Two Sweet Hearts in San Francisco

This heart is in the San Francisco Union Square where Kris and I spent 5 days together at the beginning of August. As part of our vacation back west this summer, I tagged a long with Kris to an American Accounting Association Conference. My parents watched Alyson, Kourtney, Ellary and Keegan in Colorado, and Kris and I got a little bit of time to ourselves. Kris took a couple afternoons off to do some site seeing with me. You'll get a glimpse of some of the things we saw together as you read this post. Some things we did that are not documented here include catching the train from the airport to down town S.F., seeing "Wicked" at the Orpheum Theatre, eating dinner at Washington Square Bar and Grill (yummy and highly recommended), and tasting other fine international cuisine.

I also accompanied Kris to some of the AAA banquets and saw old friends and people Kris works with. It was a lot of fun!

Feeling the Love!


Kris and I went on a 15 mile run a few hours after we arrived in San Francisco. We ran down to Pier 1 where you can catch the ferry to Alkatraz, Sausalito and other various destinations, then ran to Fisherman's Warf along the Embarcadero, over to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, to Crissy field and across the Golden Gate Bridge. We only stopped a couple of times to take pictures and to use the bathroom. Then we ran back to our hotel through the city, trying to avoid as many hills as possible, which you can imagine is a hard thing to do. Just for your info, if you take Van Ness Ave and then some side streets back to down town, you can avoid a lot of hills, not all, just a lot.

This was such a fun experience. It had been a very long time since Kris and I had ran together, and to see all of these sites at the same time was incredible. We were both pretty sore the next day, but had the time of our lives!

We also went to an LDS Ward on Pacific Avenue, within walking distance of our hotel. It was neat to see so many people from the AAA conference attending church there. Here are a few pictures taken from a hill overlooking the church.

I had several mornings by myself so one day I walked down to the Pier, then took this trolley as far as it would take me up California Avenue, got off and did a lot of walking. I ran into Lombard Street and China Town then returned to the hotel several hours later.

Here is the way they stop the trolley. Crazy when this is the only thing stopping you from going into traffic at intersections!

I picked up a donut here. The trolley brake operate told me to stop into one of the shops on his favorite street in S.F., Polk Street.

I hope you can read the sign. It says to park at a 90 degree angle. You can only guess why judging by the steepness of this hill I walked up just on the other side of Lombard Street.

Top of Lombard Street (the Crookedest Street).

People on Segways and bikes were spotted everywhere in S.F. We nearly ran into a few and vise versa on our run.

Kris' cousin, Melanie, suggested that we take a boat ride over to Sausalito. We took a ferry and had a fun and relaxing afternoon.

Sausalito was a cute little town with a lot of character and shops. We browsed and had Thai food for lunch.

Our boat took us back right by Alkatraz Island. We tried to book a tour, but none were available for 3 weeks. This was the next best thing!

The Golden Gate Bridge is off to the right of Alkatraz.

Someone told us not to eat at Fisherman's Wharf, but we just had too, how can you not when you are in S.F.? Some of Kris' friends said Scoma's had great food, so that's where we went. It was delicious!

After eating at Scoma's, we got in line to take a trolley back to our hotel...but the line was so long that it was going to take forever, and it was getting colder and colder and later and later. Then this limo driver offered us a ride for the same price as the trolley. Kris was a little bummed that he hadn't road a trolley yet, but we did get to ride in a limo and it took a fraction of the time that taking the trolley would have.

The limo driver trying to talk the people in line into a "sweet deal".

Here we are in China Town, Kris was being very silly! We bought each of the girls a Cheongsam (Chinese dress) that they will wear as P.J.'s. Keegan got a nice Chinese outfit too (for boys).

We are huge "Amazing Race" fans, so Coit Tower was a must-see for us (It was featured in a leg of last season's episodes). We didn't go to the top-the line was too long, but we did hike up Telegraph Hill and take pictures of the views surrounding the base of Coit Tower. Awesome!

This church, the Graco Cathedral, is a top Nob Hill, just a few blocks from our hotel. Kris ran up Nob Hill one of the days we were in S.F.

When you are in S.F. you have to give the trollies a try, although, they were expensive to take ($5 one way). We took the trolley going out and walked back to the hotel! Here are a few random pictures of an afternoon we spent together.

Ghirardelli Square near Fisherman's Warf-We shared a tastey hot fudge sundae there.

Lombard Street (Crookedest Road)

I saved the best for last. The night before we left S.F., Kris and I took the train and then a bus to the Oakland Temple. When Eleonore nannied for a family in Oakland, over 40 years ago, she loved coming here. Just by looking at the pictures you can imagine all of the reasons why. The landscaping, the veiws and the Temple itself are beautiful. And it is peaceful and scerene above all the hustle and bustle of the city. Kris and I made it just in time for a session, took more pictures on the rooftop of the temple afterwards, and then caught a ride back to S.F. with a couple who attended the session with us. We are so glad we got the chance to see it! It was deffinately a highlight of the trip.