SAN FRANCISCO PHOTO DIARY & GUIDE

 

So, back in August, (ya know, when I was completely MIA from my blog! Haha) I surprised my husband for his birthday with a quick trip to San Francisco. We had talked about going there on multiple occasions, and we REALLY needed a break from reality so I figured a quick trip there would be perfect. And it was!

I did months and months of researching things to do, places to see, places to go.. everything! I wanted to squeeze in everything since we were there for such a short time. We were only there Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and then our flight was Monday night, so we had most the day Monday as well. This was the first trip I had really booked by myself, and I found it really hard to plan it all without my husband! It was a learning experience for sure, so I put together a list of things we did, things we liked, things we didn't like, things we would have done differently, etc. so here goes nothin'!

For the first couple nights, we actually stayed in Belmont, since I knew we wouldn't be in our room much, and it was close to the airport so we could get there quickly. It was probably about a 15-20 minute drive to get to the city from there, and I think it worked out well for us, but I probably would stay in the city the whole trip next time. For the last night, we stayed at Hotel Beresford and it was perfect. The room was pretty small, but it was fine for just the two of us. It was right in Union Square, so the location couldn't have been more ideal.

Day 1:

On my husband's actual birthday, he wanted to head to wine country and go to a winery. This had been on our bucket list and did not disappoint! We looked into the different wineries and decided to go with Domaine Carneros in Napa. It took us about an hour and a half to get there (traffic wasn't too bad) but it was worth the drive! They specialized in sparking wines, and they were INCREDIBLE! We bought a bottle and we're still saving it for a special occasion! We booked ahead of time online, but when we got there, it didn't seem too busy, so I'm sure people were able to be seated quickly without a reservation, but it's always better to be safe than sorry! It was probably one of our favorite parts of the trip, we would do it again in a heartbeat! We stayed in Napa for a little while, had lunch at the Boon Fly Cafe (which was amazingly delicious!) and then headed back to the city.

For dinner, we just decided to walk around and find somewhere that looked good. We ended up going to Sushi Monster in Belmont and it was SO GOOD! All the food we had there was delicious, but sushi there is so much better than in Utah! I would recommend that place to anyone!

(Sorry, had to include some iPhone shots!)

Day 2:

There were a thousand things we wanted to do while we were in SF, but we for sure wanted to make time to see the Golden Gate Bridge. It was truly breathtaking! We decided to go see it from Baker Beach. It was absolutely freezing and windy that day, but it was still so beautiful. Oh and also, we had no idea that it was a nudist beach... so be prepared if you go there, haha. We drove around the area for a while to see different angles, but there was SO much traffic around there that it wasn't even worth the trouble.

We spent the rest of the day walking around to different places downtown. It was fun just pretending like we were locals and wandering through different shops and eateries. We had many, many delicious treats while we were there, and one of my favorite places we went to was Mr Holmes Bakehouse. Their donuts are out of this world! And all of their treats looked amazing. I'm pretty much drooling now at this point.

Day 3:

After checking into our hotel downtown, we relaxed for a quick minute, then went out and grabbed lunch at Show Dogs. My husband and I are both huge fans of hot dogs and corn dogs so we were both pretty much in heaven! I'm telling you guys, we did not have a meal there that WASN'T amazing. We went shopping around that area for a little while, and then decided to head to Pier 39 for dinner. THAT PLACE WAS INSANE. Traffic makes us both a little anxious and parking there is a nightmare, so I would definitely suggest getting an Uber for that. Parking was really expensive, and it wasn't too far from our hotel, so I wish we would have done that. But we went to Nick's Lighthouse for dinner and it was the best seafood I've ever had! Holy crap, so good. I had the crab cakes and they were delightful. We had a pretty late dinner, so we walked around the pier and the shops, then headed back to our hotel and watched Escape from Alcatraz.

Day 4:

On our last day, I knew for sure I wanted to visit the infamous Painted Ladies. It was pretty much everything I hoped it would be. Minus the thousands of tourists. They were even cuter in person and the whole time I was just wishing I lived there! We walked around there for a while and played with all the doggies in the park, then my husband wanted to explore the pier more, so we headed back there. It was a lot more fun during the day, because you got to see Alcatraz more and there were more things to do. We thought about doing a boat tour, but didn't think we would really have time before we had to catch our flight, so we just wandered around the pier for a bit, then had some lunch.

Packed Party came out with an SF guide a little while ago, and of course I wanted to try everything on their list, but one place I definitely wanted to go was Cream. I had an ice cream sandwich with red velvet cookies and cookies and cream ice cream. YUM. So freaking good, you guys! So big shout out to the gals at Packed Party for suggesting it!

 

So basically San Francisco was amazing. We talk about just moving there all the time. It was so much fun, even just for a few days. If you take anything from this trip, here are a few of my pointers:

1. Stay in downtown, it's much more fun and convenient!
2. You really don't even need a rental car. It was great for us since we went to Napa, but other than that it was just a hassle driving everywhere and finding parking. Uber is fantastic!
3. There are pretty much ALWAYS tourists in SF, but when we went, everyone said it was busier than normal, so make sure there aren't any crazy big events going on when you book.
4. EXPIERENCE ALL THE FOOD. I was always shocked I saw people eating at Mcdonald's because they have so many good restaurants everywhere you go.

I've never done a post like before so I hope you all enjoyed! Let me know what you think! Love y'all so much! Happy Thursday!