No better city to spend our one year wedding anniversary than San Francisco. Using Priceline's "Name your Price" we were placed in the Sir Francis Drake hotel on Powell Street which was right in the heart of Nob Hill and Union Square. It was in a great centralized location that allowed us easy access to the rest of the city. The weather didn't cooperate entirely since it was raining almost the entire time but it allowed us to explore some things we probably wouldn't have such as the Musee Mecanique (www.museemecaniquesf.com). This "museum" if you want to call it that takes up an entire pier and is filled with arcade games going back to the 1800s. They are all fully functioning and playable. We went through Chinatown. Then wandered along the piers - and the stores - and made a special stop to see the seals at Pier 39. Then wandered up to Ghirardelli Square for chocolate deliciousness. Of course walked the extremely crooked Lombard Street and kept going until we could look down at Alcatraz Island which we later got a closer look at when we went by on a ferry on our way to Sausalito. This was all fun but one of the most special places to me was Muir Woods. It was an easy day trip and so worth it to see the spectacularly tall trees that are only in the region. We took one trolly just for fun but the bottom line is it was a lot of walking!! 

There are a lot of reasons why this festival is so much fun. 1) You get to fly kites and act like a kid. 2) Everyone around you is in a great mood. 3) The visual of colorful kites in the sky against the backdrop of the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial is really amazing. This was the first year that I participated. It was an overcast day that started with very low winds so it took a few hours for the wind to pickup and for everyone to get their kites in the air. But hey, even running around like a fool trying to get a kite in the air is super fun. Added bonus is that when you are done you can walk around and look at the Cherry Blossoms.