A relative of mine from Israel was in Sacramento late last week for a business trip. Since his flight back wasn’t until Saturday night, we set up plans to meet in San Francisco and spend Saturday sightseeing. I rented a lens from BorrowLenses (24-70 f/2.8L), and was looking forward to a fun weekend of photography.

As Saturday approached, things were not looking so great. Caroline was sick on Thursday, and just as she started feeling better I caught the same virus and was sick Thursday night and Friday. In addition, the weather forecast was predicting non-stop rain all weekend; our first real rainstorm of the season.

By Friday night I was starting to feel better, so we drove up to our hotel in Burlingame (the San Francisco Airport Hyatt Regency) and had a nice dinner at one of the hotel restaurants. Mai was a bit fussier than normal, but we didn’t think that much of it at the time.

Friday night Mai was inconsolable all night. She woke up crying about once every two hours, and needed an hour of comforting each time to get her back to sleep. Apparently she’s now a lot more frightened of sleeping in strange places than during our last trip in June. Also, we didn’t realize how attached she is to one of her nighttime toys, and forgot to bring it with us.

We groggily got up the next morning and drove to the Golden Gate Bridge. We drove around but didn’t get out for long because the forecasters had been right; the rain was pouring down. Next, we drove down to Union Square. The rain was getting lighter, so we walked around and ate lunch. By the time we finished it was raining heavily again, and we were soaked by the time we got back to the car. We drove around the city a bit more before heading back to the hotel so that my relative could get his stuff and head to the airport.

I took about five outdoor pictures that day. Ugh.

The second night in the hotel Mai slept for six hours continuously, so we were feeling somewhat better. Even better, the rain was gone! We ate breakfast in Burlingame, and then drove back to the Golden Gate Bridge. The weather was perfect for walking around and taking pictures, especially as the fog started to clear. I was especially happy because I was able to practice using my external flash as a fill flash in sunlight. After that, we drove back to Lombard street, and hiked down and back up its most famous section. By then it was getting dark, so we headed home and immediately went to bed.

You can see more photos from the weekend at http://photo.oscarc.net/gallery/6478159_aaGwk.