lynn in love with san francisco: day 3 & 4 and polaroids!!

I cannot tell you how much in love I am with today's pictures and polaroids. Since the death of my Diana, I was mourning the loss of those vintage lo-fi images that I adore so much. So for my trip to SF, last minute I threw in my polaroid camera I had gotten for my wedding's sign in book and some of the expired film into my bag. However since I was lugging around both my large dSLR and my not-so-small point and shoot, I didn't have strength to carry around a 3rd camera on our SF excursions. I realized that I was neglecting the polaroid, so I made an executive decision on the 3rd day to leave the SLR behind and take it with me.

oh my gosh.. it was so much fun to shoot with this camera! We were off to Haight Street to explore and it was the perfect backdrop with all its hippey nooks and crannies. I only had 20 pieces of film with me (that costs $2 each!) and so I had to be very choosy on what to photograph. We took our first picture in a little dinner... and it turned out so awesome, I almost died from all the awesomeness. Square format, those delicious vintage colors, the lo-fi effect. Just awesome. It was very freeing to shoot with the polaroid. On any given vacation day, I can take upwards of 100 shots, just because I can...and often you find me messing with the settings to get the perfect shot. With the polaroid, it's so easy: just compose your picture and punch the big gray button! Anyone can do it! Then you get to walk around, waiting for the film to develop and see what you get and it's SO LIKE MAGIC!

I only took 10 shots that entire day... and they are my favorite shots of the entire trip. The hardest part is scanning the pictures to post on this blog :)

Now I just need to decide how to put these pictures up in our apartment... any suggestions?

(click on any of the pictures, to see it bigger)

lynn in love with san francisco: day 2 sausalito

After Muir Woods, the bus dropped us off to take the ferry back to SF. We decided to stay back to spend the evening in beautiful Sausalito. Oh my, how we love this little town. Situated north of the Golden Gate Bridge and only a few miles from San Francisco, Sausalito is picture perfect and wonderfully quaint. While the weather is a bit chilly in SF, somehow the winds die down in Sausalito, make time spent there so very pleasant. There is no hub-bub in Sausalito and everyone seems to be taking their time to enjoy themselves.... and how can you not with a view like that! We spent a long time at the bay watching all the sailboats float by and I taught Jon "Sitting by the Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding which somehow he's never heard before! Apparently Otis wrote and recorded this song in Sausalito the day before he died in a plane crash. We had a delicious Italian meal on the patio with a view before heading back on the ferry while watching the sun set on that wonderful little town.

remember, you can always click on the pictures to get a bigger view!

yum, this was good ice cream!

just beautiful, no?

look, just a few miles away is SF, just covered in a blanket of fog and chill.

you can't get away without a feet picture from me! these shoes served us well this trip.

Can't get enough of this guy!

we left our mark in Sausalito

beautiful sunset sky from the ferry

Next up: my favorite pictures from our trip! The polaroids!!

lynn in love with san francisco: day 2 muir woods

Day 2 was a picture happy day, so I'll break it up into two posts.

We started off the day with a hearty and yummy breakfast at a nearby restaurant. We sat a spell enjoying the weather in Union Square before taking a bus up to Muir Woods. Jon has been wanting to see the redwoods for a long time, so we had to go see them while in SF. The redwoods were incredibly beautiful. They are the tallest in the world! It's hard to believe that some of these trees are up to 800 years old.

The history behind the Muir woods is a little sad. The redwoods are very hardy trees: a strong fire-resistant bark, and a natural pesticide against bugs and termites. These qualities made the redwoods very attractive to 19th century lumberjacks who cut down a good majority of these trees. In 1890, conservationists urged William Kent, a local philanthropist and congressman, to buy 600 acres of land to preserve what was left of the redwoods. The land was donated to the Federal Government and Theodore Roosevelt made it into a national park to protect the trees. However over the last hundred of years, the amount of foot traffic of tourists have trampled most of the park, ruining the soil and endangering the roots of these trees. The park has taken extensive measures to protect the trees: the trails are now paved and the areas around most of the trees are fenced off. The woods are very quiet as very few animals are allowed within the park. Despite what humans have done to these woods, the trees are still majestic and beautiful. Jon loved the trees so much that we can't wait to go to Yosemite to see the giant Sequoias!

at breakfast at Honey Honey Cafe & Crepery

a bus break to check out the Golden Gate Bridge

my handsome husband

At Muir Woods, according to its rings, this tree was born in 909 AD!

how big is this tree? this big!

this is the Cathedral Grove, where the UN charter was drafted and signed in 1945

After the woods, we went to the Muir Beach Overlook, so beautiful!

Next: Down to Sausalito!

lynn in love with 6 months anniversary!

A quick interruption in vacation photos,
but it's our 6 months anniversary!!

I thought my dear husband had forgotten,
but look what I found when I greeted him at the door tonight!



love you husband, happy anniversary dear :)

lynn in love with san francisco: day 1

Hello Dolls! I'm back online after a fantastic and much needed vacation with my husband. Hubs was away for most of August and September for fellowship interviews, and I missed him dearly. To wind down his travels, we treated ourselves with a short little 3 day jaunt over to San Francisco. After a dreary and rainy week in Dallas, the cool fresh air of SF was exactly what we needed! I love vacationing with my husband as we travel at the same pace and are very much intuned with each other's needs...which are sometimes hard to find in a travelling partner. Ha! plus he tolerates all my touristy needs to take pictures and visit all the city's highlights.

We got into the city early the first day and immediately jumped onto the trolley to Fisherman's wharf to fulfill my craving for fresh crab and clam chowder. I picked out a large 2lb crab and munched away... heaven! We strolled along the marina and came across the bike rentals. Jon was excited to bike, but I was a little hesitant as I haven't biked in years except for the little tandem getaway incident at our wedding. For those of you who weren't there to remember, I crashed and burned in my little valentino heels. However, I manned up and we got our bikes for our ride to and across the Golden Gate Bridge.... and I loved it! It was a fairly hard bike ride for me as I'm not used to the incline, but we took plenty of stops so I could take pictures. It was amazing to bike in such beautiful scenery and across the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge. And I have to tell you folks, I was pretty darn proud of myself that I finished the trip. Afterward our bike ride, we rewarded ourselves with a little In-and-Out burger and checked into our cute little hotel room. We took the Muni to the Japantown to warm up our bodies with some yummy udon. That night we slept so well, with our hotel window open and the sounds of a street violinist lulling us into sweet dreams of the next day to come.

riding the trolley!

A beautiful view of the bay from the trolley

me just being silly, see what I mean about Jon tolerating my ways :)

coo-coo for clam chowder!

Don't forget the crab!

Picking out our bikes

Happy that I haven't fallen yet.

A quick break for pictures

Water break!

When we came upon the bridge, it was covered in fog

But just as we were about to finish biking across, we began to see a peek of the bridge!

A perfect moment when the fog lifted for a few seconds

A final look back at the bridge before we biked down to Sausalito

Tomorrow: Day 2: Muir Woods and Sausalito