Over the Weekend...

For the 3 day weekend Scott and I wanted to get out of Reno and go somewhere fun.  We talked about a few different places in California (I REALLY wanted to go to Monterrey!) but we finally decided it would be best if we did a day trip to Sacramento on Saturday.  We had it all planned out and then at the last minute (late Friday night) we decided to book a hotel for the next day in San Francisco to meet up with my brother and sister-in-law.  It was a really spontaneous trip but it ended up being one of my favorite trips to San Francisco.  We all had a lot of fun hanging out in the city and doing some new things we'd never done before in California. 

On Saturday, we rode the BART (San Francisco version of a subway) in from Walnut Creek where we were staying.  We met up with J.T. and Alison and took the bus to Golden Gate Park.  We walked around the park and toured the Japanese Tea Gardens.  They were so beautiful but a lot smaller than we all thought they'd be. 

After we walked around Golden Gate Park for a while, we took a shuttle to the beach.  We really wanted to eat at a restaurant called Beach Challet that had been recommended to us but the wait was an hour 1/2 long!  We decided to skip it and walk along the beach at sunset instead. 

After the beach, we headed back into the city for some delicious Chinese food in China Town.  We got the sesame chicken, chow mien, sweet n' sour pork, and beef with broccoli.  (It was so good that I was too busy eating to take a picture of it)

The next day we drove into the city to pick up J.T. and Alison and go see the Redwoods in Mill Valley, CA.  Driving across the Golden Gate Bridge with the top down and the wind in my hair was one of the highlights of the trip.  (Even thought we all thought we were going to die when J.T. pulled out his phone to start filming while driving!)

Mill Valley is about an hour outside of San Francisco and the drive there is so gorgeous!  The trees weren't quite as huge as the Northern California redwoods but they were still really cool to see.  We ate a picnic together before going on a little hike through the forest. 

We ended our trip by heading back over the Golden Gate Bridge to Baker Beach.  We were lucky enough to get there in time for sunset again.  That view of the bridge is one of my favorites and it was so perfect with the sunset in the background. 

After that we went to Fisherman's Wharf for some yummy clam chowder and bread bowls at Boudin.  We also couldn't skip Ghirardelli for some sundaes (which I am pretty much obsessed with!).  Apparently the food was so good, we forgot to take pictures again but you can read about our last trip to Ghirardelli here.

It was a quick trip but we packed in a lot of fun stuff.  I loved spending time with my big brother and sister-in-law.  J.T. always finds fun things to do on trips that I wouldn't have thought of by myself.  I loved spending the weekend with my family and my best friend in one of my favorite cities.