Ahh, San Fran ~ such a refreshing experience. Being an Arizona Native, I've always associated California with two main things; San Diego and Disneyland. Sure I've traveled other places in California; Hollywood, Long Beach, Sacramento, Carlsbad, La Jolla and so on, but nothing really stands out to me as much as San Francisco does.
It wasn't until Trevor Starr (my brother in law) was brought into my life that I was able to experience all the super swell things the Bay Area has to offer.
This was my second trip to San Fran, and Justin's third. During my first trip in 2007 (along with Justin, and my Mother In-law Barbara) we covered a lot of ground and delighted in many experiences such as; Coit Tower, Ferry Building Marketplace and Famers' Market, Golden Gate Bridge, Chinatown, Japanese Tea Garden, Union Square, Palace of Fine Arts (Exploratorium), plus a road trip to Napa Valley (my favorite!).
Trevor lives in Berekely, so we stayed at Trevor's place practically right on Berkeley's Campus. We also got to experience some Berkeley's highlights including; Trevor's Lab at Berekely, Berkeley Rose Garden, The BART, Telegraph Avenue. We have so many amazing memories from that trip that I will always cherish.
Justin went out a second time in 2008 for Trevor's Graduation. I unfortunately, could not attend due to work... but Justin, Barbara, and Shannon were able to fly out and watch Trevor Graduation with his P.H.D. in Microbiology. They had a wonderful time celebrating Trevor and his accomplishments.
So this time around we were experienced San Fran Pros, and already had an idea of the locations we wanted to visit and revisit.
It's a short flight over from Phoenix to Oakland Airport, you would think it would be pretty smooth sailing...umm nope, our travel experience there and back was almost comical. For starters, after arriving at Sky Harbor airport we realized that, 1.) our flight was delayed THREE hours and 2.) we had an overlay in Ontario, California ~ what in the world? Oh well, we were on vacation so we didn't really care. After landing in Ontario we discovered that we were the only ones on the flight to the Oakland Airport.
So, we had a very romantic private flight into San Fran (well, technically Oakland)
Which resulted in this lovely photograph....
Then, once we arrived at our destination, we found out Justin's suitcase was missing... uggh. Trevor had to go pick it up at the airport the following evening.
The next day Trevor had to work so Justin and I spent the entire day in San Francisco, just the two of us. It was really an awesome day! After a quick breakfast in Berkeley (that's where Trevor still lives, right next to campus) the two of us caught the BART (Bay Area Rapid Trasportation) which was quite hilarious as we had know idea where to go~ but finally Justin got us into San Fran.
Next up, was riding the Cable Cars. I've always wanted to do this, don't ask me why. We hadn't been able to this last time ~ so this time Justin promised we would.
So we waited in line, and waited, and waited a little bit more ~while being entertained by the street performers.
Finally it was our turn, jumping on the trolley was totally intimidating~ it was all hurry hurry, hustle bustle. So we were seated on the trolley traveling towards the Piers. Then a few passengers got off, and we were able to stand up, which made the experience so much better ~ it was a total trip!
Our car dropped us off right at Fisherman's Warf, where we walked around and enjoyed the cool weather... it was so breezy down by the water Justin had to buy a classic "tourist" sweatshirt (remember at this point he still had no clothes, thank you Southwest Airlines).
We enjoyed some tasty treats at a darling little outside bistro. We sipped on martinis called "Summer of Love" and I toasted to us, and reminded Justin that this was our "Summer of Love". He thinks I'm cute ~thankfully...it makes up for my quirkiness.
We then continued to walk down the hill through Fisherman's Warf, past the Sea Lions, all the way out to the end of Pier 39. Enjoyed a few sake bombers, enjoyed all the glorious smells of funnel cakes, watched talented pastry chefs created crepes through the window, and had our fortunes told. (this was my Tom Hanks, "Big" Moment).
We then walked all the way up the hill, trying to find a bathroom. We walked and walked and walked, still no luck, every restaurant had signs outside stating you had to be a patron to use the potty (must be a big thing around here)... finally we found a hotel, and not a moment too soon.
