Beautiful Day in the Bay | SF Photo Diary

Dear WordPress,

Hello. It’s been a while. 15 months, actually. Sorry about that. 2016 was a rough year, and it was hard trying to find inspiration to do anything—let alone write.

But springtime is all about beginning again, and that’s exactly what we’re doing with this blog.

After what seemed like constant rain for the first few months of 2017, it’s starting to feel like spring in Northern California. We decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and explore San Francisco for a weekend.

Our first stop was Stow Lake Boathouse at Golden Gate Park. Celebrating our anniversary (albeit a week early), we decided to skip the usual dinner-and-a-movie date routine and try something new. And we’re so glad we did. We rented a pedal boat for $27, but row boats are also available for $21 if you’re looking to live out your The Notebook fantasy. The scenery was absolutely beautiful; interacting with wildlife and on-looking parkgoers was an added bonus. Highly recommend going here on your next date or even bringing the family for a fun outing.

Next, we stopped by Japantown. Although we were a week early for the Cherry Blossom Festival, the trees were in already in full bloom.

The next day, we walked along Valencia Street. You could spend an entire day exploring Valencia, window shopping at boutiques, trying various ethnic cuisines, and checking out cute coffee shops. Dandelion Chocolate is a great spot if you’re looking to get your sugar fix.

While on Valencia, we stumbled upon the plethora of street art that is Clarion Alley. The easiest way to describe it is a millennial hipster’s paradise: Instagrammable murals with politically-charged messages.

These are some of my favorite pieces at Clarion Alley, but there are so much more worth seeing in person. Goes to show that you don’t need to shell out cash to view art in a museum—art is all around us.