Although we originally had plans to visit an art festival in downtown, we ended up shopping instead. My uncles' flight came in later than originally planned and so we relaxed and went out and about. Lots of new local shops have opened up since I had been to town and it was so awesome to wander through them. The first was Rebel, where they sold a lot of handmade items that I have been lusting over on Etsy before even seeing this store. It was amaaaazing. I purchased a card and a small gift for a friend of mine on bedrest during the rest of her pregnancy.
Next to Rebel was Urban Exchange, which is a consignment store for women. It was also amazing. It was decorated so well and included many nice nice clothes that I could never afford in a regular store. These two stores are definitely on my to do list for my next trip back. Two things I forgot about MI were that it goes at a more relaxed pace and that people are genuinely friendly. For the latter, I kept catching myself questioning the motives of pleasant strangers and store clerks who were simply being friendly. Funny how living on the East Coast makes you realize that.

One evening, I put on my uncle's shoes.

returned at o'dark o'clock on Monday

making my way home

Although my visit was short, it was dense with family memories. It was so good to see all of my dad's side of the family and I look forward to visiting again.

If you are interested to see more photos, you can find me on Instagram as TurtandElephant.

I have been visiting family since Thursday and it has been so nice to come back and relax. All I have to think about is seeing family and not worry about work or any other responsibilities.

The flights over were not too bad. There was some turbulence but overall they were pleasant flights. I was impressed with how much leg room I had on one of them. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed riding escalators and moving walkways, too.
The time on all the public transit also let me begin working on Alycia at the Curious Pug's Crochet-Along project. They are nesting bowls; I'm supposed to be crocheting them in rainbow colors, but as my yarn collection lacks most of the rainbow, I'm just going to crochet with what I have.

Now I am headed off to more family adventures. Enjoy your Saturday!

As I was writing these San Francisco posts, I couldn't believe that I didn't put up my Muir Woods photos yet. Then I looked at them again. Oh. That's right. Not the best photographs. However, you can start to get the feel for the area. There is nothing like it in person, though. I highly recommend it.

There was a very large floating lotus display downtown SF.

although we went here twice, none of my pics turned out well. smuggler's cove. fabulous tiki drinks and rums.

Golden Gate Park has much more to offer than I originally thought. In my previous trips to the Bay Area, my uncle and I used it as a cut through to the Haight Ashbury area. And I think we went to the Japanese Tea Garden once. This time, we purposefully went to see a few areas, including the Bison Paddock and Dutch Windmill.

Golden Gate Park

uncles, looking at the buffalo

buffalo paddock!!

dutch windmill

the coast to the pacific

sappho baths (foreground), seal rock (background)

There is just something majestic about this one.

looking at the golden gate bridge a different way

the fog starts to roll in

Ryan, photobombing my photo.

seal rock

sappho

land's end

my awesome uncles

peek-a-boo

Land's end was truly a beautiful spot to behold. We enjoyed climbing around and taking photographs. I will have to print some of these photos some day to hang in our home. They are just breathtaking.

Believe it or not...there are MORE photos. Including some of Muir Woods. I took so many photographs that I have had to edit them in batches or go cross-eyed. I cannot wait to share more of our vacation with you and I love reviewing all the memories.

These are more photos of my uncles' place. Sorry, all of you will have to wait for a tiki room photo just yet. The last photo shoes sesame balls that Ryan, Jeff and I made together. It's amazing how hard it is to get them to be all the same size--it definitely didn't happen! There is a behemoth of a ball...can you spot it?

I've spent the weekend getting prepared for surgery and post-surgery. My nail polish is removed, bought some pre-made dinners and I did as much laundry and cleaning as I could. I'm a little nervous, and I will probably be even more nervous right before the surgery, and so I am looking forward to it being over even more.

I also found more chalkboard frames today! I was very excited that I could find more frames to turn into chalkboards and offer them to the Etsy community.