San Francisco

As promised, here is the rundown from our trip to San Francisco. It all started as birthday presents to me and Chance from my sister and her boyfriend Mike. Best present ever!! All we had to do was buy our flights...check! We purchased our flights for Wednesday the 26th and we would come home Saturday the 29th. Perfect little vacation. Well that all changed when Chance found out he had to take a very important test on the 26th...boo! So as I was in tears thinking that he wouldn't be able to come, my parents suggested we just change his flight to the evening flight instead of the morning flight. Crisis averted. I still flew out on the morning of the 26th by myself and then Chance was going to meet me there that night. I had a great time alone in San Fran! I got a massage on Union Street, ate frozen yogurt, people watched and visited a few stores. Then I headed back to the apartment to wait for Chance, Mike and Sam to get home. As I was waiting to hear from Chance to see how his test went, I started to get very nervous. It was getting very close to his flight and he still wasn't done with his test. He didn't get done with his test until 5:00 pm....his flight left at 4:55 pm. Sad day!! So we just booked him a flight for the next morning. It was a bit of a challenge to get him there!! That night, while it was just me Sam and Mike, we ordered awesome burgers and sweet potato fries and watched TV. It was a great, relaxing night! 

Thursday morning Mike went to the airport to get Chance and then the real vacation started! We took a tour of the city by car (drove to the Golden Gate Bridge, down Lombard Street, Union Street, etc.) and then made our way to a bar to pre-game for the Giants game. 

This was our attempt at taking a picture with the Golden Gate Bridge....it was foggy to say the least!

It ended up being a perfect day for the baseball game!! We got the famous Gilroy Garlic Fries, hot dogs and beer of course. Best part? We were only 4 seats down from the guy that caught a foul ball. I have NEVER been that close to a foul ball before, and to be honest, I don't think I want to be that close ever again. It was scary!! 

After the game, we went back to the apartment, ordered AMAZING Chicago style pizza and watched an agonizing game of Thursday night football!

Friday was our day to be tourists! Sam and Mike both had to work so Chance and I spent all day walking the city! We got up early and walked down to Jefferson Street for some breakfast and then walked to pier 33 for our Alcatraz cruise. We took the freezing boat ride over to the island and then went on the audio tour of the prison. It was AWESOME!! We learned so much about the island and the prison that I would have never known. 

The boat ride over! So chilly!

The island.

Chance standing in front of a typical cell at Alcatraz!

The city behind me...it was a bit windy!

After our tour and cruise back to the city, we walked down Pier 39. This is a very famous pier with tons of shops and the best part?? These guys!

So many seals!! They were crazy too...making loud noises and fighting with each other. The big ones were very territorial and would try to fight any other seal that wanted to be on the same dock. It was so fun to watch them and I think we could have stayed there all day...but we were starving! We headed to Boudin for the famous Clam Chowder Bread Bowls...and they were fantastic! We finished our day by heading back to the apartment for a little rest after our 10 miles of walking.

Then Sam and Mike came home from work and it was time to go to dinner! We had the best dinner I have ever had in my life...no joke! If you ever visit San Francisco, you absolutely MUST go to House of Prime Rib. Holy smokes people, it was delicious! They only have prime rib so you just pick your cut and then you get tons of sides to go with it. It was the perfect way to end our trip. The next morning, we were off to the airport and headed back to 80-90 degree weather. Yuck! We miss the San Francisco fog and cold weather...hopefully we get to visit again soon!

I want to also say thank you to Sam and Mike for everything they did for us while we were in San Francisco. They were the best hosts we could have ever asked for and they totally spoiled us for our birthdays!! We love you guys!

If this didn't inspire you to take a visit to San Francisco, I don't know what will! :)