That Time I Got to Meet a Penguin

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was pretty much what was going on in my head the night before right after Sameer told me about what we were going to do the next day. I was quite literally on the verge of shedding (happy/excited) tears. I love animals as it is. However, I have always had a special place in my heart for marine mammals. When I was in grade 4, my dream was to become a marine biologist.  I even remember telling my parents that I wanted to go to UBC because they had a good program there. Coincidentally, I did end up moving to BC.  However, we all know that I didn't quite fulfill my dreams to become a marine biologist.

As an early birthday surprise, Sameer booked a "Close Encounters" session for us at the Vancouver Aquarium. It's an approximately 45 min long interactive private session that includes a behind-the-scenes tour of the animals' habitat with an "Aquarium Interpreter" and a one-on-one meeting with the animal(s) accompanied by a trainer. The aquarium offers sessions with dolphins, otters, sea lions, and penguins. You can probably tell by the title of the post which one we chose to do. Usually each private session accommodates up to four people. We were lucky because no one else was signed up for our session, so it was just the two of us.

Some background about the Vancouver Aquarium, for those of you who don't already know ...

The Vancouver Aquarium is a self-supporting and non-profit organization. The organization's focus is on the conservation of aquatic life. Over the years, the aquarium has strived to achieve its goal of increasing awareness to the issues clouding the world's oceans' ecosystems by promoting awareness through community education, research projects, conservation programs and initiatives, like their Close Encounters sessions!

Shout out to Lara, who was our Aquarium Interpreter for the tour portion of the encounter. She was so great! She started off by taking us to the penguin exhibit to give us an overview of the species of penguins that they housed at the aquarium -- the African Penguins aka the Black-Footed Penguins. African Penguins naturally originate from the southern coasts of Africa. The penguins at the Vancouver Aquarium were brought over from the New England Aquarium in Boston, Massachusetts. Although the seven African Penguins at the Vancouver Aquarium were bred as part of the Zoos and Aquarium's Species Survival Plan, they act more so as ambassadors of the aquarium for their species; allowing visitors (like us) to learn more about them and where they came from. Since these penguins were all bred in captivity, mating is discouraged due to their similar genetics. To deter them from giving in to their natural mating instincts, the aquarium has had to structure and build their habitat in specific ways (i.e. the absence of burrows).

Sadly, we learned that these adorable tuxedo birds are classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as an endangered species. Since the early 1900s, 95% of the species' population has disappeared. Lara explained to us that among a number of contributing factors, overfishing is the number one cause of the species' continually declining numbers. In the wild, the penguins are constantly competing with commercial fisheries. As a result of the lack of available food (sardines and anchovies) in their natural habitat, the birds are forced to venture further and further for food. Because of this, they have less energy and resources to care for their young and become more vulnerable in the face of predators and other obstacles that may threaten their survival. In efforts to buffer the effects of overfishing, the Vancouver Aquarium has created a conservation program called "Ocean Wise" that aims to educate consumers on the significance of choosing sustainable seafood. Many Vancouver restaurants employ the Ocean Wise symbol on their menus to provide consumers with the assurance that the seafood that they are using in the preparation of their meals is chosen in accordance with approved sustainability guidelines.

We visited the "feeding kitchen" where they prepare and store the food that is fed to different marine mammals at the aquarium. On average, an African Penguin eats about 3-5 sardines a day. At the aquarium, they pay special attention to the fish that are being fed to the birds in order to prevent the occurrence of any food borne diseases. Lara told us that each fish is inspected very carefully to ensure that there are no cuts, bruises or abnormalities. From time to time, the penguins also receive vitamin supplements to ensure that they are fully nourished. They had very detailed feeding schedules for each of the marine mammals displayed on various white boards next to the kitchen. Part of the trainers' job is to feed the animals based on the set schedules every day. The animals are also introduced to different toys throughout the week, so that they constantly have the opportunity to interact and adapt to something new in their environment (there is a detailed schedule for this too). Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to take any photos of the kitchen area. 

