san francisco

quin and i were lucky enough to have a free hotel stay granted to us when we got married. when quin bought my ring, the jeweler also gave him a voucher for a free trip! we were so excited! well that was almost two years ago and we finally used it. it expired march 31st so we squeezed it in right at the end of march. i don't know why we didn't use it until now but we were sure glad for it. there was a list of places we could choose from but since we didn't have a lot of time to prepare we decided to go somewhere that wasn't too far away but would still be fun to visit. so we chose san francisco! i have never been and quin had only been when he was younger so we thought it would be a fun place to visit. plus we had a free hotel stay!! the plane tickets were pretty decent as well so we opted out of making the looooong drive there (thank heavens). flying is so much better in my opinion. we flew on virgin america for the first time and were pleasantly surprised how nice the plane was. and it even had free tv! what a way to make a pretty short flight feel even shorter.

we left on thursday and arrived that afternoon. our hotel was about twenty minutes outside of downtown san francisco so we rented a car and headed out that way. i swear, everytime we have rented a car we always get the ugliest one! in miami we had that dang bright green kia soul and here we got a bright green ford fiesta! lime green must look good on us i guess. it was a pretty good car and we definitely appreciated having the freedom to go out and about wherever we pleased.

when we got to our hotel we surprised at how nice it was! you would think since they do these free vouchers they would choose cheaper, not so nice hotels but this one was actually pretty decent. i was glad for that! our hotel was located in a cute town called concord and we loved it. since we had just driven from downtown san fran we decided just to chill in concord for the night, get some dinner, and of course go shopping. there was a nice mall just down the street from us so we took advantage of that. when we first got there we parked by a store with a big XXI and we had no idea what kind of store it was. as we got closer to it and were about to walk through the doors i told quin that it looked like a store i would like. as we walked through the doors my next comment was that it looked just like a forever 21. then it hit me! it was a forever 21! we are retarded. so what, we don't know what roman numerals are. but hey, it is one of my most favorite stores so i didn't mind my stupidity. that night we ate at bj's also. they need those in utah!! they are soooo good! plus they have the best pazookies around.

we drove by this on our way to the hotel! utah!

how can you know what this meant right?? 

the next morning was friday and we we planned to spend the whole day downtown in san fran. we had tickets to see alcatraz that afternoon so we decided to go early so that we could walk around all the piers and go see all that fun stuff. we walked down to pier 39 and all the shops around there. they had this little bay thing with a ton of sea lions just lounging around. they were so cute! i couldn't believe how they all just laid there in the sun, almost like they were tanning or something. i could have sat and watched them for hours. there were some that were playing and knocking eachother off the floating things. we had a blast watching them.

after roaming around pier 39 we walked down to fishermans wharf. talk about the smell of fish! i don't like fish but i still thought it was fun to see all the fisher's little shops. i know quin would have liked to get some grub but since i don't like anything that comes from the ocean in my belly, he decided against it.

after all that, we walked back to the pier where they board for alcatraz and got on the ferry for our turn. we stood out front so we could watch as we got closer to the island. i don't know why but i was so excited to see this! since i work in a jail i guess i just wanted to see another one and compare them. not that they have anything comparable! alcatraz was way cooler. when we got to the island, we walked up the hill to where you can get the little audio players for the audio tour. since they were technically free, we figured why not. i'm glad we did too because it was so interesting hearing the personal stories and getting the history of everything! i absolutely loved it!! if you ever go to san fran this is definitely a must.

we walked around the prison for about two hours. the first part we listened to the audio tape and then once that was over we took it back and then went back in to walk around some more and see the things we missed with the tour. it was kinda creepy walking back in because everyone is listening to their audio players so it was dead silent with a ton of people just walking around! so weird. it didn't seem that weird when i was one of the silent walkers but when you don't have the headphones on it was definitely a little creepy. we almost felt like we couldn't say anything out loud because nobody else was. it was so fun though. i loved seeing everything around there. definitely worth it!

 the shower area

these next two are part of solitary cells where they put people who needed to be alone. they would keep the cells dark as long as they were in there.

all of the wardens that worked at the prison 

after alcatraz we walked up to ghirardelli square and walked around there for a bit. of course we couldn't leave without buying some chocolate either! they had a sale on their eighty piece chocolate package so we ended up getting that. i think it will last us quite a while! it is so good though. it was hard not to get more than that.

after walking around there we got in line to get on one of the historic cable cars. these were so awesome! i couldn't even understand how the heck they ran but i guess it all has to do with the cables under the ground. duh. i guess that's why they are called cable cars. anyhow, i thought they were pretty cool. we got off at the crookedest street, which wasn't a way long ride to get there, but we wanted to see that of course. we ended up walked down that and then walking on to see little italy and chinatown. talk about a lot of walking! and if you have never been to san fran, you better believe how steep those hills are! i couldn't believe it myself! i don't know how houses were built on some of them because they were so steep.

