Tag Archives: san francisco

Take Me Back Tuesday – San Francisco Part Two

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Well it’s only been one full week since I’ve been back from my mini vacation to the West Coast and I already feel like it’s been forever!  Isn’t it funny how that happens?  The more I’ve gotten to digest the trip the more I want to go back – it was such a nice, relaxing, yet fun time! Here is the continuation of the fun stuff we did!

Day 3

Embarcadero, a NY Bar in San Francisco

Obviously on Sunday we slept in a bit and got a later start.  We went to brunch in North Beach at a place that had a TV because Andy couldn’t miss the first NFL games of the season.  We then met up with a friend of mine who I hadn’t seen in over a year!  It was really nice to see her and catch up over a couple of beers on the waterfront.

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Andy is a huge Giants fan so when we booked this trip I promised him I’d find a good place for us to watch their first game.  I found the only NY Giants bar in San Francisco and so we headed there.  It was called Aces (check out my Yelp Review here).  What an experience!  It was absolutely packed with NY fans.  It took a bit for me to get adjusted to this atmosphere but it ended up being fun!

Day 4

Run, Ferry Building, Mission, Dolores Park, “Sunset” Cruise on the Bay

Monday morning we woke up pretty early with the urge to make our bodies feel a little bit better.  We went for a run to the Ferry Building along the Embarcadero.  It was a little over two miles and seemed really difficult after not exercising much over the first few days.  The route was beautiful though and ended at a pier that had a great view of the Bay Bridge!

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Then we went in to market place in the Ferry Building.  This place is awesome!  They have all little local stands ranging from local olive oils, cheeses, meats, vegetables, chocolate, coffee….basically my heaven!  Especially since they have a ton of free samples – my favorite!  My favorite stand was Alfieri Farms.  They had the most amazing dark chocolate, coffee (or toffee) almond brittle.  I am so sad it’s gone I may just have to have some shipped across country!

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For the afternoon we set out to find a restaurant I had heard about on the news actually.  It’s called Bacon Bacon (check out my Yelp Review here) and they were shut down due to neighbors complaining of the food – how crazy is that?! Who would complain of a Bacon smell?!  Anyways, they are running the café out of a music hall and we were so so excited to find it.  Andy had the bacon grilled cheese that came with bacon jam – it was incredible.  I ordered the LGBT (lettuce, goat cheese, bacon, and tomato) which was also awesome. THEN we got to try their chocolate covered bacon! Heaven in your mouth I tell ya!

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After stuffing our faces we decided to check out a bar I had heard about from a friend called, Zeitgeist (check out my Yelp Review here).  To preface this bar, you should know that this is a very eccentric neighborhood.  I called this our “hippie” day.  Sometimes I secretly wish I was a vagabond hippie 🙂  The bar had a big beer garden outside with a ton of picnic tables, trippy art on the walls, and a “no photos” sign.  I secretly snapped a picture…I’m such a bad ass.

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To continue on our “hippie” theme we headed to Dolores Park.  I had been here one other time and loved it, so wanted to show Andy.  It’s this park at the top of a hill in Mission that gives you a great view of the city…but that’s not the only view.  It is a really fun people watching experience.  There are all different types of people who congregate here but there is one common smell and puff of smoke that everyone has in common!

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To end our last day in the city I thought it would nice to take a “Sunset Cruise” on the bay.  Well I should have remembered that the Bay is very often covered by gigantic clouds!  It happens almost every day at the same time…we just really lucked out the weekend we were there.  Of course when Monday rolled around it was cold and cloudy but the guys on the boat said we would still see a “sunset.”  Well we saw one behind Sausalito which looked something like this.  And yes that is a cloud over Sausalito.

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After Sausalito we headed back in to the fog.  After about another 30 minutes we looked up and realized we were under the Golden Gate!  It was pretty crazy how thick the clouds were but still a cool thing to see.

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And that concludes my San Francisco getaway!  It is by far one of my favorite cities that I have visited to date (okay I might say that about many).  I think our 4 day itinerary was a pretty good one and covered a good area for the short amount of time we were there!

Take Me Back Tuesday – San Francisco Part One

I guess I am being a little greedy this week since I haven’t even landed back on the east coast yet but yes take me back to San Francisco.  Why is ending a vacation so hard?  I’m an emotional roller coaster today getting teary eyed at every other song on my “chill” playlist.  Think I need to toughen up!

