The week before my birthday, we decided to plan a spontaneous trip to one of my favorite cities for a weekend birthday extravaganza on a budget. We got Alaska Airlines standby passes thanks to Ryan's dad, and stayed (for CHEAP) about 20 minutes away from the city thanks to AirBnB (seriously you should check out that website right now. It's addictive. Ask Ryan. He's already got a list of places for us to go in Europe).
Things not included in the list but ended up happening:
Bottom line: birthday weekend was a success. We loved this trip. I love being with Ryan.
We didn't have a whole lot of time to plan, but this was my SF bucketlist:
1. Walk through Golden Gate Park (we ended up getting off at the wrong bus stop so I really got my wish with this one. It is HUGE and beautiful!)
2. Spend a day at the California Academy of Science (I. loved. this. place. They had a giant walk-through rainforest dome, dozens of amazing aquarium tanks, a planetarium... I could go on and on. Admission was pricey but we deem it TOTALLY worth it.)
3. Baker Beach (Pretty pretty views of the Golden Gate Bridge. Plus, the first time I had seen the ocean in like six months. Oh man. It was great.)
4. Land's End Point (Lots of cool trails, beautiful ocean views, and some historic sites that Ryan was obsessed with.)
5. Fisherman's Wharf & Pier 39 (Classic tourist site. It was fun to go back here and relive memories of this road trip years ago. The place kind of reminds me of the Seattle Waterfront. Except for of course that Seattle is better because... Seattle.)
6. Drive across the Golden Gate Bridge (Fun to think that the last time I did that was two years ago doing possibly one of the most psychotic and fun things I've ever done - Ragnar.)
7. Muir Woods National Monument (Heaven on earth. Made my lil dendrochronologist heart real happy.)
8. Grandview Park & the 16th Avenue Mosaic Steps (Incredible view and beautiful stairs! Though a lot of them... Man. That was a quad workout.)
9. Drive Lombard Street (We did it twice in a row. Booyah.)
Things not included in the list but ended up happening:
- A flat tire downtown. Changed that bad boy like total bosses. Teamwork.
- Free fireworks show during dinner one night. Like, LEGIT fireworks. They knew it was my birthday.
- Ending up in what we later found out was one of the SF's most famous taverns and turning down the offered alcoholic drinks for a caesar salad and french toast (me looking especially innocent with 'BYU' emblazoned across my chest). I wish I could have gotten a picture of our server's face.
- Totally wasted SF Giants fans all over the place.
- Visiting Ghirardelli Square three separate times and perfecting our look of surprise when walking through the doors and getting the free chocolate ("Oh what's this? For me? Why, I don't know what to say!").
Bottom line: birthday weekend was a success. We loved this trip. I love being with Ryan.
My husband spoils me big time.
