I decided I wanted to take a Girls Only trip to San Francisco. I took my Mom, Alyssa was unable to go, but Aunt Michelle joined us!
I planned every minute out with restaurants, tours, museums, etc. It was non-stop from the moment we landed. We got our rental car which we learned is not necessary for San Francisco so next time we will just Uber. We went straight to the restaurant plow which I would probably say every brunch place was my favorite and this was definitely my favorite....I can't decide! It was just so good. Fresh, homemade good dang food. Loved it.
Next, we checked in to the hotel and parked the car where it stayed all weekend because it was $75 DOLLARS to park it every time you came in or out. Ouch!! So we learned. Only Uber. So we Uber'ed for the first time which was awesome! My Mom thought it would be funny, being that we were in the anti-trump democratic mecca that is San Francisco, to ask every Uber driver if they voted for Trump. It made for some interesting and some awkward conversations and car rides. Our first stop was to go inside a Wells Fargo bank of all places that had a little-known museum section that had Mormon money! It has bills signed by the first presidency of the church and history about the Early West. They also had lots of Gold which was also impressive.
We made our way over to Presidio National Park. We were meeting a local tour I found online that has local guides who volunteer (tip is highly suggested) to tour you in different parts of the city. We did 2 of these tours and I would do them again next time we go to San Francisco. Our first tour guide was a single, older woman definitely of the more liberal party as she decided that our history of Presidio National Park tour would focus on the women that made history in the park and less on the men. She was also proud that they were a sanctuary city. We didn't say anything to that. But I did enjoy her tour and insights of the lesser-known women with some history of the military installments and men. She was very knowledgeable about the whole San Francisco area having lived there her entire life. During our tour, she took us to LucasFilm studio right in Presidio National Park. I really liked seeing some of the awards on display from different George Lucas films obviously the Star Wars movies receiving many of the awards.
After our tour, we went over to the Walt Disney Family Museum. This place....THIS PLACE was the biggest shocker of them all!!! We got there and I asked the front desk, "So how long should I expect it to take to get through the museum?" the building did not look very big from the outside. The front desk girl gave the impression that it is done fairly quickly (30 mins-tops 1 hour). Wrong-o! We made the mistake of moseying around the very first room which albeit was cool but was peanuts compared to what waited behind the boy that took our tickets. We spent probably 20 minutes reading every little plaque in that front award room because we thought there wasn't much later in the museum. The seven dwarf academy award was pretty sweet though. The museum just kept going and going and we were savoring every turn. The museum workers were so knowledgeable and helpful. They had great lesser-known stories. We are a Disney-loving family so we LOVED this museum. It was just fascinating. I'm definitely going back.
We headed to Tacolicious for dinner which was too spicy for me but still yummy.
The next morning we accompanied Aunt Michelle on her first Uber ride. It was Saturday morning so we went down to the Ferry Building Marketplace for the Farmer's Market to grab a bite to eat and explore what was to be had. Needless to say, we weren't disappointed and happily snacked away on so many yummy foods. There were so many shops, artisans, just so much to see surrounding the building and inside the building. I could eat my way through that place all day long. Pier 39 was just down the way and we had some time so we said Hello to the many sunbathing sea lions, grabbed a Nutella strawberry crepe, bought some souvenirs, then made our way back toward the dock for the Alcatraz Island tour.
Aunt Michelle did not join us for the Alcatraz tour. My Mom didn't even want to do it with me. She was afraid she'd get seasick on the boat ride over to the island and she had already toured Alcatraz. Little did we know they had revamped the tour to be an audio tour that has the voices of actual inmates talking about their cell as you walk by it or the hole in the floor and the history of how it got there. So good, so fascinating. History is my THING so I was all over the tour. Loved every minute of it. Also to be noted, Mom did not get sick on the boat ride. We stayed outside so she could be in the fresh air and stayed standing and we were busy taking photos. It wasn't a very long boat ride which also probably helped. If the picture of me hovering over the prison toilet seems strange it was a setup pic to send to my brother Devin. He is a hoverer when he uses the restroom because he is a germophobe. So I sent him the pic so he knew I was thinking of him. So thoughtful. My Mom liked the guard's uniforms and also thought of Devin. She wanted a picture of the red-tie gray suit guard to show him how well-dressed and dapper they were back in the day.
At the end of the tour, we struck up a conversation with one of the tour guides who then gave us a personal tour of lesser-known things we walked right past and didn't even notice. Mom is always so great to meet new people and get us into cool places. We took the last boat ride back to the mainland and headed for dinner at an Italian place that has the oldest brick oven in history but unfortunately terrible food. It also happened to be in the red light district which was interesting! My Mom wanted to explore the mall across from our hotel before bed so we shopped around and I bought myself an uh-mazing Ghirardelli ice cream sundae!
The next day we went to Breakfast at Zazie. Things kept working out beautifully this trip including being able to eat in the beautiful back patio.
The food was AMMAAZZIINNGG!!!!! I loved all of it.
We made our way to Golden Gate Park and had no idea it was so active on a Sunday morning. It was so fun to see the rollerblading dance group. They had great music and were jammin!
We made our way to Chinatown to eat at the First Dim Sum House in the USA. It was my first time eating Dim Sum. Aunt Michelle showed me what to order and it was really yummy!
Scallion pancakes became an obsession of mine for quite a while after this restaurant experience.
This girl's trip was one of my favorite trips ever. We visited so many places and had such a great time! I gained a new love for San Francisco after this adventure. My Mom was the best travel partner and it was even more fun when Aunt Michelle came along to join us.
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