Morgan Trinker

2010 is proving to be the year of travel for the Trinkers. So far I’ve been to Denver, Vegas, Knoxville, and, most recently, San Francisco (with trips to Connecticut, New York City, New Jersey, and Vermont planned for upcoming months). This whole photography thing has opened up all sorts of doors for me, and I couldn’t be more thankful. Jamie and I had the opportunity to meet up with my parents in San Francisco for a little vacay, thanks to cheap flights on Southwest and my parents’ willingness to let us crash their hotel room and tag along the whole time. Though I can’t picture myself as a California kind of girl, it’s definitely an amazing place to visit. San Francisco is by far one of the most unique cities I’ve been to, what with its crazy topography, insane amount of culture, and GORGEOUS weather. We packed all sorts of fun touristy things into our time there (mostly because of my dad’s crazy vacation-planning skills), and I’m glad I decided to pack light… at least when it came to my camera gear. ;) All of these images were shot with a 50mm 1.4 on my 5D. There were moments I reeeeeally wished I had my 16-35, particularly for landscapes and photojournalistic-type stuff, but hey, who doesn’t love a good challenge? And while we’re on the subject of photography, I have to say my confidence in my skills increased a trillion fold when we saw the sun set the first night we were there. All you California photographers whose work I drool over and feel like I’ll never measure up to…. well, you’ve got some UNBELIEVABLE light on your side. And as we know, whether it’s natural or artificial, light is everything. So to have the gift of gorgeous soft golden sunlight almost every day (I mean, let’s be honest, you guys FREAK when you see a single raindrop fall from the sky)…. All I can say is, y’all are lucky ducks!

Anyway, while we were in the city, we stayed at the Mark Hopkins, a swank hotel my dad got for a killer deal on Hotwire. There’s a bar at the top called, fittingly, the Top of the Mark, which had the most breathtaking views… you’ll get to see those in a minute.

On Sunday morning, after an unforgettable church service at Glide Methodist (which was the church/shelter featured in The Pursuit of Happyness, because they do so many wonderful things for San Francisco’s homeless), we had breakfast at Dottie’s True Blue Cafe. We literally waited in line for over an hour outside, because the tiny little cafe only seats 40 people and I guess it’s gained a huge following, but the food is WELL worth waiting for. And the place was just so darn cute!

My Mom and Dad at Dottie’s… awww.

Then we headed to AT&T park to watch the Giants play the Rockies. Baseball games are one of the few sporting events I halfway care about, but that’s mainly because of the beverages and, in this case, Gilroy’s garlic fries. There are literally no words to describe how yummy those were. And the weather was spectacular. Just being able to bathe in the sun, eating and drinking, and spending quality time with my family on a Sunday afternoon in San Francisco….. well, let’s just say the $100 we spent on tickets covered all that and then some.

Later we headed to the area called Haight & Ashbury, one of the birthplaces of the hippie movement. So many fun things to see…. and the people watching? Priceless. In a nearby park we stumbled upon a massive drum circle composed of people of all sorts, many of them openly smoking pot. My mom was a sight walking through that still in her Sunday sundress…. Let’s just say we didn’t QUITE fit in, no matter how diverse the crowd was. ;)

Jamie jumped in while I was taking a picture of my mom and dad. Isn’t he so handsome?

Sunset over the Golden Gate Bridge… classic.

We also took a tour of Alcatraz (which, I swear, I keep wanting to call Azkaban. WAY too much Harry Potter in my life).

After a couple of days, we drove up through the wine country and stayed there the rest of the time. This has been one of my dad’s dreams for a long time, so I’m really glad we got to be there with him for it. Before we hit the wineries, we stopped at Gott’s Roadside Diner for some fancy-pants hamburgers and shakes. Yum.

My favorite winery was the Niebaum Coppola estate. It was purchased by the Coppola family in the 70s, and they’ve put all sorts of gorgeous family memorabilia there. For someone who adores The Godfather, this was quite the treat. And the wine wasn’t half bad either. :) By the way, the Sofia Rose bottle, designed by Sofia Coppola, who was inspired by a bottle of her favorite French perfume, is my favorite ever. I’m not even a pink and frilly kind of girl, but what can I say? Every now and then I indulge myself.

The orange tree…. another California icon!

More of the grounds of the Niebaum Coppola estate. I can’t get over how stunningly beautiful this day was.

The view from Sausalito, which is just across the Golden Gate bridge from the city. Such a charming little town.

And finally… here are the shots from the Top of the Mark. Watching the sun set from up there was indescribable… so hopefully the pictures can do a LITTLE bit of justice.