And then, onto the MOST EXCITING part of the session ... we got to meet a penguin! As I mentioned earlier, the Vancouver Aquarium currently has seven African Penguins -- Tofino, Nelson, Sechelt, Salt Spring, Hope, Lillooet, and Steveston; all named after places in British Columbia. We got to meet Hope, a six-year-old female. The trainer (Kristin) told us that Hope was by far the most social and friendly of all the penguins. She told us that if a penguin is not comfortable with their surroundings, they tend to express aggression very visibly. Hope, on the other hand, seemed so comfortable that she was fluffing her feathers and dozing off while standing within arms reach in front of us. 

Interesting fact #1: Each one of the penguin's feathers are connected to a special muscle in their body that is activated when they fluff up their feathers.

Kristin also mentioned that Hope is pretty much potty-trained (without any training from them). Since she seems to enjoy the company of humans so much, they often let her waddle around their office to explore. This immediately prompted me to start fantasizing about having a penguin waddling around in my office. 

CAN WE PLEASE ADOPT HER?!?!
I'd like to think that she loved me just as much as I loved her.

Interesting fact #2: The only place on the African Penguin's body that is not covered by feathers (aside from their feet) is the bare skin directly above their eyes. This fleshy area turns pink when the penguin is hot and acts as a cooling mechanism that allows them to exert heat.

I could probably go on and on with many more interesting facts that I learned about these amazing birds, but I will spare you. Meeting Hope was undoubtedly one of the most memorable experiences I have ever had. I love that the Vancouver Aquarium started doing Close Encounters and think that it is a great way for animal lovers (or just any one in general) to learn more about the animals. Especially knowing that the African Penguins are an endangered species, I feel so grateful to have had the chance to come face-to-face and interact closely with such a fascinating and curious creature.

Last, but not least, major thanks to the guy in my life who made this happen. You da best!!!

Wake Up and Be Awesome

I LOVE THIS MUG.  Shout-out to my friends, Nikki and Jay, for gifting me this mug for my birthday lat year.

Wake up and be awesome.

Such a good reminder, especially for those rainy days when you've forgotten your umbrella; for those days when you have to get up after a sleepless night; for those days when you're hungover after having one too many drinks; for those days when you wake up with sore throat and runny nose and have to miss work.

The latter was the case for me when I woke up this morning. AWESOME! Not really. Sarcasm aside, it definitely wasn't great waking up with a cold. I didn't feel like being awesome. I wanted to sleep all day.  Not my preference for how I would've liked to start my week.  It's easy to let your negative emotions take over and set the tone for your day.  That's why I love this friendly reminder - wake up and be awesome.

Now when I say that I didn't feel like being "awesome",  I don't mean "awesome" in the sense of, "YAY!", "HURRAY!", "in-your-face" kind of awesome. Although, I obviously didn't feel that way either.  When I look at that mug, I take it as a reminder to be a different kind of awesome. Now I know I'm probably being way too introspective here, but after spending all day in my apartment (without much to do), can you really blame me for doing some self-reflection?  Before I get into my own interpretation, let me tell you what Merriam Webster has to say about the word:

awesome | expressive of awe; inspiring awe

And the word, "awe"?

awe | a strong feeling of fear or respect and also wonder

I've never personally associated awe with fear.  Respect and wonder, however, is a lot more in line with how I've chosen to interpret the word "awesome".  So, back to what I think it means to be awesome.  To me, being awesome means acting in a way or interacting with others in a way that garners respect, and very possibly, wonder.

I've always had a very deep respect for people who continue to be kind, generous, and resilient, even in the face of adversities.  And I wonder - I wonder about how someone manages to maintain such class and grace, even when things aren't going their way ... because it's hard.  But, that's why when someone does act a certain way or does something that's pleasantly unexpected considering the circumstances, they're awesome.  As human beings, we're used to putting our needs first.  I'm only human!  When the going gets tough, being awesome might not come naturally.  I, for one, would be the first to admit that I'm guilty of this.  But, it's within all of us to try - to try and wake up every morning and be awesome.

Being a good friend, even if your friend hasn't been the most supportive.
Doing someone a favour without expecting something in return.
Not taking out your anger on someone when you're having a bad day.
Working hard to achieve something you're passionate about, despite numerous obstacles.
Appreciating someone else's struggles that may be different than your own.
Being a good listener, even when you really want to rant.
Offer to help someone without them asking you for help.
Respond positively, even if your first impulse is to react negatively.

And the list goes on.

