Last week, we went to San Francisco to visit my sister. We had so much fun and did so much, but I'll try to give you the short version! We did touristy things - went to Alcatraz, walked around Golden Gate Park, Chinatown, and Fisherman's Wharf. We also ate our way through the city - but luckily with all the walking, we balanced everything out! I did a pretty poor job of photographing our trip, but here's what I do have.
On Sunday, we went to Sonoma and visited a few wineries. First, we had brunch at The Girl and The Fig in downtown Sonoma. Absolutely delicious! We actually did our tastings in Glen Ellen, which is just north of Sonoma. We bought a case of Merlot at Kunde and also got a few bottles from Benzinger, BR Cohn, and Imagery. I think our favorite wineries were Kunde and Benzinger. BR Cohn was neat since it is owned by the guy who manages the Doobie Brothers, but their wine wasn't particularly spectacular. Imagery is the sister winery of Benzinger, but their wines were not really to our liking. Sidenote: if you ever fly somewhere and buy a case of wine, it's cheapest to check the box of wine with your luggage and pay the $25. Plus, it flies back with you and doesn't have to spend a lot of time in transit!
On Monday we had lunch at the Crab House at Pier 39 and took the cruise out to Alcatraz - it was so foggy that day! In that first picture, that's Alcatraz from Fisherman's Wharf. You can barely see it! In the last picture, that's the clearest it got for us - that's the view of SF from Alcatraz. All in all, the tour was pretty neat, but Alcatraz is a lot smaller than we thought!
We drove out to Berkeley one day and toured the Pyramid brewery. The tour was free and included a tasting flight! It was such a neat place, but we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the plant.
Towards the end of the trip, the weather started cooperating, so David and I got to picnic in Mission-Dolores park by my sister's apartment. We got sandwiches at Ike's Place (YUM) and hung out and enjoyed the beautiful weather! Mission-Dolores park is so neat - there were a ton of dogs and their owners just let them run around and play! Casey would have been in heaven!
My sister lives in the Mission district and one day we found all this graffiti art in one of the alleys. Turns out it was the Clarion Alley Mural Project.
On our last night in the city, my sister had a work party to attend, so David and I got a date night! We had pre-dinner drinks at Range and dinner at Bar Tartine. Everything was so, so good! I even convinced David to try bone marrow...!
We had so much fun in San Francisco, but we sure are glad to be home! Here are three things I learned about San Francisco:
- California is EXPENSIVE. Very, very expensive (compared to Texas at least);
- The fog in San Francisco is no joke. Also, the temperature can vary pretty drastically between the Mission district (the sunniest area) and any other area of the city; and,
- San Francisco may only be 7 miles long and 7 miles wide, but when you're walking around the city, it feels like it's 70 miles long and 70 miles wide. My legs might still be sore.
