Yosemite, part 2

On Friday morning, we woke up in our cozy room at the Sierra Sky Ranch ready for a day of adventure back in the park.  After enjoying some yummy waffles in the sunlit dining room, we headed out for our first stop at the Mariposa Sequoia Grove.  We arrived a little before 9:00 a.m. and just before the mass of Memorial Day tourist buses descended.

We didn’t have to take more than five steps from our car before we were face to face with the gigantic trunk of our very first sequoia.  We knew these things were massive, but nothing compares to seeing one up close!  It was much colder that day, with rain predicted later in the afternoon, but we enjoyed walking through the lower grove of trees with our heads constantly tilted vertically.

One thing we noticed was that the trees are not as tall as we expected.  I guess we thought that they are famous for being both impossibly wide and impossibly tall, but Charlie mentioned he thought he’s seen taller pine trees in Alabama.  (Or perhaps we’re just homesick and can’t see a tall tree without thinking our Alabama pines have it beat!)   Either way, what they may have lacked in height, they certainly made up for in girth.  One tree, called the Grizzly Giant, had a branch whose circumference was greater than all the tree trunks in the near vicinity – a branch wider than a normal trunk!

The base of another tree had been tunneled out so that carriages could drive through it in the late 1800s.  Standing inside an ancient sequoia tree was a neat experience, especially since this was one of the few giants that was not fenced off.  We were able to feel the layers of weathered bark and see its beautiful red, orange and amber colors up close.  Charlie even had me take a cheesy picture of him hugging the tree – we are in the California land of hippies after all!

After a chilly walk back to the car, we drove north towards Yosemite Valley where we had lunch and poked our heads into the Ansel Adams gallery.  Adams was a photographer known for his work at Yosemite, and we had a beautiful copy of his photograph of Yosemite dogwoods hanging in our townhouse in Auburn.  It was neat to see that print again, as well as take some of my own dogwood pictures as we meandered throughout the park – they were everywhere!

With lunch and souvenir shopping complete, we were back in the car again headed about 35 miles away from the valley to  Tuolomne Meadows.  The road to the meadows had just opened for the season, and it was nice to get out of the busiest parts of the park for the afternoon.  I had read that the drive from the valley to the meadow would take us past all the best of Yosemite – alpine forests, crystal lakes, and granite formations – before bringing us to the “Meadow in the Sky” at 8,500 feet.

What the guidebook didn’t say is that climbing 4,000 feet when rain is coming through the area means that we’d quickly be caught in a freak late-May snowstorm!

That dogwood picture was taken only two hours before the picture shown above.  What a difference a little elevation can make!  It took a couple of hours to reach the meadow, and the skies alternated from completely white to clearing slightly along our way.  While some of the major viewpoints along the way were obscured by the snow, others seemed to clear at exactly the right moment so that we could enjoy the view from so high up.  Looking down into the valley from our snowy perch offered yet another great perspective.

Throughout the drive we passed still ponds surrounded by trees, drove through a red fir forest (beautiful with snow on the branches!), a few waterfalls and several large lookout points that offered views of granite formations we hadn’t been able to see in the valley.  The rain forecast that bummed us out at first certainly turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we loved every minute of our drive through the soft white woods.  I think it’s so incredible that we got to hike a waterfall in the warm sun, watch the clouds roll in through the granite cliffs and sit on the snowy banks of an alpine lake all within two days!

We originally planned to visit Tuolomne Meadows to walk through the early summer wildflowers.  This shows you what southerners we are – “It’s May, so the flowers must be blooming!” – we didn’t realize that May still means winter weather at these altitudes.  When we turned the corner by Tanaya Lake and came upon the peaceful meadow we realized we wouldn’t be traipsing through any wildflowers that day!

Despite the lack of flowers, I’m so glad the snow held off literally just long enough for us to see the meadow under a clear sky.  We took a few pictures and enjoyed the view before going into the store (literally a tent) for some hot chocolate to warm us up.  When we came out five minutes later, the snow had caught up to us!

