Lunching

When I realized one night how close San Francisco was to Stanford, I immediately texted my friend Keshia to see if she could get together for lunch the next day. Luckily she was free!! It was fun to finally see where she lives--just before she moves back to Utah, ironically.

Didn't see a sign for Stanford, so this'll have to do:

Kesh took me to this little crepe restaurant--Crepevine, I think. If there's one thing in this world I love, it's crepes. No matter what's inside. I will be looking for another excuse to hit up Stanford again, if only for this restaurant!

 

Me and Kesh and her baby, Bennett. He is adorable! What a happy little baby. 

I love catching up with friends! It's funny how everyone ends up scattered all over the country after high school and college. Life really is crazy, but I'm so grateful for friends who remain friends no matter how far apart we are or how much time has passed.

Giants game

In case you haven't noticed how I have the best internship on the planet, I do. While we were in San Francisco, our bosses took us all to a Giants game. So much fun!!

That giant Coke bottle behind us? It's a slide! For kids 14 and under, in case you were wondering...

The food:

Cuddling up to random strangers because it was freezing:

 

Seagulls taking over the stadium:

Super fans:

Do you see how Sierra has four layers on? Yeah, and we thought all those people with coats, blankets, scarves, and beanies at the beginning of the game were crazy. So wrong. 

Really, I just love everything about baseball games. They are just so... I don't know. Summertime, hot dogs, people yelling at each other--what's not to love?

The happiest place on earth

After a long week of work, Brenna and I decided that we needed a boost of happiness. And where better to get that than at the happiest place on earth? The last time I went to Disnleyland was on a music tour in high school, so it was exactly ten years and one month ago that I last went there, and a lot has changed since then. We decided to go for the double park pass and we were so happy that we did! We checked out of our hotel Saturday morning but were still able to take the shuttle to and from the park--score! All in all, the day couldn't have gone more perfectly!

We got there just before they opened frontierland, so we were there with the crowd making the rush to Indiana Jones. The lines weren't even bad at all and we flew through all the Disneyland rides in no time!

Here we are on Splash Mountain:

Instead of putting my arms up, I should have put them in front of my face so as to avoid the full-face of water I got. Oh well. Good to know for next time!

Luckily my makeup really likes staying on.

So happy!

The teacups seem like the quintessential ride from my childhood, so it was a must!

We were cruising through lines until we got to Space Mountain, where we had to wait for like an hour. That ride is definitely a lot darker than I remember! But still awesome. My face in this picture explains why my voice was weak and cracky all day on Sunday. I used to be able to scream to my heart's content, but you know what happens when you get old? I guess I just don't exercise my screaming muscles as much as I used to (probably a good thing!).

California Adventure was soo awesome. We were way happy that we went to both parks! 

Um, Cars land, anyone?? I can't say I'm a particularly huge fan of the movie, but boy did they do an unbelievably good job at recreating the Cars world! It's incredible. I just wish my nephews could have been there to see it!

Radiator Springs:

And a shot of my favorite ride: the tower of terror. Our "elevator operator" guy was perfect. Seriously could not have been better if he were a paid actor, which, I guess in a way he is. I just kept having this way nerdy thought that working at a theme park like this would have been perfect for Don Quixote... right? These people live in suspended reality all day and get paid for it! How awesome.

Another childhood-memory gem in toon town!

Should I get a mailbox like this? I think so.

Haha. Someone today in one of the stores I visited thought that I said my name was Minnie. Not quite. 

We chose the best dinner ever. It was so so good. Plus we were starving.

Nighttime pic

Brenna got one of the chocolate-covered banana; I got a fruity popsicle.

Overall it was basically the most perfect Disneyland day we could've hoped for. I'm so glad we went!

We're from Utah, and yet...

We still get cold during church. Luckily there was an older sister at the branch we went to last week who had blankets for us in her car. How nice!

San Fran

We spent a fun Memorial Day in San Francisco! Love that city. 

It was my first time taking a trolley ride--so fun!

Lombard street. We drove down it on the way home, so I can officially check that experience off my list. 

Ghirardelli square. Remember when I used to eat chocolate and stuff? Good times... 

Fisherman's Wharf... we ate lunch at this place just behind this sign and it was dee-lish. I love being happy with what I order. 

Oh, there it is--my chicken salad sandwich. So good!

There's Alcatraz in the background. Not sure what Nate is laughing about there. 

The seals. How lucky that they had their own little sunbathing rafts built for them.

We walked a long, long time through Chinatown and saw some pretty interesting things. 

I am actually dying to know what this is all about.

The gates to Chinatown.

And our final stop: the Golden Gate Bridge. Too bad it was so foggy, but we were still able to see a little bit of it!

Oh yeah--here's our drive down Lombard street. I think I was the only one in the car who didn't actually stand up outside of the window to take a picture. 

See?

Okay, these pictures are all out of order and there's no way I'm fixing that, so here's the whole group in front of Lombard street:

And here's the jumping picture I mandated in front of the "Painted Ladies" houses. Obviously Rem did not agree with this. He's not into conforming. 

Old Sacramento

Sacramento turned out to be a lot cooler than we all expected--lots of cool restaurants, adorable  downtown houses, and of course, old Sacramento. 

Who doesn't love old-timey stuff? So great. 

 

We had fun trying on hats...

Checking out the toy store...

and making some new friends:

Love these signs.

One day I'm going to actually ride on a ferry. That's going on my bucket list right now.

Also, I love bridges. Have I mentioned that?

The giant candy store and the giant wooden man.

I probably won't ever go back to Sacramento, but I think I made the most of it while I was there!