Friday, May 6, 2016

San Francisco Recap

Hey there!  I know I said I was going to take a break from blogging until after my surgery, but I thought I'd pop in today with a fun post about our trip to San Francisco!  We spent 3 full days in San Francisco towards the end of April and had an amazing time. It was Phil's first trip to SF and my 3rd. We were on our own for the first day and then Kyria was our tour guide for the other days. It was an action-packed trip as we knew it'd be our "last hurrah" before my surgery. The doctor had told me I couldn't do any further damage, so I just sort of pushed through any pain I felt and tried to make the most of the trip. Here's how we filled our time!

Thursday night:

We flew into the city on Thursday and took BART into downtown San Francisco. After dropping our things at the hotel, we headed out to explore. Kyria recommended an awesome Indian place close to our hotel which also happened to be really inexpensive. After dinner we watched through China town, and grabbed a drink at the Starlight Lounge which is located in the Sir Francis Drake Hotel. It has beautiful views of San Francisco area. I'm sure it's a touristy thing to do, but we were tourists!



After enjoying a cocktail there, we did a bit more walking around and stopped at the Tonga Room, which is a tiki bar, for a fruity cocktail. We had seen this place featured on several TV shows so had to check it out. It was pretty cheesy and not a place we'd go back to but it was fun to check it out and the tropical drinks we had were delicious.



Friday:

On Friday we did soooo much walking. By the time we sat down to have lunch around noon, we had walked about 14,000 steps. Phil and I actually made a bet on how many steps we walked and the loser bought lunch. I lost.  Womp, womp. One of my favorite parts of our walk that morning was walking all the way to the top of Lombard street. This is a crazy steep, never ending hill but it was worth the climb as the view at the top is great and it was cool to walk up the crookedest street in the U.S.

Standing in front of the crooked portion of Lombard Street
This picture doesn't really do this hill justice, but it gives you an idea how steep Lombard Street is - we walked from the bottom to the top!

Later that day, we met up with Kyria after she was done with work. That night, we ate our weight in Korean food for dinner and retired to bed early as we were all worn out from walking 20,000+ steps!

Saturday:

Saturday was another full day with 20,000+ steps! We started off in the Golden Gate Bridge area and did lots of walking around and hiked down to a beach so we could see the GGB from another vantage point.

I've seen this view multiple times but it was extra special to share to view with my favorite guy!

Kyria and I

Other highlights from the day include enjoying some tacos in the Mission district...

1 carne asada and 2 carnitas tacos. Sooo delicious!
 ...meeting up with a high school friend of Phil's for a walk through the Castro district, and ending the day with a Giants game. Phil works with a sales guy in the Bay Area that has season tickets so we scored a deal on our seats. As you can see, our seats were very good!


Sunday:

One thing Phil and I really wanted to do on this trip was go for a hike. It's something we both love doing and since Kyria is such an outdoor/trail running enthusiast, I knew she'd come up with a great place for us to hike. We headed over to the Marin Headlands and did a ~4 mile hike down to Stinson Beach. The views along the trail were gorgeous and we were rewarded at the bottom with lunch at this little taco place on the beach.


It's tough to be tacos and nachos with a view of the ocean!
 
On Sunday night we had one last dinner together at an Afghan restaurant in Oakland and went to bed early as we were pooped after all that activity and fresh air! On Monday, Phil flew back to Minneapolis and I flew to New Jersey for work. We were sad to see our time in San Francisco come to an end, but I know we'll come back again as this is a city that I can come back to over and over again and never run out of things to do and see! We owe Kyria a HUGE thank you as she was the perfect host. Hopefully we can return the favor and host her in Minneapolis sometime!

Have you been to San Francisco? Is there a city you can visit over and over again? Paris, New York, and San Francisco are cities I could visit again and again and again!

Today is moving day for me and my surgery is on Monday, so I'll check back next week and let you all know how things are going!

21 comments:

Leigh said...

Your trip sounds wonderful! Love San Francisco and would go back in a heart beat. Glad you got to spend time with Kyria too :)

Marlys said...

Thanks for sharing the trip to SF! I have never been there, but know people love to visit that city.

suki said...

Looks like you had a great visit! :) Those are some amazing seats at the Giants game - I'm usually way up there in like the nosebleeds.

Fun fact: Lombard isn't the only crooked. Vermont Street in Potrero Hill is! The two are often pitted against each other for most crooked, and actually Vermont is much steeper. :) Every year they do a Big Wheels race down it around Easter.

Linda said...

It's been since 2009 since I last been to SF and totally want to go again. I love the weather and food in SF!

The Many Thoughts of a Reader said...

