Chicago in March

This last week we had spring break, and the weather got to a ridiculous high of 81 during the last half of the week. We used one of those beautiful days to ride the train and go explore Chicago. Rode one of their new double decker trains for the 1st time.

 The train ride only takes an hour and a half and you're at Millenium Park near the Loop in downtown Chicago.We did not have any big plans, but to do a massive amount of walking like we did in San Francisco.


I have never done that before, and never got a real sense of how big the city is; walking in and out through different neighborhoods, really getting a feel for things.


We got to see many different neighborhoods including Lincoln Park, The Depaul Campus, and Lake View, and then walked back south down Clark Street.


We only stopped at Lush near Depaul for 23:47 perfume, Water from CVS, Noodles and Co. for a quick cheap lunch (Anthony had never been there,) and the Urban Outfitters Outlet on Clark (they have clothing for much much cheaper than the overpriced retail store. Most shirts were 5 bucks while the jeans were only 10.)

The weather has been ridiculous here lately. It went from needing to wear a winter coat, to higher than 80 in about 2 weeks. I wish it could just be a stable 70 degrees most of the year. 80 in March is unheard of.


We ended up walking around 7 miles and were so hot and exhausted that not many pictures were taken during the 2nd half of the day. We were also in a race against time to get back to Millennium Station before the train left, or else we would have had to wait 3 more hours for the next one. Above you can see the skyline in the distance, we started out on the other side of all those skyscrapers.

Yielding me sore legs for a week, blistered covered feet, and an awesome experience. Need to find a good pair of shoes that are comfortable and fit well enough to be walked in all day so I can do this much more.

Muir Woods

We went to Muir Woods on our visit to San Francisco. Just a couple days after Christmas.

Read full post with beautiful pictures here!

San Francisco: My Favorite City So Far

Union Square

Anthony and I got the chance to fly out and spend a week in San Francisco last December, before driving back across the country to our home in Indiana. I am still going through my photos from that trip. Our last day in full photo documentation can be seen here.

After spending that week exploring the city, it has become my favorite city in the US. And is now my top recommendation for must see city. (though I haven't been to NY or Seattle, those are next on my list)
I have so many favorite pictures That I haven't posted, and I could devout whole entries to each day I spent there. But to save time (because I don't think I would ever get around to a post for each day) I found some of my favorite photos, to go with my favorite things about the city.


My favorite things about San Francisco (in no order):

The hills


We kept going on long walks and finding ourselves going up some huge hills. This section of the street got so steep that the sidewalk became stairs.


When people say the roads are hilly they are not joking around. We did not realize how high we were climbing until we turned around. The Golden Gate bridge is just out of frame to the left.


Because of all the hills the houses sit at different levels.
Its hard to have straight horizon lines in a city that's all angles. But it makes every photo so layered and interesting.


The weather



Some days are stuck in permanent sunny fall weather. My favorite season, and quite a lot different than Indiana's version of late December.

 
The other days have fog. Sadly the day we drove up to Muir Woods and Sausalito the sky was completely covered in fog all day. Sausalito is supposed to have amazing views of San Francisco from the North, but we couldn't see anything through the thick curtain of fog.

The shops
Independant shops in yarn, fabric, whatever. The lack of Wal-mart was relieving and the diverse food was delicious.




Local bakery where we got internet one day, a change from the usually Starbucks stop.


The Sourdough!!



All the things to do and see in all the vast neighborhoods. Each of these could be a whole different post.






Behind Whole Foods on Haight Street before Golden Gate Park.


Haight and Ashbury is a popular intersection for its place in the Hippie subculture of the 70's. The streets are lined with graffiti and unique shops based on the subculture.


Chinatown is quite massive, colorful, and varied in it's shop's selection.


The Exploratorium in The Marina District, full of sciency museum type things.

Ghirardelli Square, known for it's chocolate.


Free samples!


Japan town has a quite massive Japanese mall. Nori sheets, chopsticks, and Bento making supplies galore. Even a Sanrio store.


Fisherman's Wharf seems to be the #1 tourist destination (along with GG Bridge, Alcatraz, and Lombard street.) There was a penny press machine on each corner paired with a gift shop. Just about every tourist chain store/restaurant you can think of has set up shop here (Rainforest Cafe, Ripley's Believe it or not, etc) along with Men who have painted themselves to look like their made of metal and people who do some kind of unique spray paint spin art for money.  It was not a scene of raw fish for sale on ice lining the streets like I had previously imagined, like that scene in Howl's Moving Castle. Still interesting to see, none-the-less.

