Totally Tourists

Wanderlust Wednesday: San Francisco

      We packed the large city of San Francisco into 3 days of vacation to celebrate Greg’s birthday since he had never been there before. We walked so much I’m surprised we made it back to San Diego with both feet. We ferried it to Alcatraz, enjoyed the city’s famous clam chowder in Fisherman’s Wharf, had a sunset dinner cruise around the bay and did a totally tourist bus/ boat ride to sight see the famous areas of the city.

 We decided to make our way on foot to the Golden Gate Bridge, but we were happily redirected when we discovered the magnificent Palace of Fine Arts Lagoon, where you can find beautiful architecture and a huge lake with ducks and swans that get up close and personal.

Renting bikes and riding across the Golden Gate Bridge was hands down one of the best outings we had while visiting San Francisco. Our 28-mile bike ride started from Fisherman’s Wharf took us across the bridge and back down the coast of Ocean Beach through Height and Ashbury and back to where we started from.

The views from the bridge are unbelievable. You get to see the entire bay and it was a perfect opportunity to see one of the world's most recognized landmarks. When you make it to the other side and look back at your accomplished adventure the Golden Gate Bridge will now feel like an old and familiar friend. Make sure to take a few more photo ops before continuing your quest to Sausalito, which is quite an up hill work out.

Sausalito is a small ritzy town with beautiful views of the bay. Our visit here was short but sweet with a nice lunch of seafood and burgers.

The Coastal Trail southwest of the Golden Gate Bridge connects some of the greatest tourist attractions and most scenic natural and man-made landscapes on the planet. We ventured through this trail at the edge of the cliffs on our bikes. The trail ended at Ocean Beach and the west side of Golden Gate Park. 

This almost 4-mile-long park is full of lakes, gardens, trails and the famous hippy hill. I swear you could spend an entire week in this phenomenon they call a park. We decided to make a visit to the Japanese Garden because I had been looking forward to seeing this for weeks. This beautiful garden creates an intense awakening of the senses with the sounds of nature, sights of lanterns, statues and ponds, and intoxicating scents of magical blooms.

I bet you didn't know that San Francisco is also a world-class center of small-time yacht racing, featuring model boats. Walking along Spreckels Lake, we were lucky enough to stumble upon this sight because these races are not only fun to watch but fiercely competitive!

I'm not afraid to come right out and say it, I love San Francisco! I am helpless in my affection for this city full of art, culture, fashion history and so much more!