When we were throwing out ideas on where to celebrate our anniversary, the mountains or beach were the top favorites until I realized that this would be the last long run of my training for St. George so I didn't want to deal with the altitude in the mountains or the heat and humidity at the beach since this would be an important run. I remembered the fantastic running weather I had when we were in San Francisco in July so I suggested going back. Fast forward several weeks later when an overuse injury has put me out of marathon training. Nevertheless, we still had a great trip to SF.
After flight delays, we eventually arrived at our hotel very late on Friday night. K had an early wake-up call to watch the Ohio State season opener on Saturday morning. The game was much closer than it should have been and came perilously close to ruining the day, but thankfully OSU won in the end. With that behind us, we set out to enjoy a lovely fall day in the city. We headed to the Haight for lunch at a yummy Indian/Pakastani restaurant then walked through Golden Gate Park on our way to the California Academy of Sciences. Unfortunately, the Planetarium was sold out for the afternoon, so we made due with all the other exhibits. Afterwards, we did a bit of shopping back at the Haight and had a quick dinner there before heading back to our hotel.
On Sunday, we made the drive up to Muir Woods to enjoy the peacefulness of the redwoods.
Our trip turned into a little more of an adventure than I was looking for as we headed off the main path in search of an "ocean view" that was promised by one of the trails that led out of the national park. It was billed as a "steep" and "strenuous" hike, one that I was really not dressed appropriately for. At one point on the climb, I commented to K "When did I become that girl who spends her anniversary hiking?" to which he replied "When did you become that girl with an anniversary?" Hmph. After the climb, we realized there was no ocean view to be had and then headed back down another trail passing more folks searching for the promised view. If I had been dressed for trail running, this would have been a nice stretch to run.After our adventure at Muir Woods, we headed back to Sausalito to enjoy a delicious lunch (quite possibly the best sushi I have ever had) with a beautiful view.
We then walked through the downtown area into the quaint shops and art galleries. While we were looking at the photographs in one of the art galleries, I commented to K that I wished I could take pictures like that. We have been to some beautiful places this year, and I would love to be able to really capture the landscape and buildings better. Taking a photography class is now on my to-do list for the spring before our trip to Europe next summer. After a lovely afternoon in Sausalito, we made our way back into the city to relax a bit before our dinner reservation at a restaurant in North Beach, an area that K discovered and really liked during our previous trip.
Monday was filled with amazing art and delicious food. We spent several hours at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and enjoyed the final day of the Georgia O'Keefe and Ansel Adams exhibitions. We also enjoyed the photography exhibition by Richard Avedon, as well as the museum's permanent collections. We finished off our trip with lunch at a new Mediterranean restaurant which reminded us of our honeymoon in Greece last year.All in all, another great trip to wrap up our first year of marriage. Looking forward to another amazing year ahead!