Regardless of whether my interpretation of "awesome" is the same as someone else's, I can bet that we all share the same mutual desire of wanting respect.  Anyone's interpretation of what awesome is or what being awesome is is subject to constant re-definition.  The bottom line is, who doesn't want to be thought of as awesome?

So, as I sat on my couch and had my morning coffee (in my pjs, with a box of tissues, staring out at the overcast sky), I set an intention and reminded myself (to try) to be awesome and to inspire at least one other person to do so the same.

Happy Owl-loween!

Idea stolen from Pinterest! Who doesn't love baby owls? (answer: MONSTERS.)

Some of them have dirty eyeballs because the Oreos didn't twist off as cleanly as I would've hoped.

The remainder of this blog post will consist of pictures and captions only -- it's just that straightforward.

Oreo = eyeballs.
Reese's pieces = pupils & beaks.
Not pictured: 1 egg and 3 tbsp vegetable oil -- to be added to the cupcake mix.
Gold cupcake cups because we fancy.

It's always good to have a trusty helper.

 HAPPY OWL-LOWEEN FRIENDS!

Chillin' Like a Villain

For as long as I can remember, I've dressed up for Halloween every single year. I'm fairly certain that I was dressed up for Halloween even for those years that I can't remember ... Thanks, Mommy! 

Year after year, I've dressed up as something cute/sexy/clever, a superhero, a well-liked protagonist, etc, etc. Never have I dressed up as a villain or anything remotely scary. Before yesterday, I never really stopped to think of why that was. 

Yes, sometimes I like to psychoanalyze my life choices. Yes, even trivial life choices, such as what I choose to dress up as for Halloween.

So ... surprise, surprise! My original Halloween costume this year was going to be a "social butterfly". To give you a visual -- I was planning on wearing a plain black shirt with social media icons (i.e. Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter) attached, along with some butterfly/fairy wings and antennae. Cute and clever, right???

Thanks to a suggestion from Sameer (who actually dressed up as Batman), I changed my costume last minute and did a complete 180.  Usually, I don't like last minute change of plans, so I don't know what came over me. I had my reservations, but I just decided to go for it. 

Prior to yesterday, I think the only time I wore face paint for a costume was when my parents put face paint on me for Halloween. I generally don't like face paint; I don't even like wearing foundation. I've also never worn a wig. They've never appealed to me because I find them itchy and creepy. Alas, I somehow managed to wear a full face of face paint and a wig all night. And it actually wasn't that bad! 

I ran into London Drugs pretty much right before I had to get ready, in hope to find some face paint, and was lucky enough to find this palette that had just the colours that I needed.

After looking at A LOT of Google images of "The Joker" and 45 min later. 

Thank goodness Sameer had a green wig handy (don't ask why) because I had no idea what I was going to do with my hair.

Long story short, I was a villain (a damn scary one too, if you ask me) for once ... and I liked it! I actually scared myself a couple of times throughout the night because I barely recognized the face that was staring back at me. I prayed that I wouldn't run into any kids as I was leaving my building because I literally looked like a child's living nightmare.  It made me feel like I had been missing out on the real Halloween fun -- the opportunity to be someone else for a night; the chance to embody a character that's completely different than your own. I've always stayed within my comfort zone and dressed up as something "safe".  

NOT THIS YEAR.  I think it's safe to say that I ventured into new territory.

Oatmeal ... Meal?

Lately I've been on a happy streak of healthy eating. I started experiencing these really unpleasant "food hangovers" (that's what I'm going to call it) after my San Fran trip, so I figured it was time for me to do some detox. Over the past month, I also did a lot of kitchen re-organization that has really given me a lot of motivation and inspiration for clean eating.

I had originally planned on making a blog post about my DIY kitchen organization containers ... but, I got busy and it didn't end up happening. I am debating on whether I should still do one.

I am really a "clear space = clear mind = FOCUS" -type person. Any type of clutter tends to weigh down on my determination.

So, my first order of business was to DECLUTTER. And by declutter, I mean getting down to the essentials kind of declutter. If you've been to my apartment, you'll know that I value minimalism. If I don't need it, I'm not going to keep it.

Second, I started a new project -- a Meal Planning Binder. It's still in the works and there's not enough material to show right now, so I'll likely blog about that later (if I remember!).