I had one more "to do" on my invisible list... I really wanted to walk/drive down the infamous Lombard Street. We were so beat by this time we didn't think we could walk it, so Justin called a cab to take us back to the BART station. While waiting for Justin outside, I had my "Pretty Woman" moment of the trip when a beautiful black town car pulled up and asked if he could take us somewhere. At first I told him no thank you that we had a cab coming. And then the light bulb went on, "Would you be able to drive us down Lombard Street on the way to the station"? He giggled in a foreign accent...
"But of course".
So when Justin finally returned outside I was waiting in the town car... he looked at me puzzled and I said "just get in and enjoy the ride".
Lombard is known as San Francisco's "Crookedest" Street. Darling little homes and gorgeous flower bed are along each side of the road.
To me it was like a disneyland ride, but in "real life". Justin just shook his head and smiled. Here's another photo, to give you a better idea:
Following our Lombard Experience, we caught the BART back to Berkeley and grabbed a bite of Thai food on the way home, watched the Best of Will Ferrell on Netflix and crashed.
The next day we hit up one of Trevor's suggested breakfast spots, the Crepvine and enjoyed eating breakfast outside
(never something you can do in AZ during the summer).
It was so nice to see all the fresh flowers and cool architecture of downtown Berkeley.
We grabbed some coffee on our walk in this quaint little coffee shop next to the Berkeley Campus, the barista made these cute little "his and her" faces in our lattes.
Next up, Trevor and Isis picked us up to go to the Golden Gate Bridge. We had gone once before but it was really windy and bone chilling cold, and we were really far away (from the bridge). This time, not only was it a gorgeous day, we also walked on the bridge.
I don't know what it is, but I find the Golden Gate Bridge so enchanting. It's really quite a beautiful site to see.
Once we were up on the bridge I realized it's a lot wider than I imagined it to be. It was breezy and there were great views of San Franciso and Alcatraz Island.
There were tons of locks attached to the bridge, I was so curious as to what they represented, Justin later looked it up for me and discovered that they are considered to be "Locks of Love".
It's rumored that this tradition started in Paris, and for decades now a custom that has slowly been creeping across the world whereby loving, romantic, and sometimes superstitious couples write messages on the padlocks, attach them to certain landmarks and then throw the key into the water.
This practice symbolizes the couple's unending love for each other, and in some countries is thought to bring good luck to a relationship. (it's better than a tattoo right?)
Then off to the beach we went! Isis and Trevor had packed sandwiches and a blanket, so we had a beach side little picnic.
We took a long walk on the beach....Justin tried hard but failed at saving a crabs life.
We ended the evening with a home cooked dinner at Isis' apartment in Oakland. This is the view from her living room window. She lives a few steps away from Lake Merrit ~ this gorgeous lake that is home to flocks of migrating ducks, herons, and geese.
The next day was the BBQ. Trevor and Isis had many friends over to enjoy tons of yummy food, beverages, and good company.
It was great to meet several of Trevor's friends. There were endless desserts and even a mojito station~that might I add, is a challenge to make one just right, takes practice.
Justin was Grill Master the majority of the time, which I think he enjoyed thoroughly.
It was so awesome to see Trevor having such a great time with all of his friends.
The next day (our last day) we had some time to enjoy before catching our flight. So we had breakfast with Trevor and walked around campus. Trevor showed us his new lab~ which just totally blows my mind. It's amazing that he's a REAL scientist, and explains why he's such a patient person.
We also ventured down Telepgraph Avenue is pretty cool, similar to 4th Avenue in Tucson. Tons of coffee houses, restaurants, shops, great books and music stores, tons of street vendors and entertainment.
And as we walked back through the Berkeley Campus, we realized that our trip had come to an end. It was so fun! Thank you so much Trevor for allowing us to crash at your place and for being such an awesome host!
It took quite awhile to make it back home that night. Our flight was delayed again for about one hour on the way back home, plus we had another lay over in Ontario again. (in which a girl was kicked off the plane for smoking in the bathroom~that was pretty exciting)... when we finally got to Phoenix, the pilot couldn't land due to all the lightening...so we ended up in Vegas (which was such a tease because we stared at the strip for quite some time from inside the plane) before finally getting cleared and flew home. Home Sweet Home ~ who would have thought a trip to California would have required so much travel time.
And this marks off # 17.Visit Trevor in Berkeley
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