A Year (and a Half) in Photos, Part Five

<— More photos that-a-way!

First off, this is a HUGE entry, with tons of photos.  I probably should’ve broken this into, like, three or four different entries, but meh.  Too much trouble.  I apologize if it takes a while to load!

The first week of October, Chris flew out to San Francisco to escort and entertain customers at Oracle Open World.  We decided to extend the trip over the weekend so I could join him for a few days in his favorite city.  I flew out on a Wednesday, and we flew home together the following Monday.  In those few days, we did SO much.  I really learned a lot about how Chris likes to vacation.  He likes to see and do as much as humanly possible.  He calls it ‘death marching around the city.’  I literally had to buy two additional pairs of shoes while we where there because the ones I took just weren’t cutting it.

Anywho, here’s some of the photos from that trip.  The first half of these or so I took with my iPhone, but then I did break out my DSLR.  I’m saving a few of the photos from San Fran for my last catch-up entry, as they are some of my more artsy fartsy shots.  Enjoy!

Our room at the Hotel des Arts.  It’s a great little boutique hotel in the Financial District.  Local artists were commissioned to paint the rooms, and each one is different.  This was ours.

I took this with my phone, but this was the other side of the room.

Even the courtyard outside our window was painted.

The night I arrived was the customer appreciation event for Oracle Open World.  Basically, Oracle set up a big adults only carnival at Treasure Island complete with games, a ferris wheel and a concert — Sting and Tom Petty!

Ferris wheel!!

Watching Sting perform from the top of the ferris wheel.

I have no idea where we took this.  Dinner maybe?

Chris had one day left of work on Thursday, so I went shopping.  For chocolate.

Memorial for Steve Jobs outside the flagship Apple Store the day after he died.  There were SO many people.  I get chills now just thinking about it.

At the Embarcadero.

Fisherman’s Wharf

Jellyfish!  Took this at the Aquarium of the Bay
 

I couldn’t help myself.

The sea lions at Pier 39.

Oh, and we just happened to be in San Fran during Fleet Week, so there were crazy air shows going on the entire time we were there.

Taking a break at Pier 39.

The Bush Man.  This guys hides behind this big bush and jumps out and scares people.  It’s pretty hilarious.

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Street performer.  I took candy from him.  I did not eat it.

Lobsters and teddy bears and gators, oh, my!

The famous San Francisco Trolley.  Of course we hung on the outside when we rode it.  Had to.

I’d been wanting to eat at the Stinking Rose for years!

GARLIC!  Note that we’d already eaten about 3/4 of what originally came out.

Chinatown.

You know I couldn’t visit San Fran without stopping in the Castro District.

A bakery in the Castro known for their hot cookies in risque’ shapes and, ahem, sizes.

The only reason we wanted to eat at the Squat and Gobble was because of the name and the location.  Turns out, though, it’s a fantastic little crepery.

Had to go see the Painted Ladies.

The infamous street corner.

Random street art in Haight Ashbury.

Taken from the boat to Alcatraz.

Alcatraz Island!  Yes, the sun is setting. We actually took a night tour!

The main prison building.

The morgue.

Entrance to the prison.

In processing.

The showers.  Talk about a lack of privacy.

A typical cell.

I have no words.

I look so sad.

Chris looks much happier about being behind bars than I did.

Isolation.

I love this photo.  The contrast of the clean, bright yarn against the dirty, rough, dark surroundings.  It’s beautiful.

The next day, we just marched all over the city.  First stop was the Conservatory of Flowers.

I took an ungodly number of photos of flowers.

So many that I’m not going to post them all and overload you.

But I will post a few.

Yeah, that’s more than a few.

There were interesting things to look at everywhere.

We also stopped by the California Academy of Sciences, and visited the indoor rain forest/butterfly habitat.

There were also spiders.  Which, given my irrational fear of them, I have no idea why I took this photo.

Next we visited the Japanese Tea Gardens, and stopped at the Tea House for sushi and hojicha.

Stowe Lake.  Just happened to come across this on our walk through Golden Gate Park.

Made it to the beach!

That water was effing cold, by the way.

Chris’s turn!

View of the beach taken from the Cliff House, where we later had dinner.

The Sutro Bath Ruins.

This totally freaked me out.

We walked all over the ruins that day.

Chris decided to strip down and go running out into the water.  Did I mention how freaking COLD it was?

Chris carving our names into the rock.  Squeal!

Our final full day in San Fran, we rented a tandem bike and rode eight miles from the bike shop to the Palace of Fine Arts, to Fort Point, over the Golden Gate Bridge, and into Sausalito.  Then we took the ferry back.  I smile every time I see this picture because it was just so much fun!

 Palace of Fine Arts.

Fort Point.

Taken at the top of Fort Point.

View of Golden Gate Bridge from the top of Fort Point.  Took this just before we tandem biked over it!

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And… we made it!  Took this from the other side.

Are you sick of San Francisco yet?  What about just pictures in general?  Hope not, cause I’ve got tons more to post!

Cheers,
Felina