I’ve lived in California for nearing three years and I had yet to visit San Francisco. A bit of a crime, right? So, my husband surprised me with an impromptu trip up north – one that I plan on taking again (in length) very soon!
T has a knack for picking the best restaurants and hotels. I don’t know how he does it, but I could spend hours combing the web for an “okay” location, while he could spend five minutes finding a wonderland. I like to joke that everything he works on is an “experience,” not just a task, whether it be taking a photo, buying a car or booking a hotel room.
Well, he nailed it again this time choosing the Clift Hotel in Union Square. This place is luxurious to the max with the best kind of sexy/cool vibe. We like to think we are at least a smidgen of hip – ha!
Time to explore…
We googled our desired location and it was only 1.2 miles away. I personally think Google lied. Google doesn’t let you know when you have 13 mountains to climb and hurricane-esque winds blowing your coat up into a parachute.
These streets in SF are no joke! We took a few turns here and there to avoid the steeper declines and somehow wound up at Grace Cathedral. This is a seriously beautiful church. Like most of the churches that I came across in this city, Grace Cathedral is accepting of everyone. I read a Foursquare comment from Davidk that said, “Don’t let the facade fool you, Grace strongly embraces GLBTQ peeps, agnostics and atheists. See the Keith Haring altarpiece and AIDS memorial quilt in the interfaith chapel by the front doors.” Pretty neat if you ask me.
Grace also contains a labyrinth inside that lends an area for meditation, relaxation and reflection to those who walk it. The church had closed prior to our arrival, so I’ll have to save that for next time.
Each corner that we reached revealed a beautiful new way to view the city.
And then we accidentally ran into Lombard Street.
Next up, we hit Fisherman’s Wharf for some food. We chose Pompei’s Grotto, a great little Italian restaurant that played Rod Stewart singing “The Great American Songbook” all night. Haha. I actually loved that just as much as the steamed clams and spaghetti.
Dessert was at The Buena Vista, the cafe famous for first bringing the Irish coffee over to the United States. T had been raving about this place ever since he saw it on Zane Lamprey’s Drinking Made Easy and it was certainly entertaining to watch the bartender make the drink the same way his coworker had in the television show. That was the most delicious after-dinner cocktail I have ever had!
You can’t go to San Francisco and not take a trolley ride. We were excited to rest our feet a bit after our ridiculous walk to the Wharf, and it just so happens that The Buena Vista is right across the street from the famous Powell-Hyde Cable Car turnaround.
T kept hanging his camera out the side of the car and I was on pins and needles.
The next day, we headed over to the Pier to catch a boat to Alcatraz.
The view of SF was gorgeous from the boat.
We made it!
This seagull hated us. It yelled and screamed as I finished my hot chocolate nearby.
It was mercilessly foggy while we were in town. We never got to see the Golden Gate Bridge from a distance, and when we drove across it, we couldn’t even tell it was red!
Apparently, Alcatraz was occupied by a group of Native Americans in the late 60s to early 70s. They left their marks in several parts of the island. I found this the most interesting, since I had never heard of this information before.
The prison yard.
When we got back on land we jetted over to Pier 39 stat to get a clam chowder in a bread bowl from Boudin Bakery, the self-proclaimed producer of the “original San Francisco sourdough”.
T picked up an Anchor Steam as well.
Something about traveling turns me into a bottomless pit.
I ran straight for Crepe Cafe for a banana Nutella crepe. On our honeymoon, I ate a Nutella crepe almost every day, so this brought me back. Delicious!
We also stopped into The Spice & Tea Exchange of San Francisco for a quick tasting and scored some salted caramel sugar, Bloody Mary spices and bacon salt.
Puddles of sea lions! Apparently, they’ve been there ever since the SF earthquake of 1989. Each winter there can be up to 900 sea lions in the area. I cannot even handle the cuteness. If you can’t either, here’s a link to the sea lion webcam.
Our last stop at Pier 39 was outside at the Wines of California Wine Bar. There, we enjoyed wine, balsamic vinegar and olive oil flights with a great view of the docked boats. My favorite wine was called Purple Teeth.
Later, we headed to a little restaurant (Again, T picks the best places ever) called First Crush. Perfect for a date night.
We had to leave San Francisco ASAP the next day in order to get back to San Diego at a decent time, but there were still a few spots we wanted to see. The Painted Ladies and Alamo Square were our first choices.
Side note: It’s not a great idea to search “Painted Ladies” on Google.
Then Haight-Ashbury, which I had looked forward to seeing since I took a 1960s class in high school.
And then we hopped over to the Golden Gate Bridge. Find my Instagram photo of the fog-ridden bridge here.
Do you have any suggestions of where to visit in San Francisco next time?
P.S. To view a video that my husband created for the trip, click here.