we called it a night after our long walks around san fran. we decided that the next day were were going to go see the golden gate bridge and head into sausalito and go see the red woods. when we woke up the next morning though it was pouring rain!! like cats and dogs kind of pouring. we ended up taking our sweet time getting ready, stopped in at target to grab an umbrella, and then headed back into downtown san fran. everytime we drove in, we would go through two tunnels and then cross over on the bay bridge which is a little ways down from the golden gate bridge. when we entered the tunnel it was still pouring rain. when we exited the tunnel right before we go onto the bay bridge....clear skies!! it just magically stopped raining. strange right? it was but we were pretty happy. the first thing we did was go to the golden gate bridge. it really is amazing!! i loved it. for some reason it was super windy over by the bridge and as we walked down it a little ways it felt like you couldn't stand up straight. it must have been the day maybe.

after admiring the bridge we drove over to see sausalito. such a cute little town. i could see myself living there. i bet it's so expensive though! it's a historic town and has a lot of character. we kept driving on to muir woods where we could go see some redwood trees. the tree's were amazing! and the forest was too. it's so moist there that moss grew on everything and it looked really cool. i got a little carried away and took a ton of pictures. you should know me by now and my inability to not take pictures everywhere i go. i always take way too many. but hey, better many than none i supposed.

the way cool drinking fountain at the forest 

muir woods is a national forest so there was a ton of little places you could go and walk around in. people were running the trials and everything. i bet it would be a beautiful place to jog everyday. maybe i would actually enjoy running if it was there! after the woods we stopped off at a lookout of a beach. i can't remember what it's called dang it but it was a pretty little look out.

i should apologize now about how long this post is getting. we did so much this trip even though we were only there for three and a half days but we had to squeeze it all in! anyways, after muir woods and all that enjoyable stuff we headed back over the bridge again and made our way to the golden gate park. it's so huge that we only stopped off at one part but i think we chose pretty good! it was a fairly decent sized pond with a ton of ducks, pigeons, and sea gulls just hang out in. there was an elderly guy a little ways down from us feeding them all. there were so many birds around him! some were on his knees and his shoulders just trying to get the next speck of food. when we looked closer, we saw that he was feeding them spam of all things! i don't know how healthy that is for birds but they were loving it!

we drove the rest of the park and then stopped at a cute little bakery slash cafe thing that quin's boss told us we HAD to stop at or he would fire quin. so naturally, we couldn't not go! it was delicious. again, i don't remember what it was called but i'm sure quin would know when i asked him. when i find out i'll update this part :)

after all of our adventures on saturday which ended up turning into a no rain, gorgeous day, we headed back to concord. since we got back at a decent hour, we decided to go do something there we just didn't know what. there was a golf course right next to our hotel so we rented some clubs and went out to the driving range to hit some balls. i'm horrible. i don't think i hit one ball straight. good thing they had barriers between people because if not, quin would have gotten nailed by my sideways hit balls everytime. i don't know what i do wrong. they just always tend to go to the side instead of straight! whatever. it was fun all the same.

if you look closely you can see my ball hitting the side of the wall :)

we went back to the hotel after the golf escapade to think about where we should go for dinner. as it started getting dark, we noticed a ferris wheel and lots of lights across the golf course and on the other side of some tree's. we thought it would be fun to go check it out on our way to find a place to eat. once we got there it was a little carnival! i absolutely love carnivals. i would go to the clark county fair every year when i was younger to show steers and to go to the carnival. it was our yearly trip to an "amusement park". quin and i decided to walk around it and then figured we might as well eat some dinner here! we had some scrumtious corn dogs (which were ginormous by the way) and some nacho's and then shared a caramel apple. so healthy right? oh yes, and very yummy. there weren't a ton of people there so we thought it would be fun to go on one of the rides. quin had never been on a carnival ride! really?! how ridiculous. so i chose my favorite of course, the zipper!! best carnival ride ever. quin was a little too big and had a hard time fitting in the cage but really it just held him really secure :). it was hilarious! we had a blast going on it and laughed the whole time! i was so glad we stopped and spent a little time there. a good way to end our last night.

the next day was our last day in good ole san fran. our plane didn't leave til the afternoon so we just headed back into downtown and did some shopping around the gift shops and walked around the piers a little bit more. we had so much fun on our trip here! it was kind of random and last minute but we were so glad it ended up happening. san francisco is such an awesome place. i loved everything about it (except for maybe walking up and down those huge hills)! we would definitely go back again and spend some more time. even stay at the same hotel! too bad it won't be for free the next time. dang it.

i only took a couple pictures this day because it was all stuff i had gotten pics of before. see,  i told you i have a problem with taking too many pictures!

and p.s. sorry for the lengthy post!!