Being relatively far from the valley, most park visitors don’t make it Tuoloumne Meadows.  We relished the quiet surroundings and the feeling of being a world away from anything routine.  As we explored around a little, we came upon several quiet streams just bubbling along toward the majestic Tenaya Lake.  The thickening blanket of snow only added to the magical appeal of the area.  However, we realized that it was coming down pretty hard and we would need to get down the mountain road before we became stuck. Hot chocolate and cookie in hand, we started back down Tioga Road.

And the snow came with us.

We noticed that no one was passing us going up the mountain and figured the park must have closed the road because of the weather conditions.  A lot of people were headed back down and we joined a slow caravan through near white-out conditions at certain points.  I felt awful for the people on motorcycles who thought they had a great, sunny afternoon drive up the mountain planned – they looked miserably exposed.  At one point, we came around a corner and saw a car completely flipped on its side near the edge of the mountain, its lights still on as if the accident had just happened.  Charlie stopped the car and ran back to check on the passengers.  Apparently they had already escaped and must have been picked up by the park ranger who was at the next overturned car just down the road.  The snow was getting thick at this point, and it had come on so fast that the park hadn’t been able to clear the road yet.

(below: just to give you an idea of how much snow had dropped in an hour – a lot according to our Alabama standards!)

It was a little stressful, but I just started praying that the Lord would get us all down the mountain quickly and safely.  I’m thankful everyone in our caravan drove very cautiously and we made it back down to the main road just fine.  Of course, we felt like we’d just stepped out of Narnia because the main road was sunny and warm!

We finally said goodbye to Yosemite and headed towards home around 6:00 p.m.  It was perfect timing, and we were able to enjoy that magic hour around sunset just as the road began to wind through the little streams and canals that run off the river near our home.  I felt like I had gone from Yosemite to the back roads of Baldwin County or Ocean Springs within two hours.

In the days since we’ve been home, I’ve really been struck by an urge to return.  However, I’m realizing that no matter how many trips we might make to Yosemite, I don’t think it would ever feel like enough time to truly soak up its majestic beauty!

See more pictures from our Yosemite trip here

Yosemite, part 1

Surreal: (adj) having the disorienting, hallucinatory qualities of a dream; unreal; fantastic

We just returned from two days in Yosemite National Park, and it was, by definition, surreal!  You know that feeling when something so wonderful happens so fast that it hardly seems like it happened at all?  When you arrive on the other side of something beautiful and know you feel immensely blessed, but also can’t quite remember the beautiful thing even being real enough to have happened?

That’s how I feel about Yosemite.  How wrong I was in thinking two days would be enough!

The west entrance to the park is about three hours from us, and we headed out around 6:00 a.m. to make the most of our time.  It was a beautiful drive through the agricultural country that surrounds us, and I wish we could have stopped at every peach and cherry farm along the way.  The weather was a perfect low-70s and sunny, perfect for heading straight to Yosemite Valley.

Yosemite Valley is only 6 miles long and very narrow, but it’s where most of the park’s “highlights” are located.  Imagine about 12 natural wonders you’d drive hours just to see on their own all crammed into the most glorious six mile stretch on earth.

(above: Tunnel View, from which you can see El Capitan granite formation on the left, Half Dome granite formation peeking out the back, Three Brothers formation on the right with Bridalveil Falls.  This is only about a quarter of what there is to see in the Valley.)

We made the winding trip down to the valley floor and stopped on the banks of the picture-perfect Merced River to freak out a little that we were actually here.  After composing ourselves, we drove up to Tunnel View which offers an incredible “big picture” view of the valley.  We took an endless amount of pictures here before heading to Bridalveil Falls, so named because of how the wind blows the water out from the mountain, resembling a bride’s veil flowing behind her.

From there it was just a short ride to Cook’s Meadow.  I loved it here and really wished we’d spent more time just sitting here, soaking it all in.  It was like God put this meadow at the center of His natural playground – everything around it was designed to bring joy and we only had to turn our heads slightly to see the next thing He made for us to marvel over.

