DAY ONE
Our flight to San Francisco, the first stop to our 4 legged trip, was exactly at 6:05 AM and we all had to wake up extremely early to catch our flight. The plane ride there was about 3.5 hours, give or take. I was hoping to get at least 30 minutes of sleep during that ride but no, it was so cramped inside I could hardly breathe. When we arrived at the San Francisco airport, the one thing I immediately noticed was the weather. Oh my Lanta, can we please bring some San Francisco weather to Texas?! We arrived at around 8 in the morning (California time) and because it was so early, the sun wasn't fully out and the temperature was the perfect kind of chilly/crisp.
Because we were starving, we quickly got in our rental car and headed over to San Francisco's most popular (and over-hyped) breakfast/brunch place in Washington Square - Mama's. You guys, this place... is seriously not worth all the rave. My family and I waited outside for 3+ hours to just get seated and everything on their menu was just sort of... eh. We ordered 4 different things - the Monte Cristo, french toast platter, buttermilk pancakes, and Mama's favorite omelette - and they were all just alright. Nothing special, just flavors you expect to get from these menu items. The portions, however, are HUGE. But for just 4 things, the price came out to be close to 70 dollars. I mean, everything in San Francisco is on the more expensive side but still... geez.
For the entire day, I wore a pretty simple and comfortable outfit. I bought this white t-shirt dress from Urban Outfitters last summer and finally put it to good use as an airport outfit and a wait-in-line-all-day outfit. The layered necklace is something I've been using a lot recently, and I got it from J.Crew when they were having their 30% off jewelry sale. The tan cardigan that I wore with my dress is something I bought from Korea last summer as well. Normally, I like pairing this with a dress because the style and fit of the outerwear is more on the dressed up side. And finally, these white sandals have been my go-to for the summer. I bought these about a month ago at Gap when they were having an additional 50% off their sale items. They're so comfortable and I didn't have any plain white shoes so they were perfect with this look!
After brunch, my family and I set off to Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf. We didn't have plans to do anything there so we just found whatever parking space was available and walked along the pier. It started to get really hot towards 2PM and we were all exhausted and drained/food-coma'd to do more exciting things. We eventually took a couple pictures on the pier, rode a Golden Gate Bridge tour boat and made our way back to hotel to sleep.
Because we were starving, we quickly got in our rental car and headed over to San Francisco's most popular (and over-hyped) breakfast/brunch place in Washington Square - Mama's. You guys, this place... is seriously not worth all the rave. My family and I waited outside for 3+ hours to just get seated and everything on their menu was just sort of... eh. We ordered 4 different things - the Monte Cristo, french toast platter, buttermilk pancakes, and Mama's favorite omelette - and they were all just alright. Nothing special, just flavors you expect to get from these menu items. The portions, however, are HUGE. But for just 4 things, the price came out to be close to 70 dollars. I mean, everything in San Francisco is on the more expensive side but still... geez. For the entire day, I wore a pretty simple and comfortable outfit. I bought this white t-shirt dress from Urban Outfitters last summer and finally put it to good use as an airport outfit and a wait-in-line-all-day outfit. The layered necklace is something I've been using a lot recently, and I got it from J.Crew when they were having their 30% off jewelry sale. The tan cardigan that I wore with my dress is something I bought from Korea last summer as well. Normally, I like pairing this with a dress because the style and fit of the outerwear is more on the dressed up side. And finally, these white sandals have been my go-to for the summer. I bought these about a month ago at Gap when they were having an additional 50% off their sale items. They're so comfortable and I didn't have any plain white shoes so they were perfect with this look! After brunch, my family and I set off to Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf. We didn't have plans to do anything there so we just found whatever parking space was available and walked along the pier. It started to get really hot towards 2PM and we were all exhausted and drained/food-coma'd to do more exciting things. We eventually took a couple pictures on the pier, rode a Golden Gate Bridge tour boat and made our way back to hotel to sleep.
DAY TWO
Day 2 was our official full day in San Francisco. When we woke up, the weather was drastically different from yesterday's. Yesterday was crisp and clear with the right amount of sunshine. However today, it was extremely gloomy, foggy, and quite chilly the entire day. Despite the cloudy weather, my family and I drove off about 45 minutes to Half Moon Bay Beach. A family friend recommended this place because it was beautiful, but when we got there we were extremely disappointed. I think maybe it was because we went on the wrong day, but this place looked like one of the beaches in Galveston, Texas. The water was extremely dirty and the sand was filled with broken glass and trash. 
