SAN FRANCISCO HIGHLIGHTS: PART 2

day three:

boudin chowder bowl for breakfast, and alcatraz day.  and even though it was the fourth time to alcatraz for marc and I (first for his parents), it still amazed me and brought tears to my eyes.  it's really such a beautiful place despite it's history.

em loved the ferry ride!

inside the prison...

 

outside the prison...

we had lunch at scoma's, I totally recommend the crab cakes and crab ravioli.  I normally don't eat crab or lobster, but yum-o.  poor marc is allergic to crab, lobster, and scallops so he settled for pasta with mussels.

we browsed ghiradelli square and in one of the galleries we discovered a wonderful new, and young artist by the name of adriana tomatis.  I was surprised that a touristy place like this, would have such great quality shops...like crown and crumpet-- lots of mushroom, and gnome goodies...and helper's bazaar--a non-profit thrift store with tons of old crafting supplies, vintage sunglasses, books, etc.

here's a photo of crown and crumpet from the ghiradelli square website.

day four: we explored just a small part of golden gate park--we thought marc's parents would enjoy the tea garden, de young, and the california academy of sciences...

after the park we walked down to haight street for shopping.  marc and his parents ate at cha cha cha (dari j...you recommended this to us years ago and we love it!) while I shopped.

notice the vintage deer S & P shakers I found from loved to death (a taxidermy and collectibles store).  those little guys will probably have a photoshoot soon.

day five: our last day to explore...we chose mission.  marc was dying to try la taqueria--we had tacos and burritos.  there were some wonderful shops in the area like: currents, little otsu, curiosity shoppe, paxton gate (another strange and interesting, and actually beautiful taxidermy shop), 826 valencia (a pirate store), and encantada--a mexican folk art shop.  the owner was fabulous--she asked if we needed help which led marc to asking about salsa and chiles--she gave us all her secrets--we loved her...I'll take some photos of the folk art pieces I bought later on...

I also shopped at urban outfitters and ate cupcakes from cako everday...we tried almost every flavor!

it was an exhausting but FUN trip.  I can say though, that taking a 2 year old on a trip to san francsico is waaay different from taking a 1 year old!  em was great on the plane ride there, on best behavior for the first 3 days...but toward the last two--oh boy. fussy, fussy.  and she topped off the last night with a major meltdown. she was so tired she screamed and threw a tantrum because she couldn't figure out what she wanted to do--sit on papa's lap or daddy's...we put her to bed and survived the equally fussy plane ride home.  I don't blame her--we kept her out all day into the night and most of time in her stroller.  poor little thing.  now we're trying to get her readjusted.  she was so happy to be home though and her face lit up when she saw her grandpa pull up at the airport.  it was fun...but nice to be home.

and here's a little collage I made for my sister before the trip...