2016 May 30 | Memorial Day weekend in San Francisco

The only thing we have to 100% remember to pack for San Francisco: umbrellas.

The Pacific Coast Highway route is much prettier but also takes another 1.5 hours.

They should sell a can to spit the shells into with every bag of seeds they sell at gas stations. Instead, I have to try to find something that'll work. Thi Pringles can will do, and I can also eat Pringles.

Tons of cows.

First stop, Bay Farm Island by Oakland for a sunset picture of San Francisco.

The financial district, the Bay Bridge, and some birds.

Ogii and me.

The new Bay Bridge is rather neat.

Off the Grid is a little food truck festival they put on every month.

Live music.

All of the food trucks were closing up as we got there, though, so we went to Mel's Diner for dinner.

Way too much food; we're used to taking leftovers home, not trying to eat everything.

Up early the next morning and we saw this raccoon. He even stood up on his hind legs.

The Palace of Fine Arts.

Funky store in the Heights.

Raccoon Road.

We went to Twin Peaks for sunrise. There were already a few people there.

Nice view of downtown and the Bay Bridge.

Me taking a picture.

Some friends hanging out together.

I climbed down the hill a bit to get a picture with these flowers.

Nice to have something in the foreground.

Us.

A fun door to a restaurant.

Lombard Street.

A few people were running up and we offered to get a picture of them at the top; then they got a picture of us.

This trolley runs right along the top.

A separate signal for bicycles.

We stayed in a little yacht in the marina. To the west you could see the Golden Gate Bridge...

... and to the north you could see Alcatraz.

The cabin.

The bed in front.

There were lots of little crabs running around in the morning.

A workout area nearby.

Pretty houses with palm trees.

Us in front of the Golden Gate Bridge from Crissy Field.r

Headed across.

A view back towards San Francisco from the other side.

Ogii and the bridge.

Driving south from the west side of the bridge.

Way out on the left is Point Bonita lighthouse.

A long ways down.

Sea lions on the beach and rocks.

Oops, the door to keep walking to the lighthouse is locked. They're only open early afternoon.

Pretty flower.

Chinatown gate.

The first store in Chinatown has this really expensive chess set in the window.

And some huge stuff inside.

Another chess set.

Another store with expensive stuff at the entrance. Although it seems they mostly sell $10 items to tourists, just like a lot of the photographers at art shows we've been to recently.

The office I used to work at, although they're closed for the holiday weekend.

A giant flea market on Treasure Island.

I'm amazed at how bright her hair dye is.

I've heard "left coast" instead of "west coast" a few times now.

Lots of clothing.

Tons of pins.

At the other end of the market.

Food trucks. Ogii was starving, so we went straight to these and were the first people in line.

Yummy chicken, although I feel sorry for the workers; it was extremely hot right here since those are still cooking the meat.

Eating lunch.

A roller derby competition set up on the sidewalk.

I wonder if these are worth anything.

Cool mirror.

Pretty table.

Artisan marshmallows; I wonder if that would be a good business to start in LA?

Looking back towards San Francisco.

Ogii on the rocks.

Oh, there is another gigantic line of food trucks on the west side of the market. We didn't see these when we arrived.

Live music.

Fun barrel items.

Very neat rock.

Although I don't know if it's worth $1100.

Geese.

San Francisco has so many neat old houses; you don't see that around LA.

A few more.

One of the double-decker tour buses.

A guy walking around with a giant cat on his shoulder.

We were planning on going to some of the museums in Golden Gate Park, but all of the parking garages and spaces were completely full. Traffic barely moved through the park.

Ogii in some flowers.

Some people having a little party outside their house.

Entering the Presidio.

Some art set up near the marina. I wonder if they have any permits they might need.

Something else LA doesn't have: these tiny GoCars.

I don't think they'd do too well on the highways here.

The weather was surprisingly beautiful: 70s and sunny. People actually got to put the tops of their convertibles down.

Going to SenSpa for some massages.

Wine.

Snacks.

A relaxation area.

Another one.

Steam room.

Ogii relaxing.

The major downside to driving in San Francisco: parking costs can be insane.

Thankfully we found plenty of free parking on the road near the marina and we got lucky here: after 6pm it was only $10 to park in this garage at Fisherman's Wharf instead of $25.

People waiting to get on a tour bus.

Bread animals at Boudin's bakery.

Lots of items to buy.

Lunch while we watched them make bread.

A performer on the wharf.

Coit Tower and the Transamerica pyramid.

Red rhubard growing amongst the flowers; that's kind of weird.

Sea lions.

A few of them fought almost non-stop on this float.

They were mostly sleeping.

When one crawled across the top of everyone else, they got pretty mad.

A baby by a seagull.

Alcatraz.

Another performer making a kid jump for a tip.

Ghirardelli Square.

A cable car stop.

A house by the marina was having a big party.

Ogii looking out the top of the boat.

We were thinking of getting a sunrise picture above Lombard Street, but it was kind of boring, so we drove up and down the nearby streets looking for a nice view. This little park on Vallejo between Taylor and Jones was nice.

There was a little walkway on the side.

And lots of pretty flowers.

Still couldn't get a great view of the sunrise, though, because of trees in the way. Thankfully I had a painter's pole to stick the camera on.

Coit Tower, the Bay Bridge, and the Transamerica Pyramid.

A cable car coming over the hill with the Bay Bridge behind it.

Breakfast at Eight AM.

Ogii ready to eat.

Nice artwork on the walls.

Cute tip box.

Swimmer sink? Swimmers NK?

A cable car going up a hill.

It's kind of scary driving in the same lane as them.

Carnaval was on Sunday. They started with a group of classic cars. This one had a beautiful paint job.

That's a nice lens.

Drum circle.

This little girl thought the cars were too loud.

Up on 3 license plate.

It's accurate.

Another great paint job.

Tailpipe fire.

Now time for costumes.

Shaking hands with the crowd.

Reminding everyone to be happy.

Dancers.

He's having fun.

Green and yellow.

Huge headdress.

Not much clothing.

Awesome tiger hat and facepainting.

Couples dancing.

On stilts.

Huge headdress feathers.

Colorful dress.

Truck in front of the Peru dancers.

Spinning.

The Carnaval king and queen.

Yellow.

Biggest outfit so far.

Black, silver, and red.

So big he needs wheels to help him out.

A cable car float.

Live band.

That one's really tall.

This is back before the parade officially starts where they're still lining up and getting ready.

Fun car.

Kinky crew.

Gay float.

Flowery headdresses.

Flowers on sticks headdresses.

I hope she doesn't get tired by the end of the parade.

Very colorful outfits.

The floats were playing lots of good music; the app on our phones could figure it out.

Lunch at Tommy's Joynt.

In the evenings there's a huge line that wraps around the block, but right now it's almost empty.

Gorgeous corner carving.

Artwork made with metal.

Ah, that's the San Francisco I'm used to; foggy.

I wanted to find this chain with a view of the Golden Gate but we didn't see it near the wharf. Just Googling "Golden Gate chain" brought up this, though, which says it's at Fort Point.

Found it.

Our phones have built-in 3D picture capture, which is a great idea, although the stitching is pretty bad; there are usually lots of spots where it messes up.