We enjoyed a picnic under one of the big trees and then walked over to Yosemite Falls (I can’t stress enough how close everything is!).  Yosemite Falls is one of the highest in the world, made up of Upper Yosemite Falls which breaks slightly before flowing into Lower Yosemite Falls.  Throughout our stay, we could look up from anywhere in the valley and see these falls crashing down with El Capitan in the background.  Needless to say, it was beautiful!

(at the footbridge of Lower Yosemite Falls)

After our walk through the central part of the valley, we hopped on the shuttle to the Vernal Falls trail.  This three mile trail takes you right to the top of Vernal Falls, and the last section of the hike has been dubbed the Mist Trail for obvious reasons.  The hike began with us winding our way through the trees along the Merced River before crossing the Vernal Falls footbridge.  After that, we hiked directly parallel to the fall itself, which covered us in a fine, chilly mist the entire way.  The sun through the mist caused a beautiful double rainbow near the base of the waterfall and, honestly, I think we could have just died right there and been satisfied.

Waiting for us at the top of the hike was a warm, sunny spot where we sat to dry off and, again, freak out that we were at the top of a waterfall in California.  I mean, really, who gets to spend their Thursday afternoons like this?

We made our way back down and headed to an early dinner so that we’d be free again to watch the sun set.  After spending all day on the valley floor, we headed thirty minutes south to Glacier Point to watch the sun go down from above the valley.

(And now, a bear story!  On our way to Glacier Point, all the cars in front of us started slamming on their brakes and people were jumping out and running past us like their lives depended on it.  Charlie immediately says, “It’s a bear – I can feel it!” and pulls the fastest parallel parking job ever before joining the fray.  It was indeed a black bear roaming through the woods, probably trying to get away from the 50 of us who were freaking out and trying to get a good shot of him.  Just thirty minutes prior, we had come within petting distance of five deer grazing in the meadow, so I’d say our wildlife count was definitely good this trip!)

Glacier Point sits high above Yosemite Valley and looking down on everything we had just been looking up at was definitely a cool experience!

(above: The lower waterfall is Vernal Falls, which we had just hike three hours before)

We watched the waning sunlight bounce off the sheer granite face of El Capitan and then headed out the south entrance to our inn, Sierra Sky Ranch (not before staring down a wild coyote in the parking lot though!).  The ranch was formerly the largest cattle ranch in California and still uses the original homestead as its main lodging.  We stayed in “Sarah’s Room.”  Sarah was a nurse who lived in that room for five years in the 1930s when the ranch was used as a tuberculosis hospital (the original cattle ranchers had lost it in the Depression).  It was the perfect place to end our adventurous day and we were so happy to crawl into bed.

Read Part 2 of our adventure here

See more pictures of our Yosemite trip here

Jesus loves the little (annoying) children

Kids.

Everybody loves them right?  I mean, you will totally get the evil eye if you actually say, “Yeah, kids can be annoying, and I’d rather hang out with people who don’t need me to walk them to the bathroom or drool on my shirt.”

I’ve always said I love kids.  I’m a Christian girl – it’s in our code that at some point we’ll work in the nursery because Jesus loved the little children and so do we.

When we move to a new assignment, I always pray that the Lord will lead me to a volunteer job that will stretch me as a person, such as overcoming my squeamishness to work with hospital patients in Arizona.  I tried to cheat on my prayer this time by contacting a local women’s shelter to see if they needed help.

“Hi…you have some upcoming fundraisers and I have a background in PR.  Can I help you with anything, i.e., special events, campaign materials, etc.?”

Their reply:  ”Sure!  We can stick you in the childcare room three days a week!”

“Great – I love kids!”

Except, apparently, when I don’t.  Or rather, I do love them, but I just don’t like it when they act like...kids.