Love the photos! Glad you got a good trip in before your surgery. I love tacos!Those seats look awesome for the game.

Kelly (She Wears a Red Sox Cap) said...

I hope your move went well!!! I am sure you are exhausted!

The trip to San Fran looks great! I've been twice, once with my whole family and once for a couple of days on our honeymoon. I had fun but for some reason it is not on my favorite cities list... I don't think I found good enough food there to qualify it, which is weird because I feel like everyone loves the food. I was clearly doing something wrong both times!

Cities I could keep going back to are: Washington DC, Chicago, Seattle, and basically every European city I've been too- oh and Sydney. It's actually easier for me to say the cities I don't love because I feel like that list is much shorter!

Gracie said...

What a fun trip. We've done an afternoon in SF, but we want to go again and do a more thorough visit.

Jeanie said...

It looks terrific Lisa, and I'm impressed you could work through the pain on those hills. That's a lot of walking with a bad hip! I've walked much of SF and there is nothing flat about it!

The ball game looks fun, too. And all the good things you did. Nice you could have this short respite before the surgery.

I could return to Paris, London and Boston repeatedly. Amsterdam, too. SF -- I'm glad I went a couple times but don't need to go back.

Laura Beth said...

Those tacos look amazing! I've always wanted to see San Francisco!

Jenny said...

What a great trip you had! I've never been to SF but I've seen that street in movies and TV shows and I think it would be really cool to see it in real life, it looks like some kind of mountaineering is required to get there! :D It also sounds like you had a variety of nice meals, and cocktails too yum!

I'd love to go back to Paris, Stockholm and Rome - I've only been to these places once but it wasn't enough!

Hope your moving is going well and all the best for your surgery.

San said...

I am so happy that you had such a wonderful time!!

Optimistic Existentialist said...

San Francisco is definitely on my travel bucket list...it has always been a dream of mine to see. I love these photos :)

Kyria @ Travel Spot said...

I had a ton of fun showing you around and would do it again any time you want to come back! I definitely need to come visit you, especially now that you are going to be living in a different neighborhood, as part of the fun is exploring different areas of each city.

I hope that your move and unpacking/getting settled went smoothly and that your surgery today goes quickly and as painlessly as possible!

Stephany said...

San Francisco sounds amazing! I'd love to go someday, but man, it's quite the expensive ticket from Florida so I'm not sure if I ever will, ha. I'm glad you had such a wonderful time and I'm thinking of you today during your surgery!

Amber said...

That sounds like such a fun trip! I'm amazed at how much walking you guys did and you ate some amazing sounding ethnic food. Hmmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. I can't wait to take Eric to SF one day, it's such an awesome city!!

Emilie said...

I love this recap! San Francisco was our first choice for our honeymoon until we found super affordable flights to Hawaii. Someday I will get there! My brother just went at the beginning of April for a work trip and extended it for a few days to explore. It's definitely a city I want to visit someday!

Charbelle said...

So glad you were able to enjoy this fun trip before surgery!!! I've never been to San Francisco but it's on my list :)

Nora said...

So many wonderful photos in this post; I vote at least one make it onto the Christmas Card this year :) Tacos/nachos and a view of the ocean? Sign me up. I haven't been to San Fran yet but some day.

I can return to Daytona Beach, NYC (even though it's been far too long),and Door County for sure. Oh and London. I've been twice and would love to go back again with Knight but first I need to add some new places to the list (Paris, Italy, etc.)

Lauren @ Sassy Molassy said...

It looks like you guys had a really fun and beautiful weekend in the bay area. And so nice to know Kyria who has the insider tips on where to go/what to do. I love being in cities where you can and want to do so much walking. You get to see so much more in my opinion. That view from under the bridge we biked over reminds me of our fun trip. Loved our little bike adventure to Sausalito.

Raquelita said...

It sounds and looks like a great trip! I did so much walking the one time I was in the Bay Area. I didn't have a fit bit, but I looked it up later on a map and it looked like I did about 10 miles just one morning alone. I'd really like to go back, as I only got one full day in San Francisco (I was at a conference in Berkeley and stayed with a friend who went to grad school there). I love returning to Madrid and NYC and Rome every time. I'd really love to revisit Lisbon and Montreal!

Jolene - EverydayFoodie said...

That sounds like such a great trip; especially all those ethnic eats in a city that is so well-recognized for great food!!

I've been to San Fransisco, but didn't see much (not even the bridge), as I was there for a food conference. I was only there for a weekend, and I went alone. Christopher and I would like to check it out together within the next few years.

One city I'd return to over and over is New York, which you know :-) And New Orleans. Love them both so much! I haven't been to Paris, but that's one I'd love to visit one day.