San Francisco
We arrived in San Francisco on Friday in time to pick up Mark’s sister, Traci from the airport. She flew in from Connecticut to visit us for 4 nights. We stayed at the Wyndham Canterbury Hotel in downtown San Francisco. Our first surprise upon arrival was finding out it would cost between $60-90 per night to park our van in the parking garage. Everything you’ve heard about San Francisco being expensive is true. We ended up finding a different option, but then we were holding our breath every night hoping the van didn’t get broken into. Crime and homelessness are very high and parking anywhere in the open is not recommended. What we learned is that this is a city that is best visited without a car. It is much less stressful and probably the same price to take an Uber or public transportation than to hassle with parking.
The Golden Gate
The Golden Gate Bridge was on the top of our bucket list. We’ve had a thing for bridges this whole trip, so we were excited to both drive and walk on this iconic bridge. As you can see from our sunglasses, we had mostly sunny days.
Grace Cathedral
On Sunday morning, we got a workout trekking up one of San Francisco’s steep hills to Grace Cathedral. This Episcopal church is stunningly beautiful inside and out. On the Sunday we were visiting, Bobby McFerrin happened to be doing some of his circle songs as prelude music. If you don’t know Bobby, he is most famous for his song – Don’t Worry, Be Happy. He is an incredible vocalist and musician. Here’s a short clip of our time with Bobby on Sunday morning.
Chinatown
We visited Chinatown and ate at Yees Restaurant. We ordered 4 dishes to share. The portions were large and we had leftovers. The fried tilapia was brought to the table as a whole fish. After devouring this perfectly cooked dish, drowning in a delicious sauce, we noticed the aquariums of live fish next to the kitchen. This fish was as fresh as it gets.
Another meal I will remember fondly was at Cajun House. Traci was given the task of choosing the restaurant and she found a winner! Everything we ordered was amazing and we cleaned our plates. Traci got the mussels, Mark ordered fried rice, Malia had gumbo, and Ivy and I had garlic noodles with shrimp and crawfish. At the end of the meal, Chef Ben came out to our table to say hi. As we were complimenting him on the amazing flavors, he suggested we look on our phone for “what is best Cajun food in San Francisco?” Traci said, “I would, but my phone is dead.” To that he laughed, “No problem. I have a charger.” He was just great. We visited for awhile longer and he brought out more wine and refilled our glasses on the house. It really felt like going to someone’s home more than going to a restaurant.
Another highlight of our stay was visiting Muir Woods, home of the giant redwood trees. This National Park felt like a picture out of a fairytale. The boardwalk path through the towering trees, beside a bubbling stream was magical. We kept expecting a fairy or a dwarf to emerge.
When we left the park, Traci suggested we take a different route out of the park and drive about 20 minutes to Stinson Beach. The hwy one that led us to the beach had some amazing views. We were squealing with delight the entire drive over the winding mountain road. This video is one of the places we parked and got out to take in the view.
One thing that surprised me (besides the cost of gas and parking) was how green it was in March. The flowers in Golden Gate park were blooming and green grass was plentiful. They have had record rainfall in California this year after a long drought, and it felt like the earth was singing “Thank you!”