For the past three weeks, I’ve spent a few mornings a week with four children (ages 4 months to 3 years old) while their moms attend Bible studies and self-sufficiency classes.  These kids were homeless months ago and some have never known a consistent routine like they have now.  My heart loves these kids.  Yet my brain wants them to be quiet, to not need my constant attention, to actually listen when I ask them to do something.  I never knew the difference between playing with a child for half an hour and caring for children on a longer basis.

Maybe having my own child will rewire my brain with more patience, but I’ve been shocked to find out how easily frustrated I am when the three-year-old acts like a three-year-old.  I actually find myself thinking, “why is it so hard for you to listen to me and do what I say?”  Today I spent thirty minutes trying to teach a little girl to draw a circle and a square.  I drew them over and over for her, explaining the shapes and trying to get her to do the same.  She would study the circle and then draw a straight line next to it.  Or she’d trace the square then draw a curly line when I asked her to copy it.  I could not understand why she couldn’t just see what I did and do the same, and it was pretty frustrating.

And then I remembered God.

In God’s eyes, I’m like a three-year-old.  He’s made it so obvious what He wants me to do and how He wants me to live, and I have a tendency to just stare up at Him blankly as if I can’t hear Him at all.  He patiently shows me how to live each day, and I look at His plan then totally go off and do my own thing.  He even gave me a living example in Jesus of how to live on this Earth and I still don’t always follow Him.

I never thought I needed to grow in my patience with children, but apparently I do.  And I am so incredibly grateful for the encouragement that God has infinite patience and love for me, even when I act like a three-year-old before Him.  Yet, as much as I pray for patience with these kids now, I also love them and want to see them grow in their ability to listen, follow directions, etc.  I think the same goes for God.  He loves me and is patient with me when I don’t listen to Him or obey His leading, but what He really wants is for me to constantly mature by being eager to follow Him.

I remember feeling like I’d reached adulthood the day I realized my parents really knew what they were talking about my entire life and I should have been quicker to trust their leading.   The same is true of our relationship with our heavenly Father!

(Note: Time will tell if this spiritual lesson changes my feelings on having bubble solution poured down my jeans.) 

Beach trip and what I learned from a sea anemone

The day after our wonderful Sonoma visit, we were back in the car and headed towards the ocean.  Our first stop in Half Moon Bay was Maverick’s, the famous big-wave surf break about a quarter mile off the coast.  During the winter, waves here can measure up to 50 feet and when you combine that with the freezing water, rocky beach and numerous shark sighting, it’s a pretty fearsome place to paddle out!  Though it wasn’t breaking that day and all we could see was the spot of flat water that produces these giant waves, it was still really cool to be looking at a surf break I used to read about all the time growing up.

After a picnic overlooking Maverick’s, we headed down the coast-hugging Highway 1 to Cowell Ranch Beach.  Half Moon Bay gets a bad rap for not having much to do other than the beach, but in my opinion that’s the perfect beach town!   It’s undeveloped by big resorts and still very much an old coastal agricultural town.  After a nice walk through some farmland, we came up to the bluff and saw the most wonderful little crescent of a beach.  We claimed a spot in the pebbly sand and didn’t move for a couple of hours, just soaking up the sun (actually shining that day despite its famous reputation for being obliterated by constant fog!) and listening to the waves crash ashore.

The beach was bookended by a cliff on one edge and a set of rocks on the other.  We climbed up onto the rocks to see what was on the other side and found a completely inaccessible piece of pristine beach identical to ours.  It was so cool to be sitting on the rocks jutting out into the Pacific and watch waves break on a shore we couldn’t get to.

We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the town of Half Moon Bay before driving ten miles north along the coast to Pacifica for dinner.  There’s really nothing more beautiful than driving Highway 1 as the sun is getting low over the water, making it shimmer in the half light.  After dinner we headed back towards town and stopped at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve.

