San Francisco

Last month Sara, Marie, Amanda, and I met up on what has become our yearly girls' getaway.  This year we went to San Francisco.  California had been having a drought, which meant perfect weather for weeks on end...until we arrived.  It downpoured the entire time we were there, but the trip was still fantastic.   

Day 1:  We all met in Denver and got to navigate the BART subway system which is filled with happy, inventive homeless people (one had fashioned a chair out of a cardboard box and duct tape) and hipsters.  We didn't quite fit in and the BART makes a horrible noise like it's about to tear itself apart as it re-enters the atmosphere.

Day 2:  We bought a cable car pass and rode to Coit Tower to have breakfast at Mama's, only to find the line for the restaurant, which might have had six tables total, was halfway down the block.

We quickly abandoned that plan, rode to Fisherman's Wharf and ate breakfast at Hollywood Cafe.  It had such good food and the world's largest fruit bowl as a side dish with everything imaginable and, in true California style, it was all sustainably grown.  This is the moment I realized that I live on the wrong coast.

Because it was raining, we decided to wait it out at the Cable Car Museum, which is the workshop where they run all the cables for all the cable cars.  It was unexpectedly very cool.

Still raining.  So we headed to Ghirardelli Square, thinking we could probably kill hours in the shops.  I do so love a shop that offers you a square of chocolate EVERY time you enter the door!

Marie, Sara, and Amanda not staying dry.

Next stop was the Boudin Sourdough Bread Factory for a tour.

There were two things I wanted to do before we came 1) See the Golden Gate Bridge and 2) See some wild sea lions.  I SORT OF took care of both.  I could just BARELY see the bridge....

....and these sea lions are KIND OF wild, I guess.

Friday night we took the sunset cruise to Alcatraz.  We couldn't see the sun, but we did get to see the hospital wing, which is normally not open to the public and doesn't have electricity.

Escape to Alcatraz

San Francisco from Alcatraz (I'm sure this is normally a lovely view.)

Day 3: We gave up all hope of seeing the sun and decided to rent a car and leave the city.  On our way to Big Basin Redwoods State Park, we stopped at an In-N-Out Burger and tasted their soggy cardboard fries.  I had never seen a redwood before and this was an amazing deviation from our original plan of staying in the city.  However, like everything else on our trip, the rain made it tough to do things like look straight up to see the tops of the trees.

Amanda, the Treehugger

A fallen tree goes allll the way down past a tiny Sara.

Redwoods make Marie look especially tiny!

We drove back along the coast and, through the fog, could see patches of the famous rugged coastline.  The farms that line the road are all organic.  I love them.

We ended the trip at Church Chow with our friends Jossie and Brian.  I forgot to get a picture, so I guess that means that we'll have to go back soon to get one!

It's been really hard for me to figure out how to describe San Francisco.  It's not beautiful, but it's not ugly.  It's not somewhere I'd want to live, but it was fun to visit.  The architecture of each little city block is so varied and interesting.  The cable cars are novel and fun.  Plus, you can't beat a place with "wild" sea lions.  I'd go back, but maybe next time I'll go when it's sunny.

NC Trip - Part II - Lighthouse Alley

Could I turn into one of those people who decorate their bathrooms with framed cross-stitches of lighthouses?  Perhaps I could!  We first stopped at Bodie Island Lighthouse in Cape Hatteras National Seashore.  It had a neat boardwalk to a marsh lookout where Nathan and Alison spent a lot of time birdwatching.

3-4-12 - Bodie Island Lighthouse

3-4-12 - View from the Marsh

We spent two nights in Buxton, NC in a condo right on the beach (super-cheap because we didn't realize the weather in March in the Outer Banks is kind of icky).  The first day, we stopped at Hatteras Lighthouse.  It had a nice museum with some stories of the numerous shipwrecks off the coast of the Outer Banks.  At one point, a young navy private's parents found his name tag washed ashore before they had been notified of the wreck.

 3-5-12 - Hatteras Lighthouse

There is a nasty battle going on in this area between the residents and the National Park Service, which had to start charging for permits to drive on the beaches this year.  A sad output of the vicious cycle that is: economy is bad->people lose jobs->government doesn't make as much money in taxes->government can't support as many services and has to start charging for them->people get mad and elect Republicans->Republicans cut taxes->Park Service receives less money->Park Service has to charge for more services....wait, I don't really see how this is helping....But, I thought the wooden "Death to NPS" ornament on one guy's lawn went a little too far.

We took the free ferry to Okracoke Island.  Unfortunately, the wind was so strong that day that our car was literally sandblasted and we couldn't play on the beach.  We did, however, have a nice walk in the woods, saw Okracoke Lighthouse, and ate at an amazing restaurant called Dajio.  Please don't forget to try Dajio when you visit Okracoke.

3-5-12 - Okracoke Ferry

3-5-12 - We weren't the only ones waiting for Okracoke Ferry.  Mine?

3-5-12 - Okracoke Lighthouse

3-6-12 - Windswept

The next day we took the ferry to Okracoke again to catch another one back to the mainland.  Thirty minutes before we were scheduled to leave, they canceled our ferry and made us take one three hours out of our way.  We were all thrilled.  I was happy when we finally arrived at my favorite beach hotel: The Blockade Runner in Wilmington, NC.  I can't wait for Sami to move back to Wilmington so we can visit more often!

3-7-12 - Blockade Runner