San Francisco

My brother goes to San Francisco all the time and since Aaron and I never go into the city, we figured having my brother as a tour guide would be a good way to see some sights.  A couple weeks ago, he took us on a day trip around the city.  Let's go!

Most of the pictures I took are of my brother and Aaron together, so it kinda just looks like the two of them on a date.  Hmmm....is there something I should know you two?

Our first stop was the Golden Gate Bridge.  Of course, every other morning that week it had been super sunny and the one day we decided to go it was draped in fog.  Oh well, at least we live here and can come back any time.  I'd be way more bummed if I were only here for a day and will never get the chance again.  Silver lining, right?
Robin Williams Tunnel (the other side has the rainbow):

How happy does it make you that they named it the Robin Williams Tunnel??  I love it.

Driving over the bridge:

Told you it's like they're on a date....and they're having a blast!

So foggy (in an eerie, cool way):

We parked right next to the welcome center and walked around:

As you may have noticed, I took all the same touristy pictures I would have taken anywhere else.  Old habits...

Bridge time!

Enough of these two losers on a date, time for me to get in on this!

Now that's more like it!

We took a stroll on the bridge:

We made it back to the car and were freezing and starving.  Lucky for us, my brother made us delicious sandwiches:

Isn't that just adorable of him?  Thanks Niny!

Next stop:

Damn, that's a kind of perfect picture of that couple.  Too bad I don't know them.

Still foggy, but we walked around:

Love these (although this one was empty):

The boys taking a romantic stroll (at this point, they forgot I'm even there):

So pretty!  And right in the city!

Passed Ocean Beach on our way to the next stop:

Stopped at Queen Wilhelmina Garden in Golden Gate Park:

Action shots:

Aaron's was cracking us up, so we did a zoom in:

OMG best thing I've ever seen!!!  He might really kill me.

Next stop was one of the best spots of the day, and it wouldn't be found in any tour guide.

In the apartment right above the cheese shop is where we lived when we were little.

We were both born in the city and lived here until 1990 (until I was 5 and my brother was 6 months).  I have fond memories of this place and it was really good to see it again.

Then we were off to Haight Street to visit the Cookies store.  Cookies is a marijuana brand made by some rapper or something and the brand got so popular that they opened a store.  The store doesn't even sell weed, just clothing and accessories and they are not cheap!
Here's some of Haight:

I used to love shopping on Haight and Ashbury when I was in high school.  They have a bunch of funky, fun, unique shops, but they have become quite pricey over the years.

Here's Cookies:

Again, it's the two of them on a date (I had to retake this picture 5 times, btw.  They're more like girls than I am!).
Here's another one:

They both bought shirts (it took forever!) and then we were off!

We drove through Castro Street (another one of my favorite areas in the city):

It was right after the Orlando massacre, so this was on a street corner:

So sad.  I can't even begin to imagine hating someone just because they're attracted to someone I don't approve of.  I just don't get how it's anyone's business, I really don't.

After Castro, we drove to Dolores Park, which was beautiful.  Luckily for us, it was nice and sunny by now, so we got some great pictures.

The coolest thing we saw at Dolores Park was the filming of some sort of scene from a TV show or movie!  There was a bride, groom and guy in plain clothes all chasing after each other!
At first I thought it was just a wedding:

Then I noticed the film cameras and all the set people crowded around and normal people taking pictures and that's when I started to get it (a little slow on the uptake).  Then they walked to the end of the hill and the director said "Action!" and they all ran!

Then after the scene, they hung with the extras for a sec, taking pictures and they got up and started packing up to leave.

We started to notice that they were people we recognized from TV and movies!
It was so hard to get good pictures of their faces, but this guy's name is Ryan Hansen:

The only reason I know that is because I used to love the TV show Veronica Mars and he was on it, so I IMDB'd (that's a verb, right?) and found out his name.

The chick wasn't familiar to me, but the guy in the white shirt is Justin Long from Jeepers Creepers!  Yes, I IMDB'd his name too.

We were too embarrassed to ask for pictures with them, so we just walked by and the boys played football, while I sat on a bench and took more pictures.  Then Justin Long walked right by us and Aaron gathered up his balls and asked for a picture:

Justin was super nice and said "yea, sure!" and I snapped it real quick and he was on his way!  Pretty cool for a random Wednesday.

Next up, we drove to The Mission for lunch.  My brother told us about this Mexican hole-in-the-wall that has been in the newspaper a bunch for having great food.  Mmmmm!  I'm ready!

Walking through the Mission, there are a few different alleys with tons of murals.  We parked next to one next to the Mexican restaurant:

Very cool.

Time to eat!

Carnitas burrito:

Delicious!!

Niny took us to another alley nearby (on Clarion Street) with more murals (I took pictures of almost every one, so get ready):

Unfortunately this one was defaced:

So was this one:

but nonetheless RIP Spider.

I don't know why, but this one really tripped me out the more I looked at it:

I zoomed in on the man's body because it was a replica of the street we were on:

so much detail!

I know I could have edited quite a bit, but I figured different murals speak to different people and why not just put them all.  They're all very beautiful and powerful at the same time.  I love artistic expression like this.  In my opinion, stuff like this is what makes a city unique and this is always the kind of stuff I remember about a place.  I think it's just as important as historic sights and architecture.

We drove past City Hall:

and the Asian Art Museum:

We parked and Niny said he wanted one of us to drive for a bit, so Aaron got in the driver's seat and went down what turned out to be Lombard Street:

Relationship goals.

YAY!  Then we parked and took pictures (of other people taking pictures):

So pretty!

Next stop: COIT Tower:

We were trying to stand like the statue, but we just looks like dumbasses.  Nothing new.

This is the elevator you take to go up to the top:

We didn't go up, we just walked around the lobby:

We definitely want to come back and go up someday, but the line was long enough to deter us for now.

By now we were pretty much done sightseeing for the day, but it was almost 4pm and we knew traffic to get back to the East Bay would be a nightmare, so we had to wait it out.  We drove past Pier 39 and the pier to find a place to relax for a couple hours:

We love Fog City Diner:

Ferry building:

We ended up stopping at Epic Steakhouse right by the bay and having a few drinks and apps:

Totally posed pictures:

LOL we're so dumb!

We got $9 fries:

Funny thing is they tasted just like regular fries.  Hmm...

I wanted to try one of their oysters (you pay $3 per oyster, so I just wanted to try one) and they looked at me like I was crazy, but they brought it.  This is how it looked:

I laughed my ass off!  No wonder they thought I was nuts!  They have to bring you a whole ice platter with all kinds of condiments even if you only order one oyster!  Geez.

We hung out for a bit and then walked down and took pictures in front of the Bay Bridge:

We drove past AT&T Park on our way home:

So that was our long day in San Francisco!  We didn't see it all, but lucky for us we only live 20 minutes away (with no traffic, of course).  Can't wait to go back for another adventure right in our own backyard!