averetts 1.0

here it is.
the moment you've all been waiting for.
drum roll please...

a post on our anniversary trip! *crickets chirping*

my gut tells me that this will be one of those 'this-is-what-we-did' posts that none of you could care less about and that the only reason i'm writing it is for my kids and i to look back on 20 years from now and honestly...i'm okay with that.

after watching the bachelor last night and seeing them go all over san fran, i got really excited being able to pick out the places that we've been too. first of all, i was blown away at the fact that it was even time for us to celebrate a year of being married. it didn't feel like it had been that long at all, but we were happy we were able to go somewhere fun for it.

our first stop was to get something to eat because that's the best part about traveling - eating at cool places and not having to cook. i dunno about you guys, but zachary and i love the show diners, drive-ins, and dives on the food network. guy fieri is awesome. it just so happens that there are a dozen or more diners, drive-ins, and dives places right in san francisco, so we knew we had to eat at at least one of them. we chose rocco's cafe - best choice ever. it really was so good and the staff was super friendly! i definitely recommend it. {p.s. you'll have to excuse the terrible quality of pictures that you're about to see. we forgot our camera, so our phone cameras had to make do. they're kind of hit or miss.}

we then checked into the hilton hotel at union square. i don't really want to get into details about it because honestly, i'm still a little peeved about our stay there. not only did they give us two queen beds instead of a king and told us we'd have to pay an extra 40 bucks a night to upgrade, but the rooms weren't anything better than a best western. disappointing for an anniversary? you bet. luckily we weren't there much and it was right close to our bus stop and union square, so i guess that sort of made up for it.

when we go to big places like sf, we turn into real tourists. we strap on the backpacks, stop to marvel at how big the buildings are, and try to make sure we can see every famous landmark possible. one of the best decisions we made was to buy tickets for a hop-on hop-off bus tour. they put you on these double decker buses and go to every site possible in town.

{check out that person's face behind us. not quite sure if it's a chick or dude...}

once you get off, you can stay at that place for as long or little as you like. then you just jump back on one of the other buses that are circling every half hour. {hence the hop-on hop-off} we saw seriously everything there is to see in san francisco. we walked on the golden gate bridge:

checked out pier 39 and fisherman's wharf:

walked around chinatown {which really did feel like china}:

visited alcatraz island:

met zachary's hero, yoda:

saw the painted ladies:

rode the cable cars:

and we also went to ghirardelli square and union square. it was a blast. i think my favorite thing we did though was our dinner date on our actual anniversary. the reservations we made were for a place called forbes island restaurant. it was on this little island just off of pier 39 and the coolest thing about it was that the only way to get there was by boat.

after being dropped off, we then had to go downstairs to the eating area, which happened to be underwater. it made for a super romantic atmosphere.

then we topped off the night by drinking some bubbly {sparkling cider} and playing 12 days in europe. {funnest game ever.}

we've seen a lot of places on our travels, but i think san fran has been my very favorite. the city has so much personality and lots to do. have you ever been to sf?

-the wife