Now you're probably wondering how this relates back to oatmeal (and it does, I promise). As part of my Meal Planning Binder project, I've been doing a bunch of research on healthy recipes/meals - mostly on YouTube and Pinterest. From my research, I discovered ...

...
..
.

SAVOURY OATMEAL!!! Excuse my excitement if you're reading this and are thinking "duh... that's totally a thing ... who doesn't already know this". I, on the other hand, have never even thought about oatmeal in that way before.

If you're thinking that I might have been a bit heavy-handed with the parsley, it was intentional - I LOVE parsley.

It is so easy to make and I'm obsessed with it. I've always been a huge fan of the risotto-like texture in food and this just like that. Instead of milk, I used all water and then mixed in sea salt and black pepper.

I also mixed in a bit of shredded cheddar cheese (not pictured here).

So, there it is! I felt compelled to share my newest discovery with everyone because I found it totally life changing ... and sharing is caring :)

If savoury oatmeal is news to you as well, PLEASE let me know so I can feel less like I've been living under rock my whole life.

Garibaldi: 9km Climb to Utopia

"Hike up to Garibaldi Lake" has been on my bucket list ever since I moved to Vancouver. The first time I saw a picture of the beautiful turquoise-coloured lake, my mind was set on getting there. (Several weeks ago) I finally got to check this off my list!!! Please forgive the extreme procrastination.

I had known that my sister (Haily) was coming visit me about a month before and had planned to do the hike when she was here. The weather towards the beginning of July was fairly temperamental, so I was worried that mother nature wasn't going to cooperate with our plans. Haily must have brought over some sunshine from Toronto ... because summer decided to finally show up when she got here. We were blessed with beautiful weather on the day of the hike and I couldn't be more happy.

The last hike that I did was the Buntzen Lake trail. It only took us a bit over 2 hours round trip, but we were parched and famished by the end of it. Needless to say, it instilled a bit (a lot) of fear in me of running out of food and water. So, I took the liberty of ensuring that hunger and thirst was not going to be a concern. I wish I had remembered to take a picture of our ginormous food/beverage stash. 

As you will have likely inferred from the title of this post, the hike up to the lake was 9 km. Although I was mentally prepared for the distance, I don't think I fully anticipated how tiring it would be. 

After a countless number of deep/random/silly conversations, multiple snack breaks, and many questions of: "are we there yet???", "how much further???", "is this Garibaldi Lake???" ...

... WE MADE IT!!!

IS THIS EVEN REAL???

... but, really ...

IS THIS EVEN REAL???

We hung around the lake for an hour, as we ate our lunches in satisfaction and tested out the frigid, ice-cold water.

This lasted about 12 seconds before I came running back out.
The water was so cold that I thought that I had lost my toes forever.

And, we made some friends ...

His name is Alvin (because that is what I named him).

The thought of hiking back down the mountain was not something I was looking forward to. By that time, my legs were already feeling jello-y and sore. While my glutes really felt the burn on the way up, going down was a different kind of pain. I have bad knees and ankles to begin with, so it doubly sucked for me. If you're thinking that going down is a piece of cake ... YOU ARE WRONG. After what seemed like 5 hours later, we finally reached the bottom!!! 

The whole hike took us around 6 hours to complete (that's round trip). We went at a pretty leisurely pace. I know there are much longer, tougher, and more difficult hikes out there ... but, I still felt a huge sense of accomplishment! The feeling you get when you finally accomplish something you've been meaning to do, is honestly one of the best feelings. Even though I was borderline limping (which goes to show how very fit I am) as we walked the remaining 1 km to where we had parked our car, I felt amazing on the inside. See below for our tired, but happy faces:

YAY WE DID IT!!! 

Now that I've made it to Garibaldi Lake, my next goal is to go back and hike all the way up to Panorama Ridge (which is another 7 km from Garibaldi Lake). One step at a time!

The aftermath. My muscles rejoiced.

The Golden City (Part 2)

As promised, here is PART 2 of my San Fran blog post!

DAY 3

We decided to rent a car for our third day in San Francisco. Since we wanted to stick with a pick-up and drop-up location that was within walking distance to our hotel, we were very limited with our selection of car rental companies. Being one of only two companies that fit our strict criteria, we went with Alamo.