This particular beach is known for excellent tide-pooling and we were there just before low tide at around 7:00 p.m.  Though the tide wasn’t really low enough that night to expose the whole reef, it turned out to be a magical experience!  When we got down to the beach, a whole community of seals and their newborn pups were just off to our left.  As we walked back up and over the cliff to get to the other side of the beach (can’t walk through the seal community!), we found the trail went through a cypress forest hugging the shoreline.  Talk about beautiful!

The other section of the beach was completely empty and we could walk right out onto the reef.  We stayed here until the sun went down and it was one of those magical travel experiences we’ll never forget – just the two of us on the most beautiful beach, searching for sea anemones in the reef as the sun turns everything around us silver and gold before slipping away into the water.  It felt like we were the only people on Earth, just enjoying God’s creation together.

One thing Charlie noticed is that some of the anemones looked more vibrant than others.  These were the ones that had made their homes deeper in the reef and were still under water even when the tide was at its lowest.  The others were in more shallow areas of the reef and thus exposed to the ebb and flow of nutrients, making them appear duller.

In thinking about this later, the Lord showed us how the same goes for us and our spiritual nourishment.  If I have a shallow faith in which I’m not constantly nourished by God’s word and prayer, I leave myself open to be affected by life’s ebb and flow.  Yet if I make my home deep in His word, then no matter how low things get I am always fed and affected more by the nourishment of my Savior than the depletion of the world.

This really hit home since Charlie and I committed to reading through the Bible chronologically this year.  I know God wants to use this time to deeply nourish us and build on the foundation of His word in our hearts.  Life can be hard and the effects of living in the world threaten to deplete us.  I want a well-nourished faith that is in constant contact with the Living Water I know will carry me through.

See more pictures from our beach trip here.

Winding our way through wine country

I could re-live this past Tuesday and Wednesday every week for the rest of our lives.  I mean, picnicking in the warm Sonoma sun one day and sunset on a secluded Pacific beach the next?  Perfection!

Sonoma is only about an hour north of us, and Tuesday turned out to be the perfect day to visit with its 75 degree weather and sunny skies.  As we got closer to Sonoma County, there were suddenly little vineyards everywhere we looked.  It seems like everyone has some vines on their property and it makes for a beautiful sight as you watch them unfold all around the rolling green hills.

We had plans to share a tasting at two local wineries, with a picnic in between and possibly some biking along the back roads.  Our first stop was Sonoma Market for picnic supplies which included one crusty loaf of olive bread, some salami and prosciutto, two kinds of yummy cheese and some olive tapenade.  We actually picked up one of our cheeses at a local shop, Vella Cheese Company.  We have a well-honed radar for free samples, and this place was generous with their delicious offerings!

We then headed to Gundlach-Bundschu Winery, the oldest continuously producing vineyard in the state.  Now, I know very little about wines and I’ve never actually seen Charlie drink wine, but we really enjoyed most of what we tasted here.  Our pourer was also really fun and explained the details of each wine so we’d actually know what we were tasting.  As he talked about “shades of lychee” and how many barrels were produced of a certain variety, we just smiled and nodded thinking, “Hey! I actually like this one,” or “Wow! This is super dry and I want to gag!”

I know.  It’s not often you find young adults as sophisticated as we are.

We decided to buy a bottle of the one kind Charlie actually really liked and then headed out to have our lunch by the lake.

We had the best time enjoying our feast under a giant oak tree followed by a walk in the vineyard.  I feel certain this lifestyle is why Italian people always seem so satisfied!

We had planned on a little bike ride after lunch, but any energy we began the day with was zapped by the combination of wine, good food and sunshine.  We were totally relaxed and decided just to drive and enjoy the scenery on our way to the next stop, Arrowood Winery.  On our way there, we decided this day was only missing one thing:  chocolate.  And what did we happen to pass?  Winecountry Chocolate Shop.  Banana ganache/peanut butter truffle?  Boysenberry truffle topped with blackberry honey? Done and done.

We didn’t particularly like the wines at Arrowood, but we did like having access to their wonderful porch overlooking Sonoma’s Valley of the Moon.

