We decided to take our first ‘big trip’ in California to San Francisco and Muir Woods, and I’m so glad we did! I am in LOVE with this place. It is so unique and the weather is just fabulous! Of course, we went over Memorial Day weekend, which meant TONS of people, but I’m pretty sure San Fran is always pretty busy.
We drove down in time for dinner, so we found a food truck stop, sat back and relaxed. The food was great and the boys pretty much behaved themselves. Score!
DAY 1 – Fisherman’s Wharf, Ghirardelli Square, and Lombard Street
The next morning we walked over to Fisherman’s Wharf to check out Pier 39. It was packed, but the weather was great and the sun was out!
Someone was NOT feelin’ the love!
Sea lions!
One of our favorite parts of Pier 39 was Magowan’s Infinite Mirror Maze, which is exactly as it sounds, a maze of mirrors!
We at lunch at Boudin, which was highly recommended by a friend. It didn’t disappoint, but boy, it was crowded! Boudin specializes in sourdough, but all their food is delicious! They have an entire gift store full of their food items to buy, as well as fresh bread to take home.
We then headed to Pier 45 and visited Musee Mecanique, which is a warehouse that has a myriad of old working arcade games that you can play! Needless to say, it was a hit for all!
They had this sorting hat game, so, of course, my oldest had to play. He was quite embarrassed by what advice it gave him! “You are entering a season of romance…beware of Scorpio in the blue jeans” Haha!
And there’s this gem:
We wanted to ride a trolley up the steep streets of San Fran, but the lines were ridiculously and we were ridiculously tired at this point, so we looked at them fondly, and I got a picture of one.
We then headed to Ghiradelli Square to check it off the list. We waited in a long line for their dessert bar, and they ended up forgetting our order, but we did finally get it and it was delicious!
The last thing on our list for the day was Lombard Street, which is the famous crooked street you can drive down. Well, we didn’t realize we were at the bottom of the hill for said street, so we had to hike all the way up just to go back down the street! The houses in San Fran are the CUTEST things I’ve ever seen. Truly, they are like little dollhouses! I wish I had taken more photos of them because you just have to see it to believe it!
We were so tired at this point and decided to head back to the room. We found a small burger joint just down the street from our hotel and then ran and got some dessert from Trader Joe’s.
DAY 2 – Muir Woods and Salsalito
For our second day we decided to check out Muir Woods, which is just about an hour north of San Fran near Salsalito. Parking is minimal, so get there early! We thought it opened at 9:00 on the day we went but it opened at 8:00, so we were late to the game and had to park a couple miles away! But it was worth the hike because this place is gorgeous!
We said goodbye to the magnificent redwoods and to Salsalito to eat lunch at Salsalito Taco Shop. Besides the loud drunk guy next to us, it was great!
We then walked around the harbor right across the street before heading to the Golden Gate Bridge. Salsalito is an adorable little town with tons of shops and great views of the water. Next time we’ll come and spend more time there, for sure.
The Golden Gate Bridge is absolutely amazing to see in person. I’ve seen pictures of it so many times, but to actually be up close and personal with it is totally different. What a mammoth of engineering! Traffic on it is atrocious, but man, it was cool to see! At one point traffic right around the welcome center for the bridge was at a dead stop, so I snuck out of the car and got some great shots of the bridge:
We finally got out of traffic and took a detour and wound up at Presidio, which has an AWESOME view of the bridge! Presidio is a former Army fort, which has now been turned into a park. Crissy Field is located there, which is a huge area of green to play on and enjoy the sun. The kids even got to play in the water for a bit!
We ordered dinner in that night since it had been such a long day and headed back home the next morning. This is most definitely not our last trip to San Francisco! We only got to see a tiny bit of what this incredible city has to offer, and I can’t wait to see more!
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