Well hello there!

hey! We are home again from our weekend in San Francisco. Wish I could say it felt good to be home..LOL...however, by now, ya'll know how much I'm loving it here in the Midwest, specifically here in the boring, podunk burbs, but, such is life..(sigh)..

San Francisco was the BEST! I swear, Mandi and I are totally ready to pack up our sh*t and move immediately! Even though the temps were low 70's and off the bay it felt more like the 60's, it was sunny, blue skies every day! And up in Muir Woods and on Haight Street, it was total summer living!

We did the basic touristy stuff as well as just hung out, walked, people watched, ate and had fun. I wish I could tell you guys everything about the vacation, but that would take way to long to type, LOL, so I'll just throw out some highlights with some pics!

Thursday we arrived, late due to lovely United Airlines and their so-called "on time" feature! Literally we sat for 3 hours on the plane, at the gate! Luckily, one of the perks to Roger traveling like he does is free upgrades and so Mandi and I had first class and it was fabulous...it made the waiting at the gate a little better...plus we got to have drinks and stuff so that was cool. However, due to the late takeoff and time change, we lost pretty much the whole afternoon on Thursday...but, we made up for it on Thursday night! We checked right into the hotel and off to the Wharf we went. Our hotel was located right on the Wharf (well, like 5 blocks up...no biggie) and so it was easy to just walk down and see the sites. Of course we saw the seals, Alcatraz, all the fun people and street musicians that play for money on the boardwalk, the vendors, and the food! We had dinner at a fabulous place Roger and I went to on our first visit to San Fran years ago..food was still da bomb! After eating, we trucked ourselves over to Ghiardhelli Square for some ice cream and, of course, Ghiardhelli chocolate!! Then we headed back to our hotel and totally crashed out!

Up early on Friday, we had some breakfast and then walked the Wharf for a while...after lunch we had a scheduled tour up to Muir Woods. On the way we hit the Golden Gate Bridge (hard not to when you have to drive over it...soooo cool!!), the Marin Headlands and of course, Muir Woods. It is absolutely amazing in the woods. The Redwoods are phenomenal and it is so quiet and peaceful, very spiritual inside. It smells amazing too..very clean. In fact, the guide said..this is some of the cleanest air you'll ever breath, take it in!!! I did...lots of slow deep breaths...felt great! Here are a few shots...however, as with anything majestic and amazing...photos just don't do it justice!





After our hike in the woods (a full 2 hours, it was heaven), we boarded the bus and headed out for Sausalito. Sausalito is a quaint little town, right on the water...very hoity toity high price and fabulous. Filled with lots of art galleries and small boutiques. Mandi and I looked around the art fair/farmers market they were having and then decided that we needed something to nosh on...headed over to a cute little Italian Bistro and sat outside on the front patio area so we could people watch and take it all in. We had the yummiest desserts, a peach tart with vanilla gelato and a chocolate hazelnut type of mousse thing...I endulged myself in a nice glass of wine! We then boarded the bus and headed back to San Fran. While driving back, our tour guide and driver said we had some extra time and since the weather was totally gorgeous and it isn't always like this, he was going to stop off at a great photo taking site for us! We had the most amazing view of the Golden Gate Bridge!! I love the picture I got.



A young couple offered to take a shot of Mandi and myself and I have to giggle when I look at what he took! Since taking some classes and trying to be more aware of what I see in my viewfinder, I would have never taken a shot like he did..oh well, at least I have something to document the two of us at the Bridge. Notice what he did? Umm..can you say no feet!!! Sheesh dude!!!




After dropping off our schtuff at the hotel, we headed down to the restaurant and had some dinner....walked the Wharf some more and came back to watch a movie and chill.

Saturday, up early again, breakfast and then more exploring. After lunch we headed to Pier 33 to catch our boat to Alcatraz! I love Alcatraz..it's always been a total fascination for me and Mandi has been dying to see it ever since I can remember! She was beside herself that we were actually going to get to see it in person, walk around it etc..

The boat takes about 15 mins. to get there, it's very breezy but it was so cool. Seeing the skyline of San Francisco from the boat as you head out to Alcatraz is amazing...

While this picture isn't the best...I love how her hair is all blowy and since I was there, I know how that happy face she has is feeling inside!!



The actual main prison is something to behold. Very cool. You get to take a self guided audio tour and can spend as much or as little time as you like wandering around seeing all the sights. The audio tour is narrated by some of the actual prison guards and inmates that were there on Alcatraz. I took a lot of pics inside the prison and a lot of the surrounding buildings and grounds as you make the journey uphill to the main prison. There was this stone type of box/hole thing and I told Mandi to sit in it...I thought it looked cool. Who knows what it was at one time, but anyway, I took her pic inside...



After our adventure at Alcatraz, we headed back to the boat dock, back to San Francisco's Wharf and had some dinner. We called it a night kinda early, decided to head back to the hotel and watch a movie.

Sunday we caught a taxi bright and early in the morning and made our way to Haight/Ashbury....

I'll continue on with that adventure in my next post and share some pics...it was the most perfect cap to our vacation and one place where both Mandi and I want to live someday!! LOL!!