My iPhone Adventure in Northern Cali

On By AngeliaIn Beautiful Life, Life is what you make it.

I headed to San Francisco to meet my husband on Friday. He was already there on business the last few days. I used his AA miles to get there and favors from my two big kids – Brandon and Sydney – to watch the dogs for me.

This adventure wasn’t planned too far in advance. I call it an unplanned lucky break. We lucked out his conference was in one of my favorite cities. And caught a break getting me free airfare, and of course, travel agent rates in Napa Valley.

All in all, this is one my favorite trips on record. The coast. The cool air. The beautiful wine valleys. And those gentle, giant redwoods. This is the stuff vitality is made of. I soaked it up and hope I breathed in enough of the Pacific Ocean to last until next time. There is something about it that just calms me.

I highly doubt Nothern Cali needed me, but I sure needed Northern Cali.

Since I have no idea when I will upload my 800+ photos taken with my big girl camera. I am giving you a glimpse via my iPhone photo library.

I took mobile phone pics in hopes of making up for the lag in posting the “pro” ones. But hey, I get to brag on my new iPhone 5s.

Isn’t she awesome? She did a fabulous job!

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DFW airport. My journey begins.

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View from the airplane. I just love clouds. My window had funky cracked lines on it. Kinda weirded me out, but made a nice sun flare in my photo.

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Lunch on Pier 39. Clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl, mmmm, delicious.

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The Bay Bridge at sunset. So pretty! And after this photo, it turned a brilliant pink.

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Wine tasting at the hotel. Pretty sure there was only one I didn’t care for, but the rest were magnificent.

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We hit the Italian chocolate factory after. It is like the Willy Wonka of San Francisco. So! Much! Chocolate! I would have gone back before we left, but we ran out of time. Not just for the chocolate, but the super cool mermaid holding a mermaid baby fountain in front of the store (a reason to go back! Ha!).

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Day two in full tourist gear.

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We are visiting the wharf and Pier 39 again. What can I say? Different time of day, different light. My photographer friends will understand this.

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The sea lions. My favorite animals on the bay. Yes their arfing night and day is annoying, but they are so funny and cute. They remind me of my Anna dog.

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Big war ship and submarine on the bay. The photo makes it small, but this beast was massive.

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To die for pizza at Tony’s in North Beach. The leftovers were given to a homeless man in Chinatown. No doubt he enjoyed. Amazing food.

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The Golden Gate Bridge by Big BUS tours. I liked riding the big BUS. Reminded me of Big Butt and hey, I can relate. Ha.

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Day three, we arrive in beautiful Napa Valley.

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I am truly amazed by this countryside. We drove up the side of a mountain for better views.

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Muir Woods. We didn’t just walk the boardwalk and take a few pics. Oh no. We took to the trail and hiked steeply up, over, and around for an hour and a half. But now I can say, I lived and breathed redwoods for several hours. It was fantastic.

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Fare thee well fine city. I will miss your vibrancy and your culture.

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And lastly, the sun sets as our plane flys home.

A beautiful ending to a beautiful trip.

Have you been to San Francisco?

34 thoughts on “My iPhone Adventure in Northern Cali”

  1. Oh yes, wonderful city to visit. But watch those trolleys from Fisherman’s Wharf – a group of us learned the hard way the last one out only went halfway to our hotel. Walking Market Street at midnight is interesting, to say the least. We kept saying there was safety in numbers.

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  4. Beautiful photos! That pizza looks “to die for”!
    I used to live across the bay from SF, and would take BART into the city. Pier 39 was always a destination for me. I loved driving to Napa too.
    How is the Ghiradelli shopping center? It was kind of dead in the 90s, but had potential and space to be fabulous.

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    1. Lucky duck getting to live so close. The whole end of the wharf has grown up and gotten a lot more popular since I visited in the 90’s. I thought I heard a tour guide say it happened when they took out the freeway. The Ghiradelli ice cream shop was VERY crowded. The plaza itself seemed quieter, but still had visitors. The apartments looked pretty nice from what I could see. 🙂 Really nice place.

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  6. Angelia, what an AWESOME recap of your journey. It was like being there WITH you!

    I have never been to San Fran, but I have a feeling that I would LOVE it. I know I would love the weather because it never gets HOT there. But also because of the way the city looks. So charming.

    Fantabulous photos! Especially loved the ones of the Napa Valley (which is another place I would love to visit). The WINE!!!!!!

    Thanks for sharing your trip, my friend. Enjoyed!
    X

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    1. Ron,

      Please put this place on your bucket list. You will just die from its fabulousness! This was my third visit and I never tire of the uniqueness that is the city and I still haven’t seen it all. I *never* sweat here. The breeze is wonderful and it is nice to wear a jacket when I need to. I don’t like clam chowder in general. I only like it here because it is soooo fresh. I’ll help you plan, just let me know. 🙂

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  7. These are great pictures, three cheers for the iPhone! I’m glad you had a super trip Angelia, good for a couple to get away. Maybe you will move to SF someday. Never been there, Rebekah says it’s a wonderful city, always things to do.

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    1. Yes! Cheers to the iPhone. I just love it. Maybe we will. We have talked about moving to California when we retire, but it would be so hard to choose one place in California. I love so many. Maybe we will buy an RV and just drive all over the state. 🙂 You and Rebekah need to visit! You are not too, too far. 🙂

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    1. First time I had soup in a bread bowl was at Pier 39. Way back when I told my friend, “What a great idea. They should make restaurants selling different kinds of soup in bread bowls.” Yeah, someone stole my idea!

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    1. Oh good! Do keep it on the list. Definitely worth the trip. And cell phone cameras have come a long, long way. 🙂
      Interestingly enough, I saw many older generation folks snapping away with their iPads.

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  12. What fun! I’ll try not to be jealous, and just enjoy a vicarious journey with you! I just put up three sepia portraits on my red bubble site – would love for you to take a look and give your expert opinion if you have time. Link:

    http://www.redbubble.com/people/paulatc1951/works/11139727-my-zo

    http://www.redbubble.com/people/paulatc1951/works/11139766-zo-at-three?ref=work_main_nav

    http://www.redbubble.com/people/paulatc1951/works/11139860-the-day-my-daddy-graduated-from-college?ref=work_main_nav

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  15. What are you doing in my territory without telling me!? 😀 I’m so happy for you that you get to visit up there. It looks like you really went to town! 😀 Glad to see you with the tall trees most especially. And yes, iphone can really do the deed.

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