San Francisco Strolling

We couldn’t be living in Northern California and not make it to the big city. From our place in Clearlake it was about 2-2.5 hours to downtown San Francisco. We knew the city was going to take longer than 1-1.5 days to experience, so this became our first extended weekend in California. Tacking on a lot of miles over this weekend, we still just brushed the surface of what San Francisco has to offer.

Our weekend started off with a bang- Adam had found out Coldplay was playing at Levi Stadium (where the 49ers play) earlier in the year and bought tickets for my birthday. We barely made it to the concert in time, with all the traffic flowing into Santa Clara. The parking lots around the stadium cost about $40-50, so if you ever go to a concert here maybe get dropped off by someone or Uber/Lyft. Anyway, the concert itself was one of the best shows we’ve ever been to, but unfortunately there was no encore. The city of Santa Clara has a noise ordinance starting at 10:30 PM, which has been slightly troublesome with regard to other concerts and football games.

Levi Stadium

Coldplay Concert

Levi Stadium

Coldplay Concert

The next day, we started off our city adventure by navigating our way through one of the largest Chinatowns on the west coast. Most of the shops were closed in the early morning still, so we decided to walk up and down the endless piers until we reached our target – the Alcatraz tour ferries. We had gotten tickets well in advance (maybe a week or two) as they sell out of preferred times quickly or you might not even be able to get a ticket day of. The ferry ride over to the island is great. From the upper level you get an opportunity to view the whole bay, including the downtown skyscrapers and the Golden Gate Bridge. You have the option of a few different tours, but the self-guided audio tour of Alcatraz is just fine for the price. We took about 2-3 hours out of our day for the experience.

Chinatown

View from the ferry to Alcatraz Island

View of the city from Alcatraz Island

Chinatown

View from the ferry to Alcatraz Island

View of the city from Alcatraz Island

We followed up the prison tour by scouring the piers for clam chowder bread bowls, which we inevitably found at the very popular Pier 39 Chowder’s and they did not disappoint. They are massive servings though, so if you’re not in the mood to be completely stuffed, get one bread bowl and split it. I returned to San Fran another time with my girlfriends and found a more unique clam chowder (thinner base with the shells in), but still delicious, at Hog Island Oyster Co.

Pier 39

The classic clam chowder bread bowl at Chowder’s

Another clam chowder option at Hog Island Oyster Co.

Pier 39

The classic clam chowder bread bowl at Chowder’s

Another clam chowder option at Hog Island Oyster Co.

Next, we made a “quick” trip over to the Ghiradelli Square, the home of everything chocolate and good. The smell is immaculate once you step through the doorway. They have a bunch of options to choose from, such as shakes, sundaes, and brownies. The brownie sundae that we had here might’ve been the best sundae of our young lives. The square itself is also a very cool place to hang out, with a couple different shops to poke your head into and a brewery patio to relax in and enjoy some peace within a bustling city. After the square, we needed to walk off what we had plowed down to fill up on more food later. If you head back toward the shore and follow the sidewalk west for about a half mile in the direction of the Golden Gate bridge, you’ll end up in a nice little park after you walk up a fairly steep paved road.

Ghiradelli Square

The best sundae ever!!

Ghiradelli Square

The best sundae ever!!

A quick stop at a park overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge

Now do you believe this is the best sundae ever?!

A quick stop at a park overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge

Now do you believe this is the best sundae ever?!

If you want to keep sightseeing downtown, you may follow our steps up to Lombard Street, which is easily one of the most photographed streets ever. Be warned though, walking up to this street takes guts as you trek a handful of blocks on what seems to be a 45-degree incline. If you don’t want your heart to explode, try the trolley! We were able to work up another appetite climbing to the top of the city, so we stopped by a supposed local favorite – Swensen’s Ice Cream (homemade ice cream) – on the way to our exploration of Japantown and then to the Mission District for bars and dinner. The Evil Eye, in the mission district, is a classy hangout feel with couches, pool tables, and punch bowls. Another place I checked out with my girlfriends was the “Full House” (which has a different door now than it did in the show), but it is still cool to see if you watched that show growing up!

Lombard Street – Can you see all the zigzags?!

Swensen’s Homemade Ice Cream

Lombard Street – Can you see all the zigzags?!

Swensen’s Homemade Ice Cream

One of the famous San Fran trollies!

The Full House! Unfortunately, Mary Kate and Ashley weren’t around.

One of the famous San Fran trollies!

The Full House! Unfortunately, Mary Kate and Ashley weren’t around.

On Sunday, we met up with one of Adam’s travel PT friends who was living in the bay area for a hike just north of San Francisco in Mount Tamalpais State Park. If you’re on a time crunch, and plan on driving up to this park from south of downtown, be prepared to wait awhile. We thought everyone and their brother might be going to do our same hike. The very curvy roads also don’t help speed things up, but the drive is beautiful at many points. Once we finally got to our destination, it was a great hike through some forest and up and over golden hills as we came upon some fantastic views of the Pacific and surrounding areas. Stinson Beach is also right by where the trailhead is located (past the local fire department). We didn’t have enough time to check it out, but it looked like a nice spot for a Sunday afternoon.

We met up with a PT friend for a hike on Mount Tamalpais.

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