This is the final installment of our San Francisco wOOtstock story. You can read about our drive down here, and about my near-breakdown here. Have fun!

Date: Sunday, January 29, 2012.

Location: San Francisco

Setting: The living room of a spacious apartment, on an inflatable mattress.

It’s Sunday morning, and I am awake. I didn’t get to sleep until shortly after midnight, and didn’t sleep well afterwards. The inflatable mattress we had brought with us had sprung a leak sometime in the recent past, and was slowly deflating. My protesting back attested to this unpleasant fact.

Another unpleasant fact: My husband was snoring. Loudly.

I took this as my cue to get up and start getting ready for the day. I figured a good place to start would be to paint my nails, since I didn’t want to meet the Wheatons with un-manicured claws. That would never do! I settled in to my task and was half-way through when Jonathan woke up and got ready. Being the manly man he is, all he had to do was ruffle his hair and brush his teeth, and he was ready to go.

Now, you ladies know that once you start painting your nails, you are STUCK where you are until they’re dry. You can’t go to the bathroom, you can’t do your hair, you can’t do diddly squat! This can be a problem when you have an impatient husband who is hungry RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND AND WE HAVE TO LEAVE NOW!!!!

Then we went to [REDACTED CUZ IT'S BORING] Then made our way towards Chinatown.

After locating a perilous parking spot on a ridiculous hill*, we put on our walking shoes and set off in search of cool things. If you’ve never been to Chinatown in San Francisco, I highly recommend it. There is some awesome architecture, and if you’re up to it, some excellent food. Unfortunately, having stuffed ourselves with French toast (again), we didn’t eat anything.

We wandered around Chinatown for several hours, and were lucky enough to stumble upon a Chinese New Year celebration in the streets. Tristan was drawn toward the sounds of firecrackers and drums, and we discovered two Chinese dragons marching up and down the streets, bowing and bestowing blessings on the local businesses. It was pretty cool; it’s not everyday we get to see cultural events like that.

We eventually found our way out of Chinatown, and hiked back up Sacramento St to where our car was parked. It was still early in the afternoon, so we decided to go check out the cathedral a few blocks away. I had never been in a cathedral like this before. This place was massive; soaring buttresses and stained glass everywhere. It was absolutely silent as we walked in, and only a few other tourists and some people sitting in the pews.

Even if you’re totally anti-religious, you can admire the architectural wonder that is a cathedral. This building was only a couple hundred years old, and may not have been as intricately detailed as say, Notre Dame, but it was still awe-inspiring to walk around in it.

Ok, ok. Let’s fast forward a couple hours, since all we did between approximately 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm was wander around.

Now it’s a little after 6, and Jonathan and I are seated at a large table at the Top of the Mark lounge. I have to give Anne props here, since she was the one who suggested it. This place was swank…fancy cocktails and “light dining”, which means when you want food, you get the fancy, itty-bitty portions that sometimes end up costing more than your car.**

See that hotel in the background? Yeah, we were at the very top. It was so gorgeous!

Confession time! I was beyond nervous. I was about to meet a lady who I had only spoken to on Twitter, who was married to the Nerd Emperor†, and who was friends with all of the performers we were going to watch later that evening.

I guess you could say I had ALL THE NERVES!!! I was jittery and shaky, and I kept touching my hair. Jonathan kept laughing at me, telling me to calm down. He thought I was cool, surely she would too. We were messaging back and forth on Twitter, her letting me know they were on their way, and me telling her we had a table and were just hanging out, enjoying the awesome view. THEN she tells me that Bonnie Burton is joining us as well, and I tell this to Jonathan. He is now very excited too, because Bonnie works for LucasFilm, and he is a huge Star Wars fan. I predict this evening will turn out to be awesome.

The ladies arrive, and I immediately spot Anne in her (totally cute and not Waldo-esque) red and white striped sweater. Guys…she’s gorgeous. She’s got perfect hair, a sparkly white smile, and she’s absolutely hilarious. She gives me a big hug and introduces me to Bonnie and her friend Debbie. Funny story – Debbie lives in the next town over from me, and, get this: her brother is my next door neighbour. SMALL FREAKING WORLD! I couldn’t believe it.