San Francisco 2019

I use Pinterest for trip planning. I just put everything on its own board and I can access it at the destination. I don’t have to remember ANYTHING! Ba ha ha!!! Pinterest

We love taking public transportation when we travel. Not so good at it at home but when it comes to driving in an unfamiliar area or taking the bus, we find some cultural richness in mass transit. The downside is, it can take exceptionally longer. This trip didn’t have us trying to pack every moment so transit time was just fine. We started by taking the world famous BART from the airport to the city for $10 (actually a bit less but you put $10 on your re-fillable card so it may as well cost $10)We got off at the Embarcadaro, the south/east end of the tourist district. From there, we worked our way west. Start at the Ferry Building on pier 1(odd number piers go west, even go east) I’ll just go ahead and compare the Ferry Building to Pike Place, if Pike Place was slicker and roomier. Try Blue Bottle coffee and Dandilion Chocolates. I hear good things about Gotts but we just looked at the menu and didn’t eat there. It looks like affordable American food, great for families. Across the street at Embarcadero center we happened across some arts and crafts vendors, my favorite type of souvenirs! We had ice cream and a cookie at Under the Moon, which was really good. We heard Paramo Coffee was really good. Follow the Embarcadaro past all the piers for the tourist experience and don’t miss In N Out, a quintessential California experience. If you do nothing else, do this.

Naturally, Golden Gate Calls. If you haven’t spotted it yet, keep on wandering westward to Aquatic Park (Maritime National Historic Park on some maps) Stop at the Cable Car terminus to buy your tickets if you haven’t already. A three day passport includes all the buses you can take plus the cable cars.

Walk out on the Municipal Pier (if you’re geocaching, snag this easy one) Ogle the bridge and Alcatraz Island from here.

(Keep going west to visit the Presidio, which we didn’t this time but it’s a nice walk. You can walk all the way down to right under the bridge) From here we went to Ghirardelli Square for the most amazing overpriced sundae we ever had. We went for the $13 caramel/hot fudge and it was worth every penny and big enough to share. If you visit a different Ghirardelli, be sure to ask for your sundae “for here” or you’ll get your ice cream in an ugly paper or plastic cup, which is not as nice an experience.

Grace Cathedral on Nob Hill gives you a mini-Notre Dame feeling. It’s Episcopalian with a coexist mentality so we loved it. They have two labyrinths and people use them every day as the spiritual mediation they’re meant for. But also for fun. Yield to those having a more spiritual experience than you.  

We wandered up to North Beach for dinner. This is San Francisco’s Little Italy and authentic, delicious Italian food abounds. We chose Piazza Pelligrini for their house made pasta and gnocci but every place looked just as good. I like that they placed the outdoor seating towards the street like a theater-it’s how it is in lots of places in Europe. Like Europe, we sat at the table for a good long time and never felt rushed to move on.

Way on the west side of the city there is a lot to do, including Golden Gate park which includes botanical gardens, boat rentals, bison farm, etc. It’s on our list but with our blissfully slow pace, we couldn’t make it happen this time. We did make it to Land’s End Labyrinth. We made our own botanical appreciation walk on the trail as all the spring blooms were popping. Wild calla lilies?? 10 foot tall Echnia!! Plus great views of Golden Gate Bridge and pelicans flying over, I loved this steep little hike.

We stayed at this air B&B in Potrero hill which is a bit outside of the city. City miles are really long so it took a long time coming and going form here. But I absolutely loved the neighborhood. Best coffee was Farley’s-enjoy local art while you sip-and Plow was really good breakfast but they’re getting famous so you’ll be waiting for a table. A couple blocks up for a faster more casual breakfast, try Provender. They serve in hand made looking ceramic. Coffee=good but the scene stealer was the avocado toast. It’s life changing. (link) Don’t miss Goat Hill Pizza made with sourdough crust. Amazing! Potrero has a ton of indy shops and restaurants. We could’ve just spent the weekend right there and ignored the Golden Gate and other famous things. It was awesome! I think my favorite part of this trip was our private little backyard garden.