Round 2 – San Francisco

Good morning! Sorry this was a day late, but I was caught up in seeing some of the SXSW festivities going on around Austin this week. I’ll tell you all about it later ; )

We headed out once again bright and early to San Francisco on Sunday morning. We headed straight over to the hotel to drop off our stuff and then headed out to lunch. We tried to originally eat at well know place in the mission district called “Mission Chinese”, but they weren’t open ( ugh!) So we ended up stumbling upon a random place that turned out be just what everyone wanted. After that we walked around the district and looked at the different architecture and awesome murals. Joey took us by this cool little alley that was lined with all different types of awesome street art. 

One of the many streets in the mission district

one of the murals in the alley we walked

another mural we saw Joey explained that this one has to do with the gentrification of the area

I just love the vibrant colors of this one I saw while walking down the street

View from Twin Peaks

That night we finally made it to Mission Chinese, and then headed over to the Tonga Room at the Fairmont Hotel. This place is pretty neat. It’s a Polynesian themed bar in the basement of an old fancy hotel. They turned the pool into a shallow pond and have the band’s stage floating on it back and forth. They also had periodic rain storms kinda like the rainforest cafe (you know when you hear the thunder and the falling rain) but this place was a little bit cooler because you actually saw the rain falling into the pool instead of just listening to it.   While we were there we rang in the beginning of Jen’s birthday and started pre-celebrating her husband Nelson’s as well (their birthdays are one day apart). I would definitely put this bar in the cheesy category, but it still was a total blast - I guess the company you are with makes all the difference :  )

Steve Jen and Ricky at the Tonga Room

Jen and one of her college roommate Brooke. She now lives in a few hours away from San Francisco,. She was able to come up, and stay with us for the night.

another view of the Tonga Room

The Tonga Room center with the floating bar to the left

 On our last day we decided to be total tourists before we headed out to the airport that afternoon. Ricky and I got onto one of the local trolley cable cars, and checked out a few of the known parts of the city like Chinatown, Pier 39, and Fisherman’s Warf. At first we were hesitant on going to the well known tourist spots because we were afraid we weren’t going to get a real feel for the city. Afterwards, we were glad we decided to go ahead and check the area out. Since it was Monday morning we were able to explore without it being too packed. It was fun to see all the sea lions around Pier 39, and walk the along the Bay. We were at the pier fairly early so we were able to watch the outside food vendors cook and boil all their fresh morning catches.

Chinatown

Golden Gate Bridge

If you know my mom then you know she is constantly traveling and taking pictures. I was channeling one of her classic go-to photo poses of herself in this picture above - lol don't worry mom I still love your photos : )

Pier 39

 We also stumbled upon the  San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park Museum at the end of the Warf. They had some really neat exhibits about the history of San Francisco, and how the city has evolved over time. I’m a bit of a history nerd and loved it, plus it was free so you can’t beat that (lol). We had a great time and can’t wait to go back and visit the Napa Valley area next! Luv- Di

P.S.  You know you are getting older when you are just excited ( if not a little more excited) to tour local coffee shops as you are local bars . Here are a few that were really good. I'm not sure if it's a new trend that just hasn't hit Austin yet, but these places brewed each cup individually on order. It was coffee heaven :)