A couple of weeks ago, Grace and I headed up to San Francisco for the weekend to see two of our dear friends, Tommy and Philip. They live in Austin, Texas, but had flown in for Philip’s birthday and invited us to join! It was such a special weekend that I’ll never forget.
If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you might remember Tommy and Philip’s New Year’s Eve wedding in New Orleans last year! Tommy and Philip are some of our first “gay married friends”, and while that might sound silly or trivial, it really means so much to share a season of life with a wonderful couple like Tommy and Philip. It’s so funny because in some ways, Tommy and I are VERY alike (we both took the primary role in planning our respective weddings, we both are fascinated by random pieces of history like the sinking of luxury ship liners and the history of monarchies, and we both are self-admittedly needy toward our spouses sometimes, haha), and in other ways Philip and I are a lot alike. We are both more introverted, we’re both lawyers, and people rarely think we’re gay when first meeting us. The same goes for Grace and the two guys - she’s a lot like each of them in certain ways. I really feel like we could talk to Tommy and Philip for a week straight and not run out of things to talk about. We feel so lucky to know them!
San Francisco was the perfect late-September destination for it to really feel like Fall. The air was crisp when we got there, and we had the best time eating and drinking our way through the city. We stayed at the Stanford Court hotel in Nob Hill, which was cute. We really didn’t spend much time at the hotel, but it was nice, and I would stay there again. I LOVED staying in Nob Hill.
I used to live in the Bay Area (in Berkeley) during law school, so I know San Francisco well! It was really fun to go back and see new areas and try new places. Some highlights were:
Enjoying some high times in Mission Dolores Park
Dim sum in Chinatown at City View for breakfast the first morning
Checking out the Castro (the famous gay area of San Francisco): we went to Twin Peaks Tavern, Q bar, Hi Tops, and Beaux. Twin Peaks has a really cool history (it is maybe the oldest gay bar in the US - the title is disputed), Hi Tops had great food, and Beaux was a lot of fun to end the night. We didn’t love Q bar (I had actually been there before, years ago, and feel like it used to be more fun?). Also we went to Hot Cookie in the Castro for the BEST cookies. Omg!
Last but not least, the brunch we had at Chubby Noodle on the last morning before leaving was the yummiest brunch I can remember having in a long time. If you’re in SF, GO THERE!
Most of all, though, just spending time with this sweet couple who we can share the experience of being young, gay, and married with is so rare and cool. I titled this post “The First Gay Married Weekend” because I can’t wait to continue this tradition. Tommy and Philip always travel in style so I can’t wait to see where we go next!