What I Did While In San Francisco

I headed out to San Francisco a few weeks ago to celebrate my boyfriend cousin’s 30th birthday. This was my first time visiting California and I had so much fun. It’s amazing how much you can cram into a short trip. We rented a beach house in Alameda for our stay as it was a large group. On Friday night we made a grocery run, then pretty much chilled out and relaxed until it was time to hit the nightlife scene. Can’t remember the name of the bar that we went to and I didn’t take any pics. Which is fine by me as I can wear my outfit again sooner lol. On Saturday we got up bright and early for a trip to Napa & Sonoma Valley for wine tasting. First stop– Peter Cellars winery.

Now I won’t go into details about notes and what not because as much as I love to drink me some wine that’s as far as my love goes. So know that I will not be giving details about the wine except that it was good. I’m not a wine connoisseur. Yet. Next up we visited Roche which also had some very good wine. One variety did stand out to me though as it was infused with spices and I loved it.

After Roche we took a lunch break and stopped at a Mexican restaurant named Maya that had pretty bland food. I was completely underwhelmed along with most of the others in the group.

We finished off the trip with a visit to Cline which was my favorite winery. It was huge, the grounds were beautiful and best of all- they took us on an actual tour of the facilities and shared some of their history. On top of that they had pretty good wine as well. I really enjoyed it.

That night we had dinner in San Francisco down in Fisherman’s Wharf at a place called Pompei’s Grotto.

The food was delicious, nice and fresh. I had some grilled shrimp & scallops that were divine, along with grilled vegetables and roasted potatoes.

On Sunday a group of us headed back to San Francisco and had brunch at a restaurant called Little Skillet. They served the most amazing chicken and waffles. I tried the shrimp and cheddar grits as well but it was just okay, along with the dry corn muffins.

We took a walk to a Philz Coffee Shop which appears to be a popular chain out there and I fell in love with the Gingerbread Iced Coffee. Yum.

After that we headed back to the house and had a BBQ for the birthday girl which was lots of fun. The back yard had a deck on the lake and that was my favorite spot to relax. I would go out there and read my book or just meditate and stare out over the water. It was so serene.

Bright and early on Monday we headed out to get some sight seeing done. First stop, the Muir Woods. We stopped on the side of the road on the way there to take in the view. It was beautiful…

We then visited The Golden Gate Bridge on the Marin County Side, drove across to take in the sights on the other side and then walked partway across. We were too tired to take the entire trip.

From there we checked into Hotel Nikko, a beautiful hotel in Union Square San Francisco. We sat down all but five minutes before we headed back out and ate dinner at Ryoko’s then hopped on the cable cars to Lombard St. It is FREEZING in San Francisco at night. Geesh!

After dinner we took the cable car down to Fisherman’s Wharf and walked around Pier 39. Unfortunately it was late and everything was closed. We could barely see the sea lions as it was too dark, but we could hear them very well. They are loud!

On Tuesday we headed out early to get some last sights in before heading to the airport. I got a quick selfie out the door of course…

First we headed to the Painted Ladies (the Full House house). However, it was under construction. So no pictures as we drove past and didn’t stop. From there we headed to Mama’s on Washington Square to get breakfast as it was supposed to be the best place in town. We arrived to find a line spanning the block…

We decided to wait anyway since we were already there and wait we did for at least two hours. It went by fast for me as I was too busy trying to decide on what to eat. I am horrible when it comes to picking food. When we finally got in the door we realized that there was another long line but it moved quickly.

I ordered the Shrimp & Avocado Benedict while my boyfriend had the Dungeness Crab Omelet. We also ordered some French Toast to try. Everything was delicious!

It was nice to get away and relax for a few days, all while enjoying good food, drinks and company. San Francisco was beautiful and I definitely plan to go back to Cali. Next stop, LA!