If you are going to San Francisco…

… read this post. I’m not sure it’ll be any use, but hey, I wrote it, so why not read it anyway?

Quick breakdown:

Day 1: we get up at 4 to catch an early morning flight. BTW, 5am on a Thursday? Great time to go to Kennedy Airport, no traffic, no lines. Awesome. Even worth getting up in the middle of the night for. Only bad point: the flight. United kind of sucks.

Anyway, so we arrive, we are tired, we get to the hotel, we chill, we go to Whole Foods for dinner and to shop for some snacks. The end of Day 1.

Day 2: We walked. Quite a bit. Didn’t start easy, either. We took the bus and got off at the corner of VanNess Ave. and California St, and then I had to push the stroller, with Stella in it, and our jackets, and my bag (which in addition to my usual stuff also contained the digital camera and video camera, so it weighted just about as much as Stella) up this street

which is when I sent this tweet and voiced what I had been thinking to motivate myself get up the hill: “If I lived here, I’d have a great ass” (which of course Sascha caught on tape) – cause hills are so great for your thighs and butt! Conclusion: the size of my butt is actually not my fault, the White Plains area (read: no freakin’ hills!) is to blame. My love affair with desserts is purely coincidental.

So after that we walked up and down until we got to Alta Plaza, which is a park on the top of a hill, with a nice view and an awesome playground where the girls could run around and have some fun. Then we walked down Steiner St., which has a lovely view but is so steep I was holding onto the stroller for dear life and walking slowly, for fear of tripping, dropping the stroller and reenacting a chase scene from “The Streets of San Francisco”, with the thing being chased being my Peg Perego P3, instead of a car full of criminals.

Then: lunch at Asqew, walked to the marina, spent some time at the gorgeous park there, and shortly after we took the bus back to the hotel, because someone was tired (“we have been walking for 6 hours!”).
(Side note: don’t ever take the bus at 3.30pm, that’s when school ends and the bus will be filled over capacity with teens.)

Day 3: walked around Market Street and Chinatown a bit, then walked towards The Embarcadero and found yet another nice park where we could sit and chill and the girls could play and pick flowers. I love the Embarcadero. I just coulnd’t get enough of looking at the Ferry Building, and I really wished I had a better camera to capture it as it deserved.

And then, oh man, I found The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. And the sky opend up and there was a choir of angels. Or that’s how it felt when I stepped in and smelled the coffee, and then tasted their Ultimate Ice Blended drink in vanilla (with soy milk, of course), which I had to get a decaf version of, once the girls tasted it. I’m telling, you, this stuff is way better than the Starbucks iced mocha or frappuccino, because it’s not as sweet, you can still taste the coffee and it doesn’t put you straight to sleep afterwards from a sugar shock. Join me in saying “Hello, gorgeous!”

Unfortunately this chain only exist on the West Coast – as if one needed another reason to love the West Coast! So when we left I had to say goodbye to my beloved. Found coffee love and lost it. Sad

Day 4: went to check out Fisherman’s Wharf, and ate at Joe’s Crab Shack, which was kind of weird, not at all like the one in Orlando. It was inside, and they had disco balls (!!) and stuff. And every 10 minutes the staff danced. They. Did. The. Hustle! Needless to say, I would have left if it wasn’t for the prospect of a bucket of seafood coming my way.

Walked along the pier(s), finally ended up at Pier 39, which is sooo fun! Lots of stuff to look at, cool stores, and a gorgeous Carousel, and the Aquarium nearby.

Days 5&6: too freakin’ hot to walk around much (85 degrees, people! and in NYC it was raining!), so we stayed in, except for lunch, and went to the hotel pool, where Stella started sort of swimming on her own. We also checked out the local mall (“honey, come on, it’s air conditioned, better than walking outside in the heat” worked better than I expected), where I found that the Wast Coast apparently has better H&M stores than the East Coast. Stella agreed.

Day 7: Went up to the Presidio, took a million pictures of the Golden Gate bridge, then walked down to the beach, which unfortunately involved me manouvering the stroller down a hiking path, which is when I suddenly realized why Backpacking Dad chose a backpack over a stroller. I swear, if he had been there, I would have stolen his backpack and left him stranded with my (pretty!) stroller.

We walked to the Exoploratorium, but decided not to go in. Instead, we walked around the park outside it, and took some pictures, enjoying the beautiful weather and the lovely surroundings.

Also ended the day nicely, with a burger and shake at In-N-Out. It was good. And Sascha almost got a shake shampoo.

Day 8: explored Golden Gate Park. We started at the beach and walked through the park, all the way to Stanyan. The girls loved it so much,  it even rivaled the awesome playground on Alta Plaza.

Day 9: just walked around. Went back to Alta Plaza, then walked down Fillmore, had some lunch, looked at a few boutiques, had more awesome coffee drinks at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. A lovely way to end our vacation!

Day 10: back on the plane, back home.

Overall, I must say, a lovely trip. I would do it again. But next time I’m going to shop at Whole Foods before the flights. And I’m researching the area where the hotel is (if my husband is reading this: just kidding honey, you did great. Good job. Love you!)

In fact, I had such a great time that I now wish I had more time before the move, to take at least one more trip to the West Coast. Seattle, anyone?

And hey! Uptake liked this post enough to include it in their “Things To Do in San Francisco” guide