Venturing Out of My Backyard

The hubby and I have been married for 5 years and till today my sister-in-law and I have not had a girls night out. We finally got around to planning one and making it happen and it was a BLAST! We both are really into photography. She helped me to venture out beyond my backyard and capture Oakland & San Francisco. We needed a plan of action and Sarita was on it for sure - she was able to look up the top 10 places to photograph in San Francisco. 
We started off taking some pictures of Shipping Containers & Crains in Oakland.  This was really neat because my father-in-law helped to construct those years back so it was fun to capture his work.  Next was Treasure Island, on the island is this tourist spot where you can get a view of the whole city along with the Bay Bridge.  After that Sarita was bold enough to drive around random cliffs and hills to find this spot she heard about where you can get the cars moving on the bay bridge. After some roaming around we found the spot and it was sooooooo worth it.  The spot was a little dangerous but the perfect picture postcard spot.  We were there over 2 hours just playing around with our cameras getting the rear car lights on the bay bridge. We then roamed around some more in the hills and got to capture the front headlights of the cars as well. You really couldn't get us out of this spot - we just wanted to click away. We had to drag ourselves into the car so we could make our way to our original destination San Francisco.  
Once we were in San Francisco we wined & dined at Palamino's. They have the best Mojitos in town and its right along the Embarcadero so its the perfect scenic spot for our "date". We got some yummy tomato basil pizza, chatted photography and enjoyed a wonderful break with no kids, or husbands. Next on our list was the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Apparently they have this great spot on the top floor where you could get a wonderful view of the North Beach area. We snuck in and made our way to the top - but in our dismay there was a big glass screen blocking our fab view.  No worries, we took out our phones and made some fun Instagram shots and then moved along.  Our next place to capture was the Palace of Fine Arts.  At night the lights on the Palace shine down into the water making a beautiful glow.  After this we drove to the other side of town to capture the Golden Gate Bridge. I have always seen the Golden Gate bridge from the tourist side but Sarita took me to the west side and I was able to see the Golden Gate bridge in a way I have never seen before.  We drove down to Bakers Beach and were able to shoot the whole bridge from a distance. It was breathtaking! The water along the beach the shining Golden Gate bridge in the distance. Just amazing! We hung around here for quite a bit - it was a little challenging with our cameras since it was so dark. 
After Bakers Beach we realized it was time to eat dinner - Finally! We were both starving and ready to head over to the famous bermese restaurant. Sarita and I both make this Samosa Soup which Sarita first tried at Burma SuperStar in San Francisco. I was super excited to try the original Samosa soup.  Burma SuperStar is this whole in the wall place with a 2 hour+ wait.  A lot of their dishes have been featured on the Food Network.  Luckily that night we were able to get in within 15 minutes.  We ordered some wine, the samosa soup, a wonderful tea leaf salad and some yummy string beans.  It was a wonderful meal and we had a great time chatting and catching up.
The last place on our list was Twin Peaks.  Here we were able to capture the entire city along with the Bay Bridge & Golden Gate Bridge. Unfortunately for me I was having some trouble capturing what I wanted because of the wind.  I later realized it was because I never put the camera on a timer. But nevertheless, I did capture a few fun shots. 

Below are some highlights from our trip. Enjoy