San Francisco - Days 4, 5, 6 & 7

Continuing with our San Fran Anniversary Trip back in May......


Day 4 - Tuesday, May 29, 2012

We took a boat out to the island where Alcatraz Prison is.

We toured the prison while listening to audio guides.

The view of San Fran from Alcatraz.  They say on a calm night, the sounds of the city carried over to the prison.

Guess what we had for dinner on Day 4?  That's right - Uncle Vito's pizza!!

This time we tried a Calzone though.

Day 5 - Wednesday, May 30, 2012

We rode, hanging onto the side of, the Famous San Francisco Cable Car!

One really interesting thing about the Cable Car is that it doesn't run in a loop.  When it gets to the end of the line, they actually make everybody get off, they turn it around and then they go again.  Here's a video of it:

We enjoyed the view at the Palace of Fine Arts....

...where we had a meatball sub that we purchased from an Asian lady that looked like my mom (minus the Asian part).

After eating an early lunch, we toured the Exploratorium - a fun science museum.

Doesn't Brandon kind of look like a school kid with his backpack?  Believe you me - he was enjoying this place as much as a school kid would.  There were magnet/sound/electrically related exhibits and for my Electrical Engineer husband, this was close to Heaven.  ;)

We cut the day early to head to take the bus to another part of town.  While waiting for the bus, Brandon saw this sign posted near the nearby tunnel.  Can you see what it says?

"Quiet Through Tunnel"  He loved pointing this sign out to me because I *always* make him honk when we go through tunnels.  My mom always did this when I was a kid and it was just something I made him start doing...and I giggle like a kid when he does...partly because it's nostalgic, but partly because he complies.  He says he can't believe how much it amuses me.

Anyhow, back to our bus ride - we were heading to AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants!!

We had great seats to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the ballpark - right on the harbor.

You can almost watch the sun set in the next few pictures....

Day 6 - Thursday, May 31, 2012

Our last day in San Fran, we rented bikes and rode from Ghiradelli Square to the Golden Gate Bridge, over the bridge to the other side, under the bridge and all the way to a city across the bay from San Fran called Sausalito.  It was a total of about 8 miles.  And when I say we rode, I mean Brandon rode a lot and I walked my bike up a lot of hills.  :)

After eating lunch in Sausalito, we rolled our bikes onto a ferry that floated us back over to San Fran....I'm just glad we could figure out which bikes were ours once we arrived.

The bike ride took several hours and a lot of energy, so we were pretty beat when we got done.  I wanted one more Cable Car ride and Brandon's pretty good to me you know, so he obliged.  So, we rode the Cable Car back to the hotel.

Brandon captured this picture of the cranks and pulls that operate the Car...I can't even imagine how that works.

Here's a couple videos from the Cable Car while it's moving:


Although I didn't take a picture, we did actually eat one last Uncle Vito's pizza before leaving San Fran.....and we stopped in for dessert at the place we had breakfast a couple times, the Cozy Cable Car Cafe and got dessert - a yummy Nutella-filled crepe with whipped cream and chocolate syrup!  Oh my!  Pizza and crepes all in one night!!

Day 7 - Friday, June 1, 2012

Time to head home....we got up waaaay before the sun did to get to the airport for our flight.  We took a cab to the airport and boarded the plane on time.

When we arrived in Lville, my sweet Momma was there to pick up us - complete with a sign (which is kind of an inside joke....our last name isn't Socks.)

I'd say we had a great first anniversary and a very sweet, wonderful first year of marriage!

San Francisco - Days 1, 2 & 3

We celebrated our One Year Anniversary with a fun week-long trip to San Francisco, California!

Here's the first three days of our trip:

Day 1 - Saturday, May 26, 2012:

We flew out of the Ville since we were flying Southwest, so my parents took us to the airport to see us off.

On the plane!  Our first time to fly together as a married couple.

After a layover in Phoenix, we arrived about 4:30pm and headed for our hotel, The Orchard Hotel at the corner of Bush & Powell.

The hotel was in a prime downtown location, just a couple blocks away from the bus, but right at the corner of a Cable Car stop!

Brandon teases me, but I always take pictures of hotel rooms - they're so fun and = excitement and adventure for me!  And this one was so nice and relaxing......we even had chocolate on our pillows every night!!  Thank you Priceline.com for this find!

By the time we had dragged our suitcases up one of San Fran's famous hills and checked into the hotel, it was probably 5:30 or so (which was about 9:30 our time) and after a full day of travel, we were pretty tired and went to bed early (I was asleep by 7:00!).  But not before Brandon found a great pizza place down the street and carried out and we ate while we watched Baseball.

