escape to sausalito

One of my favorite things about living in San Francisco is the proximity to Sausalito. It's more than just a Pepperidge Farm cookie. It's also a beautiful, bay-side town just across the GG Bridge with a marina, amazing houses, a cute main street and gorgeous views in every direction. In the short time we've been here, I've already ventured there three times for lunch. On Jess and Ryan's last day in town, we joined the crowds and made the slow commute across the bridge for a walk in the sun and a delicious, albeit expensive (you have to pay for these views, you know), lunch.

Looking back toward the city

the city of light meets the city by the bay

While the famous Musée d'Orsay in Paris is spending 2010 undergoing renovations, nearly 100 of its renowned pieces of art traveled to San Francisco for an unprecedented exhibition at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d'Orsay is the largest loan of its kind, and it's closing next week, so I scurried across town to see famous Impressionist pieces like The Dance Class by Edgar Degas, which is one of my favorites.

In conjunction with this spectacular exhibition, the Legion of Honor art museum, in Lincoln Park, is showing Impressionist Paris: City of Light. This exhibition provides context for the de Young exhibition with prints, photographs and illustrations of Paris during the mid- to late-1800s when Monet, Degas, Manet, etc. were living and painting in Paris. The Legion of Honor has great art, but the building itself, along with its location near the coast and the Golden Gate Bridge, are enough to attract visitors.

The Legion of Honor Museum in Lincoln Park

A mini Louvre feature in the courtyard transports you to Paris

A view of the bay from the courtyard of the Legion of Honor

A view of the Golden Gate Bridge from Lincoln Park

whatever happened to predictability...

...the milkman, the paperboy, the evening TV? Hopefully the theme song from "Full House" is now stuck in your head, like it was ours all day last Saturday. Our weekend visitors from San Diego, Jess and Ryan, had never seen San Francisco's Painted Ladies, famously shown in the "Full House" opening credits while Danny Tanner and the gang have a picnic in Alamo Square. So we had a picnic of our own. The wholesome Tanner picnic probably had less beer. 

The very well-preserved Painted Ladies, across from Alamo Square. Living there would be so weird--people actually climb up on the front stairs to have their pictures taken. Creepy.

my next big purchase

There is a mega-yacht in the San Francisco Bay. Apparently, it is owned by some Russian bazillionaire who leaves by helicopter and changes the four pools from freshwater to saltwater with a push of a button. I haven't managed to snag an invitation yet, but I'm working on it. 

It seriously makes all the other boats look like plastic toys you play with in the bathtub.

it's a sweet life for a sea lion

It was a long walk on Saturday from downtown SF to Fisherman's Wharf along the Embarcadero, but luckily the sun finally made an appearance and we rested our weary feet with San Fran's famous sunbathers.

outside lands

Sunday was a gorgeous day for San Francisco’s annual Outside Lands Music Festival in Golden Gate Park. Of course, everyone was in fleeces and beanies by the end of if, but I’ve learned that when it comes to the weather, “gorgeous” is a relative term in San Francisco. It was actually quite nice during the day, but the city probably would have turned out in pouring down rain to see the acts, which included Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Phoenix and Kings of Leon, all of which were awesome. 

Phoenix on the Lands End stage

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros on the Twin Peaks stage

Kings of Leon singing "Closer."

 

a friendly drinking companion

Saturday evening we headed to Half Moon Bay, a small town just a little south of San Francisco on the Pacific coast, to marvel at what is supposed to be a gorgeous stretch of coastline. It was sunny when we started driving, but by the time we got there, the clouds and fog had of course rolled on in. So we figured food and drinks were the only other acceptable option. We got a booth at the San Benito saloon on Main Street, ordered chili, clam chowder, and fried macaroni and cheese wedges (seriously), and before we knew it, a little dog came prancing in like she owned the place and promptly took up a spot on a bar stool next to her owner, a gruff-looking older man whom you would never expect to own such a dainty dog. It was precious. 

summer?

It's currently about 50-something degrees in downtown San Francisco, and I'm wearing a sweatshirt and a scarf. Summertime in California? I think not. My brand new California driver's license and plates on my car prove I'm a California girl now, though. My comfort is that when it's 30 degrees in Missouri, it'll be nice and mild here.

a day in the country

Seb has been in San Francisco since May and has already made some great friends, one of whom has parents that live in Sonoma. We love her the most. 

So we took a little day trip up north on Saturday to visit her parents, have lunch in Sonoma and do a little wine tasting. I was expecting a little cottage-like house with a view of the countryside, but what we found was an awesome mini-farm. Not only do they grow grapes on their property, as well as many other fruits and veggies, but they have a cow. An adorable cow named Ribeye. Soon, Ribeye will be delicious, grass-fed beef in the deep-freeze in the garage, but for now, he is amusement for us city folk from San Francisco. When dinnertime came around, we had the pleasure of giving Ribeye his pile of grass.

The road leading to Lesley's parents' house. Wouldn't this be nice to come home to everyday?

a destination wedding

After three days of driving across more than half of the United States, moving an apartment full of furniture and boxes up two flights of stairs, and walking up and down the hills of San Francisco in a couple of marathon sight-seeing days, spending 24 hours traveling coach to Western Australia was not exactly enjoyable. Even less enjoyable was the 13-hour car ride from Perth to remote Coral Bay, the site of Madeline and Rob's wedding. However, the end result was a week of bliss, doing nothing but laying on the beach and drinking different concoctions made with the Absolut Peach vodka we picked up at duty free on our way into the country. We could do worse.


The wedding itself was perfect. Click here to view photos.

what a view

After our strenuous day of unloading the Uhaul, we rewarded ourselves the next day with a drive up the Golden Gate Bridge to check out the towering redwoods and have lunch in Sausalito. The morning was foggy, as usual, but by the time we were ready to head back across the bridge, the view from the Marin Headlands back toward the city was stunning.

home sweet home

Thanks to my wonderful mom, dad and little brother, the moving process was much easier than I expected. The furniture is in (somewhat miraculously, in the case of one particular couch); the boxes are put away; the clothes are hung and the pictures are on the wall. Until you all come visit and see for yourselves, here is a sneak peek of our very small but very cute Nob Hill apartment.