A couple weeks back we made plans to take Chloie (my eldest) to visit her grandmother in California. We've done this every summer for the past 5 years. This year we decided to take a mini vacation after dropping Chloie off. Piper, Jedidiah, & myself decided to go to Washington. We eagerly anticipated the drive up the coast, I looked forward to meeting another lovely blogger friend and hoped to drive down through Portland. I was sooo excited! Ahh but as is the luck of being a standby flyer, things don't always turnout the way you anticipate. We flew into San Francisco and saw Chloie onto her plane, the day started so well, then everything unfolded. Every flight became booked! Nothing was available to Washington or Oregon. Not even back home! Fearing we would waste a whole vacation in an airport trying to get somewhere we decided to stay in San Francisco. Life's one big adventure, go where the wind blows you.
I am a California native. I grew up in Lompoc and spent most of my youth between there and San Diego but I've never been to San Francisco (or at least that I remember). It was exciting to get to see another part of the state that I always hear about but have never seen first hand. I regret, however, that we went completely unprepared. We packed for 80/90 degree weather and instead were faced with moist and windy 55 degree weather. No coats or warm clothing packed. We spent a great deal of time in the car driving not knowing what to do as we didn't plan anything. Poor Piper was wiped. I love the above photo of her. LOL!
Thankfully, after talking to my sister, she suggested checking out Haight St. She said it was a lot like the hippie scene in Manitou Springs, very colorful and lively, she was definitely right! This was a fun place to wander. You could spend all day walking up and down the streets shopping and enjoying the atmosphere.
If you're ever in San Francisco I completely recommend checking out this area! The handsome bulldog above was just sitting outside a shop, paying no attention to anyone passing by. I couldn't resist taking a photo. What a beautiful dog! My favorite part about this spot was all the vintage clothing shops!!! There were sooo many! It's one thing that I don't see a lot of in Colorado. I spared Jedidiah from going into more than two. But seriously if I was alone, I could have been in those stores all day long! Oh and by chance I came across the shop Loved to Death. Ever heard of it? I saw a couple episodes on tv once. They're an antique shop of odd and eerie things. It was pretty neat to go into the actual shop. Although it would have been even cooler if I had seen Wednesday Mourning too.
During our visit we promised to take Piper to the beach. Most of our vacation we had been stuck in the car because it was too cold to get out and we didn't have a lot of layers to keep us warm. Eventually I broke down and bought myself a hoodie. I'm obsessed with zip up hoodies and I love collecting state hoodies!
Sadly, like everywhere else, it was just too darn cold to stay and although Piper refused to admit it she was cold too. It took everything in me not to bury myself in the slightly warmer sand. We didn't stay long.
Although we didn't get out much and we weren't prepared for the cooler weather our mini vacation wasn't all bad. I was pleasantly surprised with how beautiful this city was. It carries a certain charm that most larger cities don't have. We kept commenting on how clean everything was and even as crowed as the hillsides are with homes, all the colors and styles made everything so lovely. I look forward to visiting again when we are more prepared and perhaps later in the summer when it's warmer.
How's your summer going? Any exciting adventures or future travels? We have lots of travel plans still to come this year, Oklahoma, still hoping to go to Washington, then later this year Florida, and POSSIBLY Machu Picchu but that could change on a whims notice...still deciding.
Take Care & Enjoy,
♥Heather
