San Francisco and Lake Tahoe Photo Diary

Hey, hey… This post have been a while coming but I’m happy to finally share a photo diary of my trip to the west coast for 4th of July. I’m going to try to make this post a little less wordy and focus more on the images, but we’ll see how that goes…

Ok so, to be totally honest, if you had told me back in May that I’d come back from my trip home to Ireland and hop on a plane to fly practically the same distance across the country 5 days later, I’d have said ‘not a chance’. But in one of those total YOLO/Treatyoself moments, I booked last minute flights to San Francisco and went from there. The girls (Erika and Ciara) were doing a road trip up the California coast and their plan was to drive to Lake Tahoe for 4th of July weekend via San Francisco. It worked out a lot cheaper to fly to San Francisco instead of airports closer to Lake Tahoe, so everything really was working out perfectly for me. It also meant I got to check another American city of my (very long) list…

Lake Tahoe is about a 3 and half hour drive from San Francisco in normal traffic (it took us longer as it was a holiday weekend). It’s located on the California/Nevada border, which means on one side bars close super early (like 1 or 2am) and there’s absolutely no gambling. On the other side, I’m not sure if the bars ever close and you can gamble away to your hearts content.

Outside of the nightlife, Lake Tahoe is honestly one of those places where you have to pinch yourself to make sure you’re actually there. I can’t describe how surreal it is to lie on a beach and look up at snow capped mountains. I loved it! It is beyond stunning. I’m a summer bunny, so I was loving all the summer activities that were in full swing (if you follow me on Snapchat and Instagram you’ll have seen the boats and jetskis we rented), but if you talk to the locals, they’ll all tell you winter/skiing season is their favourite time of year.

After Lake Tahoe, it was back to San Francisco for the 4th of July fireworks and one full day of being a tourist. In total, I had about a day and a half in San Francisco and I managed to pack quite a lot into that time. Here is what I did:

Touristy things:
Saw/drove over the Golden Gate Bridge (it was foggy all 3 times)
Saw The Painted Ladies
Visited The Mrs Doubtfire House
Walked around the Marina District
Visited the Palace of Fine Arts
Walked down Lombard Street (this had been on my bucket list for YEARS)
Saw a tram (the queues were way to long to try to get on one)
Walked up some ridiculously steep hills (there’s no escaping them in San Fran)
Drove around Sausalito (a gorgeous spot the other side of the bridge – need to go back here)
The Ferry Building Market

Food wise, I only I had a chance to eat in two places while I was in San Francisco – Jane on Filmore Street and Seed + Salt in the Marina District. I loved both and will 100% be back on my next trip. And there will be a next trip for sure. There’s still so much I have to do, like see and walk the bridge on a clear day, Alcatraz, Fisherman’s Wharf, North Beach… I could go on and on.

Of all of the things I loved about San Francisco, I think the beautiful streets that have buildings with amazing flowers draped over them have to be my favourite (it’s a Cali thing). They are so beautiful… If we could have those here in New York my life would be complete. 🙂

Hope your having a good week. Be sure to check back tomorrow for my latest Friday Five,

Lorna x

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p.s. San Francisco was COLD! I did not pack well for the weather!!