Breakfast at Sweet Maple

/ Food, Me, Photo

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French toast at Sweet Maple.

After watching the sunrise at the Golden Gate Bridge, we grabbed breakfast from one of our favorite places, Sweet Maple.

Nearly as famous are our Big Hip deep fried French Toast, bottomless mimosas and bloody Marys.

I typically get the eggs benedict… however, from this point forward, I’ll probably get the french toast—it’s unbelievable. Both Annie and Julia got it, and I have to say, I was a little jealous! 😋

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Millionaire bacon.

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Eggs benedict.

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Annie and Julia enjoying their breakfast in SF.

Founded in 2010, Sweet Maple is now the the go-to brunch destination for San Francisco locals and knowledgeable food tourists alike. Home of world famous Millionaire’s Bacon, our extra-thick, sweet and spicy bacon that is slow-cooked for hours with brown sugar and spicy peppers to a chewy perfection.

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Julia and Annie posing for a photo after breakfast in front of Sweet Maple’s entrance.

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Glass door entrance of Sweet Maple.

If you’re ever in the area, you should definitely check Sweet Maple out. Be prepared for a long wait if you want brunch on a sunday though.

🚶🚶🚶

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Big hip deep fried french toast.

EDIT

Annie said this photo is actually the “Big Hip deep fried French Toast”. She insisted that you try this—it tastes like funnel cake. And yeh, it’s pretty damn delicious.

Too Cute: Fennec Fox Learns to Sit

/ Too Cute, Video

A Fennec Fox pup.

I stumbled on a super cute video of a Fennec Fox being trained how to sit. I didn’t even know that people could have these things as pets.

Training the Baby Fennec Fox to Sit. +500k views on YouTube.

The fennec fox or fennec (Vulpes zerda) is a small nocturnal fox found in the Sahara of North Africa. Its most distinctive feature is its unusually large ears, which also serve to dissipate heat. The fennec is the smallest species of canid. Its coat, ears, and kidney functions have adapted to high-temperature, low-water, desert environments. In addition, its hearing is sensitive enough to hear prey moving underground. It mainly eats insects, small mammals, and birds. The fennec has a life span of up to 14 years in captivity. –Wikipedia

Golden Gate Bridge Sunrise

/ Cali, Me, Photo

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Julia and Annie watching the sunrise at Golden Gate Bridge.

One of our favorite things to do is watching the sunrise from Marin County. It’s such a fantastic view of the city, the bridge, Alcatraz, Angel Island, and more.

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The trail is easy to get to from this parking lot.

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A trail that goes up to the vista point.

Please respect earthworks. The National Park Service is preserving unique earthworks of Battery Spencer (1887) and Ridge Battery (1871-1872). Please respect fencing, trail boundaries, and closed areas so that we may preserve these sensitive earthworks and vegetation that protects them.

To be really honest, everything up there was really dry—like bone dry—but I would be careful around the edges. There are some pretty steep fall offs, so be mindful when shooting selfies.

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Julia and Annie jumping in front of the Golden Gate Bridge.

No matter how many times I come up here, it never ceases to amaze me. I think this was both Annie and Julia’s favorite view from the trip. Just be prepared—it can get cold up there. Make sure to bring extra layers.

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Annie, Julia and I.

Time-lapse video of the Golden Gate Bridge.

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My el-cheapo time-lapse setup.

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Viewing northwest, towards Sausalito.

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Julia and Annie taking photos of the Golden Gate Bridge.

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View from Hawk Hill.

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Annie enjoying the view.

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Julia enjoying the view and snapping a ton of photos.

If you ever come out to San Francisco, make sure you go across the Golden Gate Bridge to check out the view. It’s breath taking.

Night Time Shot from Bernal Heights

/ Cali, Me, Photo

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Photo of the SF at night from Bernal Heights

After share tea, we swung by Bernal Heights at night to snap a couple photos.

Bernal Heights remained undeveloped until the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Built atop bedrock, the hill’s structures survived the tremor, and the sparseness of the development saved much of Bernal from the ravages of the firestorm that followed. The commercial corridor of Eugenia Avenue filled in with shops as the pastureland on the hilltop was developed for workers’ homes during the rapid rebuilding of the city. Some of the tiny earthquake cottages—which the city built to house quake refugees—survive to this day, including three which were moved up to Bernal Heights. –Wikipedia

I’m hoping to get some more photos from here soon. Check out similar photos from Twin Peaks.

Share Tea and Berkeley

/ Cali, Food, Me, Photo

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Annie standing at the gates of Berkeley.

After dinner at Homeroom, we drove over to Berkeley to grab some boba at Share Tea. Julia was on a mission to try out everything during her time in California.

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The entrance of Share Tea.

You’ll notice that this place was flooded with asian students. How come we didn’t have this kind of stuff when I was in college. 😩

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Winter Mellon tea.

If you go to Share Tea, I recommend getting, “Winter mellon, with crema, 0% sugar”. This is what I got.

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Julia and Annie enjoying their boba run.

I’m digging the vibe of this area. People seem to be positive and laid back.

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Berkeley was literally across the street.

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Annie and Julia posing in front of a statue.

A New Chapter

/ Me, Photo

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Proposal on top of Glacier Point at Yosemite on September 29th at 7:30pm.

Our universe has existed for nearly 14 billion years. The earth has existed for 4.5 billion years. Our specie has evolved for 200 thousand years, and civilization as we know it has been here for about 6,000 years.

I’m happy to be part of this cosmic timeline and explore this universe with Annie. To all my followers, thank you for being a part of this moment.

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Annie and I star gazing on a clear night.

It really was a magical evening — we got to watch the sun set over half dome and then we witnessed one of the clearest night skies I’ve ever seen. If you look closely in the photo above, you’ll see the Andromeda Galaxy. It was a perfect night for an engagement… and astrophotography!

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The milky way, completely visible with the naked eye.

The photo above is a portion of our Milky Way galaxy. I honestly didn’t do much retouching to this image. I simply took 9 photos, aligned them, and then did a median stack to reduce the noise. Then I bumped up the exposure two stops.

It was romantic, and I think Annie really enjoyed the scenery.

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The ring inside the box, with a small LED light.

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A close up of the engagement ring, lit with christmas lights on top of my Macbook Pro.

I know Annie likes her diamonds — and hopefully, she loves this one. ^_^

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