Our Trip to San Francisco

Here’s the life update that pairs with this adventure:

So y’all know that AJ and I are a duo when it comes to HMP (if you’re curious exactly what AJ does, check out this post!).

In addition to being the biggest obscure car enthusiast, my business partner, my go-to everything, and the best corgi dad, AJ also has a day job. I couldn’t tell you how he does it all.

But recently, after not feeling fulfilled in this day job, he began to seek out new opportunities. He fell into a new position at a new company that really seems to be written exactly for him.

This new company is still in downtown Austin (like his old one), but they’re based in San Fransisco. So AJ got to spend two whole weeks in the bay area for orientation.

I’m so proud and excited for him, but two weeks is such a long time. do miss him so bad already. I was having flashbacks from our 4+ years of long distance and it was not fun.

Luckily, halfway through I was able to fly up and join him! I have family in the Bay Area, and my other cousin who lives in Seattle (and just had a baby!!) was also able to come up that same weekend! It seemed like a no brainer, to get to see my fam and to have a lil vacay!

Also, can we take a moment because flying to San Francisco for a new hire orientation is THE most adult thing I’ve ever heard of. I can’t say enough how proud I am of AJ for taking this huge step. He was lucky to step out of college straight into a “big boy job” but this is like THE REAL DEAL big adult job and he’s only 24!

Anyway, now I’m rambling. Mainly I’m just grateful I get to do life alongside such an amazing human. And when someone you love gets the life opportunities that they deserve, it’s really something special.

So now that you’ve been updated, let’s jump into the trip! AJ was staying in the SoMa district on Townsend. His hotel was so close to the office, it was a five minute walk each morning!! Now that he’s back home the 30+ minute commute is not as much fun.

I arrived on Tuesday morning and lyft-ed to the hotel. AJ was obviously working, but luckily I arrived right at his lunch break! I got to meet with him almost as soon as I landed which was a nice surprise.

We went to the most amazing grilled cheese place that, spoiler, we visited three more times. Me after grilled cheese:

AJ’s new role is very unique – there’s only 3 other people in the whole company doing what he’s doing! So he was a special case in orientation, and didn’t have to go to every part. Best case scenario for me!!

So luckily the rest of that day, AJ just had one meeting that didn’t last too long. So we met up again and walked down all the piers to a place called Water Bar for a very fancy happy hour. Neither of us really love oysters so it was just drinks for us.

Wednesday I was determined to not spend all day in the cushy hotel (even though I really wanted to). It was about a 20 minute walk to Yerba Buena Gardens. The gallery there had an overflow exhibit from the SF MOMA on Suzanne Lacey.

Flowers like this were just casually at every turn.

Two years back when AJ and I took our road trip up the PCH, we met up with a friend who lived in Oakland at the time. She took us to Yerba Buena and we had lots of sangria before spending time at the SF MOMA! I totally forgot I had every been there, but it was a fun call back!

Then I took the bus to meet my sweet friend Paige!! It just happened to work out that we were there at the same times which was amazing!

We went to Legion of Honor museum and the Palace of Fine Arts. Both were super pretty and beautiful spots! Per usual on all our trips, headed straight to happy hour. Because, vacay.

Paige took the train back home and when AJ finished work we went out for dinner! We went to a really good Italian place in North Beach and walked around that area after that. We tried to walk back all the way to the hotel because the weather was just so dang nice, but it was like four miles and ya girl was tired. Doggo spotting:

Thursday I got to do my favorite thing in the whole world. I spent the entire day (okay, just six hours but come on!) at SF MOMA! It was amazing. I got to see the first part of the Suzanne Lacey exhibit, which was intense but really cool. There was an Andy Warhol exhibit too which is always so cool to see!

We ended up back in North Beach for dinner and drinks that night. It’s such a cool area! And we found a cool tap room called Liquid Gold. The bartender was super cool and felt the same way about the city as we feel about Austin. I was very into the vibe of this can from Alvarado Street Brewery. And the beer!

Friday AJ got off really early (yay for me !) and we went to pier 39! We’ve been to San Fransisco the last 2 years in a row, and each time we go to the little aquarium there.

It’s not very big, especially when the firs time we saw it we had just been to Monterey. But the otters are just too cute! And the walk through aquarium is definitely worth it. The sting rays and the star fish are too cool!

We went to a burger place AJ loved in Pacific Heights. And we ventured to another cool brewery!

Saturday morning we took the train to Redwood city and met up with my cousin and saw their new house! And we got to meet their sweet fur baby Ripley.

Saturday and Sunday we all went to Portola Valley where my aunt and uncle live. There we saw my other cousin and his wife and their new sweet lil baby!! She’s too cute for words! Here’s my Aunt and Uncle’s pup Sisi. And some views from their beautiful garden!!! I’m so jealous of all the fruit trees!

We went on a walk with the whole fam, baby included! It was so peaceful and pretty up there. It was the perfect way to end our trip!

We hacky sacked back to reality, and now AJ is loving his new job back in Austin!! I’m so happy we got to spend the last half of his orientation together!

This new job does mean more travel…so hopefully we’ll be going on more trips together in the near future!

Check out our last trip on the HMP Travels course: Washington D.C. ! This is where we had our engagement session done back in April! To say it was a dream come true is an understatement!!