The ocean



This is the first time I really spent any amount of time with the Pacific. A++ would visit again when warmer so maybe I can stick my feet in. Not much more though, too many living oceanic things.


 The sights- There was so much to photograph around every corner.


Muni trasnsportation to any corner you may need to go, no car needed.




So many dogs being walked/ parked outside while their owners shop inside the store. The cutest thing was a chihuahua following on the heels of it's owner, them wearing matching jerseys, fast through the busy shoppers near Union Square. They looked like they do that everyday.


Near Stinson Beach, a beach we heard was beautiful, but we couldn't even see it through the fog.


3rd floor view.




Instead of shoes like in my city.




Muir woods, gigantic Red Woods. I am definitely devoting a post to this. I don't get to walk in the woods often.

Lush part 2: The Story

( Lush on Powell street in downtown San Francisco, the first Lush to be established in the US.)

          Starting a little more than a year ago, Anthony and I drove 2 hours to the Woodfield mall in Chicago(Schaumberg), spent a day eating sushi at Todai, tromping around Ikea, and I had heard that Lush had some nice soaps, so we stopped in.

           My first purchase was Porridge soap, Honey I Washed the Kids soap, American Cream conditioner, and New shampoo bar. I also got a free sample of R&B for my hair, after getting a massage with Strawberry Feels Massage bar and a wash with the Buffy Bar. I was in heaven, especially with all of my purchases. They were all perfect, and smell amazing. Since then we have gone to every local Lush store in the town's we visit. So far I have been to the one in Woodfield, the Lush in downtown Chicago in Macy's, the Lush at Mayfair Mall near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and The one in St. Louis Galleria.









On my recent road trip back across the country I got my first chance to go to an outdoor stand alone Lush, in San Francisco, the Powell street store (I was later told this was the first lush in the US, by an employee at the Las Vegas Lush,) and the store on Union Street in San Francisco. While visiting Anthony's childhood we stopped at the Lush in Fashion Valley Mall in San Diego.We stopped at the store in Mandalay Bay while we stayed overnight in Las Vegas. 
















When asked what we liked to do for fun Anthony joked that we liked to visit Lush stores, which actually, is quite the truth, for me anyways. Whenever we are visiting a new city, I check their locations and see if there is a Lush store within close distance. Unlike most boring chain stores, that are all the same, each Lush store is so different, often times has different products in stock (especially during the Christmas sale), and is a completely different experience (the feel, the employees, the atmosphere.) I could do a separate post on each store and my experience their and how they are different, though It might become quite repetitious and am not too sure who would be interested in the tiny details.

  I plan on going to the Lush stores in New York when I finally get to visit it with my free flights from signing up for a Southwest Rapid Rewards Card. And the stores in Canada, when I finally go there. Maybe one day I will be able to visit a Lush Spa in the UK. Though it says they will be coming to the US soon.

NYE in San Francisco Conservatory, Golden Gate Park, Sunset, Fireworks

Got the chance to go visit San Francisco, during a big trip across the country. This is one of the days we used to explore the city. I originally took over 600 photos on this day.

We go to the top of the Twin Peaks, visit the Conservatory, walk through the Golden Gate Park, Head over to Ocean Beach and see the Cliff House and Sutro Baths ruins, Watch the Sunset, and head back to the Twin Peaks for the fireworks at midnight. Definitely not a normal day in my life.

I am going to try to document a lot more of my days and post them here, I find it really helps with my photography, and gets me to take more pictures.

I still have the rest of the 2 whole weeks trip to edit and post photos of. Including all the other days in Sf, and the drive back to Indiana, through Vegas and all.



First thing's first in the morning, get ready. There are no time checks, sorry I forgot, but the day starts around 8 am and ends after midnight.


Check the weather, the perspiration means its sunny! The first day with no fog in the past 3, exiciting when you're visiting SF and actually want to be able to see things. (Tried seeing the Golden Gate Bridge the previous 2 days to no avail.)


Jump in the car, one of the only days we ride in it all week. We usually walked or took the MUNI busses or trains.


But this morning we wanted to go see the city from atop the Twin Peaks, which I heard was an amazing photography spot. Got a ride with my boyfriend's dad.




And it was, an amazing view. The downtown area is ahead, center.