Spoiler alert: Unfortunately for us, we didn't realize that Alamo had two locations by Union Square.

Yes, you guessed correctly. We showed up to the wrong location and waited in the check-in line for a good half hour only for them to tell us that we were supposed to pick up our car at their location on O'Farrell Street, not Bush Street. After some friendly negotiation, the woman at the counter agreed to give us a car at the same rate from their location. However, she warned that the only vehicle they had available was a pickup truck. Not wanting to go through the hassle of walking to the other location and potentially standing in line all over again, we agreed to make do with the pickup truck. I was so happy (happy, with a side of guilt) that I wasn't going to be the one to drive it. Good luck Sameer!!! The pickup truck turned out to be a white pickup van. We were so stoked ... not! But, a car is a car and we only needed it to get around for the day. The only real setback was that it restricted our ability to park in the smaller spots along the street.

At least the van was new (or smelled like it) and looked kind of sporty.

And it had a Utah license plate!

Once we picked up the car, we headed over to the Haight Ashbury area (aka The Upper Haight) in search of the breakfast/brunch restaurant that I wanted to try - Zazie.

Top - Foutainbleau scrambled eggs & Bottom - Albert poached eggs.
Stay tuned for my my post about Zazie on my food blog!

After eating, we wandered around the Haight Ashbury area to see what all the buzz was about. The district is well-known for being the centre of the 1960s hippie movement / "Summer of Love" era. As we walked around, it was evident that much of the neighbourhood had been substantially modernized. Still, the presence of colourful murals and kitschy vintage stores were enough to preserve lingering hippie vibes.

Next on our itinerary was the Painted Ladies. The term "Painted Ladies" was first used by authors Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen in their book Painted Ladies (surprise surprise) to describe Victorian houses in San Francisco. Now, the term is widely used to describe Victorian or Edwardian houses; specifically those that are painted in three or more colours to enhance their structural elements. We drove over a few blocks from Haight Ashbury and parked on Hayes Street to walk over to Alamo Square Park. The park was actually closed for maintenance work, so we couldn't walk through it.

The houses faced a yellow-tinged, grassy hill that was rather unsightly at its current state. In all honesty, the view was a bit underwhelming. The rowdy adolescent crowd that we encountered likely had something to do with that. Nonetheless, we took in the visual and appreciated the houses for their iconic essence.  I am almost certain that the view of the houses would've been much better from further up the hill in Alamo Square. I'll have to test out my theory next time I'm back in San Fran.

I know you're probably sick of seeing pictures of this bridge by now ... but, here's another one.

Onto to the Golden Gate Bridge!!! I would have to say that this was the highlight of the trip for me. From the Painted Ladies, we drove north to Crissy Field to get a hold of some rental bikes. We rented a couple of bikes from Sports Basement. Sports Basement is located right next to Crissy Field and has a huge array of sports apparel and equipment for purchase and rent. Being not too knowledgeable about bikes, we went for the most basic type they had - Hybrid/Comfort. They rent bikes out for a minimum of 3 hours at a time ($24/3 hours). They provide you with helmets, storage pouches, and bike locks for free! After about 15 minutes devoted to changing my wardrobe and feeling insecure about my cycling abilities, we were on our way! We biked along Old Mason Street, then crossed over to Lincoln Blvd that eventually connected to the bridge. There was a good amount of uphill leading up to the bridge that reaffirmed the fact that I am not a trained cyclist. I walked my bike up most if it. 

We were both very excited at the prospect of biking across the Golden Gate Bridge. It obviously wasn't a Tour de France-like undertaking, but ... SO COOL!!! It was a tad difficult to get started because of all the pedestrian traffic at the beginning of the bridge. Luckily, the congestion seemed to dissipate as we got closer to the middle and it was smooth sailing (or should I say biking ...) from there. Once I stopped having to concentrate on dodging pedestrians, I started being able to enjoy the view. And the view was spectacular! Our original plan was to cross the bridge and bike down to Sausilito. However, Sausilito was another 3 miles from the bridge and our stomachs got the best of us. We decided to abort our Sausilito mission and ride back across the bridge to get some food.  

