SAN FRANCISCO: PART 1

I feel a little as though I’ve been hurled back into real life a little too soon; I would have loved some padding at the end of that vacation to ease back in, but that didn’t happen.  Before I could blink myself awake, it was rushing out the door to take Sloane to daycare, piles and piles of work emails to catch up on, and scheduling life and crossing things off the to-do list. I’m not totally out of vacation mode though; I’m going to reminisce by going through these photos and sharing them with you all. That's them perk of taking photos – I get to re-live wonderful experiences and spend extra time thinking specifically about each moment.  We were away for a whole week so it is boatloads of photos, but I’ll dole it out in pieces.

We spent the majority of our time in San Francisco (with daytrips to Napa and Santa Cruz) so we got to explore several different pockets of the city. And what a city it is! Part of our great experience was due to Jen, a family friend that we stayed with, who is passionate about the city of San Francisco and was pretty much a rockstar about showing us around.  I love meeting kindred traveler spirits; she is one of the good ones. 

We stayed with Jen in a really fantastic and convenient location in the city, next to the ball park, in an area called South Beach.  We could walk to so many places and the public transportation was fantastic. The first day, we walked through: Union Square, Chinatown, and North Beach. The second day, we walked through the Castro and hung out in the Mission District with an old friend from Richmond. Jen also drove us around various areas like the Golden Gate Bridge, Russian Hill, Fisherman’s Wharf and the beach so that we could see more of the city.

Union Square - I swear that first day we were there, it was like the whole city was getting bathed in a giant bathtub of sunlight.

Historic Chinatown

The little trooper

North Beach

Castro District

Ike's Sandwiches! 

Mission District 

Delores Park

The 'Change' at Ike's - thinly sliced rib eye, beer battered onion rings, gouda, and bbq on a perfectly crusty and soft baguette. It was sooo good. I'm still thinking about it. 

I loved all the various views of the city that we got from different spots around the city

Delores Park had one of the best playgrounds I've ever seen!

Bi-Rite ice cream (two thumbs up for the earl grey flavor) and Bi-Rite shop down the street were both adorable and delicious 

I tried the coffee, croissant, morning bun and chocolate tart (OMG) here and I am already regretting that I didn't go back to try their other things.

Waiting in line, getting a sun bath, NBD.

Part 2, coming up!