If You’re Going to San Francisco

The past few times we flew into San Francisco, we were just passing through to go to Sonoma or Napa Valley.  This time, we were here to stay and enjoy the weekend in “the city by bay, the city that rocks, the city that never sleeps” and it definitely rocked.  Plans were made to come take part in the famous Bay to Breakers run.  A family friend mentioned this event to me and I immediately signed up, not completely aware of what I was getting myself into.  It meant a weekend in San Francisco, and that’s all I cared about.

We arrived in town early Friday afternoon and went straight to the most famous street in town, Lombard Street.

Right around the corner and WAY down the hill was a wonderful wide open park, right on the water, overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. We would be there ALL the time if we lived there.

Loving to run around and get in a little exercise before going to dinner, we created our own activities.

This counts, right?

Anyway, around the corner from this park, Stacy, one of my co-workers daughters, lives in a great apartment.  We walked over to her place for a glass of wine before heading out for dinner.  As we walked to Pane e Vino, she pointed out all the hip spots to shop, eat or just hang out with friends.  James and I wondered what it would be like to be young, out on the town and in our 20’s, living in this oh-so-hip part of town.  Stacy is one lucky lady and just a great host!  Dinner was delicious, the company was perfect and shoot, we were in San Francisco!  Life doesn’t get any better!

Thanks Stacy!  We had a great time with you!

The next day we got up and went straight to Sausalito to find a place for breakfast.

DiVino was a hidden gem off the main street, but well worth the detour.  We sat right up at the bar and ordered a traditional Italian breakfast alongside a big ole cup of coffee.  So cozy!

We walked around a bit and checked out Sausalito.

Quite a charming little town with all the benefits of a big city, but with more space and an amazing view!

We took a short drive over to Muir Woods National Monument to get a little exercise and check out the humongous Redwood Trees!  They were beautiful!

After finishing this beautiful hike, we drove back over to San Francisco to check out the famous ChinaTown!  It was incredible!  We really felt as thought we were in another world.

Later that night, we had dinner at a restaurant called Serpentine.  We were worried about finding parking downtown with it being one of the busiest weekends in San Francisco, thanks to Bay to Breakers.  Luckily, this restaurant was out of the hustle and bustle and parking was no problem.

Inside felt like an old warehouse.  The food was fantastic.   Overall, we loved it and would definitely come back!

Finally Sunday morning was here, it was the reason this trip was planned and we couldn’t miss it now.  San Francisco has so many wonderful things to see and do and part of us wanted to take in more of the city and skip the run.  But we will definitely be back for more exploring and after all, I had already paid for this event, I was determined to attend.

Bay to Breakers is known for extreme costumes and drinking and I can definitely see why.  By no means was this a 7 mile run or walk, this was officially a 7 mile party.

By far, the most laid back event I have ever experienced, we stopped for breakfast along the route and checked out all the creative costumes.

Well, and then some people had no costumes at all.  And I don’t mean they wore regular clothes, I mean they didn’t have on ANY clothes.  Yes, we saw plenty of that!

It was a great experience, I’m glad we ended up doing the run attending the party.  We got to see more of the city and we definitely experienced the spirit of the people living there.  We were thrilled to finally see the water and know we were finished!

We had a great time in San Francisco.  I felt like we really packed a lot into our short visit and while it was wonderful, it was not nearly enough time to take it all in.  We’ll be back!