Northern California Trip // Days 1 and 2

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Well the time has COMPLETELY gotten away from me and I meant to share our vacation, you know, back when it was probably actually relevant. But alas, the time has gone by, but I'd still like to take a few days to recap our vacation. If vacation recaps aren't your thing, feel free to pop back tomorrow, but if you'd like to check out some vacation pictures, keep on scrolling.

We took a little vacation at the end of August/beginning of September to Northern California to go to San Francisco for a few days and then to visit my Dad and step mom for a few days. I'd been saying that I wanted to go on a "real vacation" (aka not just to visit family somewhere) for a while now, so we decided to tack on a few days in San Francisco to satisfy my want. While we had the BEST time, I will tell you, vacationing to see family is definitely cheaper! #hotelsareexpensive

We left on the morning of Tuesday, August 30th, bright and early at 5:30am, and headed north to San Francisco. We decided to take the scenic route and go up the 101 freeway instead of the more direct way on the 5. We thought it might be fun to get to stop a little and let Mason get out and run around. Turns out... that was a terrible idea and we got to San Francisco RIGHT in the middle of rush hour. #youliveandyoulearn. It probably took us 10 hours when it should have taken us only 6-7. But nevertheless, we had a good time and made a couple pit stops on the way up for breakfast, gas, and lunch.





We checked into our hotel around 3pm, which was perfect because our room was ready. At first I was a little unsure of what the hotel would be like since it wasn't one of your everyday chain hotels but it ended up being perfect. I mean, how can you not like a hotel that has hammocks in the courtyard and has freshly baked chocolate cookies for you in the lobby?

After we checked in and dropped off our stuff, we decided to walk down to the Fisherman's Wharf area for dinner. As we walked out the front of our hotel, I looked down the street and saw... that the hotel was RIGHT next to a post office! I mean, I swear I had NO idea, but how perfect is that? Of course we stopped to take a picture with the mail truck. How could we not?





After our pit stop, we were on our way to Fisherman's Wharf. It wasn't a short walk, but the weather was nice and we walked through a nice little park before we got to the water front. We made our way over to Boudin and had dinner and then made sure to pit stop by Ghirardelli Square on our way back to the hotel that night.



San Francisco labels all the streets on the ground as well as with street signs.
I made sure to get a picture with my favorite street -- Mason Street :)







The next day we had plans in the afternoon to go to a Giants game but we didn't really have plans in the morning. We had bought the SF CityPass though which got us entry into the Aquarium of the Bay so we decided to walk down to Pier 39 and check it out. We stayed for a few hours and then walked down the Embarcadero to Giants Stadium. It was a long walk, but a beautiful walk looking at all the Piers and into the bay.


















After the game was over, we walked a bit to go check out some restaurants that we were going to meet my brother at for dinner. We hadn't decided where we wanted to go so we thought we'd walk and check out our choices. On the way, Mason fell asleep so we stopped by Starbucks and Old Navy to kill some time until he woke up and my brother got off work. Around 6:30pm, we met my brother for dinner at a Chinese restaurant and then headed back to our hotel to call it a night.

And that's Day 1 and 2!






18 comments:

  1. Gorgeous photos!! Looks like an absolute blast. I love how much your vacation is about the good food you eat. You are so my girl!

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  2. Oh man totally worth the wait. I LOVE that you went to a game. I have always thought it would be cool to got to a game there! Can't wait to see more from your trip. Oh, I also love that they label the streets on the sidewalk too. That is really cool.

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  3. I love vacation recaps and I love San Francisco!

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  4. So fun! I was just in SF for a day, but I didn't get any good photos! Love all the fun stuff you guys did. We mainly just ate (a lot) and drank (a lot). ;)

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  5. What a fun start to your vacation! I love how SF has the name of the streets on the actual ground, too.

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  6. Your pictures are fantastic! It looks like such a fun time together.

    And yes, your first picture with In N Out has me positively drooling!

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  7. Yea!! Looks like a beautiful place, perfect for a fun family getaway.

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  8. I need to get the skinny on all the places you visited! I've only been to SF once, for a whopping 18 hours. So, we didn't get to see or do much (unless you count attending a WS game??). And, we were there for such a short period of time I didn't even notice the street names were marked on the ground!
    Being next to the PO was perfect for you! And, a hotel with hammocks and fresh cookies? Yep, solid decision there!

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  9. In and Out! YUM! Your hotel sounds awesome. I love that they have hammocks for their guests to enjoy. And you can’t beat fresh cookies upon arrival. So many things that I love – that your hotel was right by a post office (meant to be), the Mason street sign and Mason in the concrete sign (so freakin’ cool), Mason eating out of that huge bread bowl, the aquarium, the game…what a FUN trip!

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  10. Beautiful photos!!! Did you guys stop in Solvang on the way up? Lots of yummy food there. That sunset picture is so pretty.

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  11. This looks so fun. We need a trip so badly. We're homebodies so we rarely travel for pleasure, but it's overdue.

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  12. So fun! I want to go back to Cali and drive the southern part of the 101, AND see more of San Fran! Such a fun city!

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  13. How fun! I do love that drive up the 101, but traffic, yuck! So happy that your first two days were so fun. That picture of the water and the two poles in the water, the one on the left I thought it was a horse...I was like why is that horse in the water, is it drowning? Why would she take a picture of a drowning horse? haha.

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  14. Chris and I went to San Francisco in September 2011 and I fell in love! I definitely want to go back one day! Your post makes me want to go back sooner than later!

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  15. This trip was perfect for your family: baseball, Mason Road and the mail truck.

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  16. Can't skip the ghirardelli! Chris has been, but I've never been that far west...aka not past Colorado. I'm always wanting to do vacations that aren't to visit family, and not Disney even though I love those ha. It's fun to do things as your own little family.

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  17. Gotta know- how does Bay Aquarium measure up to MBA?! Ive never been but would like to go just for the experience. I have to admit, Im not a SF city fan at ALL, I cant stand the no left turns lol. But all the things you did are things that I enjoy (hello Ghirardelli)

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  18. San Francisco has been on our list of places we really want to go to! Sounds like a great start to your trip, especially with In N Out :) That sunset is gorgeous! And that Ghirardelli sundae... I'm getting hungry. Also, that location of the Giants stadium! What a view!

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