I Heart SF

It's a good thing my sister Chelsea is a traveler because she has opened our eyes to some fantastic places! Last summer she was tour guide extraordinaire in New York, and this weekend she guided us around San Francisco, her new home. Here's a little glimpse of our weekend visiting Chels.

We got into San Francisco about 8:00 pm, parked our car in a shady but cheap parking garage, were followed by a homeless guy for awhile, then finally ditched him and had a quick look at Union Square. Chelsea lives just minutes from Union Square, so it was fun being able to walk to her apartment. I don't have any great pics of her place, but you can visit her blog sometime and check it out.

Friday morning, Chels headed off to work, so Robby and I had the day to explore San Francisco. We had spent the night before planning what we were going to do, and except for a few changes (such as taking our car instead of public transportation), we stuck to the itinerary Chels helped create.

We began with a nice lunch at Mango's Cafe, a little place by her apartment, and a walk around the area. It had been a long time since either Robby or I had been to San Francisco, so we were amazed by the hills! He found driving over them exhilarating; I thought it was a bit terrifying.

We were pretty smitten with this church, which we discovered is Grace Cathedral, and spent some time checking it out.
Although we soon realized that it wasn't quite as orthodox as we thought it'd be, it was nonetheless beautiful, and we enjoyed the labyrinths (see Robby in the middle of the outdoor one), intricate doors, and stained glass.

Once we got our car, our first destination was to visit Land's End. Chelsea had come across this by accident and couldn't wait for us to see it. It was beautiful! We didn't end up taking the walk that we should have, but we were still amazed with the water and scenery. Who knew San Francisco looked like this??

After Land's End, we drove to Golden Gate Park. This place was so incredible! I had looked it up before and read that it is actually bigger than Central Park, but unlike Central Park, you can drive through it. Chels says that most people don't like this aspect, but we thought it was great! We especially liked the tulip gardens, and I was pretty excited when the gardener gave me the tulip he accidentally cut. Lucky me!

After Golden Gate Park, we took a scenic drive along Embarcadero, ending up at Fisherman's Wharf where we had a yummy bread bowl from Boudin's. I wish I had one of those right now.
And since we were so close to Ghiradelli Square, we had to stop by and say hi there, as well. Robby had a delicious sundae, and I splurged on one amazing cup of hot chocolate topped with sea salt and caramel.
Another little drive took us partway across the Golden Gate Bridge, where we stopped for a picture.
We met Chels back at her apartment, then went out for New York style pizza. I didn't get a picture of the pizza, but we did snap a shot of this broccoli that Chelsea accidentally threw out her window later that night. I'm pretty sure it is still there.
Day 2 was a little less busy but still lots of fun. We got to hang out with Chels the whole time, so that was a treat. She took us to Fillmore, a cute little area where we had coffee at a coffee shop called the Grove.

I was pleased with this picture of my coffee. Look how pretty it is!

After this, Chels took us to the Mission neighborhood and showed us Mission Dolores Park. We had hoped to eat there, but had to move on and find a different lunch place. We got lucky and fell upon a fantastic bakery called Thorough Bread and Pastry, where we had sandwiches and soup. Our final destination was a visit to Twin Peaks, this high point in San Francisco from where you can see everything!
We definitely packed a lot in our short stay, but it was worth it. We can't wait to go back and spend more time with Chels and her new home.