fog city

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since running the ragnar in september, i haven't been able to get san fran out of my head. our feeble attempt of seeing the city included a stop off at lombard street and crossing the golden gate bridge... which was covered in it's typical fog. although, i must admit, running the golden gate bridge (a bucket list item) was definitely an amazing experience.

september 2013

well, my co-worker and friend, devaun came up with a brilliant idea to take a trip out there. a $107 plane ticket and reservation to grant plaza hotel later and we were set for a four day trip. 

sidenote: can i just tell you how amazing john wayne airport is? it's approximately 4 miles from my place and from start to finish, it only took us about 20 minutes to get through security and lining up at the gate. easy peasy. 

we got to san francisco by 9am and hit it hard for 4 days straight

it just so happened my parents were visiting the same city at the same time. even funnier, our hotels were literally less than one block away and if we stood out of our windows, we could see each other... only difference-the ritz carlton ain't no swanky establishment like the grant plaza. sorry guys, perhaps in about 20 years you'll be able to afford the luxury devaun and i experienced. 
both of our hotels were situated in chinatown [the center of town] so we pretty much walked everywhere.

empress of china- the chinese must have heard i was coming

you probably thought i accidently mixed up my taiwan pictures with san francisco pictures. wrong. these guys were chillin' right outside our hotel

i swear, they never age

hop on   hop off

i'm going to let you in on a little secret of mine. if you want to become the ultimate tourist, hop on hop off is where it's at! i swear, the only reason i know about trivia regarding big cities is due to these geeky tours. well, san francisco was no exception. to add to the nerdiness, we not only took one, but two of these tours. consider me a walking encylopedia when it comes to san fran. if you want to know how the cable cars brake, i'm your source. if you want to know where ghostbusters was filmed, i'm your woman. my brain houses all of san francisco's secrets. not really, but i freaking love those tours. 

it was weird, everyone kept asking us if we were locals

okays so maybe all my bus photos are of this tower... which name has presently slipped my mind

just call me rick steves

city life

'nuff said

photo cred: nikki stout

free chocolate square every time we went in?! forget about it!

the palace of fine arts for one fine lady

devaun and i made sure to set aside time for a little place called... 

sausalito

words to live by

i sorely regret not taking more pictures of sausalito. this little town north of san francisco took my heart and salted it with love, as devaun will tell you. cute shops, beautiful houses on the hill, gorgeous sailboats with a harbor to match, breathtaking view of san francisco. it was the city that kept on giving. it is one of the few places in the world that i would not stick my nose up to if my husband had to move from southern california. 


          

until we meet again saus...

haight ashbury

so, i guess you could say we are hip. i mean, we practically blended in with the hippies... until they realized i showered that morning, i am attracted to the opposite sex, that i don't sing songs at parks, and that i tend to keep my clothes on. 

this pictures brings me so much joy

let's get a close up of these lovers to the left...

there we go

quintessential hippie life

the painted ladies or the pink ladies as i like to call them

my girl j jop's home once upon a time

summer of love

golden gate

magestic golden gate, you are the most perfect bridge i have ever laid eyes on. whenever i visit you i can't stop staring. all my pictures somehow have you in it. thank you for being so american, so californian, and so san francisco-an. 

talk about helping me out with the whole backdrop to the gate...these gulls really did their thing

until next time...

diving from the sky

i came. i saw. i conquered. okay, truth be told, this wasn't my first rodeo. when it comes to falling 1,300 feet from the sky. one time just wasn't enough. being cheap i opted out of the "video and photo" experience the first time. but not this time. you can fool me once but you can't fool me twice. okay, they never tried to fool me but how could i tell me kids and grandkids that i went sky diving if i had absolutely no evidence? i knew i had to get back in that plane and do it again. what better time to repeat the past than a good ole new years and birthday? 

gary was kind enough to take me up on the offer to join me which, unbeknownst to him meant dealing with my frequent "freak outs" weeks prior to our dive. a lot of people questioned why i was so scared or rather that i was even more scared this trip than the previous one seeing as i had already gone. the truth is, i was scared that i was testing fate. or rather that i was challenging my safety again. In addition, i wasn't even scared of dying. i have lived a fantastic life and dying to meet my Maker a few years earlier than anticipated is not the worst thing i can think of. but to live through an accident and become paralyzed, now that would not be something i could handle. 

cute gary

the day of the dive, i was looking for absolutely any excuse to get out of it. it was a bit foggy in irvine (where i live) and i thought, "that's it, i can't go. the visibility isn't ideal." well... to my disappointment, the weather was absolutely perfect in san diego. no wind. no fog. only a gorgeous sun and sky waiting for a scared 26 year old girl. i thought i would throw up about 20 times on the way over to the place. not to be a pessimist but so many issues can occur when it comes to sky diving! harness not properly fastened, parachute not deploying, winds blowing you off course into treacherous terrain, landing hard... shall i go on?

trying not to dwell on these horrible scenarios, i signed my life away after watching a poorly made lawyer explain that sky dive san diego cannot be sued for any accidents or deaths that occur. gary and i ran through the informative explanation of what to do once you are in the air. which was basically nothing except open your arms once you fell out. let's not forget that on my first sky dive experience i couldn't even remember that simple task. and then we sat and waited for them to call our fall group, all the while watching the previous group dropping to the ground. as i was mulling over my death that would take place in a few minutes, i realized that the day before was new years eve. not to judge but these sky dive instructors are not the sharpest tools in the shed. in other words, these guys are party going, drinking people. in other words, they were probably hung over for yesterday's festivities. in other words, my life was even more in jeopardy than it would have been any other day of the year. there was my out. my perfect excuse. 

well, my excuse was denied. i ended up being paired with thayer, an australian dad of two who stated he promises his wife he won't drink the night before any dive. why did i have to be paired with a straight edge?! thayer was awesome and his calm demeanor at least made me feel like if anything went wrong on the dive, he wouldn't tell me and therefore i would die in ignorance. 

well, we entered the plane. the plane took off. we sat on the plane for about 20 minutes before we hit the correct altitude... 13,000 feet. and quite frankly, we fell out. 

it. was. awesome. 

oh yeah, thayer thought doing a flip out the plane would be awesome. i thought so too.

can't you see it on my face?

oh, just hanging out in the air.

the second i knew i made it and would live to see another day

alive. 

 it ended with a quick tide pool hunt in la jolla. even the starfish wished me a happy birthday. 

a perfect start to a new year and an absolutely wonderful and memorable birthday. i owe it all to gary. he was a perfect partner in crime and wonderful tour guide around san diego.