Afterwards, we headed to Twin Peaks and this place did NOT disappoint. I don't know what is with me and skylines but from Twin Peaks I could see the entire city of San Francisco. It was absolutely breathtaking. There were many tourists in this area as well, which I could understand why. Because it was at a higher elevation, it was a lot windier and colder than in the main city. My parents weren't feeling too well after yesterday's adventures, so they took a couple pictures and quickly went back in the car. On the other hand, my brother and I pretty much had a photoshoot. 
Afterwards, we headed to Twin Peaks and this place did NOT disappoint. I don't know what is with me and skylines but from Twin Peaks I could see the entire city of San Francisco. It was absolutely breathtaking. There were many tourists in this area as well, which I could understand why. Because it was at a higher elevation, it was a lot windier and colder than in the main city. My parents weren't feeling too well after yesterday's adventures, so they took a couple pictures and quickly went back in the car. On the other hand, my brother and I pretty much had a photoshoot. 
After Twin Peaks, we went back to central San Francisco to see the Sutro Baths and eat lunch at Boudin Bakery. The Sutro Baths were pretty cool to see as well, but I wasn't able to take many pictures because my camera died halfway through and my extra batteries were in the car. However can we talk about my lunch at Boudin Bakery. Oh my goodness, guys. It is an underestimate to say San Francisco has the best clam chowder in the nation. We decided we had to go get some while we were in the area because it's what everyone thinks of when they hear "San Francisco." I looked online and saw that Boudin Bakery was a really popular choice amongst tourists (and it happened to be near Fisherman's Wharf) so we stopped here for lunch. In short, IT WAS SO GOOD. I'm not much of a clam fan but seriously, this was delicious. The soup wasn't overpowering with a fishy taste and the sourdough bread bowl was just heavenly. 
To walk off the hefty lunch we ate, we stopped by Crookedest Street after a couple hours of rest back at the hotel. Crookedest Street was really cool to see because from afar, I could see the severe twists and turns of the street. And the surprising thing is, there were actual houses placed on the road that the locals lived in. After that, my family decided we couldn't leave San Francisco without getting on the trolley at least once. Luckily at the end of Crookedest Street, there was a trolley stop that led to downtown San Francisco. Getting on the trolley was a new experience as well. I never realized how old-fashioned San Francisco was until I saw how the trolley functioned. There was a conductor that checked actual paper tickets and cables engraved in the road that enabled the trolley to move. Since the sun was setting, the ride was extremely chilly, but it was worth! I got to hang on to the poles on the outside edges of the trolley and see the city at the same time. Downtown San Francisco was unlike any other downtown city I have ever been to in the States. In fact, it reminded me more of Korea because of the subway system it had and the stores/shopping plazas that were found on the sides of the streets.
DAY THREE
Because we did so much on our second day, we kept it relatively easy on our third day. In the morning, we went to the Golden Gate Bridge one more time and then stopped by Tartine Bakery on our way to Yosemite National Park. As usual, it was pretty chilly and foggy in the morning. On the bridge, it was even worse. The ocean currents and the wind from the fast-paced cars made it difficult for me to walk without being thrown around. Tartine Bakery was a nice end to first leg of our trip because it entailed everything San Francisco was about. (Also, it was super popular amongst the locals and tourists here, so we had to give it a try). The line was actually not that long when we got there and everyone just seemed to be doing their own thing. The cool thing about this bakery is that it actually sells lunch food as well. The bakery is open in the back so people can see what the workers are doing and everything is freshly baked. My family and I grabbed a table and bought 4 (FOUR) different desserts: their famous banana cream pie, chocolate e'clair, morning bun, and croissant. OH MY GOSH. It was seriously so good. I don't normally like banana and chocolate together but dang, they nailed this. All the desserts were flaky, fresh, and not overly sweet. I loved how the desserts were displayed in a glass container, so tourists could easily decide what they wanted based off of what they looked like. I highly recommend this place to anyone who's traveling to San Francisco. It's not overhyped; in fact, I think it could get some more hype. If you like sweets that are professionally made, come here. You won't regret!