It was such a beautiful day and we really enjoyed rambling around and being lazy.  I think the best trips are definitely when you don’t plan much and just enjoy having the time to just sit and enjoy being together!  We ended the day at the Sonoma Farmer’s Market, sampling the local produce and listening to a local high school band play old-school Weezer and the Foo Fighters.

Pretty perfect.

See more of our pictures here.

The night I wanted to quit

I woke up this morning missing home.  Home to me is both Auburn and Ocean Springs (where I grew up and where my parents live).  It’s the townhouse Charlie and I shared, with its cozy kitchen where we’d make pancakes for our friends, its den where some awesome girls would come every week for Bible study, our back porch where I’d read on my lunch break during the spring.  It’s going to Tato-Nut with my parents before a morning beach cruise and then having lunch with my grandmother.  It’s home.  It’s familiar and comforting, and I miss it sometimes.

On our first night in our new apartment in Antioch, I really missed home.  It was our first time going straight from one assignment to another and the whirlwind of unfamiliarity overwhelmed me a little bit.  Those first few days of a new assignment are tough because we don’t know how it’s going to shake out – will we find friends here?  will I find fulfilling volunteer work? will we feel alone?

The reality of starting this all over again in a new place without a refresher in between just wore on me that night.  I found myself crying, “I just don’t want to do this anymore – I want to go home, get a job, have non-temporary relationships and a normal routine!” I just wanted my comfort zone back.

“For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”  Exodus 14:12

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Why are you crying out to Me?  Tell the sons of Israel to go forward.”  Exodus 14:15

We’ve been reading through the Bible chronologically and are just finishing the story of Israel being delivered from slavery in Egypt and taken to the land that God promised to their fathers.  Israel begged God to remove them from Egypt, and He did.  Yet when they saw that going into the wilderness had unforeseen challenges, their first reaction was to go back to their former situation.  Rather than trust that God had a plan and was clearly working on their behalf, they simply complained and asked to be taken back to the place they had begged to be released from.  It was what they knew – where they had grown comfortable – and they preferred it over the challenge of continually trusting God.

Now our time in Auburn was wonderful and certainly something to be missed.  But we knew for months that God was calling us to move on from there because He wanted to take us on an adventure to learn more about Him and be put in situations where our faith would have to grow like never before.  We were excited at the possibility and often begged Him to make it happen even sooner.

Yet it’s been hard at times to be away from everything we know.  It’s been hard to feel in a constant state of transition – especially for a “nester” like myself.  But the Lord is showing us that we can’t be like the Israelites.  We can’t forget our faith in Him and beg to be taken backwards.  When we feel like retreating back to our comfort zone of our old routine and places, we have to remember that instead of crying out to be taken back, we have to move forward in trust.

It seems so obvious when reading about the Israelites.  It’s so easy to think, “How stupid can you be?  Here is God, moving you forward in His perfect plan and you are whining to go back.  Can’t you see what He’s doing and that it’s for your perfect good?”  

It’s harder to remember when it’s us and all we want is to call our friends and go to burger night at Niffer’s.  But God has so clearly called us here, so clearly moved mountains for us to be here.  And that means that “here” is good and His plan for us here is perfect.

I don’t want to miss it while complaining that it’s not what I’m used to – of course it’s not!  If it was, why would I need faith and trust?  Thank the Lord that He calls us to new places!

San Francisco treat

After arriving in Antioch and settling in, we didn’t waste any time taking the train to San Francisco.  It’s only about a 45 minute ride and the trains run past just about anything you’d want to see in the city, making it much easier to get around than driving there.  We got off at the Embarcadero stop, which is right in the heart of all the city piers on the bay.

Our first destination was the Ferry Building.  This former ferry terminal has been taken over as a foodie emporium and was really fun to explore.  (sidenote:  This may be common knowledge, but I’m just realizing how crazy food-obsessed San Francisco is. There are more restaurants per capita here than any other city in the U.S. and good food is celebrated more than anywhere I’ve ever seen.  We have a lot of good eating to look forward to!)

