San Francisco, CA

June 15, 2017 Joy Johnson

It's been a while since I've had a destination travel post for you all! We've made a few small trips to see family, but not to anywhere new until this past week. I'm going to be brief and simply share the list of places we went, ate, stayed, etc... along with lots of photos, and if you're ever looking for some fun ideas of what to do while hanging around SF, maybe this will be a good place to come back to. As much as a travel itinerary is nice for those of us who are nosey, they can be a little overly detailed for the those who prefer to skim for main things to note. So let's try it the 'skim way' today!

Trip basics:

One week.
Half in San Francisco. Half in San Jose.
This was a business trip for Tom, who had a conference, but we spent the last several days with Tom's oldest brother, wife, and kids - so it was a bonus to see family as well! During Tom's conference I was able to spend a couple days seeing one of my best friends from college in SF, and near where she lives in San Jose.

Where we stayed:

During the conference, Tom needed to be nearer to the downtown area, so we stayed in this incredible Airbnb near Twin Peaks. It was one of the best Airbnbs we've used to date (and we use Airbnb a LOT). If you've never used Airbnb, be sure and sign up using my referral so you save $20 the first time you use it: www.airbnb.com/c/joyj6
The second half, we stayed with our family.

Where we ate:

What we did:

Ghirardelli Square (for free chocolate and bay views)
Walked the SF neighborhoods
Went to Twin Peaks
Went in every bakery and candy store we saw
Visited Testa Rossa Winery (and did a tasting)
Took the Caltrain
Window shopped on West Portal
Walked a LOT
Stopped by a Google building for a little tour
Snuggled a Bernese Mountain Dog that I saw from a mile away
Had great coffee
Ate delicious things
Loved the cool, not humid weather
Had an equal parts relaxing/adventurous trip

Day 1

Checked into our Airbnb, relaxed, had the complimentary cheese plate from our hosts, and later ordered dinner. It took us a few days to go from Eastern Time to Pacific, so our eating/sleeping schedule was wonky for a while there. Stunning views from our Airbnb and truly wonderful hosting.

Day 2

My college bff came over from San Jose to take me around San Francisco. We had brunch at Zazie's, got lost plenty of times, found all the candy shops, had pizza, saw the bay, walked all over, talked forEVER, and laughed a lot.

Day 3

This time, I managed to find my way up to her. I took my first Uber pool to the nearest Caltrain station, and got all the way up to San Jose without a hitch! We spent the day cruising her area, found a winery in Los Gatos, ate yummy Greek food, window shopped, ate some baked deliciousness, and then laid around their apartment and looked at her wedding photos that I had never seen in two years! It was another day filled with laughter and adventure.

Day 4

This was our last full day in SF, so I stuck around at the Airbnb and got some work done and enjoyed the area by myself a little bit (if you watched my Instagram stories, this was the day I walked to and from our Airbnb and nearly died because #hills). That night, Tom and I had a date night and went out for a little sushi and ice cream and Twin Peak touring.

Days 5 - 7 were spent with family,

and I typically don't pull out my devices with family unless there's just some downtime in the evenings. So there's no photos I need to share of those days! We had a wonderful time with our two farthest nephew and niece and their parents. It was the first time we'd seen their latest home in the Bay Area and we went on walks, played at parks, talked, read lots of bedtime stories, and just spent time catching up.

San Francisco and the Bay Area as a whole, are super fun areas to visit and tour around. There's tons to do, it's surrounded by other incredible places to visit, the weather is pretty near perfect, the food is delicious, the sites are beautiful, the public transit is easy, and no one talks to each other in Uber pools... unless you're the wide-eyed, spunky-spirited Midwestern girl who wants to know what everyone else knows. I may or may not have awkwardly brought up the silence of San Franciscans TO the San Franciscans and thankfully was met with laughter and a, "You're right, we ARE too quiet - thanks for livening up our Uber ride!" and then continued to speak with a super sweet young guy about gangs and how cool tech nerds are in SF while our driver got lost finding my Airbnb. Overall, though, it's a place I hope to visit more often and where at the very least, you can find an amazing cup of joe.