San Francisco

DAY 1
Lets just say things didn't get off to a great start. I got to the airport the recommended time before departure and let's say I wished I hadn't. I have not flown in years so to me all this insane security was Greek. The taking off shoes and having air blown all over you seem a little weird. I almost think that those measures are pointless and they just want us to feel like they are doing something. After making it through security I still had over an hour of sitting I had to do. I tried killing some time talking to strangers at the gate but no one really wanted to talk. I would have gone for some coffee; unfortunately the only coffee at the airport is Starbucks and Caribou. After trying to read and realizing it wasn't holding my attention I decided to walk around for a bit. After enough time killing we were finally able to load the plane. It was only after we loaded that they told us that they still had to fuel it for the flight and the flight would be delayed. We took off about forty minutes late. I spent most of the flight sleeping but woke up in time to watch the lights of the cities as we flew in. By the way the moon was a harvest moon and at the altitude it seemed like we were flying next to it. Again as we approached the airport we were delayed. So in total my flight landed over an hour late. After transferring to the BART t and then making it to my stop in The Mission it was nearing midnight. I was staying on the couch at Eileen’s, one of the owners of Ritual, who was already asleep when I arrived. I had a small chat with her roomy then went to sleep myself.

DAY 2
I woke up early which was kind of sleeping in to me being that I'm on Michigan time, took a quick shower, then made the small hike to Ritual. For anyone that hasn't seen it, it's really nice. It's in hipsterville and rightly so. The walls are red, black and white. The long wall down the side across from the bar has picture molding. I finally met Eileen as well as some of the staff but Jeremy was out surfing so I didn't get to meet him. Now before I get to the coffee, I decided that while I was here I was just going to enjoy it for what it is, good coffee. I will be bringing back coffee so Zak and I can get into that when we're bored at the shop. I started out with a double and a coffee; as of right now they are still using Stumptown’s Hairbender and they french press for coffee. I then had a macchiato and tried Ryan's (ass. roaster) Gibraltar. If you don't know what it is it's more or less a tiny latte in a rocks glass. Me and Ryan hung out on the roaster while he did a few batches of Sumatran Torajaland. After that I hoped on the BART to go to the market so I could start the Blue Bottle triple threat. I stopped at the first cart at the ferry market which seems to be a lot slower than the other one. It serves the Retrofil blend I just had a double there and it was awesome. Then I went over to the pink cart and had a double of the Roman Espresso. It was more bright than the Retrofil but definitely tasty. It's really fun watching the four workers orchestrate behind the pink cart, it stays pretty busy and if you've never seen it, the drip is all single served drips. Last I stopped at the Linden street garage location. They serve the Hayes Valley there, which was by far my favorite. I also had a macchiato which was one of the better that I have been served in years. After all that caffeine I decided I'd walk back to Ritual. I came across a place called "We Be Sushi" and stopped for a late lunch, up there with the better sushi I've had. I met up with Eileen and her roomy and we went to the free bluegrass fest. Hey, I'm always down with free. After that we went back to her place, I walked over to get some dinner and then after everyone got ready we met some people at the new bar or the park which ever you want to call it.