Castro & Mission

This morning Nik and I set out in a new direction towards Noe Valley on the #24 bus. We were shocked that it wasn’t packed and have now vowed to take it whenever we have to go across town instead of the #22. We rang the stop request bell near Clipper Street and climbed the rest of the way up Castro to an unexpected overlook on 27th.

From here we could see the entire eastern half of the city and noticed the bald spot, which is commonly known as Bernal Heights Park. Obviously, the park would also have an amazing view of the city, so we decided it would be our next stop. But first, we strolled back down Castro to the main drag in Noe Valley where Nik scouted out the bagel shops while I eyed a few shops I might want to revisit. Then we stopped at Hamano Sushi for a tasty lunch before heading for the bald spot.

Bernal Heights Park did not disappoint! I could have sat up there all day just watching life bellow. But we didn’t. Instead we walked down Mission Street in search of chaos. The street was actually pretty calm and not as quirky as I expected. We saw tons of great signage and people that I would love to photograph, but my zoom isn’t good enough and I’m too shy.

We concluded our adventure with a couple scoops from Bi-Rite Creamery. Oh My Goodness, this ice cream lives up to its reputation. I had salted caramel and toffee coffee, and as you can tell, I liked it.

This is one of many posts in a series called San Francisco Streets. They are my way of documenting the city as I walk down each and every street. The photo sets are not ones you would see in guidebooks, but are ones that make this place unique and often quirky. Click here to see more.

Hayes

After meeting a friend at the DeYoung Museum to see the Amish Abstractions: Quilt exhibit (it’s amazing), I walked down Hayes Street to get home. All of these photos were taken on the 14 blocks between Stanyan and Fillmore.

Oh, and I spruced up my blog a little bit. I finally designed a logo, which consists of all the places that I have ever lived starting with Tennessee in the middle. Then I cleaned up and styled everything else. I am quite pleased with results, and the best part is that I did it almost all by myself!!! Nik helped me a couple times when I was stumped, but that really only happened once or twice. Do you like it?

This is one of many posts in a series called San Francisco Streets. They are my way of documenting the city as I walk down each and every street. The photo sets are not ones you would see in guidebooks, but are ones that make this place unique and often quirky. Click here to see more.

The Alamo Square Apartment

Today was our first full day in our new apartment near Alamo Square! It is a completely furnished studio (except sheets apparently) with about 400 square feet. Perfect for our first apartment in San Francisco. We will only live here for a month or two while we look for jobs, scope out the city and decide which neighborhood we really want to call home. Then we’ll find a bigger, probably 1-bedroom, place that we could see ourselves living in for a couple years. That’s when we’ll finally rent a moving van and properly move our furniture and miscellaneous items, officially relinquishing our claims to living in Portland!

Our morning started with a 2-bus transfer to the closest Trader Joe’s for groceries. We stocked up on most of the basics we knew and loved in Portland, but limited ourselves to three grocery bags. We rode back, unloaded our goods, ate lunch and went out to enjoy the beautiful day at Alamo Square. Nik brought the feather, and we kicked around for an hour or so while looking out over the city of San Francisco beyond the Painted Ladies………..are we in heaven?