{San Francisco} Part II

See Part I HERE.

My sister and her family visited San Fran this last week, and so did another friend. I've been missing that city since my visit last month and have enjoyed reading their posts on Facebook and taking a peek at their photos. So I was prompted to post part two of my travels to San Francisco.

So let me tell you just a bit of a back story why I love this city so. I grew up in the stix of Olympia, Washington. We lived on several acres of property and were many miles from "town" (as we called it). I never knew any different until I was a teenager and transportation became an issue. Before driving, nobody ever wanted to come pick me up because it was so out of the way. It was a bummer and I quickly began to loathe living in the country. My older brother by 10 years lived in Seattle and I lived for the weekend getaways that I could stay with him. He introduced me to city life. I began dreaming of living in the city from those experiences as a teenager. Of skycrapers. And cabs. And people a'bustling. There is such an energy in being in a city. My dream was always to live in Seattle, which I did starting in 1997. By 2000, I was California bound for my current home of Long Beach.

Even now, living in a community that I love dearly....I still miss "the city". A place of skyscrapers, endless places to eat, live performances to see, and a neighborhood for every culture. I love that you can live in the heart of a city and never have to use a car. If it were up to me...I would probably live in San Francisco or New York. There is just something about both of these cities that just make me come alive.

The only thing I ever knew about San Francisco growing up came from a TV commercial, "Rice-A-Roni, the San Francisco Treat". Those trollies still hold a place of admiration for me...

Ahhh, Amanda is such a beautiful girl! I'm so happy that she will be shooting all of my 2011 weddings with me. We are only two weddings in to 2011 and we have already had so much fun and funny stories to tell.

We pretty much WALKED this city. We were too impatient to wait for our turn on the trolley...so we just walked to the top of Hyde Street. It was a hike!

But the view was well worth it.

Of course we had to walk the Crookedest Street.

Once again, the view was stunning.

There is something about this next photo that I just LOVE.

The colors, shapes, textures...are all pretty much awesome!

There is so much character in their homes, doors, and entrances.

My favorite hour of sun down. A magical hour when the sky is an awesome shade of blue.

I was telling Amanda about this hour and she was so excited to see it captured on the back of her camera too.

Day Two: Wedding Day - Amanda & I in the photo booth at the wedding we captured together. Aren't we cute?

Day Three - The Painted Ladies. Having loved John Stamos for years, we had to visit "The Painted Ladies" that appeared in the opening credits of Full House.