Where and how do I even begin to describe our trip to San Francisco? It was incredible! (That's a good start.)Matt and I celebrated our sixth anniversary, and this one was particularly special because it fell on Saturday, the same exact day we were married. We kept joking and telling one another, "As soon as we make it past the seven year itch we are officially solid!" Honestly, I cannot believe how quickly the time has sprinted by, and I am happy to report we love life together more than ever. If life is as good to us as these last six years have been, I am thrilled at the thought of what the next six have to bestow.
Enough of the sappy garbage, though. Let's get to this behemoth of a photo dump!
For the sake of not killing you with a photograph overdose (isn't that what Instagram is for anyhow?), I am splitting up our trip into two separate posts because I took THAT many pictures. However, I think they are AMAZING pictures and as I was selecting and editing them I kept saying, "Ooo! This is one is good! . . . Ah! What an incredible shot! . . . I'm practically a Pulitzer Prize winner for these!" ;)
We arrived in San Francisco on Friday in the late afternoon. Our adventure started at the Presidio and Crissy Field so we could take in all the glory of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was absolutely breathtaking and I repeated the phrase, "This is like a magical fairy land!" approximately 27 times. Just ask Matt.
Since San Francisco is ridiculously chilly, I had a costume change at approximately 6 pm (to something much warmer and practical than a dress) before heading down to the iconic Haight-Ashbury to appease my hippie soul in my former life.
We had a quick dinner at Street Taco and then traipsed around the neighborhood and shops. My favorite part of the night was the homeless dude who said to Matt, "Your sister's beautiful, man!" followed by the two offers to trade weed. It must've been my beanie and vegan leather jacket. ;)
We finished the night strong by visiting the Grateful Dead house where I promptly swayed to and fro while playing Brokedown Palace in my head. (Which also happens to be one of my favorite movies. Claire Danes can do no wrong!) It was magical. And a little creepy.
Saturday morning was supposed to be the jackpot and highlight of the day with a trip to Mr Holmes Bakehouse to finally taste the coveted cruffin. Yes, that pastry delight is exactly what you think it is—a fabulous hybrid of a croissant and a muffin. Unfortunately, when I arrived at 8:45 am (they open their doors at 8 am on weekends) the line was out the door and around the corner. They only make a set amount of cruffins each day and I missed the cut-off by five people! FIVE! It was both depressing and comedic to me, so I hopped in the other line and enjoyed a devastatingly good passion fruit donut.
Every day since we have been home I have told Matt I want to go back to San Francisco just to get my hands on one of those blasted cruffins. If I had the time and cash flow, I would seriously hop on a red-eye to be there when the cruffins make their daily appearance. So, if you have the fortune of enjoying a cruffin, eat one of your two per person for me, k?
The rest of the morning we put on our walking shoes and jetted all over the city. We started in Chinatown, where I proceeded to take the bulk of my pictures, apparently. It is just so fascinating to me that there is basically a foreign city within a city!
Here we have Matt joining the family band! He fits right in.
It is just so full of life and color and hustle and bustle. I couldn't stop snapping photos of all the vibrant life around me.
We then fulfilled our tourist obligations by hopping on the Powell-Hyde cable car, which took us to Lombard street.
This picture here is my crown jewel. We were zipping past this mirror at 10 miles per hour and I took it on a hopeful whim that we could get a cable car selfie of sorts with the big kid camera. Voila! It worked! C'est magnifique!
We jumped off at Lombard Street to walk down the famous crooked road, along with 700 other tourists. I am not kidding you. We were all packed at the bottom taking pictures like idiots and blocking traffic. It was glorious. Also, the neighborhood in that area (is it Russian Hill? Nob Hill?) is beautiful with incredible views of the city.
And that concludes the first half of the Rodriguez Family San Francisco Tour! Stay tuned for part two!
