This is part iii of my San Francisco recap. See part i here and part ii here. 

SUNDAY!

Sunday was our last full day of the trip! Sadness! At the beginning of it, I felt like we had all the time in the world. By the last day, I was starting to feel bummed it was almost over.

Especially because I slept in until 9:30 (keep in mind I went to bed around 3:30)! I rarely sleep in and it makes me feel mentally crummy when I do. But everyone was sleeping later, and I still got to do a short run in Golden Gate Park (heart eye emojis!!!). After that, I went to Starbucks to get my San Francisco “Been There” mug.

We had leftover pizza for lunch then headed to The Golden Gate Bridge. I was pumped to see it up close! I’m not an engineer, but am trained in architecture, and geek out over structural achievements, especially bridges.

I totally removed a light pole from this pic, ha ha ha

And of course, The Golden Gate Bridge did not disappoint!

We admired it from the south side, then walked almost to the first tower.

It was freaking windy that day. A ton of people recommended I run across the bridge but I’m glad I didn’t. The wind would have made it miserable. Maybe I’ll have that chance another day.

After visiting the bridge we walked by Crissy Field, stopped at Sports Basement (I was looking for a technical SF tee, but no luck!), then took a long walk to check for a vegan donut at Bob’s Donuts!

I really appreciate my friends helping me with my Vegan Donut Tour (of America). I think a lot of them are learning what a pain it is to confirm places sell vegan donuts at all, then to confirm if they have any that day. Mica has the whole story of trying to find a vegan donut for me on her blog (read it here!). Long story short, she tried calling two places (one of them being Bob’s) and couldn’t get through to either. Then we got to Bob’s and they didn’t have vegan donuts (the boys got some regular ones). So Mica called Twisted Donuts & Coffee, which is closer to home (and far from where we were). She thought they’d be sold out/closed for the day, but they had two vegan donuts left! But we were too far away to get them. So a friend of hers went and picked them up for me! Isn’t that nice?!?! (now read her blog to see what happened when she picked them up from him, ha).

We had a long walk to Bob’s and enjoyed chatting with each other. We did a lot of that this trip – long walks and chatting which I LOVED.

On the way to Bob’s we passed a macaroni and cheese that had a vegan option so we went back to that as a pre-dinner snack (heh, at 5:00 pm). We waited in line only to find out they were out of vegan cheese! Two vegan strike outs! Which I am totally used to and laugh about. It’s nice they have these options at all.

We decided to get Papalote again for dinner because we loved it so much – Steven and I ordered the same things as Thursday night! Papalote was our favorite food, overall. We tried a lot of things, and that stood out the most. Go figure – we love burritos/Mexican food.

And the donut?! It was tasty! It was a cake donut with a light lemon icing. Not too overpowering – the perfect amount of sweetness. And the donut base was tasty too. Three drooly faces!

State	Date	Name	Flavor(s)	Rating (0-4)	Photo
Kansas	1/15/18	Mud Pie	Cake Chocolate Frosted
Illinois	2/7/18	Do-Rite	Chai Maple
Illinois	2/17/18	Holcomb Hollow	Lemon Vanilla
Ohio	3/23/18	Holey Toledough	Blackberry Hibiscus & Cinnamon Roll
Wisconsin	4/1/18	Holey Moley Coffee + Doughnuts	Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Glaze, Cinnamon Sugar, Banana Bread, S’mores, Raspberry, Samoa, and Apple Fritter
Ohio	5/12/18	Brewnuts	Lemon Ginger and Oreo P’Nut Butter
Minnesota	10/13/18	Glam Doll Donuts	Maple Buttercream & Toasted Coconut, Blackberry Henessy Icing, Fresh Jam, & Brown Sugar Bits, Chocolate Icing & Sprinkles, Fresh Raspberries & Vanilla Icing, Sweet Potato Filling.
California	11/11/18	Twisted Donuts & Coffee	Lemon Icing

We had a chill night and went to bed early-ish… well, compared to the night before! We all had to get up kind of early – us to catch our flight, and them to go to work!

MONDAY!

Monday was consumed by travel! We got up, finished packing, showered, said our goodbyes and hit the road. We’re cautious with timing in air travel, and got to the airport two hours before our 9:30 am flight. We loved using TSA Pre on this trip. Gosh, it’s so nice NOT to have to take my stuff out of my bags, or my coat off! (I took my boots off both times since they made the magnetometers go off on my last flight (<— why is that detail necessary? Sigh, Kim.))

(More unnecessary details) When we booked our flights, all that was left (without a seat charge) was middle seats so I booked two near each other (one in one row and one behind it). We were hoping they could move us next to each other in the same row, but no luck! I watched The Spy Who Dumped Me and part of Incredibles 2 to pass the time. We landed around 4:00 pm and got home at 6:00. And I was somewhat productive – unpacking, doing three loads of laundry, editing photos for the blog, etc. AND PETTING THE KITTIES WHO I MISSED WAY TOO MUCH.

OTHER SF THOUGHTS!

• We loved visiting Mica and Harrison! Once we planned this trip Steven said to me “I’m excited about our trip – we always have so much fun with Mica and Harrison.” And we did. We had some really goofy moments and some serious conversations too <— my favorite mix (as long as it’s heavier on the goofy side, as it was, ha).
• We’d love to go back to San Francisco! People asked me if we’d like to live there. No. But we love to visit. We like living in the woods, in isolation (derr).
• However, I never felt overcrowded or like I needed “me” time on this trip. That usually happens when I spend day after day with people, but it didn’t this time. Probably because we all get along so well.

THINGS PEOPLE TOLD ME ABOUT SF:

• That it’s cold. Yes, it was. The highs were in the high 60s and the lows in the high 40s, and yeah, I wore pants and a jacket and never felt hot unless we were walking uphill. I liked the weather. I like not sweating unless I am working out.
• That it’s expensive. Yes, it is. I noticed this the most with food. But I was also on vacation, so I didn’t mind. And presumably, if I lived there, I’d get paid more. In fact, if I worked there for the same organization, I’d get a 28% locality adjustment (I get 19% in Chicago). (I am on the GS pay scale so I can look these things up).

THINGS I DIDN’T THINK ABOUT:

• That people would be smoking marijuana in public. Stinky! I don’t mind if others smoke it (responsibly) but I do NOT want to smell it. I am sensitive to smoke smells.

Ha. I probably shouldn’t end on THAT note!

I’m grateful we got to take this trip. We haven’t done a vacation like this in a while because Steven didn’t have reliable help at work. He does now, so, yay! I hope it stays that way and we can take another vacation next year!

Our first west coast pin!