With our full stomachs, we were back on the road to Yosemite Park. It was about a 5 hour drive and when we got there, we realized our living space was a lot worse than we expected. It was over 100 degrees for the 2 nights we were staying there and there was no air conditioning in our tent. We asked the front desk if we could refund our second night here, and luckily she said we could! That's when things got a little spontaneous. Originally, we were going to go on multiple hikes and adventure throughout Yosemite. However we realized that LA was kind of on the way to Las Vegas (which we were headed to next), so we decided to spend our second night there instead. For the rest of our third day (and first night in Yosemite), my family and I relaxed and grabbed a few bites to eat. We were all exhausted from the car ride, so we went to bed early and decided to wake up for a morning hike the next day.
DAY FOUR
6AM. I don't know what we were thinking, but we did it. We actually woke up for our 4 mile hike up Vernal Falls. The hike itself was a lot more challenging than I was expecting. There were lots of hefty inclines and steps that we had to take to get to the top of the fall that I was so close to just giving up. When we got to the top, I was pretty disappointed. Because this was a dry season for the park, the fall was more like a tiny trickle of water. On the other hand, the weather and air felt really crisp and clear. We laid down at the top of the fall to rest our calves and feet, and all I could hear were the birds chirping and trees moving back and forth.
Right after our hike, we took a quick shower and were back in the car to Los Angeles. I've always wanted to see what LA was all about so I was super stoked! It was about a 5 hour drive and when we got there, we had to hit up Koreatown. It was late when we arrived (around 10PM), so we stopped by a gopchang restaurant for a late dinner. Guys, this place was so bomb. I love gopchang in general but dang, I think this was the best gopchang place I have ever been to. After dinner, we passed out at our hotel. Everyone was exhausted and we had another long day of driving ahead of us, so we slept extremely early.
DAY FIVE
Bright and early, we went to another Korean restaurant for breakfast (wasn't as good) and then went to a local Korean supermarket to get a few snacks for the long drive to Las Vegas. On our way to Vegas, we stopped by Hollywood to see the TCL Chinese Theatre. Unfortunately, they were setting up for a movie premiere that day so the theatre was closed off. So instead, we stopped by a souvenir shop and purchased a few things before we drove out to Vegas.
On this day, I wore a breezy dress that I bought from H&M. I don't really own many colors or dresses in my wardrobe, so I figured this would be a nice addition to my monochromatic closet. After spending the rest of the day in the car, we finally got to Vegas at around 11PM that night. When we got to our hotel, my parents decided to just sleep immediately. Because this was our first and only night in Vegas, my brother and I decided to go out and explore the Strip. The only thought I had while I was walking along the Strip was "Man, I wish I was legal." Honestly in Vegas, there's nothing to do if you're underaged. The entire street is just filled with just casinos, bars, and clubs that all we could do was go to the M&M and Coca Cola store (I know, we're lame). After that, we ate at Shake Shack for dinner and then went back to the hotel to sleep.
DAY SIX
The last leg of our trip was Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam. Hoover Dam was on the way to the Grand Canyon, so we decided to see it before we left. And yup, you guessed it. We were back in the car... again. The car ride to Hoover Dam was actually really scenic. Oh and one thing I noticed that was different was the weather. It was blazing hot in Nevada and the walk along the Hoover Dam Walkway had me sweating the entire way. The Hoover Dam was pretty interesting to look at. I never knew it was that big and was never aware of how developed the architecture and technology were.
DAY SEVEN
Grand Canyon was the finale to our trip. I honestly didn't think there was much to see in the Grand Canyon. I mean honestly, it was cool for like the first 15 minutes. And then afterwards, everything just started to look the same. One thing that I will note about the Grand Canyon, specifically the Southern Rim, is the squirrels. Oh my gosh, these squirrels have no fear. First of all, they get so close to you and move so fast. Secondly, they look like they're going to jump on your back any second. I don't know maybe it's just me but the squirrels at Grand Canyon looked extremely vicious. Besides the squirrels and the fact that everything looked the same, Grand Canyon was nonetheless breathtaking. It is a must see at least once in your life, but personally I wouldn't go again.
This concludes my summer 2015 trip. It was a long 7 days but every day was a new experience. I can't wait to share more of my travels in the future and document them in this blog. I hope you enjoyed and thank you for sticking through the end!
P.S. Here's a small clip of my trip that I made as well.