We flew out of SLC early Sunday morning during a wicked blizzard and arrived to beautiful weather in SF....October is the best time of the year there! We drove straight from the airport to Candlestick Park for the 49ers vs Eagles game. We had a blast! Our tickets were on the 5th row up from the 49ers home endzone. We were surrounded by crazy fans who have had those tickets for years! The game was awesome and exciting, however the Eagles ended up victorious...hard to be sad when you like both teams!
A view of the field from our seats!
Nice behind McNabb...I love him!!!
Just enjoying the game and our surroundings!
A view of the final score...high scoring and very entertaining!
The dejected team after a tough loss...
A view of Steve Young's retired jersey...man is he a hottie!!!
Our old apartment. We lived on the 10th floor and had a
perfect view of the Bay Bridge and water from our living room!
While living in San Francisco, I was obsessed with Nob Hill....the view, the cable cars... Todd and I were able to stay at the Fairmont atop Nob Hill during our trip.
Monday was spent at the conference, but that night Todd and I walked down to Union Square for some shopping and sight-seeing. As most of you can imagine, Union Square was a place I spent much of my free time enjoying!!! On our walk from Nob Hill down, many begging homeless people were passed. One was even holding a sign, "Need a Hooker, please give money!" I was dying to take a picture, however couldn't justify contributing to his cause.
Right in front of Nordstrom on Market Street, an elderly man holds this sign and yells.
A similar aged man next to him has a sign about "sinful sex".
They have been there since we lived there...
After our time shopping, Todd and I ate dinner at an Italian restaurant near our old apartment overlooking the Embarcadero and the Bay Bridge. I had my camera, but didn't stop to take any pictures.
Tuesday again was spent at meetings during the day. That night Todd and I met up with some of the other residents from Harbor-UCLA for a great steak dinner at Mortons in Union Square.
Being serenaded while waiting from the cable car after dinner.
Wednesday after the meetings finished, Todd and I drove out near the SF VA Hospital and to the beach. We ate dinner at a fantastic restaurant we found literally the night before we moved to LA...
A view of Golden Gate Bridge from the VA parking lot.
Quite the scenery to enjoy during the few spare moments you had to eat lunch!
Coit Tower with Bay Bridge in the background from the top of Lombard Street.
Lombard Street...one of my favorite places in the city!
No trip to SF is complete without stopping at Ghiradelli Square for sundays!
One of our favorite parts about SF was our ward.
Who can forget the homeless people coming into sacrament, leaving multiple times within the hour to go out for a smoke in front of the building...
How about the man dressed as a woman who was never lacking comments to contribute to the Relief Society lesson...
The journey to get to church was also never without excitement.
One Sunday while Laurel was visiting, we had to brave the Gay Rights Parade...
Every Sunday we had to pass through the sinful city's perception of Eden to get to ours...
Now to our Garden of Eden in the wicked city...
The church sits on the corner of a neighborhood surrounded by apartment buildings.
The parking lot can only hold ~12 cars so it was always an adventure trying to
find street parking and get into church on time!
And of course, we had to drive by UCSF and SF General Hospitals.
On the little terrace you can see with the trees, the homeless people would sit and wait for you to through your lunch tray away and then go and eat whatever you had left on it. It only took me a short time to realize it was better to just hand off my unfinished plate than to make them dig through the trash for it. You also quickly learned not to eat from the salad bar after seeing the homeless people eating out of it with their bare hands...I didn't eat much when I rotated there!
The Bay Bridge and Embarcadero just a block away from our apartment...
No vacation is complete without documenting Todd managing our luggage...
Hey, I was gone for 2 weeks....what's a girl to do....wear something twice???
I truly have such fond memories of our year living in SF. I am one who leaves a small piece of their heart in the city. It was so fun to be back as a tourist and do some of the things I never got to do while living there. I can't wait for the next visit back!!!
