San Francisco - California Roadtrip

I am back to posting about our Cali road trip which was over 8 months ago now! oh well.. I like documenting our trips on my blog so I remember everything so it's better late than never.

we spent the next day exploring San Francisco. it is such a beautiful city and while we saw some of the same sites we saw last time, I also wanted to get more of a feel for the city's less touristy parts. one of our favorite things to do when visiting cities is also one of the cheapest, walking around exploring neighborhoods and downtown areas. I like to pretend that I live there and see what life is like as a local. 


we ended up walking by Lombard street again because our hotel was so close. 

apparently there are a lot of these pretty little parrots in the area. they are called cherry-headed conures and I found out about them here. 

 I just love these Victorian homes so much!

 we went to the top of the Coit Tower but it was too foggy to really see anything. 

 we didn't get a chance to ride a cable car last trip so we decided we should at least once. I found it a little overrated but at least we can saw we did it. there was a lady by us who looked like she was having the time of her life though and she kept having her husband take pictures with her hair blowing in the wind. it was pretty funny.

we went to Chinatown and explored a little. I did a little research on my phone about the history of Chinatown because I find it strange that this little piece of China exists here without it assimilating with the rest of the city. it was interesting to see but we didn't stay there very long. 

 ☮

we ate some tasty ice cream at Bi-Rite creamery in the Mission district. I would have been happy spending my whole time in the Mission as it seemed like where the locals go to eat and hang out. it is fun to see touristy sites once but I more so like to get a feel for the actual culture of a city rather than the faux one created for those visiting. 

we walked to Dolores park which was nearby. it is a large park with excellent views of the city and where the locals go to hang out. it was amazing to me to see so many types of people going to spend time at the park because that doesn't happen very much in AZ. usually you only see families with kids at our parks but there were college students and older adults without kids. there were people skateboarding, playing frisbee, playing hacky sack, making human pyramids, dancing, bongo drumming, dogs playing, and lots of people just relaxing in the grass. it was the best place to relax and people watch. we ended up hanging out there for about 3 hours and it was honestly one of my favorite things we did in the city. 

 we walked around the park and realized it was a lot bigger than we thought and it had an incredible kid's playground. across the tracks was a group of homeless people that were yelling and it sounded like one of them was inciting the others to want to revolt against something.

 we ate dinner at Taqueria Pancho Villa and it was some of the best chicken I've had. we ordered everything to make our own tacos or burritos.

2016 review

I decided to do a year review even though I am behind on other posts. I can't believe another year has come and gone just like that. this year has definitely gone by faster than any year previous. I feel like this year was a mixed bag of great but also terrible things. I feel like it has been a difficult year for a lot of people. many people I know are going through things that can push you to your limits. but rather than letting them defeat them they are growing more resilient and learning ways of dealing with them. this year has been a very divisive one for our country and I think this election was excruciating for everyone. I was very disappointed in our options this year but I am remaining optimistic that our country will head in the right direction. I am shocked by how many deaths of greatly loved celebrities and musicians have occurred this year. I was particularly sad about David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Leonard Cohen, and Carrie Fisher. 

I know I haven't posted any pictures of our house yet and I definitely intend to. we made huge progress with our yard this year. one of the reasons we bought our house was for the yard which is 12,000 sq ft. the previous owners never did anything with it though so it was just dirt mixed with gravel. the back fence is also sloped higher than the rest of the yard so we decided to dig out the slope and build a retaining wall/planter. we also wanted to plant grass so we had to haul out all of the mixed gravel. we were crazy enough to do this project by ourselves. it was the hardest manual labor I have ever done and it took my hands months to regain all of their function (more on this later!) this year I also lost 4 toenails (from wearing too small shoes during marathon) and had a concussion from being bucked off my mom's horse. maybe I'll be nicer to my body in 2017 :)

this year I read, or rather listened to, 103 books!! I would listen to audio books while doing yard work, running, driving, cleaning, shopping, pretty much anything. I listen to them 1.5-2x speed and now listening to them at normal speed sounds ridiculously slow. Jason and I use a library app to get our audio books so the best part is they are all free! there is a wait for the more popular books so I read a lot of OK books while waiting for them. I have a lot of favorites from this year. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah was one of my top favorites about two sisters in Paris during WWII. it was so beautifully written and the story was poignant without being overly sappy. Other WWII era books I really enjoyed were The Paris Architect and All the Light We Cannot See. I read many biographies by musicians and Girl in a Band by Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth was my favorite. I loved how she described growing up in Cali in the 60's and 70's and then the underground music scene in New York in the 80's and 90's. it made me nostalgic for a time and place that I've never known. also I've always wanted to be in a band so I love reading about female musicians. Hunger Makes me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein (of Portlandia) talking about her time in band Sleater-Kinney was enjoyable for me especially since she didn't live the typical rock star lifestyle. Miss O'Dell by Katherine Ketcham a biography about a woman that hung around the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, among others during the 60's and 70's during the peak of their careers. She worked for some musicians, dated others and I found her story so interesting. I was also a little jealous that she got to be there for some of the greatest moments in rock history. I read some classics for the first time like The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, The Double, and Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky all of which I recommend. As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of the Princess Bride by Cary Elwes (who played Wesley) is a must read for any fan of the Princess Bride. I especially loved the audio book because it was read by different actors from the movie. I'm not usually huge into science fiction but I thought Dune was excellent. Travels with Charley is based on John Steinbeck's roadtrip across America with his dog. It was full of beautiful imagery describing 1960's America. there are plenty more notable books from the year but these are some of my favorites. 

 I also started cooking much more this year! to be honest I hardly cooked meals that required any planning before this year. since Jason works from 3-11:30pm it makes it difficult to have a normal dinner or cooking schedule. I decided that I just need to cook dinner early or the day before and that has worked out for us. I now cook about 3x a week which is a huge improvement for me. I feel like I have learned way more about cooking this year then I ever have. I try to cook a variety of different types of food but the main meat source is usually chicken because that is what I like. maybe I can branch out more in the new year even if it's meat that I don't eat but Jason does. 

 2016 in pics:

snow at my parent's cabin in January

one year ago we brought home this adorable little critter!

in February we spent some time with Jason's fam in Houston!

we ran the Phoenix marathon in February! Jason's 2nd, my 3rd. 

we celebrated our 9th anniversary at stunning Antelope canyon and Horseshoe Bend

 we had family pics on Easter

 we celebrated my 29th birthday with a Cali roadtrip which included Yosemite, San Francisco, & Big Sur!

it wasn't a great year for concerts for us but we did see Modest Mouse w/ Brand New in August

we got 2 ferrets in October - Ziggy & Kit! they are definitely mischievous but also hilarious

we ended the year with a trip to New York in December! 

despite its difficulties it was great year and I'm excited to see what 2017 brings!