SAN FRANCISCO

One of my favorite things about my family is the trips that we take. While I love a good, relaxing, lay on the beach and do nothing type getaway I think our trips are so fun! Romping around a city with all your siblings and parents can have it's ups and downs but I'm so grateful for all of it. This year in San Francisco was a little spontaneous and so fun. We managed to check everything off our list plus more because a sweet local client reached out to me and added her picks!
*video and vlog can be found at the end of this post!

Right after our flight we headed down to Half Moon Bay because Mom and Dad remembered visiting that spot when they took a trip to San Francisco during their engagement. Mom was dying at how timeline it was to go back and visit the same place with all of us 20 years later.

aren't they the cutest?!!!

I wouldn't say I'm a vacation foodie, but I wouldn't say I'm not a vacation foodie if you get what I mean haha! Mr. Holmes bakehouse did NOT disappoint!! I got the white chocolate covered berry croissant and omg I haven't had that good of a pastry since Paris!

We found Salt & Straw on a "salvage this day with ice cream" kind of moments. It was a long day of being lost in the city and some family tension walking up allll those hills on Lombard Street. I mapped the nearest ice cream and it was the first thing to pop up. There was a rope set up outside of it to direct the out the door line THAT WASN'T THERE! We researched the place a little more and couldn't believe our luck with walking right up to the counter after realizing how popular it was. If you're gonna get some Salt & Straw, get it at 8:00 on a Monday night.

Gabs thought that "painted ladies" come out of the houses hourly or something and that's what all the excitement is about. Lol it was a joke the entire trip that Gabs someday could buy one of the houses and become "San Francisco's very first painted lady"

Drake took that picture all by himself ^^ seriously so cute!

Biking the bridge.... Oh my gosh the ultimate family drama! Haha it was a rough day because I forgot my battery and memory card in the hotel, broke my sunglasses, got pooped on by a bird, dropped my lens cap into the ocean, and then almost didn't make the ferry home. HAHAHA good thing I can laugh about it now because it was not funny at the time. Also, shoutout to Gabrielle because she literally did pedal me on the back of that tandem pretty much the whole 30 miles.

also let's not forget the biker (like legit, spandex on, skinny sunglasses, helmet, million dollar bike) physically pushed through me, mom, and Gabs and cussed us out as he wheeled off while we were taking pictures. LOL dead. Don't be that person.

A little while back Gabs & I came to San Francisco to visit Dad on one of his trips here. We found this little boutique by the Ghirardelli factory and took the most iconic pic of Gabs ever (you can find that post here) but it was Gabs' contact picture on my phone forever and has been hanging on our wall too. So we had to recreate it when we came across that little shop again!

and get twinner sister rings :) Thanks mom!

Coit Tower was another fun stop! I loved it because it wasn't like any other observation point I've been to. It was so old and cute! The tower itself isn't super high but you can see so much from it!

I love visiting the temple in the different places I go! Oakland is low key one of the prettiest I've ever been to!

HOW did we get so lucky with a picture at Lombard Street with no tourists or cars in it!?

We had the nicest trolley driver ever! He let us ring the bell, hang off the sides like crazy people, and even took that overexposed picture of us after :)

one of the funnest things about this trip was just getting to spend so much time with my cute sister. Being away in Logan last year I feel like I miss so many of the things that happen in my family! It's so nice to get back together and be reminded how silly and cool Gabrielle is.

City hall was one of the places my friend recommended to us and I'm so glad we went! I'd never seen anybody post or talk about it before but it was so cool!

these steps ^ are a monster to climb up but lead to the best view in the whole city! They're called the 16th avenue tiled steps. Keep it low key though! It was so secret we felt like VIP locals!

the wind I toughed to get this shot on the ferry boat... Wow guys. Wow. Who knew that much wind could exist.

IMPORTANT SAN FRANCISCO MEMORIES:

-while we were in the aquarium me and Gabs were in such a silly mood haha! Both of us were going crazy and laughing so hard at nothing. There was a little sting ray that looked like he was smiling at us behind the glass and we were peeing our pants laughing about it. Also, screaming for excitement when the tour guide in the elevator announced that there would be a TOUCH POOL on the next floor!! 

-when Lombard Street was in view Mom wanted to climb to the top of it. Literally THE most uphill road ever and then like 300 stairs to the top of it. So we were like let’s just drive up later buuutttt she HAD to conquer it. So we all tracked to the top of it. Kind of rough. Actually really rough. Actually a big family drama. 300 stairs and a steep hill will really drive a wedge between everyone for a hot minute.

-after Lombard drama we bounced back at Ghirardelli square. It was such a cute little vibe and Gabs, Drake, and Dad loved throwing these little hackey sacks they had laying out there. Then more drama happened when Drake LAUNCHED a hackey sack across all of Ghirardelli square, into an outdoor restaurant table, landing in their food, and spilling a drink on some lady. LOL 

-I realized that San Francisco is a really important place because it's one of the first cities I can remember going to when I loved taking pictures and all that. I think it was from my freshman to sophomore year of high school. 

-when mom yelled off the trolley to a hustling city business man pushing a stroller "I LOVE YOU" and then we kept seeing him and it was so awkward lol

-when Dad was paying to park somewhere and the man taking the money had a polish accent and Dad started speaking polish with him. And we were all like WHAT THE HECK DAD YOU SPEAK POLISH?! He was like yeah when I was deployed we learned it. What???

-the bad luck biking day. Started off with waking up late and missing breakfast (the worst way to start the day!) forgetting my camera battery and sd card so having to turn around, breaking my sunglasses, getting pooped on by birds, and dropping my lens cap off the bridge into the ocean (thank goodness it wasn't anything more than that though!) 

-the look on dads face peddling as fast as he could for 5 miles back to the ferry when we were running late

SAN FRANCISCO from Madison Pritt on Vimeo.

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