San Francisco Day 1

Over Labor Day weekend, Trent and I took a quick trip to San Francisco.  After we had Aiden, we decided we should really take a trip a year without the kid(s).  Big thanks to my family for watching Aiden (of course, they loved it!)!  

We flew out Friday evening (August 30th) and arrived around 7 and thought we'd just get to hang out and grab some dinner.  Well it turns out we ended up waiting at the airport for 3 HOURS!  So not fun.  There was some major confusion with the shuttle that we had booked to pick us up.  You see, we flew Allegiant and everything they sent us (confirmation, boarding passes, etc.) said we were flying to San Francisco/Oakland, so we thought it was just one airport. Turns out they are two separate airports :/  The shuttle was waiting for us at the San Francisco airport and we were at the Oakland airport. Still though, we don't know why it took them three hours to fix the problem.  On top of that, the Bay Bridge was closed all weekend so it took us a lot longer to get to our hotel than it normally would have. We finally made it there at like 11 that night.  Kind of a frustrating evening.

Saturday, though, was a great day!  I took a lot of pictures!  We headed to breakfast that morning.

As always, I love seeing different houses and architecture when we travel.  All we saw in San Fran were townhouses!  So many townhouses!

This was at Lombard Street.  I knew somewhere along there was the famous crooked part.  We went to see it later in the evening.

We had read online (here) to try out Mama's for breakfast, but it was this teeny little place and the line was horrendous.  We just decided to go across the street to this cute little cafe.  I got the banana walnut waffles, of course ;)

This was a beautiful park - Washington Square Park - with Saints Peter and Paul Church behind it.  I actually just read that Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio took pictures here after they were married.

Heading back down to Fisherman's Wharf.

Such steep streets!

We got a kick out of this.  It really is a little school where they teach you how to make cheese :)

We purchased a CityPASS before our trip, which allowed us to use the public transportation and gave us admission to 4 San Francisco attractions.  One of those was the Blue & Gold Fleet Bay Cruise, so that's what we did next.

The boat.

We had to be there 20 minutes early, so I got a few pictures while we were waiting.

A lighthouse and Alcatraz in the distance.

Coit Tower - we went up it later in the day.

The next several pictures are from the cruise.

I thought this was a crazy picture.  The street looks like it just goes straight up to the sky!

Ghirardelli Square from the boat.

The whole point of the cruise was to take us out and under the Golden Gate Bridge, but it was so foggy that we could hardly see it :(

Could only see the bottom of it.

This was the best we got as we were going under it..haha.

Turning around.

Passing Alcatraz Island.  We didn't realize how far in advance you had to book a tour there.  We thought we were okay booking a few days before we left, but it was completely booked for the weekend! We should've known, it was Labor Day weekend.  Oh well, next time!

Bay Bridge, looking ahead.

Alcatraz behind us.

Zoomed in.

Heading back to Pier 39.

The famous sea lions at Pier 39.

Next we went to the Aquarium of the Bay (also covered by our CityPASS).  It didn't take us too long since it was a small aquarium.

School of fish!

Pretty orange starfish.

I don't normally care about jellyfish, but these were all so pretty and detailed!

Trent liked these ones.  They had a light shining on them that changed colors.

Crazy!

Octopus.  They were showing a video on them and they are quite scary!

Walking through the tunnel.

Kind of a cool shark.

Touch pool.  We did not touch.

Otter exhibit.  There are two here.

Afterward we wandered around Pier 39 for a little bit.  Thought of Jen when we saw this Lefty's store! I don't know why we didn't go in.  I guess b/c we're both right-handed ;)

Thought the Alcatraz gift shop was pretty funny.  Everything looked like prison-wear.

Alcatraz from the pier.

View of Pier 39.

They had an adorable Crepe Cafe.

Loved that they had a fresh fruit stand.

We stopped by our hotel before heading up to Coit Tower. Here's a description of it.  It's 210 feet tall.

While waiting in line we got to check out all of the painted frescoes on the inside. 

I liked how the window was incorporated in this one :)

We made it to the top!

We could see Washington Square Park and Saints Peter and Paul Church from earlier.

Alcatraz from the tower.

The Tower when we made it back down.

Another picture as we were heading back down the street.

So steep!

Trent showing the crazy slant.

We had noticed this pastry shop a few times during the day, so we stopped for a treat :)

I love little bakeries.

It's hard to tell, but we got a slice of black and white cake (after we realized the Princess Cake was soaked in alcohol) and hot chocolate (it was chilly in San Fran - high of 70 the whole time!).  So yummy!

Then we made our way up to Lombard Street, or as our map had it marked, "The Crookedest Street."

Looking down Lombard Street (the other direction).

It has eight tight hairpin turns.

Afterward we headed back toward the Wharf.  It was so fun to just walk through the city.

We happened upon this adorable little park.  I loved the cute gate and stone walls.

As we were strolling, we also happened upon this!  I was thinking, "Surely it's not a restaurant", but it was!

I was almost feeling obligated to eat there, but we already had plans for dinner that evening :p

It's funny because earlier in the summer, while we were in Ireland, we came across a different Knuckles (here), but it was a boxing club - a little more fitting ;)

As we continued to walk, I started to think the whole street was dedicated to Knuckles, but this sign was just pointing out the restaurant.

I thought to get this picture as we were walking.  We stayed at the Radisson on Fisherman's Wharf.

We ate at Boudin Bakery for dinner that night based on the recommendation of a friend.

Trent got the clam chowder in a bread bowl - what they're known for.

I tried the Grilled Brie w/ Apples & Fig Jam.  About halfway through mine, I switched with Trent (he was willing).  It was getting to be a little too sweet for me ;)

And that concludes Day 1 :)