San Francisco

I know I just got back from a marvelous vacation to New York, but anyone who knows me knows that I am ALWAYS up for vacation.  So, when Jason had the opportunity to go to a conference in San Francisco for work, we decided to extend the trip by a few days.  My mom was kind enough to watch Leila for us and I tagged along with him to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary a few weeks early.

We flew out after Jason got off work Friday night and, after many delays, got to our hotel 11 hours later at 2am California time.  Pretty much the same amount of time it would have taken us to drive.  Sighs.  At least we made it.

Needless to say, we didn't exactly get an early start on our day Saturday.  Once we did, we made our way to Cafe Mason, a small cafe just around the corner from our hotel.  I had a yummy Croque Madame (ham and cheese sandwich on french toast, topped with fried eggs) and some fresh squeezed OJ.  Fed, and somewhat rested, we headed south to Silicon Valley so that Jason could visit the headquarters of the tech companies he adores.  He called it his journey to the Mecca of Tech.  We started off at Intel, where they had a neat, free, museum detailing their company history and the progression of the computer processor.  We also made sure to hit up the Apple and Google campuses, even though they were closed to the public.

We sent virtual postcards

"Dressed up" like fab workers

Apple Headquarters

Google Android Building 44

Google Bikes for the employees to get between buildings

From here, we decided to take a drive north of the city and drive around Muir Woods and the Golden Gate Bridge.  Along the way, we stopped for lunch at Ono Hawaiian Luau for a quick bite to tide us over.  The area surrounding Muir Woods is gorgeous and, surprisingly, remote.  The entrance road was one of the windiest we've seen.  Since it was Saturday, and a beautiful day, we were far from alone.  So we opted not to walk into the park but rather took the scenic loop before heading back into the city.  

We made sure to stop at a scenic overlook and take in the beauty of a clear day overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge and downtown San Francisco.  We walked around a little bit up there and found a place constructed during WWII for the intended use of housing the biggest, most powerful guns ever used by the United States military--16-inch caliber weapons that fired 2,100 pound shells and could hit ships 26 miles out to sea.  Because the war turned in favor of the allies, the construction was never completed but it was still neat to walk around.  And the hole where the gun would have been housed was ginormous!

Next up on our list was Ghiradelli Square and the waterfront.  We made sure to get our free samples as well as a bag full of chocolates to get us parking validation.  Then we made our way along the waterfront until we hit Boudin's at Fisherman's Wharf for dinner.  Then we called it a night.

On Sunday, we got up and going a little earlier and made our way over to the Presidio.  Breakfast that morning was found at this charming French bistro called Baker Street Bistro.  The chef is French and the entire atmosphere had me reminiscing my trip to France.  I had some of the best french toast with creme fraiche and strawberry coulis!  Mmm...

We spent the rest of our morning at The Walt Disney Family Museum.  I had hear good things about this museum and yet I still wasn't prepared for what we found inside.  It was such an amazing and large collection of photographs, letters, videos, sound clips, drawings, etc. that detailed every stage of Walt Disney's life.  We spent 2+ hours there and easily could have spent more.  One of my favorite things was the large model of Disneyland as it looked during Walt's lifetime.  It made me want to go back to Disneyland even more!

We once again found ourselves needing to eat and made our way back towards Pier 39 where we ate at Players Sports Bar & Grill on their heated outdoor patio.  I enjoyed soaking up the sunshine and getting out of the wind for a bit.  We walked around the pier which overlooks Alcatraz and the famous gathering of the sea lions.  We kept walking and made our way out onto Hyde St. Pier and its corresponding visitor center.  We didn't go on any of the boats but rather just took in the scenery and watched some daring swimmers in the bay.

Then we headed out of the city via the Bay Bridge so that we could go and walk around the Oakland temple and visitor center for a while.  It never ceases to amaze me how beautiful the temples are and what prime locations they are built in.  The Oakland Temple is set high up on the hill and has a gorgeous, unobstructed view of the Bay.  We relaxed here until it was time to go and return our rental car at the airport.  We rode BART back near our hotel and stopped back by Cafe Mason for some fettuccine alfredo before calling it a night.

The result of asking a teenager to take our picture...

A selfie it is then!

We love to see the temple!

Monday and Tuesday were the "boring" days of our trip.  Jason went to his conference and I stayed in the hotel room, working.  

Still, it was relaxing and I missed out on the small snow storm they had back home.  Plus, I was a lot more productive without Leila running around, climbing on my desk every two seconds.  I missed that goober but I'm glad I took advantage of the time to have some quality time with my hubby!  We even went to Cheesecake Factory in Union Square for our "anniversary dinner" and the view was incredible!

We flew home this morning and I think I'm good to stick around home for a while...maybe!