Last summer, I went to Chicago to see the Braves play and experience the city. This summer I continued the tradition of following my team out of town to San Francisco and Portland. A few days after school was finished back in May I headed out west.

I got off the plane and headed straight to Chinatown for lunch. That place is crazy and the food is crazy good.

Then from Chinatown it was off to Pier 39. We took a boat tour under the Golden Gate Bridge and got to see the seals too!

The next day was a visit to Haight Ashbury and Japantown.

That tie dye is the largest framed artwork in the city, on the ceiling of a shop in Haight Ashbury! The cool looking building is a monument in Japantown. We walked around and saw the famous Painted Lady houses:

And watched vehicles try and traverse through Russian Hill:

San Francisco is serious business about it’s hills — there are some mighty steep streets! Here are some other cool things:

Unlike last summer’s trip to Chicago, the Braves won against the Giants this time around! At the end of the game the stadium swarmed with seagulls.

One of my favorite parts of this trip were the amazing hikes. San Francisco is such a cool city — one moment you can be in the middle of a busy city and the next you can be on a hike in nature by the sea.

This is me running on a hillside:

Here is a labyrinth made of stones on the edge of the world:

One of the hikes was on a trail that had old army bunkers. . . now covered in graffiti!

 

After a few days in San Fran, it was time to jet off to Portland.

(hahah get it? time to jet off!)

The first thing I did in Portland was visit an exquisite Japanese garden. It was so peaceful and quite stunning in its beauty.

Then of course I had to try some local food at the food carts downtown. Noms!!

And a trip to the famous and delicious doughnut shop was of course in order:

The evening ended with a trip to an awesome arcade:

Overall it was a fantastic trip. Special thanks to Erika & Jeremy for their hospitality! I am really excited to continue my year of crazy travelling and jetsetting with my trip to Italy and Greece in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned for more adventures!

❤ Ms. K