We stopped at Causewells for a very late lunch. It was around 4 pm by the time we sat down and we were the only two people in the restaurant. To our pleasant surprise, the food was very tasty!

Stay tuned for my post about Causewells on my food blog!

Our last stop of the day was at the Palace of Fine Arts in the Marina District. I had seen numerous pictures taken by the Palace and looked forward to snapping some artistic photos there myself. Many descriptions of the landmark depicted the structure as being situated alongside a "swan-filled lagoon". To my disappointment, we did not see a single swan. BUT, the Palace was just a picturesque as I imagined. I can totally see why it's become a top destination for wedding photos.

The Palace was designed by Bernard Maybeck and was first constructed as a building to display and house artwork in the 1915 Panama-Pacific Expedition. Alongside the Palace of Fine Arts, other exhibit palaces were also constructed for the purpose of the Expedition. However, they were demolished once the Expedition was over. The Palace of Fine Arts was protected from demolition as a result of its popularity. However, as a result of significant vandalism and its unstable structure, the Palace was completely demolished and rebuilt in 1969.

On our way back to the hotel, our U.S. phone ran out of battery. We realized that the battery had been completely drained from our constant reliance on Google Maps throughout the day. It was about 5:30 pm at the time, so we were not too panicked since our car booking confirmation indicated that we didn't have to drop off our car until 7 pm (or so we thought). Fortunately, we somehow managed to head in the right direction, even in the absence of Google Maps. After stopping to ask for directions a gas station, we finally made it back to Alamo. We pulled our car into their parking garage right at 6 pm ... and to our shock and utter relief, we realized they actually closed at 6 pm! THANK YOU UNIVERSE FOR LETTING US GET BACK JUST IN TIME. We seriously thanked our lucky stars for helping us dodge a bullet. The thought of having to pay for an extra day of car rental (at an increased price from $69/day to $140/day) and having to squeeze through traffic in the pickup van for another day was enough to make us cringe. On that note, we grabbed a quick bite at the Westfield Mall food court and headed back to our hotel. We had enough excitement for one day.


DAY 4

Since this blog post is long enough as it is, I will keep day 4's debrief relatively short. Day 4 consisted of more wandering and shopping around Union Square. We checked out of our hotel in the morning and left our luggage with the concierge.

We had breakfast at Blue Bottle Coffee. We walked by this place on our first day in San Francisco and saw a big line up outside, so we wanted to go back and try it. The baked eggs we ordered were delicious. The New Orleans ice coffee is apparently really popular. We didn't order it that day because it was really chilly outside and I was more in the mood for a warm cappuccino. Can someone please try the New Orleans and tell me how it is??? 

Top - Tunisian Baked Eggs; Bottom (left to right) - Cafe Latte & Cappuccino. 

As an early-afternoon snack, we circled back to Mint Plaza (which is where Blue Bottle Coffee is) to try the Bolw'd Acai food truck that we spotted earlier on. Yelp seemed to indicate that their acai bowls and poke bowls were a real hit. Sadly, they were sold out of their Great White poke bowl by the time we went. I was really sad about this and yelled "NOOOO" out loud as I read their "Sold Out" sign. I ordered their Original Gangster acai bowl instead.

For our last meal in the city, we went to Box Kitchen. This was the restaurant we were searching for on our first day when we naively entered into extremely sketchy territory. SO WORTH IT.

Stay tuned for my post on Box Kitchen on my food blog!

Since there wasn't any seating left at the bar next door (they share seating with Box Kitchen), we brought our food to the mall food court and ate there. We inhaled the food, as we didn't have much time to spare before we had to head to the airport. After we picked up our luggage from the hotel concierge, we hopped on the BART and took the train back to the airport. Bye bye 'Frisco!

----

I've already started making my list of things to-do for my next trip back to San Francisco:

- Alcatraz
- Sausilito
- Golden Gate Park
- Ghirardelli Square
- Bourbon & Branch / Wilson & Wilson
- Trolley to Castro
- Revisit the Painted Ladies and take a picture from Alamo Square Park
- Smuggler's Cove (The inside of this bar is decorated like a multi-story pirate ship. They also have world-famous rum drinks and an extensive cocktail menu.)
- Tommy's (This Mexican restaurant is renown for their margaritas and 100% agave tequila drinks.)
- Mikkellar Bar (Apparently one of the city's largest beer halls.)

