I slept really well even though we were in a strange hotel room. I awoke to the quiet knock at our door. Someone dropping off our scheduled tea and coffee. I peeked out the window and it seems it rained but there were only clouds blowing by now opening up large patches of blue sky.

We took our time getting up and ready and then headed for BART so we could try a breakfast place on Mission that claimed to have vegan French toast. By the time we got to 24th and Mission it was nearly lunch time and the streets were full of people. The restaurant we were headed to was Sun Rise Restaurant and it did not disappoint. I had the vegan French toast and a side of home fries. Andrew had the soyrizo plate and Wayne had the soyrizo breakfast burrito. It was all so good! Now that we were full we decided to just walk so we headed down Mission toward 16th where we cut west and walked all the way to Castro. We wandered up Castro, stopping to buy Wayne a shirt because he was not thinking it would be so hot this late in October.

We continued walking up Castro and came across an open house. I’m totally into seeing inside these old homes so I dragged the guys inside. This house was a rarity for sure. The entire thing was for sale including the garage. It had a full one bedroom legal apartment downstairs, a decent back yard, two large bedrooms in the main part of the house, a huge master suite, a lovely kitchen and dining room. The ceilings were coved and had this beautiful plaster detailing I wish I had photographed. Anyway, it was available for the low, low price of 2.3 million. Thanks for letting us be nosy, realtor guy!

We continued on our walk up the giant hill! I made it without falling over and then it was back down the other side. We made it back down to 24th to an area I just love. Andrew and I had stayed on Castro very near here several years ago and spent several days walking around this neighborhood. We slowly walked down the familiar street although it was all new to Wayne. I wandered into a stained glass shop and we chatted with the owner for a while. I would love to have a piece to hang over our large dining room window but none of the pieces he had were things he had done himself so I wasn’t as interested.

We continued walking, making our way back to Mission so we could grab a late lunch at La Taqueria. We had heard that they have excellent burritos and there was quite the line so maybe it was true. Their sign claims they have the best burritos and tacos “in the whole world.” That is quite the claim! We stood in the long line and it went a lot faster than it seemed it would. Soon we had our burritos and they were pretty darned good. I wouldn’t say it was the best one I have ever had but it was up there. The guys loved theirs as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were so full but Andrew remembered Mission Pie! We couldn’t pass up Mission Pie and it was just a few steps away. Today they had vegan apple cranberry. We got two slices to share and it was perfect. They also had their amazing Shaker Lemon pie but sadly it is not vegan. Andrew and I had tried it years ago when I was vegetarian and I have tried a few times to recreate a vegan version with little success.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were beyond stuffed now and my feet were done so we headed to BART and took a ride back to Montgomery and our nearby hotel. Andrew and I took a lovely but short nap and then we sat around not doing much of anything.

It was 20:00 before we knew it so once again we started talking about what we should do for dinner and the evening. Andrew suggested we go see Citizen 4, the Edward Snowden documentary but it didn’t start until 22:00 so I would probably not be able to stay awake. We instead decided to have a late dinner at Pena Pachemama, a little vegan Bolivian restaurant a half mile away. Andrew made a reservation for 21:15 and we headed over.

It was still really beautiful out and the night was full of people walking around or patio dining. We found the restaurant and when we went inside there was a live band playing. The place was wonderful! We had the most interesting and delicious food with flavors both new and familiar. We ordered a few small plates and two dinners. I had a horchata which was the best I’ve ever had and Andrew had a margarita. We were first served a pear, pecan, avocado salad, pan fried yuca frita with cashew cream and a plate of butternut squash and caramelized onions. Yum! For dinner we had the Spicy Chef’s Plate and the Vegan Saice. I’m not exactly sure what was in these, lots of veggies, rice, and sauce. Delicious!

We sat and listened to the band play until about 23:00 and then headed back to our hotel. What a nice day!

Today I learned that Venus Callipyge is the goddess of cute butts.