Although I could have stayed in San Fran for about another week I think my body is going to really appreciate that I am going home.  I definitely indulged on this vacation because that’s what you do when you travel.  I just think my body is more sensitive recently to straying away from clean eating.  It literally only takes about two days of eating bread, carbs, and drinking a lot of wine and beer for my body to start feeling it.  With that said, traveling to new cities is about taking in the culture, trying new things, and experiencing everything that it has to offer.  It’s definitely a balance but I am not going to beat myself up over it.  I am human, and love to travel, and it’s okay that I strayed from eating primal for the past few days.

We had an awesome time on this trip.  We saw some great areas of the city, took in tons of gorgeous views, and ate some awesome food!

Where we stayed: An apartment right near Fisherman’s Wharf through Airbnb.

This was my first time using Airbnb.  It was a pretty good experience and I am glad I tried it out.  First off, what we paid for the location was a steal.  We were a two minute walk from Fisherman’s Wharf, right next to Ghiradelli Square, and about a 10 minute walk to North Beach.  With that said, the pictures were a little bit deceiving.  It was a studio apartment shared with a business that felt a little “make-shift.”  It was fine for us since we weren’t there too much.  The only complaint is that it was pretty hot with no AC and not very much ventilation.  I guess that’s my fault for not noticing AC on the amenities list.  Oh well, the place kind of grew on me over our time there.

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Day 1

Fisherman’s Wharf, North Beach

We arrived in to SFO around noon on Friday.  To save some money we took the Bart to downtown San Francisco to the Embarcadero stop.  This was about an $8 ride versus a $50 cab ride. We then took the historic street car that runs along the bay waterfront.  It was super crowded but only $2 so we dealt with it!

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Once we got settled in to our apartment we headed down to Fisherman’s Wharf.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day and packed with tourist because America’s Cup had just started this weekend.  We walked around a bit and after much of my indecisiveness finally chose restaurant called Eagle Café.  They had an outdoor deck that overlooked Pier 39.  At first they tried sitting us inside and I just wasn’t having it so I finagled our way outside to the deck.  We had some seafood, San Francisco beer, and talked to a local who gave us a great recommendation for dinner.

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For dinner we headed to a restaurant called The Park Tavern right in Washington Square in North Beach.  They had awesome cocktails like a strawberry basil caipirinha – so good!  We got a table outside and had some of the best appetizers I’ve ever had – no lie.  I freaked out a little bit because they had Brussel Chips!  My best friend and I have talked about “inventing” brussel chips for years now; I could not believe I found a restaurant that made these. They were so good!  We also had deviled eggs with bacon on top.  Dee – lish!

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Day 2

Golden Gate, Muir Woods, Sausalito, Sonoma

Saturday we had booked our wine country tour.  I thought it would be different to combine it with Muir Woods so we headed there first.  On our way to Muir Woods, our driver took us to what I think might be the best look out for the Golden Gate.  It was up on a big hill behind the bridge so you were looking down on it.  I was so giddy from getting to see this view!

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Muir Woods was really neat.  It’s a national park with a ton of red wood trees as tall as 300 feet!  It was crazy to see something like this right outside of a bustling city.  On our way out of Muir Woods our driver took us to Muir Beach Overlook which was another absolutely breathtaking view!

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We then headed to Sausalito to meet up with our wine tour group.  We had about an hour to hang out there and got some fish tacos at this little fish and chips place.  Sausalito is this beautiful town right across the bay.  The median real estate price is something like $2 million.  It’s pretty ridiculous to think about.

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At this point in the day we were definitely ready for some wine tasting!  We headed out to Sonoma and took in the pretty landscape.  There are over  500 vineyards in Sonoma/Napa valleys!  So you can just imagine how pretty of a drive that is.  We went to two really small wineries which was nice.  They both produced only between 1000 – 2000 cases a year compared to the bigger corporate ones which produce hundreds of thousands.  We really enjoyed the wines at both places and had the perfect day!

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We somehow rallied ourselves after this full day to go out to a bar for dinner and drinks.  We head to the marina / cow hollow district to a restaurant I had actually already been to before called The Tipsy Pig.  It was a cute little gastro pub.  Then when we got back to our apartment we couldn’t resist the little Irish dive bar right below us.  We went in there for one last beer.  They had some live music going on so after the long day we had we thoroughly enjoyed some loud obnoxious singing.

Stay tuned for Part two….a bar full of NY Giants fans in San Fran, some hippie neighborhoods, chocolate covered bacon, and a “sunset” cruise under the Golden Gate!

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