San Francisco

For the last half of Spring Break (my last one as a college student! Crazy.), we headed out to San Francisco. I hadn't ever been and since it's only like an hour flight, it was perfect. We brought along Shaheed (Tanners best friend and the only person that I'm a little worried he might love more than me) and his lovely girlfriend Justine. It was so much fun and I'm already having withdrawals. (Turns out work and school and laundry aren't as exciting as exploring a new city. Who would have thought?) Here are a lot of pictures of our trip:

Day 1 
Our flight left bright and early so we headed to the airport around 6. We landed in San Francisco and met up with our friends and then headed to Enterprise to get our rental car. It took like an hour for them to rent us our car (I guess not all Enterprises can have employees as good as Tanner) and then FINALLY we were on our way to Alcatraz. After a disgusting lunch (who puts curry on a ham sandwich? And who orders it? Apparently me, but in my defense, I couldn't really hear what she was saying was on the sandwich), we got on the ferry to Alcatraz island. I didn't really know what to expect, and it turned out to be so awesome! We did an audio tour with actual prisoners and officers who had lived there talking. It was so eerie to hear all of the stories and think about all of the reallllly bad guys that had been there! Definitely some crazy history there and it was cool to hear about the escape attempts and just to see what life was like there at the prison.

(I wouldn't last a day in here haha) 

Then we went to our hotel to check in, and since I was hangry by this point, we headed back into town to Pier 39 for dinner. We had some clam chowder in bread bowls (because, how can you not?) and then we walked around the shops at the pier and also at Fisherman's Wharf. We had already walked about 7 miles that day, and we were all exhausted, so then it was time to head back to the hotel for bed. 

Day 2

On Friday we started off by going to the Painted Ladies. I am obsessed with the houses in San Francisco! They all have so much detail and are so colorful! Every street we drove by was amazing!

Next we headed to the Exploratorium! (Or if you ask Shaheed, the Amazatorium, the Imaginatorium... he really just could never remember the actual name.) It's a really cool museum with tons of hands-on exhibits about everything from physics to biology to psychology. When we got there, I think we were the only people older than 10 haha. It was so cool though! There was an exhibit with a mirror where you could see how other people see you, one where you have to decide whether or not to squirt your partner in the face with water (now we all have trust issues), and some super cool biology ones with worms that regrow once they're cut, plants that fold up when you touch them, and a live chicken embryo that you could see the heartbeat. It took up most of our day here and it was so worth it! 

After the Exploratorium we went to Ghiradelli square and had some delicious ice cream, drove to the beach to try to see the Golden Gate Bridge (it was a failed attempt due to some serious fog), ate some pizza, and called it a night! 

(I'm going for a Christmas themed outfit here, obviously.) 

(I told Tanner that we should start a photo series called Ice Cream Around the World because it's definitely one of my priorities on every vacation.) 

Day 3

Saturday was our last full day in the city so we were determined to see the Golden Gate bridge. It had been so foggy the whole time that we had only seen it once from afar when Tanner took a wrong turn haha. We headed to a lookout spot right by the bridge and literally couldn't see 5 feet in front of us. Our hair got soaked because the fog was so thick! 

(Selfie Inception featuring Fog) 

So, we just went back into the city hoping it would clear up later in the day. We went to Lombard Street, the world's most crooked street. It was pretty cool!

Then we went to Union Square to do some shopping and we ate at Super Duper Burger for lunch. You know me, I love a good hamburger. After lunch it was finally clearing up a little so we went back to the bridge lookout spot and....

We could see it!!! It's even better in person than it is in pictures. Tanner, being the photographer that he is, wanted to go to a few more spots to get a good view of it. The next spot we stopped at I really doubted him and his spot choosing skills, but after climbing down a treacherous mountain, we made it to the coolest beach!

(Best picture of the trip, hands down.)

After the beach, we went to Coit Tower. You go up an elevator to the top of a huge tower and look out over the city!

(Cities are SO COOL.)

Then we took a trip to the mall to go to Cotton On, where I bought the comfiest pants in the world. Then, we headed to Chinatown to a restaurant that Tanner wanted to check out. I was VERY skeptical at first, but it ended up being the best Chinese food any of us had ever had. We were the only ones in the restaurant that had to ask for forks hahaha. Tanner definitely had an "I told you so" moment. (He tends to have those a lot with me ;) Then we went back to the hotel and watched The Intern (I love that movie so much.) 

Day 4

Sunday was our last day in San Francisco (I wish I had a crying emoji on the computer.) We decided to have lunch in the city and walk around before taking the Arizona kids to the airport. We went to Italian Homemade, a little pasta place that makes everything fresh in front of you, and it was delicious! Then we walked around the neighborhood! San Francisco is so cool because everywhere you go there is street art and cool buildings and cute pastry shops. 

We also went to THE COOLEST BOOKSTORE I have ever seen in my life. It's called City Lights Bookstore and it was seriously all of my dreams come true. It was two stories and they had so many books and little tags with the employees' favorite books marked and it just made me so happy. 

Then, we had to take Shaheed and Justine to the airport. After we dropped them off, Tanner and I had a few hours to kill. We went to the beach and then hung out at the airport for a while (we were exhausted.) 

(Here is a very squinty picture because... sun. And we obviously weren't prepared with beach day attire haha) 

It was such a fun trip and definitely one of my favorite places we've been! I am so thankful that Tanner and I have been able to experience so many amazing places and things together. I know that not everyone has the kind of opportunities that we do and I am SO SO SO thankful. I am also lucky that Tanner is a great photographer/Instagram husband (any of the cool pictures on this post were probably taken by him) and travel buddy. And since he married me, all of his cool friends are forced to be friends with me! It's the best. :) 

I love you, San Francisco! Until next time!