My lovelies, I'm excited to share our
San Francisco vacation photos, if you like to see. We had such a great time and are in love with the city!
As I mentioned before, we were lucky enough to
swap apartments with Victoria from
SFGirlbyBay. Well, she also let us borrow her sky-blue convertible VW Bug! The only challenge: It was a stick shift, so San Francisco's steep hills definitely tested our driving skills. We may or may not have bumped another car (we did), which Victoria may or may not have been amazingly cool about (she was).
One of the first afternoons, we went to the
California Academy of Sciences, where we saw giraffes, dinosaurs and a rad aquarium. Alex and I took turns watching the dizzying 30-minute film in the
planetarium; the giant curved screen made you feel like you were actually flying through the solar system. It was, as Alex would say, a trip.
Meanwhile, Toby was
in heaven watching the eels and sharks swimming underneath us. Alex and I joked that it might be the best day of his life thus far, and I think it actually really might have been.
One night, Alex and I went to
Foreign Cinema, an fabulous restaurant that plays movies on a wall their back garden. (Aren't the ivy-covered walls beautiful?)
We ordered bright green asparagus soup...
...and bright pink rose wine...
...and had a wonderful breezy evening.
The next day was rainy, so we took shelter in the
Ferry Building with its cheese shops, gourmet groceries, fish markets...
...gourmet donut stands...
...and flower shops.
Alex and I also had literally, no exaggeration, the best sandwich of our lives (braised brisket, and I don't even usually like brisket)...
...at
this place. If they ever opened a shop in New York, I would eat there everyday.
Afterward, we chilled on a bench behind the Ferry Building and watched the waves. Toby is obsessed with all water other than baths, and he was so enthralled that he didn't even mind his soaking wet socks.
Afterward, Alex suggested we walk up to Fisherman Wharf's
Musee Mecanique, an old-school arcade with tons of coin-operated games, fortune-tellers (like in the movie Big!), and musical instruments that play old-time-y music when you put in a quarter.
One of the most famous arcade machines was "Laughing Sal," who had a crazy cackle.
The sign said she had "terrified children for over fifty years."
I figured Toby was too young to be scared of her...
I was wrong.
That night, on my sister's recommendation, Alex and I did a taco crawl (just the two of us) through the Mission district. We stopped into a bunch of different taquerias for beers, margaritas and, of course, tacos.
Pork carnitas was our favorite. P.S. Did you know there is a
Michelin-starred taco truck?
On our final night, we went with my sister and her husband to a party at
SFMOMA. We drank cocktails in the giant lobby...
...and then had our run of the place. It was cool to explore the museum after hours and get to see all the art up close and casually.
Other highlights of the trip: Walking out to
Point Bonita lighthouse, hanging out at
Dolores Park, going to
Tartine for croque monsieur (three times), getting
Korean-style massages and salt scrubs in Japantown, and checking out San Francisco's beautiful
toy stores.
San Francisco, we love you! We can't wait to come back. :)
P.S.
10 tips for traveling with a baby.
My darlings, we love taking vacation photos (who doesn't?) but then we never really look at them again. They're just stuck on our computers. So! We decided to make a Pinhole Press photo book with our England vacation snapshots, and I love love love the way it turned out. The paper is really soft, the photos look gorgeous, and it's amazing to have a little book of our vacation. Alex and I have read through it like fifty times. :) Here are a few of the pages...
Anyway, it was easy to make and it's so wonderful to have; now I'm dying to make litte photo books for all our vacations and events, including every Christmas break and our wedding and honeymoon. Thought I'd share! xoxo
P.S. Inspired, I also made some thank-you notes to have on hand at home, using a photo Amy Merrick emailed me of her flowers. :)
