Summer in San Francisco

We knew this was going to be the crazy summer that we could be ANYWHERE depending on where Spencer got an internship. Turns out we got to spend it in one of the coolest cities: San Francisco!

We had about a month and a half from when we accepted the internship to when we had to move so the whole thing was pretty rushed. In that time we managed to squeeze a trip in to California to look around possible areas/apartments so we didn't end up somewhere sketchy, sell, organize and pack stuff in our old apartment in Provo,  finish up my first year of teaching, oh and Spencer graduated. No biggie. 

We decided not to do the whole U-Haul thing so just loaded up the essentials in our little Honda Accord. It's surprising how much you can fit in with a bit of creative packing :)

We broke up the 12 hour journey and stopped at Lake Tahoe. I'm glad we stopped here instead of Reno, NV this time. It was gorgeous!

Once we arrived (and finally got our keys - long story) we set off on the adventure of furnishing our apartment (I was particularly excited about this part). Craigslist was our best friend and we managed to get a couch, coffee table, TV & stand, dining room table, 4 chairs, a microwave, a bed, a bookcase, 2 lamps and a bedside table all for....$50!! Bargin. We're totally still college students haha.

 

We decided not to live in the city, which we're really glad about, because we pretty much love Alameda Island. It's a relaxing, safe, yacht town and we have found it to be so refreshing after being in the city. The speed limit is 25mph...everywhere. It's awesome. 

We heard the sunsets were amazing here in Alameda, and we weren't disappointed! 

(Yes, we have a beach walking distance from our apt, we love it!)

So because we decided to live on an 'island', the most convenient way for Spencer to commute was by ferry. It's such a fun way to commute! I'm jealous he gets to do this everyday! Thanks to Spencer for the video to make us all jealous!

If this was my commute, I would definitely sit inside. (Thanks again to Spencer for the dramatic slow mo...)

Ok, so it's not often I would say a cinema is a must see attraction, but this one IS. We saw Planet of the Apes here and Spencer caught me looking at the fancy walls instead of the film more than once...

Intimidating San Francisco sky scrapers.

We lined up outside "Mama's" for breakfast. We ended up waiting for about an hour but it was worth it! We got a loaded omelet and cranberry french toast, oh so good.  

We saw the sea lions at Pier 39 - they were so noisy!

We didn't really know what to do in China town, but we got a souvenir and can say we've been there!

One evening we went to the Exploratorium Museum. I was expecting little science experiments, bright colors and more or less something like the Eureka museum we all go to as kids. But no. This was high tech, complicated scientific experiments that I didn't really understand (so didn't take pictures of)! Even so, we had a great time exploring everything and we actually learned some pretty cool things! My favorite thing by far was the 'pulse spiral'. Anyone could go up and hold onto these handles while it takes your pulse. When it detects the pulse it flashes in the lowest light bulb! Every time someone new adds their pulse it moves it higher up. So it's flashing with the pulses of everyone around you. It's pretty cool stuff. This probably didn't make any sense, so I uploaded a video too :)

We randomly stumbled across the Palace of Fine Arts.

Spencer had a lot of fun driving down Lombard Street.

Obviously we had to go to the Golden Gate Bridge as soon as possible. We don't like bringing our car into the city because parking is a NIGHTMARE so we decided to walk it from the ferry station. It's further than we thought...but we had a lot of fun walking there!

We made it!

Long day...

People really do leave their hearts in San Francisco.

This made me happy :)

We went to 'Off the Grid' one night to experience the food trucks. There were about 30 trucks selling different types of food; Indian, Greek, Mexican, French etc. It had a really cool atmosphere and pretty good food!

We stopped at Haight Ashbury, hippy central.

'Happy high herbs' anyone?

This reminds me of something you'd see in Diagon Alley!

 They call this place 'chocolate heaven'. I just about died in here.

We spent the 4th July celebrations in the city! It was soooooo busy. But fun.

Bread bowls seem to be a big deal here, so we got some. And now we know why :)

The firework show was amazing! One of the best we've ever seen!

Spencer's family came to visit! It was so much fun to have them here with us! 

   

Spencer took this picture - I love it.

Kay and Heidi were so nice and treated us all to the Alcatraz tour! It was very interesting, definitely one of the highlights of San Francisco.

The escape set up.

The view of the city from Alcatraz.

It was quite the battle to get here but we made it! And it was totally worth it! 

Late night sushi run in an interesting part of San Francisco :)

We took everyone to see the views at Cliff House. Sunset was amazing!

This summer seems to have gone by so fast! We've managed to do a lot of exciting things and we've really enjoyed our time here. We're not sure if we could LIVE here long term, but it's definitely been fun while it lasted!