San Francisco
When I first went to college, my plan was to major in English. I wanted to be a writer and that seemed the best route to become one. I remember sitting in the orientation and all I heard was teaching. It seemed like everyone else there wanted to be an English teacher and I had no desire to do that at all. So I went back to my two favorite things to do: write/read and travel. I considered majoring in travel and tourism and was really in love with the idea of getting paid to plan other people's vacations. But it was 1998 and the internet was really starting to take over tourism; people weren't calling travel agents anymore but looking online for everything so my mom talked me out of it.
This lead me to print journalism where my ultimate goal was to write about travel. While in college I subscribed to travel magazines and fantasized about getting sent around the world to rate resorts and find family-friendly activities in big cities. I loved my college experience and did get to work for a small magazine for a few months after I graduated but I have yet to achieve my dream of writing for a travel magazine. Someday I'll pursue it with greater energy and purpose but for now I'm going to include a few travel blog posts here. I am rusty so hang in there with me.
First up is San Francisco. I went there for the first time in 2005 and it is still one of my favorite vacations ever. We had been married for just two years and it was our first time going somewhere totally new while not visiting a family member or friend. We loved being on our own to explore and experience the city on our own terms. When I travel. I like cheap, fun, beautiful and historical. I love water, especially ocean, and I don't mind touristy experiences at all as long as it isn't crowded. I love cities and am not much for physical adventure (i.e. I would never bungee jump or go skiing and while I like the idea of a zip line, I don't think I could do it). I also highly value eating good food while traveling.
This makes San Francisco a perfect city for me. We stayed near Fisherman's Wharf at a cute and cheap little motel that was close to a bus line and we loved how close it was to everything we wanted to see. We started off day one by walking seven miles through the city, which is a serious hike in San Francisco because of all the hills. We walked down Lombard Street (so cool), up to Coit Tower (a nice tribute to the firemen of the city), down to Chinatown and then back up to Union Square (good but traditional shopping). I convinced Josh we should take the trolley back (a quintessential San Fran experience) and we even stopped at the Cable Car Museum, which was especially interesting to my engineer and a fun little place to explore for an hour or two.
Fisherman's Wharf is totally touristy but I absolutely loved it there, mostly because of the food. We walked down there and saw the Boudin's Bread Bakery and were immediately intrigued. I love factory tours and while it was simple, we ended up eating at the restaurant there and fell in love with the clam chowder in a bread bowl. Nothing says San Francisco like sour dough and filled with their sumptuous clam chowder, it became a piece of heaven on my tray. We ended up eating lunch there every single day; I couldn't get enough. The shops are cute and fun and sell cheap t-shirts, for which I am a total sucker. The seals on Pier 39 are fun to see and we ended up taking an hour-long boat ride out under the Golden Gate Bridge that was cold but beautiful. It gets foggy and can be hard to see the bridge so going under it was the best view we got of it all week. There was also a homeless man hiding behind a garbage can with tree branches covering himself and every once in awhile he would jump out and scare tourists; that was entertaining and unique.
We also went down to Golden Gate Park but that is a difficult place to go without a car. We went back to San Francisco last summer and this time drove through the park, which was much more enjoyable. It is quite large and has beautiful gardens, including a Japanese tea garden and if you make it all the way west you come to the Pacific Ocean. It is not designed for a casual stroll but if you have a bike or a car, it is a beautiful place to explore for as many hours as you want.
Ghirardelli Square is a delicious stop and thankfully it was close to our motel. Every night we would walk from the bus stop through the Ghirardelli chocolate store to get our free chocolate square on our way to our motel; the perfect way to end the day. The hot fudge sundaes are the best I have ever eaten and totally worth their somewhat expensive price tag. Last summer we ate at McCormick and Kuleto's (my father-in-law was paying!) and it was pricey but a meal I can still describe in detail. I ate the most delicate and flavorful filet mignon covered in dungeness crab and I am drooling just thinking about it. It was also an incredible view of the bay at sunset. We had breakfast one morning at Linda's Cafe, also in Ghirardelli Square, and it was historical and tasty. It was fun afterwards to walk along the water and see all of the local artisans selling jewelry and photographs and paintings.
