San Francisco Day 2: Golden Gate Bridge, Palo Alto, & A Hotel on the Bay

My second day in San Francisco started off much better, as my ears had popped while I was sleeping, and also that we were checking out of our ugh hotel to go to our actual hotel. Also because my cousin A and his wife M were coming to pick us up to spend a few days with us! I hadn't seen A since I was 3, so it was really like we were meeting for the first time :)

The weather was absolutely gorgeous, which was nice, as we spend a lot of the day outdoors and driving :)


We went for lunch, first though :)

I adore Filipino food but we don't often eat out to have it since there aren't very many restaurants that serve it in Calgary... and because I eat it at home a lot I never want to go out and pay more to eat it cooked by someone else, haha. Kuya A really likes it though, and since he's still learning how to cook, they go out often. We were at Kuya's for lunch (the name means Elder Brother) and Ate M and I shared the palabok, which is a vermicelli dish with a shrimp-based sauce, pork cracklings, eggs, chicken, and shrimp. My mom makes this for my birthday every year :) Kuya's version was tasty, but I think I am partial to my mother's (at least that is what I always say, when she asks ;) )

The Golden Gate Bridge was on my 'must-see' San Francisco destinations but as I was too chicken to bike across it (I hate heights) Kuya A surprised me by driving us across it... twice! There are little parks at either end of the bridge where you can take photos, and the weather was so nice that we took advantage of it.

Me, Kuya A, and Ate M at the Golden Gate Bridge :)

My parents had apparently both told Kuya A that I liked shopping (this is true) and I had mentioned that I wanted to go to Nordstroms, so our next stop was the Palo Alto shopping complex near Stanford - I think it was about a 30 minute drive from the bridge. The scenery was gorgeous, but I confess I kept drifting off - years of road trips have made me a pro at sleeping in a moving car, haha.

I honestly thought I took more pictures of the mall, but apparently not XD; The mall was beautiful, all standalone shops with a lot of greenery and benches in between. Of course I had to take pictures of the gorgeous flowers - they were all along the pathways, and all in bloom :)

I did make a few purchases that day, but this was probably my favourite - sitting in the sunshine, with a macaron and iced coffee, soaking up the sun underneath all my sunscreen ;)

We also went to a Target (I didn't take pictures) and bought some groceries (water, drinks, snacks) for the next few days. This is my 'actual' hotel - right on San Francisco bay! The rooms were apartment style, with full kitchens, and to encourage socializing, the hotel had free events like barbecues and shuttles to downtown San Francisco (which we took advantage of the next day).

And that was day 2 :)