Quintessential San Francisco

We spent three fun-filled days in San Francisco for the rest of our trip.

We detoured a bit and drove through a bit of Napa and Sonoma.
I had a weird urge to run through the vineyards singing Sound of Music.
Not sure how the two are related, but you can be assured that I fought the urge.

We rode BART into the city for two of the days and drove the other day (to see sights hard to visit on foot).

In no particular order:

Golden Gate bridge is a must.
But you can't just view it.
To really experience it you must rent a bike and ride across (also, I wanted to check off one of my 30 Before 30s).
The day we biked was incredible windy and for half of it we were biking directly into the wind.
Which might explain why I look so harried.
I was a weird combination of sweaty and wind blown with shaky legs.
I'm not the most confident bike rider (always have to have two hands on the handle bar), so it was a bit stressful.

We rented bikes at one of the rentals along Fisherman's Wharf.
It did take us a lot longer than I thought (at least 2 + hours).

Cable car rides are especially fun if you get to hang off the side.

Lombard Street (which I learned is not the cooked-est street, just the pretty one).
We drove it later because we just wanted to.

Fisherman's Wharf is full of characters and chowder.
A very good combination in my book

But seriously, the wind was out of control.

Chowder in bread bowl | sundaes at Ghirardelli Square

            Bi-Rite Creamery | Croque Monsieur from Tartine 

We literally ate our way through San Francisco.
To maximize our food intake, we often have first dinner and second dinner with a snack in between.
The only thing we didn't get were dumplings in China Town.

You guys. Eat at Tartine in the Mission District.
Don't be scared by the long line.
The food was wonderful and I was taken under the wing of an eccentric San Franciscan after he learned I was a "Tartine virgin." His words, not mine.
Aside from him laughing when I said that I was from Utah, he was a lot of fun.




Next up, my favorite quirky San Franciscan adventures.