The Golden City (Part 1)

'FRISCO <3

Our trip to San Francisco flew by just as quickly as it came. Sameer and I had booked our tickets back in April for $290/person (including taxes) round trip with Air Canada. However, any savings we might have reaped from the relatively cheap plane tickets were cancelled out completely by the stupidly expensive rates we paid for the hotel. I know hotels are expensive in San Fran, but still ...

Travel Tip: If you Google the name of an airline (works for most major airlines), you will be able to search for flight prices through Google. You can click through the price calendar to see what average flight prices are for departure on a specific day. Lower than usual flight prices will be highlighted in green on the calendar.

DAY 1

We had a 6:15 am flight from Vancouver to San Fran. It was pouring like crazy that morning, so I couldn't wait to get away from the rainy weather. The flight was only 2.5 hours (but felt more like 2.5 minutes considering we both slept the whole way through). From the airport, we decided to take the quickest, cheapest, and most direct route to our hotel using BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit). It took us about 35 min to get to our hotel.

We stayed at the Pickwick Hotel, which was conveniently located by Market & 5th Street by Union Square (right by the Powell BART station). Considering that we would be using public transit for most of our trip, the location of our hotel was key. Our room wasn't ready yet when we got there, so we left our luggage with the concierge and decided to do some exploring.

Before we got too carried away, we stopped at Cafe Venue (on 5th Street) for some quick breakfast. I forgot to take pictures because I was too hungry and tired. We each ordered a plate of the Eye Opener and a cup of their organic Guatemalan coffee. Once our bellies were filled, we continued our self-guided tour of the busy streets of San Francisco ...

 Market Street & 5th Street.

Union Square.

We were so excited to be in sunny San Francisco and away from rainy Vancouver.

Initially, the idea was to take a picture of every heart that I came across. I gave up on that fairly quickly.

Since we were both recovering from a cold (AND since we woke up at 3:50 am that morning), we took it easy the first day and spent the majority of the day checking out the stores around Union Square. I must say, Union Square has to be one of the most centralized shopping areas in the world. From Macy's to Bloomingdales to Saks to Barneys to the individual stores around the Square ... you could probably find any label you're looking for, all within a couple of blocks. Sadly, we had to exercise some self-restrain as the currency exchange was not exactly optimal. 

The Cajun lobster roll and Lobster Mac & Cheese at Lobster ME.

Earlier in the day, we came across woman in an elevator who was holding a delicious-looking (I am purposely emphasizing word "looking" here) lobster sandwich. Me being me, I needed to know where she got it from. She pointed us in the direction of Westfield Mall ... and off we went. We ordered The Cajun lobster roll and the Lobster Mac & Cheese (obviously). I didn't notice the price until the cashier rang it up ... $33.60 ... yes, that's USD... and yes, WTF! Needless to say, I was a bit surprised considering we were at the food court of the mall. My only justification on their behalf was that there were some fairly large chunks of lobster. Aside from that, it was pretty disappointing overall. Neither the lobster roll or the mac and cheese tasted that great. To think of it, I don't even think there was any cheese in the mac and cheese; just cream and butter. As appealing as the picture may look ... NOT worth it.

Skip to a bit later (after a power nap and a couple more hours of walking around aimlessly) ... we had a casual dinner at our hotel's restaurant, SOMA Restaurant & Bar. To avoid getting any sicker, we called it an early night so we could be well-rested for the next several days.

On a side note, we discovered really quickly that 6th Street (south of Market St) is veryyy different than 5th Street (in a bad way). We discovered this by accident as we were looking around for a restaurant on Natoma Street. I will spare you the details...  but let's just say that we avoided going anywhere close to there at all costs for the remainder of our trip.

DAY 2 

To start off the day, we hopped on the F line streetcar and headed over to the piers. 

Seated comfortably at the very back of the F line streetcar.

We got off at the Fisherman's Wharf stop and walked a couple of blocks south to have breakfast at Hollywood Cafe. This place had amazing reviews on Yelp, so it was on the top of my list of restaurants to try. 

Stay tuned for my post about Hollywood Cafe on my food blog!

