the whole san francisco-trip-write-up

are you ready for this?

buckle up.

(if not just note that it was a mighty-fine-good-time and the photos are

pretty much lovely and i will be posting many more lovely photos on orchid.)

p.s. this was our hotel. bottom left = my room.

march 10: drive to reno

we started driving at 6 a.m. and drove and drove and drove for 10 hours.

sitting in a packed 12 passenger van for a 10 hour day is not so fantastic.

i was in the backseat between 3 other people i met just that morning, trying

not to breath very much because there wasn't a lot of room for such things.

after about the ninth hour i realized that i had neglected to apply deodorant

that morning after my 5 o'clock shower. (oh yes.) along with trying not to breath

very much i then realized that i probably shouldn't be moving my arms at all either.

(which, looking back on the situation, probably was not my best idea.)
meet the smelly-backseat girl.

once we pulled into reno i saw the lights and the city, and then i saw jason's

80+ year-old great grandma norma (in my mind) who is maybe one of the
cutest little grandmas i know. (my little grandma fern is super darling too.)
she wears bright red lipstick with really red hair and she aims for the lips every
time she sees you. anyway, the reason i thougt of grandma norma is because
she used to live in reno and she used to work at a casino there. in fact she
still firmly believes that she is going back to work very soon.

we got to the museum in reno (who knew reno had an excellent little museum up
their sleeve?) before it closed for the evening. have you seen penelope gottlieb's
exhibit "no $ down"?  so fantastic! plus there was a nice little view of reno from
the roof top. (sorry for the lack of photos on this one. it was a 10 hour drive.
so naturally i left my camera in the van. and then that's what kept happening in
all of the other museum stops. woops. but my pal sydney got some great photos.)


after the museum we had dinner at the silver legend buffet. buffets scare me. but
i noticed that this one had people attending to all food stations so i felt more at
ease about the length of time the food had been sitting there. (right?) they did have
some awfully huge, awfully delightful strawberries. and a pretty awesome selection
of desert food. and obviously i was ok with that.


after getting to our motel i quickly realized that this night was going to be pretty
bad. and i was right. room with heater from the 70's that does not work + double
bed (hard as a rock) all to myself = i didn't sleep a wink.


but that morning i woke up (for lack of a better word) to absolutely amazing
light peeking through my window curtains. this shot really shows the motel at its
best angle and in a super good light. (if i do say so myself.)


i guess what i'm saying is: this photo really classed that place up.
but who's complaining?

march 11: fisherman's wharf, union square and a trip to the mission district

i woke up extra early to secure a seat not in the back for the next 5 hours

to san francisco. (i learn quickly.) this drive was magically not so bad.

and i remembered to apply the deodorant this round.

once we were in san francisco we went straight to fisherman's wharf for

lunch. i pretty much hate seafood. (lame i know. it's so healthy too. dang.)

so a group of other not-so-excited-about-seafood people and i found

ourselves an in and out. it was quite a tasty alternative.

after lunch we hopped on a cable car and did some exploring.

somehow we made our way to union square (where all shoppers die

and go to heaven) and found h&m. where we spent about 2 hours

in 1 store and i spent entirely too much money on some really great items.

next we did some exploring in some not-so-touristy areas in search

of a really fantastic vintage shop. this created lots of walking (18 city blocks),

taking city transportation and getting off the wrong stops (thus the large

number of blocks), and getting a little bit lost in the mission district.

(kind of a shady area.) and i am sad to report that the awesome shop was never

actually found. but at least we saw the beautiful city buildings and some

super interesting corners of san fran.

later that night we had dinner in china town at the clay pot. where it was

all things chinese. and the little lady said "24 pee-po. 7 o-clock." with a very

thick chinese accent. i maybe felt like we were in a scene straight from

rush hour 2. is there a chinese clan of gangsters in sf? if so i have found a

good meeting location where the food is pretty tasty and the below-zero

temperatures keep most tourists out.

the hotel this time was super cute. i have always secretly wanted to stay

at a place with old school signage. (who brags about an elevator + cable tv?)

places like this are so darling. and the bed this time was better by far. it did

smell a bit funky. but the bed was softer and  i slept like a baby. naturally.

march 12: a french bakery, tea gardens, museums and a massive orange bridge

we went to an amazing french bakery for breakfast. (la boulange)

i have never, in my entire life, had a more delicious breakfast!

(the macaroons are incredible!)

and then it was off to the japanese tea gardens.

it was raining lots. i think that's why i liked it so much.

our next stop was next door to the de young museum.

we had a bit of a debate about whether or not we should pay the

extra $30 to visit the king tutt exhibit. once we learned that the famous

king wasn't actually at the museum we decided to save that for egypt

and headed to the ninth floor observatory. (which has maybe the

most amazing view of san francisco in the entire city.)

the de young is an incredible museum.

i loved the impressionist section and the photo exhibit was breath taking!

i have never stood before artwork done by the masters. it was quite

a humbling experience. as i stood before Henri's "O in Black with a Scarf"

i got a lump in my throat and i realized why such pieces have the ability

to live through the years and trends and tests of time.

we also visited the legion of honor museum where i stood in front of

several monet pieces for a very long time. so so so beautiful.

i also found a very detailed mummy room which made me happy

about my decision to pass on the king tutt thing earlier in the day.

the mummy sucked up my attention for quite a while and i probably

would have stared at it longer if i hadn't dropped my hard-backed sketch

book on the floor causing a very large, loud crashing noise (that place

seriously echos). the crash obviously demanded the attention of the

other 15-20 people in the room. (i could hear all of the heads turn.)

i left quickly after the incident.

after the museums we were off to visit the golden gate.

(because what kind of first-time-san francisco-goers would we be if we

skipped over that photo opportunity?) it was super cold/rainy/windy

so the waves were a little bit ferocious. i thought it was pretty.

after dinner we made a stop at ghirardelli square where almost everyone

ordered sundaes. my stomach was on the fritz. (it's the whole travel thing.

totally messes with the system.) so i bought drinking chocolate to try at home.

has anyone tried drinking chocolate before? i think it might be delightful.

i'll let you know.

oh! and a little note to myself:

ibuprofen works for aching feet/general discomfort.

dear geri, remember that for next time.

march 13: the market, the woods and the beach

early to rise. early to the farmer's market.

this was probably the part i was most excited for!

i have never been to a more beautiful farmer's market in my little life!

i found this scrumptious little morsel for my breakfast.

can life get better?

i was so invested in the beautiful fruits and vegetables and flowers that

i didn't realize that there was another section of the market on the

opposite side of the street until it was too late. as we drove away it

was all i could do not to jump over everyone in front of me and run into

the mass of homemade items and beautiful goodies.

i will go back.

we rushed to muir woods where the trees tower above you and envelope

you in their shady, natural beauty. it was an interesting opposite from the

urban farmer's market we had just left. the drive to the little forest is

crazy and bendy and makes a girl pretty sick when sitting in the backseat

of a 12 passenger van. but we got there and it was amazing
 no harm done.

our next stop was the beach.

with the very cold water.

but we played in it anyway because we live in idaho and it's not

every day we get to dip our toes into the pacific.

i wrote jason a little message in the sand. (i thought it was romantic.)

as i was taking photos of my little love note i ran into some very cold

problems with the tide. as i ran from the scene of the accident my

finger pressed the shutter. and recieved this blurry momento:

have i ever told you how much i love the ocean?

even cold ones.

march 14: and we're done

we drove home.

it was very, very long.

and the time change + daylight saving's time was a real kicker.

and i still need to unpack my gigantic red suitcase.

please, somebody, take me back to san francisco.

it was so nice there.