San Francisco (Day Two- Part One)

I took a lot of pictures on the second day, so I gotta split it in half! On Sunday morning, we wandered the streets in search of breakfast. We found a cafe a block away from our hotel.

Al got a muffin and juice, and I ordered a bowl of oatmeal (made with water and not milk) with a side of brown sugar and fruit. It was steel cut oats, which are the best. I added the bananas and brown sugar to my oats, and I ate the rest of the fruit separately. It was great fruit. Sometimes, you get unlucky with the stuff you get in cafes or restaurants!

We were also approached by two women at breakfast who were leaving San Fran that day and still had two days left on their travel passes. They just gave them to us. We were able to ride the buses and cable cars as much as we wanted without paying a cent. Bargain! Some people are so nice. 

We went back to Mason Street and braced the hills. I felt like I could have fallen forward. I felt like I was climbing the worst parts of Mt Lofty. 

This street, Filbert Street, was so steep that there were steps along the side for pedestrians. Steps always make hills easier 

We walked around Grace Cathedral on Nob Hill. It's a beautiful cathedral. 

We saw our fair share of cable car stop signs. 

Eventually, we found the crooked part of Lombard Street. We walked through the quiet streets for a while, and we knew that we found it when we saw groups of people gathered around taking photos. I guess I never knew that Lombard Street was so touristy! 

We walked down to the bottom, which, unlike driving, was pretty much straight down. 

We then walked straight north to Fisherman's Wharf. We saw parts of the area that we didn't see the day before.  I was pumped to see an In-N-Out Burger, because it's one of those burger joints that you never seen in Chicago! I got a cheeseburger from there the first time that I went to LA, and it was very enjoyable. 

We saw great views of the Golden Gate Bridge that were only interrupted by the fog. 

We then walked over to Ghiradelli Square. I remember getting ice cream from there when I was nine. How could you forget that?

Apparently, their hot fudge sundaes are well worth the calories. I thought about it, but it was pretty cold outside. 

We opted for fast and hot slices of pizza instead from a place down the street. Mine was covered in cheese and veggies. 

Then, we began our super fun tour of the Golden Gate Bridge, Sausalito and Muir Woods. We had to drive through parts of the city to get to the bridge, too.

We used the City Sightseeing company, just because their red buses are all over the city and there was a tour starting across the street from our pizza place. Our tour tickets were valid for 48 hours (we could use them as many times as we wanted in that amount of time), and we could hop off the bus at certain points to explore. If we were doing a city tour, for example, and they were only stopping in China Town for ten minutes but we wanted to explore longer, we could get off the bus and catch the next one. That way, we were not confined to a tight tour schedule. 

Our bus drivers were also very funny and informative. We had a great time. 

We left Fisherman's Wharf...

...and entered the glorious streets of San Francisco. We passed lots of beautiful Victorian houses. 

We went past the Palace of Fine Arts on the way to the bridge. Our tour bus was NOT supposed to go there, but I guess our driver really wanted to break the rules and show us something special. This structure was from the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition that brought millions of tourists into the city from around the world. This place was unreal. I wanted to jump off the bus and run around there...except there wasn't another bus to pick me up. 

That's all for part I!

Half Marathon Update

I decided that I am NOT going to run the half marathon. I didn't have enough time to train the right way, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to give up on my running! There are races all the time. Eventually, hopefully in the next year, I'll run my first half marathon. The timing just wasn't right this time. 

Stay tuned for more updates!