Northern California Trip // Day 3

Monday, October 24, 2016

I'm back today to continue sharing some more of our trip to Northern California. 
If you missed Days 1 and 2, you can find them here.

Day 3 was our last full day in San Francisco before we headed to my dad and step mom's house the next day. I had originally had our whole time in San Francisco laid out (I wanted to do A LOT - I was a bit over zealous), but the weather made it a little tricky, so we moved some things around and decided to go to Golden Gate Park on Day 3. Golden Gate Park was one of the places I was most looking forward to, mainly because of all my childhood memories there. I remember going there with my dad when my brother was just about to be born/right after he was born to give my mom a little peace and quiet (or however much of that you can have with a newborn around). We would ride the carousel and eat hot dogs in the park (I'm sure this is when my love/obsession with hot dogs came about - there were YEARS when I was little where I'd refuse to eat anything at a restaurant if it wasn't a hot dog). Such fond memories. And I wanted to share those with Mason! So, off we went.

Since it's been almost two months since we went, I can't remember exact details but I know at one point we took a couple buses to get us to Golden Gate Park and I just remember Mason LOVING it. I, personally, think they are kind of gross and smelly and the people on the buses are kind of sketchy, but when you're four and you don't notice these things, buses are the coolest things EVER. I think he was most excited when we told him that he could pull the cord to let the driver know that we needed off.

We arrived in Golden Gate Park and headed straight for the California Academy of Sciences Museum. I was pretty excited about going there because I had heard that it was a really cool place and let me tell you, it did not disappoint. We didn't get to stay nearly as long as I would have liked because a preschoolers attention span in a museum is approximately 1.3 minutes, but what I did get to see, I loved. I'd definitely go back.






After we spent maybe an hour or so in the museum, we decided to head over to the carousel area to ride the carousel and have some lunch. It was pretty quiet around there and on one of our rides, we were the only ones on the carousel. It was pretty much perfection. And as we ate our hot dogs together, I couldn't help but take in the beauty of the park.






Mason and his hot dog [2016]

Me and my hot dog [1987]


After we finished our lunch, we decided to walk over to the park that they have in Golden Gate Park. It seems a bit repetitive to say we went to a park while we were in a park, but this was just a small park in the middle of the huge park.

My very favorite part was the huge cement slide. I had really hoped that Mason would want to try it as you get to sit on a piece of cardboard and slide down but he hasn't really been very in to slides lately and when I suggested it, he said no. So we let him play for a while on the play structure and then eventually he saw the other kids doing it and he wanted to also. I was a bit scared at first when he wanted to go down because it was all cement and pretty steep and he'd never done anything like that alone, but he was a champ and had the BEST time. He kept climbing up the stairs and down the slide and up the stairs and down the slide until after maybe 20 or so minutes, we had to pry him away so we could go somewhere else. He would have stayed there all day if we would have let him!




Once we were finally able to pry him away from the slide, we decided to head over to where the cable cars were. We had planned to take the cable car to the cable car museum but you had to get off and walk a little and in between getting off the cable car and getting to the museum, Mason fell asleep (he was in a stroller) so Seth and I hit up Starbucks and Old Navy and did a little shopping at the huge mall that they have there. Mason woke up a short while later and we made our way over to the cable car museum.




Cable car museum



After that, we took a little walk and headed back down to the Pier where we took a tour of the bay and saw the Golden Gate Bridge. It was insanely windy and super cold and overcast at the water so my pictures didn't turn out the best, but the bridge is nothing short of amazing when you are so up close to it.

Houses on our way down to the water. 
I love all the colors and the charm each house has!

One stoop leads to six different houses!

I loved the details of all the different entry ways.




We saw the sun set, had dinner at Bubba Gump's, and grabbed some ice cream and took the long walk back to our hotel.

And that concludes day 3 of our vacation!





13 comments:

  1. My goodness is every spot you visited just amazing. I can't get over the charm and detail. Love the slide Mason was on too. Someday when I come out there you are going to be my tour guide. :)

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  2. What an absolutely perfect day! That slide looks amazing too. SO glad that Mason went for it. I have always wanted to ride in a cable car too, someday!

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  3. The hot dog pictures are the hands down best part of this! They made me smile SO BIG!

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  4. You guys did so much cool/fun stuff! This makes me so disappointed that we didn't get to fit more in on our trip when we were there a few weeks ago. I'd love to go back sometime soon with more time to play and explore (and eat!).

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  5. Seth in the dinosaur picture is seriously cracking me up! What a fun day in the city. We've been to San Francisco since we had kids, so we are probably due for a trip back.

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  6. You guys did so much!! I love that you got to carry on a cherished tradition with Mason :)

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  7. You did so much!
    I love that you were able to bring Mason to a place that holds such fond memories for you. And seeing you with your hot dog in 87 is so cute!
    I hope you all get to go back and do it all again, soon!

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  8. I love your throwback photo of you eating a hot dog :) Isn't is fun to take your kids to places you grew up? It sounds like you guys had a great time in the park- I love all the cool museums, especially the cable car one. Vacations are the best! :)

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  9. So.much.fun. I love the picture of Seth and Mason under the dinosaur skeleton! Are you still using your phone to take all of your pictures? Or did you get a camera? They are so good, friend. I love the hotdog comparison photos! How cute you were back in 1987!! What a great trip.

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  10. Love the mom and son hot dog pics =) Actually I like them all! Love the cute houses and the dino bones pic and the carrousel! Looks like such a fun trip.

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  11. You two with your hot dogs, too cute. And what a fun park!! You guys did a lot, looks like so much fun!! :)

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  12. I never went to Golden Gate Park - it looks and sounds great - especially that slide! I would also love to see the cable car museum!

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  13. We loved golden gate park and I was amazed at how large it is! And I'm dying over the photos of you guys both eating hot dogs!!! So cute!

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