me that we would have to walk back up later, despite my protests), we managed. A cute place with on-point cat vibes for Trish, and a fun cocktail menu, we enjoyed some drinks and some bites. Apparently Trish and I are incapable of eating three meals a day, as we realized we tend to have some kind of a brunch-ish meal, and then usually some late afternoon/early evening to compliment. Considering we haven't even been hitting a one-a-day quota for ice cream, and we're getting all the steps in, Trish and I are basically wasting away. 

We left Lost Cat, walked past a tiny door which we didn't try to enter, and had hopes to catch the sunset from our hotel's rooftop patio. We kept making vague statements about checking it out, but never followed through. This required sending one elevator on a wild goose chase so we could call the other elevator that actually went to the roof, and then deciphering a hallway of doors to determine which one would not trigger an alarm. We made it there successfully, and were immediately disappointed. There was absolutely no view, the sunset was hidden, and we couldn't even look over the edge properly.

Ah well, we were bound to be disappointed by something on our trip.