Weekend Recap: Truffle Oil, Penguins, 40 Cloves of Garlic, and a Party Bus

It had been a while since we went out and did something fun, so when we found out our friend (and our wedding officiant), "Reverend" Mike was renting a party bus for his birthday up in San Francisco this weekend, we decided to make a day of it.

We started with lunch at the Park Chalet, where I had excellent Truffled Chicken and Four Cheese Macaroni. I really need to find some recipes that call for truffle oil, it's so good!

And I love this restaurant, right on the edge of Golden Gate Park, across the street from Ocean Beach. On sunny Sundays it's really fun to hang out on their lawn, listening to live music.

Then, we headed to the California Academy of Sciences, which I'd been wanting to go to for a while now. It was so much fun! Lots of animal exhibits and educational displays, and a great way to spend a rainy afternoon.

The penguin exhibit was my favorite! Of course they made me think of Mrs. Penguin!

There was also an albino alligator.

The 3 story rain forest was really neat too, with free flying birds and butterflies, but the heat and steam sure made my hair frizzy!

The living rooftop of the building.

After seeing a show in the planetarium, we headed to the bottom level, which had mostly aquatic exhibits.

Hella-big giant sea bass!

After about three hours at the Cal Academy, we drove to the other side of the city, checked into a cheap hotel a couple of blocks from "Reverend" Mike's apartment, changed for dinner, and cabbed to North Beach to my all time favorite restaurant ever, The Stinking Rose! Their slogan is "we season our garlic with food," so naturally I love this place!

The 40 Clove Garlic Chicken is to die for. You can literally eat a clove of garlic with every bite of your meal! This isn't a dish for garlic-wimps, but luckily I have a really high tolerance for garlic.

After dinner it was back to the hotel to brush our teeth (twice!), and then we headed over to "Reverend" Mike's place to kick off his birthday celebration with cake.

Around 9:30 or so we boarded the party bus with lots of drinks, and headed off to drive around the city. We did most of our partying on the bus, only going into a few bars throughout the night for a drink and bathroom break. It was so much cheaper this way, and gave everyone the chance to hang out and talk, instead of trying to yell over the loud music in bars.

Coit Tower.

Random people on the street trying to make a pyramid.

Towards the end of the night we drove out to Treasure Island for a view of San Francisco all lit up. I'd actually never stopped on Treasure Island before, so it was probably my favorite stop of the night.

Once our time with the bus was up, we hung out back at Mike's apartment for a while, then walked the few blocks back to our hotel to crash for the night. It was such a great idea to treat ourselves to a hotel, since we would usually have to either cut the night short and take the train home, not drink and drive the 45 minutes home in the middle of the night, or sleep at Mike's with the 10 other people crashing there. I think I'm too old for that though!

So anyway, that was our super fun Saturday. I highly recommend the Cal Academy of Sciences, so if you're in the Bay Area every, definitely add it to your sightseeing list. And while you're at it, be sure to eat at the Stinking Rose if you have the chance!