It was low key birthday as we were recovering from Hayley's wedding, we made our way up to San Fran, but thankfully we did get a chance to stop at In and Out burger with Megan, Katie and Matt :)


It has been a little over 4 years since Jen and I both visited San Francisco. Last time we did a lot of the tourist things, see Alcatraz, Fisherman's Wharf and of course the Golden Gate Bridge but this time, we saw San Francisco from a local's perspective. We were lucky enough to stay in the Cole Valley area which is right near Haight and Ashbury with Jen's friend Jen from Michigan. She lives in a three story typical Elizabethan style San Francisco terrace house. It was awesome. I have always loved the San Francisco architecture and to stand on the balcony overlooking the city and to look out the windows and see other terrace homes next door. Simply amazing for me.


We took a walk when we first arrived around the Haight District and ate a couple of slices of pizza at this local pizzeria. The area down Haight St is basically an alternative area with lots of organic supermarkets, non-mainstream (independent) clothing stores and a few shops with different and a little unusual odds and ends. The next day we took a walk through the Castro Valley which is the gay community of San Francisco. Very colorful, very vibrant and a very happening place. Next was the Mission which is a small area next to Castro Valley and has been nicknamed Little Mexico. The two Jens and I ate at a very busy Mexican restaurant.

Our final day we headed down to Union Square for some shopping, walked all the way up to Fisherman's wharf and over to Ghiradelli square for a much anticipated hot fudge peanut butter sundae! Absolutely delicious! For dinner we took in some Japanese, I don't think we would've spent even half of that if we were to have eaten the same meal in Japan..yikes! None the less, it was tasty.

It was a quick stopover in San Fran before heading to Scotland and great to see Jen and hang out in the city for a couple days.