San Francisco

In April Jaren had shoulder surgery. It was to fix a torn labrum and a torn rotator cuff. The dr's told him that he would need to be sleep in a chair for a while so we brought down one of the huge comfy recliners from the cabin and put it in the game room. The game room became the family's home base while he was recovering. Since he spent a lot of time in the chair we watched movies together, played some video games we bought (knowing there would be a shoulder recovery & we would need some entertainment time) and refilling his ice machine that iced his shoulder. To say thank you to me for taking care of him and the boys while he was down he booked a trip to San Francisco, a city he knew I have always wanted to go to. 

He let me do all the planning and there were a few things I knew I wanted to do. This was my check list. 

• Bike the Golden Gate Bridge
• Go to Sausalito
• Go to Pier 39
• Visit Ghiradelli Square
• See the winding road 

So Day one did bike rentals. Jaren went along with this because he knew I wanted to do it not because he was super excited. When traveling Jaren does not like to look like a tourist and renting bikes was the epitome of looking like a tourist. But when we were done he admitted to really liking it. It was my favorite thing we did while there. We rented our bikes at a little shop by Ghiradelli Square and planned on doing a 15 -20 mile bike ride. From where we started we rode to the bridge, across it, into Sausalito and then up to Mill Valey, where we saw California's famous Redwood trees at the base of Mt. Tamalpais. We finished by riding back to Sausalito where we took the ferry back over to San Francisco.

There's the bridge! 

Getting a little closer ...

Closer still ... 

Crossing the bridge!

This city was beautiful! It was called Mill Valley and I was stunned by how gorgeous it was. 

These were indeed some of the redwood trees but not "the redwood trees". They weren't the huge kind that you can drive your car through. That didn't bother me though, they were still beautiful! 

If you are in San Francisco you really must go to Boudin. And when you go you must eat breakfast. And if I could, I would highly recommend their French Toast. The best I have ever eaten. Although everything we got there was good. And we definitely ate there more then once. These little teddy bears you see hear about to baked into sour dough bread. We brought the boys home a turtle. 

The second day we did a lot of walking! We walked from our hotel, which was down by the water, all the way to the financial district where there was a lot of shopping. We stopped at the windiest street along the way and walked from the top to the bottom. I have never been to San Francisco before and I was in awe at how steep and hilly the city was. It was seriously crazy. When we started our walk we were cold (I also had no idea that it wan't going to be warm, if you've never been and you're going do check the weather first) but by the time we got to the mall we were both warm from all the walking up hills.

check ... the windiest street

We did go to Pier 39 and to Ghiradelli square and although both were fun and I'm glad I have seen them I didn't think there was much to do at either spot. I much preferred biking and walking the city. All in all we had a fun weekend filled with delicious food. Thank you Jaren for thinking of me and taking me on a trip. 

The seals at pier 39. It was really something to sit and watch them.