San Francisco

For our anniversary in May, Justin surprised me with a trip to San Francisco this summer. We had been once before and had a great time, but the trip had been so short that we left wishing we had more time to spend there. So, we came back to spend four days in and around the city and had so much fun! We did lots and LOTS of walking and got to see many different people and places, including some family!

As I was searching for an easier way to put photos in the blog without taking up so much space, I discovered Picasa collages! So, enjoy a tour of San Francisco via mosaic!

We got in late Thursday night, but had big plans for Friday. We got up early to get our rental car (a convertible Mustang!) and head out to Muir Woods and Napa Valley, both north of the Golden Gate Bridge. We stopped at the Dipsea Cafe, where we'd actually had lunch last time we were in San Francisco. Then, it was off to Muir Woods where we saw HUGE and beautiful redwood trees. Some of the trees were even over one thousand years old!

After leaving Muir Woods, we headed towards Napa Valley to V. Sattui, a winery that would have a deli as well as wine for us to have some lunch. Justin LOVED driving through wine country with the top down and the scenery was amazing. We took ourselves through a tour of this first winery and enjoyed some Reisling with our lunch on the lawn of the winery.

We had a reservation at a winery called Kuleto Estate which we had heard had incredible views so we ventured out to find it. Little did we know that we would take a tiny, curvy road to a gorgeous building that overlooked the valley. We enjoyed sampling many of their estate wines while visiting with two other couples and enjoying the quiet patio. Kuleto DID have the most amazing views and was definitely one of the highlights of our trip to San Francisco.

We started off on Saturday with seeing Chinatown. We stopped at a Buddhist temple, a tea shop, a fortune cookie factory, and little shops that sold tea pots and parasols and other fun things. We wandered into City Lights Bookstore and found the trolleys!

We hiked our way up to Coit Tower to enjoy the views and then headed towards the Ferry Building for some Hog Island Oyster Co. oysters! The view of the Bay Bridge from the piers was very pretty and even though the weather was on the chilly side, we sat outside to enjoy it.

On Saturday night, we went to see Anjelah Johnson at Cobb's Comedy Club. 

Psssh.. you don't even know.

Sunday we started out by attempting to get to some more sightseeing, but only made it to the Painted Ladies before lunch with Christina, Jason, and baby Caden. We were able to get to Golden Gate Park and the Japanese Tea Gardens before heading back to the hotel to get ready for our evening.

We went on a dinner cruise through the bay that went by Alcatraz as well as Marin, Sausalito, and then the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a nice evening out!

Our last day we were able to hit all of the things we'd run out of time for and without the same weekend crowds since it was Monday. We got to the Golden Gate Bridge lookout to take pictures, though it was really foggy! We also went to the Palace of Fine Arts to walk around and then we headed towards Fisherman's Wharf. We made it out to Lombard Street while over that direction and then ate a hot fudge sundae at the Ghiradelli Chocolate Shop. Yum! Before taking the trolley back to the hotel to grab our bags, we walked around Pier 39 and saw the infamous sea lions.

So that's what we've been up to the last week or so. I hope everyone can make it out to San Francisco at some point - so much fun!!