After breakfast, we walked over to Pier 39 for the bay cruise that we had tickets for. The Bay Cruise is operated by Blue & Gold Fleet and runs almost every hour from 10:45 am to 6:30 pm/7:00 pm, depending on the day. We couldn't get tickets to Alcatraz, so we decided to take the Bay Cruise instead. The cruise was both better and worse than I expected.

Better because: 1) the views of the city's skyline was amazing; 2) cruising underneath the Golden Gate Bridge was a lot more exciting than I anticipated; and 3) we spotted a number of humpback whales in the water.

Worse because: 1) the narration describing the city's landmarks the stories of Alcatraz were completely pre-recorded; and 2) it was very hard to hear the narration from the open top floor of the ferry.

One of a gazillion selfies that we took on the ferry.

Travel tip: The Bay Cruise tickets are usually $30/person, but we got ours for $25 at the San Francisco Information Center. The Information Center is located below ground level, right next to the Powell BART station. They have a bunch of other discounts and coupons there for various activities.

The ferry ride was followed by a visit to the famous sea lions at Pier 39. To our dismay, there weren't too many sea lions sunbathing on the day that we went. I recall the entire docking area being filled with them the last time I was at Pier 39 (about 3 years ago). Regardless, we spent a good amount of time there observing their hilarious antics. 

Next, we went for a 7D Experience!!! A theatre/ride-type experience where you wear 3D goggles to watch the screen and shoot targets. I was perusing through San Fran Groupons online before our trip and thought that this one sounded interesting enough to try. There were 4 different ones for us to choose from: Zombies, Gigamon, Los Banditos, and Road Fighters. Despite my reluctance, we went with the Zombies ride. 

The whole ride lasted approximately 10 minutes. To paint a better picture, that's 10 min of me tensing my whole entire body while screaming. I like the show The Walking Dead, but I'm not a fan of half torn-up zombies popping up suddenly in my face and yelling. At one point, I legitimately had tears in my eyes. It was a bit comforting to hear that the kids next to me were screaming too (granted they were probably 5 years old). Like a typical amusement ride, they took pictures of the riders and displayed them on screens at the end of the ride. I wish I had time to take a picture of mine. The ridiculous look of terror on my face would've helped to cheer me up on a sad day.

To celebrate our survival through a zombie apocalypse, we went to eat ...

Boudin Clam Chowder in their sourdough bread bowl.

... and eat ...

My first time trying In-N-Out Burger! It was okay.......

... and eat some more...

Dreyer's Waffle Cone ice cream - a scoop of Cookie Dough on top and a scoop of Dulce de Leche on the bottom.

We spent quite some time walking up and down Jefferson Street. We stumbled upon a really cool store that specializes in selling hot sauce - Pepper Palace. They let you sample the sauces ... which was part of the reason why I liked the store so much. I found one called The Butt Pucker - doesn't sound like one I'd want to try.

As the day went by, we noticed more and more "fancy" (obnoxious, in my opinion) cars rolling down Jefferson Street. This being one of them ...

And every time a bouncing car drove by, I couldn't help but think of the song California Love. 

Once we had enough of Jefferson Street, we walked down Leavenworth Street to check out the famous crooked street. When we reached the bottom of Lombard Street, we were greeted by a huge crowd of tourists who were all trying to get a picture in front of the street. We joined in and tried for maybe 10 min to get a good picture. After failing over and over again, we called it quits and walked back over to Fisherman's Wharf to catch the streetcar back to our hotel. Sameer had been meaning to try this spot called zpizza by our hotel. It was fairly late in the evening by the time we got on the streetcar, so we were on a mission to get to the pizza joint before it closed at 8:30 pm. We managed to get there just in time to order a pizza to-go. The pizza was so good! We were both disappointed that we didn't have time to go back and try some of their other pizzas. 

Initially, we were planning on going to Bourbon & Branch that night, but we couldn't get a reservation. Bourbon & Branch is said to be one of the most authentic speakeasy bars in the city. I've heard that you can buzz their intercom and ask to be put on the wait list, but we didn't want to walk all the way there to take the chance (especially since it was the weekend). Instead, we headed downstairs to the bar at SOMA and ended off the night there with a couple of drinks. The convenience of a hotel bar can never be beat.

... Coming soon ... The Golden City (Part 2)!