Day 2 - Sunday May 27, 2012:
We ventured out of our hotel and just took in the sites and hills of San Fran.....including this crooked house!  (It's not really crooked, the road is, I just turned the camera so that the road was straight!).

We went over to Fisherman's Wharf & Pier 39, two areas right on the bay in San Fran.  We walked around several shops and ate lunch there.  We also came upon this group of Sea Lions basking in the sun....apparently they took up residence there some time ago (after the 1989 earthquake) and haven't ever left.

Another fun, famous San Francisco site is Lombard Street, also known as the "crookedest street in the world" with it's 8 switch-back curves....all while going down a pretty steep hill.

This was at the top of the hill....

....and this was at the bottom.

After Lombard Street, we walked over to Coit Tower.

"Coit Tower was paid for with money left by Lillie Hitchcock Coit, a wealthy socialite who loved to chase fires in the early days of the city's history.... She had a special relationship with the city's firefighters. At the age of fifteen she witnessed the Knickerbocker Engine Co. No. 5 in response to a fire call up on Telegraph Hill when they were shorthanded, and threw her school books to the ground and pitched in to help, calling out to other bystanders to help get the engine up the hill to the fire, to get the first water onto the blaze. After that Lillie became the Engine Co. mascot and could barely be constrained by her parents from jumping into action at the sound of every fire bell. After this she was frequently riding with the Knickerbocker Engine Co. 5, especially so in street parades and celebrations in which the Engine Co. participated. Through her youth and adulthood Lillie was recognized as an honorary firefighter. Her will read that she wished for one third of her fortune, ...to be expended in an appropriate manner for the purpose of adding to the beauty of the city which <she> have always loved."  (source)

 So, Coit Tower was built in her honor, with her money.

It sits at a high point in the city and, although we didn't go to the top, had great views.  Here's the view from the base of Coit Tower - looking out over the water.

Well, after a day of walking & hill climbing, window-shopping & seeing the sites, we headed back to the hotel.....and decided to get another Uncle Vito's Pizza!!  I've stated before that we love pizza and this place just got it right, so why not have pizza two nights in a row?  It is vacation after all.  YUM!

Day 3 - Monday, May 28, 2012 (Our Anniversary!):

We started the day by going to breakfast at a place called the Cozy Cable Car Cafe. Can you find it?  It's that canopy-covered door & window at the bottom of the picture.

This cute little place was down the street/hill from our hotel.  It was a little pricey for breakfast, so we only ate there twice, but everything was made fresh and was really, really good.

Our first stop this day was the California Academy of Sciences - a big science museum.  They had an earthquake simulation, a vegetated roof you could walk around on, an aquarium, a penguin exhibit and even a planetarium!  The show at the planetarium was all about earthquakes....Brandon really enjoyed it.

After a morning at the museum, we went out walking some more.  San Francisco is a very walkable city (even with all the hills).  Below is Lotta's Fountain with Palace Hotel just behind it.  The fountain became a meeting place for folks, as it stood firm during the 1906 earthquake.  Survivors (that are still living) still gather there each year on the anniversary of the earthquake for remembrance.  The Palace Hotel "survived the initial damage from the early morning April 18, 1906, San Francisco earthquake, <but> by late that afternoon it had been consumed by the subsequent fires."  These fires caused by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake destroyed more than 80% of the city. (source)

Our next stop would be "The Painted Ladies" or what a lot of gals my age might call "The "Full House" Houses" (since the TV show Full House featured them in the opening credits).  This is a row of Victorian houses painted intricately to show their details.  They have the city as their backdrop and an open park called Alamo Square at their doorstep.

We sat on a park bench across from the houses and ate lunch and enjoyed the view.

After a day out exploring, we headed back to the hotel to change for dinner.  I wore the shirt that I wore while I was getting ready for our wedding and the shoes I wore with my wedding dress on our big day (I hadn't worn them since our wedding).  I also wore a necklace my mom had given me for our anniversary that had one silver bead, to signify One Year.

We had a wonderful anniversary dinner (courtesy of my sweet and generous parents) at a restaurant on Pier 39 called Neptune's Place.

We lucked out with the table we got - it was a half-moon shaped table facing the bay.  We could see the Golden Gate Bridge on our left and Alcatraz in front of us.  The sunset was particularly amazing that night and made everything that much more romantic.

We cut through Union Square Park on our way back to our hotel and stopped for a photo-op at this big red heart sculpture there.  The Hearts in San Francisco are painted each year by different artists.  Although this one is solid red on one side, the other side featured a mural of the city.

So there ya go....Days 1, 2 & 3 of our San Fran Anniversary Trip!

Check back in another month or to (haha) and I should have the rest of the trip posted.