Reasons 3177 - 3285

We were pretty darn excited the whole day riding from Santa Rosa to San Francisco. Navigating our way through the various cycling routes was confusing at times, but at one point we tagged along with a helpful, local cyclist that lead us through the more labyrinthine sections. We passed dozens of tourists on rental bikes, smiling and laughing while only partially paying attention to where they were going. We also passed many stern, serious road cyclists with high-end bikes. No smiles there. But, the more cyclists we passed the closer we got to the Golden Gate Bridge.

From our previous night’s hosts to San Francisco was around 67 miles/108 kilometers, so we had a pretty full day of riding. When we finally ascended the many hills to the north side of the Golden Gate we were pretty bushed, but we pushed ourselves up to the top of a vista point above the bridge. It was quite possibly the steepest grade we’ve biked yet, but we didn’t care. We needed our pictures. Fortunately, we lucked out completely and arrived at the vista point a half hour or so before sunset on a completely clear day. Often the bay area surrounding the bridge is fogged right in.

These tourists were exceptionally astounded when we told them how far we've ridden our bikes. We had to tell the one a few times over before he believed us. They called us 'Supermen.'

By the time we took our pictures and got back on the bikes to cross the bridge it was after dark. It was a little bit intimidating getting through all the hilly streets of San Francisco in the dark, but we managed. And, finally we arrived at our destination just behind Cha Cha Cha’s on the famous Haight Street.

Our trek across the Golden Gate in 1min.

My friend, Chris Jardin has been living in San Francisco for the last couple years. He is actually originally from Peterborough, Ontario. The two of us met a few years ago when we both worked for the Mustard Seed. Chris worked and lived in Edmonton for only seven months as part of his hitchhiking journey to San Francisco. Chris is a gentle-hearted, fun-loving, grounded guy. He shares a tiny apartment with a few roommates. While we were there Chris was kind enough to give up his room for us. He and his girlfriend were pretty busy working on a campaign for a state proposition to end capital punishment in California, so we only got to have a couple, brief, quality hangouts. It was really great to have some real, heart-to-heart chats and pray together. It was kind of hilarious, because Chris was a little bit turned off when we told him that we did some of the blatantly touristy things like going to Fisherman’s Wharf and riding the cable cars. So, he took us out to a great taqueria for authentic Mexican food and to a show of local bands that he’s friends with.

Another big highlight for us was hanging out with Chris’ roommates Marc and Lizzie, and their friend, Jenny. They had actually only moved in only a couple weeks prior to our arrival, but were super accommodating in such a tiny, shared space. We had some lively discussion about spirituality and our general worldviews which somehow lead to me paraphrasing the entire Exodus story from beginning to end for the girls. We laughed about all sorts of things, and watched Romney and Obama’s speeches on election night.

Whoa, is that a Mustard-Grilled Three By Three and Animal Fries!?! Yes, it is.

Is that a Neopolitan milkshake? Like, strawberry, vanilla and chocolate in one shake? Yes, it is. We love secret menu items.

Golden Gate from Fisherman's Wharf. Collin's sweet second-hand kids backpack and serious face.

At Boudin Bakery they make sourdough breads resembling a million different things, and they have little birds flitting about eating crumbs.

Views from the cable car.

Some friendly New Yorkers we rode the cable car with us.

Collin, Anne, Gary and Me.

When Collin and I explored Fisherman’s Wharf we had to go hit up the first In-N-Out Burger we saw on the tour. After walking around for a couple hours we made our way back to the cable cars. While in line, we met Gary and Anne. They are this really laid-back, insightful and kind couple from Chicago who were in town for the weekend. Honestly, I had felt prompted by God to start talking to them. And, it was funny, because after a few minutes of introducing ourselves and talking about the tour Gary asked me outright why I had started talking to them. I think he just knew that God had prompted me and he kind of wanted to push me to openly admit so before establishing that we’re all Christians. It’s been pretty cool for me to be on the road and just start conversations with strangers wherever we go, and this particular time was very special. We chatted with Gary and Anne for quite a long time in line, and the whole cable car ride. We talked about their home-life and family, Gary’s event production business that takes him all over the world, and our common spirituality. When the four of us got off the cable car we asked them if they would be willing to pray for us, and allow us to pray for them. And, so, we stood in a circle with our hands on each other’s shoulders in the middle of hundreds of tourists and locals and prayed. It was pretty powerful. God gave me some pretty specific things to pray for them as a couple and as parents. We were all moved.

All in all, we had a fantastic time in the bay area. We lucked out completely by having really nice weather the whole time we were there. But, the morning we left everything completely fogged over.