The Ferry Building also has a huge farmer’s market each week that we’ll come back to when we have the chance.  I’ve read that it’s not uncommon for 25,000 people to show up for the Saturday market and that the food trucks there are some of the best eats around.  Can’t wait!

After a quick stroll through all the yummy stalls, we headed down to Pier 39 for lunch at Boudin Bakery.  Being from the MS Coast, I of course pronounced this as “BOO-dan.”  The woman trying to give us directions looked really confused and we finally figured out it’s “boo-DEEN.”  I’ll forgive them the mispronunciation because the sourdough bread bowl was fantastic!

I see a lot of sourdough in our future.

Pier 39 was packed with people, and we enjoyed walking through the little shops.  Before leaving, we decided to stroll along the waterfront of the pier.  There we are, just uninformed tourists strolling along, and we turn a corner to see this:

Oh hiii Golden Gate Bridge!  I kind of forgot we would see you from this pier!

This was a true “Welcome to San Francisco” moment as we watched the fog roll over the Marin headlands and the chilly bay wind blew in our faces.  We could also see Alcatraz just off the coast, so it was a perfect panorama.  Our plan is to come back another day and bike over the bridge and into Sausalito (my secret plan is to also use this an excuse to enjoy a pack of Pepperidge Farm Sausalito cookies!).

As we continued our stroll along the pier, we heard the unmistakeable groans of Pier 39′s famous sea lions.  I’m not exaggerating when I say that Charlie took off in a jog toward this sound!

These lazy guys are hilarious.  We watched one stay propped up on his front (legs? paws? fins? arms?) with his head fully titled back to the sun for about ten minutes.  It was like he was stuck in a yoga pose, deep in thought.  It was a pretty great moment to be watching the sea lions with the bridge in the background and then look up to see all of San Francisco rising up on its steep hills behind us.

When I could finally tear Charlie away, we headed further down the wharf area and made our way to Ghirardelli Square.  The park in front of this square is beautiful, with soft green grass rolling down the water and a cable car turn around off to the side.  I’m sure it’s definitely on the front page of the visitor’s guide, because after one look you’re suddenly evaluating how realistic it would be to move there!

We had heard about the ice cream sundaes at Ghirardelli’s cafe, so we decided to split one with a chocolate chip cookie on the bottom (made with G chocolate chips of course).  It was fantastic!

Since we’d now had entire sourdough bread bowls and an insane amount of chocolate, we took a walk up Russian Hill to find Lombard Street.  And by “took a walk,” I really mean we went urban mountain climbing.  The hills in this city are steep!  The redeeming part of all that climbing is that you get fantastic views of the rest of the city as you make your way up.  We were able to turn around several times and have different, more spectacular views of the bridge and the wharf area where we just were.

We found Lombard Street, the curviest street in the country, and enjoyed watching everyone try to drive through its twists and turns.  Every little twist has a garden full of hydrangeas off to the side, and I really want to come back when they’re in bloom.  One sign said there’s over 2,000 blooms when it’s in full season – maybe my dad will come out to see this glorious display of what he calls “trailer park flowers!”  In his defense, one of the most sacrificial things he’s ever done for me is to pay for his hated flower to be the main blooms of our wedding – thanks Dad!

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Chinatown and the Nob Hill (little Italy) area.  We stopped at a dim sum restaurant that advertised 3 pieces for $1.60.  We figured this was the way to go, since we could try several different things without overindulging.  However, communication with the lady behind the counter was hilarious – we had no idea what the other was saying and somehow ended up with three of everything we ordered, rather than just three pieces of dim sum.  The best part of Chinatown is that you can mistakenly order nine things and still pay less than five dollars!

So I’d say our first time in San Francisco was a success.  We loved how there was something fun going on everywhere we looked, some cute cafe to try on every block and how lucky we are that spring seems to be the perfect time to be here.  We can’t wait to come back and see the rest of the city and bike the bridge!

See more pictures from our first San Francisco visit here