For today’s Travelin’ Thursday post, I want to take you on a journey with me. A journey through my memory, through my mind, through San Francisco. A journey from one incredible bridge to another.

Let me give you a frame of reference: The city is San Francisco, California. The month is November, and the year is 2009. Follow along as I recount our path across the city!

1) Waking up in our posh (borrowed) high rise digs near the ferry building, we gaze at the sun rising over one very famous San Francisco bridge. We head out, covered in layers of clothing and backpacks full of gear, and man-go-round and I grab some quick eats from the 2) Thursday Ferry Building Farmer’s Market to fuel our journey. For we have BIG PLANS for the day…

After some snacks from the market and some 3) Blue Bottle Coffee, we strolled off along the 4) embarcadero, headed west (more or less) towards another very famous bridge. Okay, you guessed it, we’re walking to the Golden Gate Bridge.

Along the way we stop by 5) TCHO chocolate (for some divine samples and to purchase gifts for friends and family), and by 6) Fisherman’s Wharf to smell the stinky seals and to get some caffeine. I picked up a trolley car Christmas ornament for my parents who used to live in the city in the ’70s.

Soon we ended up in the 7) Presidio. We’re so close we can barely taste it, and we’ve been gazing at the bridge’s majesty for a few miles now. We scan the homes nearby in the Marina district for a landmark that my parents described to us, but never find it. We stop along the beach and watch people enjoying the sunny and warm fall day.

After taking some “Christmas Card” style photos and some video of the journey, we pack our stuff back up and continue on our journey. Though we still have miles to travel, we are determined! We wander around the base of the bridge, trying to figure out how to get up to the top as pedestrians. When we’re nearly to the bridge, we look for the military base that my dad was stationed on across the bridge and down below.

We made it! As we walked across 8 ) the bridge together, admiring it’s majesty from up close, the sun slowly began to set and a chill came into the air. We slowly wandered back across the bridge to the park and made our way back into the city. As we emerged back into the streets of the 9) Marina, darkness set upon the city and we treated ourselves to a cab ride back towards “home.” Our next pit stop was some much needed whiskey at a 10) divey bar in North Beach. We danced to some blues music and reminisced about the day’s journey as we made some plans for dinner. At this point we were so tired from walking all day that we decided to grab some groceries from the 11) Safeway across from our borrowed condo and relax on 12) the balcony overlooking the bay with a bottle of wine.

The next day held another adventure across town- to the Mission Dolores, or Golden Gate Park, or to Coit Tower. Wherever we went, we’ll never forget the journey of the Two Bridges.