My cousin, Tom & his oldest daughter (oldest of his 6 kids!), Ashley, came to visit for a whirlwind 24 hours. They're both from Warsaw, Indiana - where my Mom grew up and where all of my Aunts, Uncles & cousins still live.

It was their first time in San Francisco, or even seeing the Pacific Ocean, and my first time ever having one of my cousins - or any of my Indiana family members, for that matter - come & visit me out here! *hint hint* :)

Here's what we did for the 24 hours they were here:

• Sunday afternoon I picked them up from the airport
• Dropped off their stuff, showed them my place, introduced them to my kitty Kazoo, had Ashley change from shorts to jeans... because there's only so many days a year you can wear shorts in SF, believe it or not. :)
• Went to a late lunch at Papalote - tacos, burritos & the best salsa ever.
• Walked up & down Valencia St. (Mission District), where we stopped at several awesome little shops:
  • 826 Valencia - pirate store!
  • Paxton Gate - taxidermy, succulents & airplants
  • Little Otsu
  • Curiosity Shoppe
• Got back in the car, drove down beautiful Dolores St (lined with palm trees), past Dolores Park and kept driving all the way over to the Haight-Ashbury and then through Golden Gate Park and all the way to Ocean Beach!
  
  
  
• After spending some time on the beach, we drove up and around the Legion of Honor/Land's End area, where we took a few more pics! (also, see interactive photos of this area)
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Then we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and through Sausalito, an adorable little town on the north coast of the bay that looks over to San Francisco.
• Driving back we stopped at the Palace of Fine Arts for a few pics, then down Chestnut Street & Union Street (cute neighborhood shopping/restaurants)
• Up and over through North Beach - SF's Little Italy - and down past the Transamerica building, through Chinatown, Union Square (shopping district with bigger stores like Nordstrom's, Macy's, etc)
• And then drove back near my house, in Bernal Heights, for dinner at Emmy's Spagetti Shack! yumm!

See (most of) our first day of driving around on a Google map!
(Google Maps unf. maxed out after this :)

Monday morning we woke up, had soy lattes & got ready...

• First going to breakfast at St. Francis Fountain... also very yumm & one of my favs. :)
• After breakfast we headed down the Embarcadero, along the water & under the Bay Bridge, over to Fisherman's Wharf
• Purchased tickets for a boat ride out on the water, under the Golden Gate Bridge and around the island of Alcatraz! It was a little chilly as we got to the bridge, but overall the trip was very nice!
  
  
  
  
• After the boat ride around the bay, we walked down Pier 39, did a little shopping, & then had lunch before taking them to the airport for their flight!

What a fun trip! :) Thanks for taking the time to come & visit me you two! I look forward to going back to Warsaw & visiting you all again soon.

Click here to view all the photos from their trip to San Francisco!

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