There is so much to see and do that every traveler should be able to find something interesting about San Francisco. We saw the famous row of houses from Full House, we went to Muir Woods to see the Redwoods, we saw Wicked at the beautiful Orpheum Theater, and we dipped our feet in the Pacific Ocean. It was incredibly memorable and I hope it isn't long before I get to go back.
This lead me to print journalism where my ultimate goal was to write about travel. While in college I subscribed to travel magazines and fantasized about getting sent around the world to rate resorts and find family-friendly activities in big cities. I loved my college experience and did get to work for a small magazine for a few months after I graduated but I have yet to achieve my dream of writing for a travel magazine. Someday I'll pursue it with greater energy and purpose but for now I'm going to include a few travel blog posts here. I am rusty so hang in there with me.
This makes San Francisco a perfect city for me. We stayed near Fisherman's Wharf at a cute and cheap little motel that was close to a bus line and we loved how close it was to everything we wanted to see. We started off day one by walking seven miles through the city, which is a serious hike in San Francisco because of all the hills. We walked down Lombard Street (so cool), up to Coit Tower (a nice tribute to the firemen of the city), down to Chinatown and then back up to Union Square (good but traditional shopping). I convinced Josh we should take the trolley back (a quintessential San Fran experience) and we even stopped at the Cable Car Museum, which was especially interesting to my engineer and a fun little place to explore for an hour or two.
Fisherman's Wharf is totally touristy but I absolutely loved it there, mostly because of the food. We walked down there and saw the Boudin's Bread Bakery and were immediately intrigued. I love factory tours and while it was simple, we ended up eating at the restaurant there and fell in love with the clam chowder in a bread bowl. Nothing says San Francisco like sour dough and filled with their sumptuous clam chowder, it became a piece of heaven on my tray. We ended up eating lunch there every single day; I couldn't get enough. The shops are cute and fun and sell cheap t-shirts, for which I am a total sucker. The seals on Pier 39 are fun to see and we ended up taking an hour-long boat ride out under the Golden Gate Bridge that was cold but beautiful. It gets foggy and can be hard to see the bridge so going under it was the best view we got of it all week. There was also a homeless man hiding behind a garbage can with tree branches covering himself and every once in awhile he would jump out and scare tourists; that was entertaining and unique.We also went down to Golden Gate Park but that is a difficult place to go without a car. We went back to San Francisco last summer and this time drove through the park, which was much more enjoyable. It is quite large and has beautiful gardens, including a Japanese tea garden and if you make it all the way west you come to the Pacific Ocean. It is not designed for a casual stroll but if you have a bike or a car, it is a beautiful place to explore for as many hours as you want.
Ghirardelli Square is a delicious stop and thankfully it was close to our motel. Every night we would walk from the bus stop through the Ghirardelli chocolate store to get our free chocolate square on our way to our motel; the perfect way to end the day. The hot fudge sundaes are the best I have ever eaten and totally worth their somewhat expensive price tag. Last summer we ate at McCormick and Kuleto's (my father-in-law was paying!) and it was pricey but a meal I can still describe in detail. I ate the most delicate and flavorful filet mignon covered in dungeness crab and I am drooling just thinking about it. It was also an incredible view of the bay at sunset. We had breakfast one morning at Linda's Cafe, also in Ghirardelli Square, and it was historical and tasty. It was fun afterwards to walk along the water and see all of the local artisans selling jewelry and photographs and paintings.
There is so much to see and do that every traveler should be able to find something interesting about San Francisco. We saw the famous row of houses from Full House, we went to Muir Woods to see the Redwoods, we saw Wicked at the beautiful Orpheum Theater, and we dipped our feet in the Pacific Ocean. It was incredibly memorable and I hope it isn't long before I get to go back.
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