SAN FRANCISCO!!

So, I have permission from my sister Ashley
to blog about San Francisco. Yay!

(she's tougher than me...I cried last year when I couldn't go)

First of all, the reason for this (yearly) trip:
My dad goes to a conference in San Fran,
and we mooch off his hotel room!

So, our trip went something like this...
Sunday: we flew into Oakland.



I was across the aisle, and the plane was cold.

First stop was Denny's
We were famished!
Then we hung around Alameda (my mom is from there)
until my dad's plane landed at 4
(he had to participate in a ward conference
so he had to leave later than we did).

I had taken Dramamine and was exhausted all day,
so I slept in the car.
My mom and Em made
"daisy chains"
for our hair at the park.

Hippie style


After we picked up my dad,
we had dinner at what used to be my parents
Favorite restaurant, Spenger's
("It's just not the same anymore...").
Crab, crab, crab! Yum!
Then we crossed the bridge to San Fran,
checked into our hotel,
and hit the hay.



Very cool room. Thanks Dad!

Monday: we went to Pier 39 for
Nutella and strawberry crepes,
perused the shops, went to Alcatraz,

Mom on the ferry to Alcatraz

Graffiti from the Indian occupation


Typical cell. No decorations of any kind allowed


Solitary

Pock marks from grenades used to stop an escape attempt

The first light house on the west coast

had lunch at Red's Java House
(my dad's favorite place for burgers-
on sour dough. YUM!) ,
more walking and perusing,
then dinner at Boudin- the sour dough bread co,
followed by ice cream sundaes
at Ghirardelli Square!


We asked if they sell their amazing chocolate syrup,
but they said,
"No, but it's just Ghirardelli milk chocolate
with a little milk and sugar."
No wonder it's so good!!

Tuesday: it started out really rainy so we jumped on a cable car
and headed for Union Square-- Shopping!!

On the cable car, looking like drowned rats

We first had breakfast at our favorite bakery,
Posh Bagel
(strawberry cream cheese croissant and Naked juice).
We stopped by China Town,


Then some of my favorite stores:
Kenneth Cole
Coach
Kate Spade
Tiffany & Co.

(and lots of other places where I couldn't afford a key chain!)

We also went to
H&M
Forever 21
and
Old Navy,
where we actually did buy some stuff.
Mostly lots of fun jewelery.
Emily and my mom both have a great eye!

We had Del Taco for lunch,
took the cable car back to the hotel to drop off our loot.
By then it had transformed to a beautiful day, so
we walked the
treacherous 4 STEEP blocks
to Lombard Street.

Lombard Street


Coit Towers and the Bay Bridge from Lombard


Then we went back to our hotel room for a picnic consisting of
sour dough bread, amazing olive oil and vinegar, and
Goat's milk gouda- the best cheese I've ever had.


My dad was in meetings until late,
but we met him for dinner at The Franciscan,
a famous restaurant on the pier.
More crab! This time I had crab Fettuccine Alfredo.
Soooo good!

Wednesday: we had breakfast at the crepe place again,
headed up to Coit Tower to see the beautiful view,

Coit Tower




Alcatraz from Coit Tower

stopped by the Blake House in Kensington
(it's the home of the UC President.
My grandparents used to live there on the property
to look after things when the president wasn't there--
which was most of the time).
We had a family reunion there,
visited over the 4th of July and saw fire works
all over lots of cities from the balcony,
and filmed our own version of Peter Pan.
The Blake House was my childhood Neverland.

The Blake House





On our way to the airport we stopped at
Fenton's for ice cream



Classic Sundae


Bubble Gum Ice Cream


"The Jersey"


My ice cream! "Black and Tan"


and then headed back to dreary Utah.

(Please remind me why I live in Utah...)

It was a great trip. And now I'm missing "my city by the bay..."
Next year's trip can't come soon enough!