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.