First Day Trip to San Fran

As day trips tend to go in our home, we left home about an hour after we planned to.  This doesn't make my husband's heart happy.  I think it's better to have a prepared and relaxed wife than a stressed out "forgot half the things we need" wife.  He thinks we should have put all those things in the car the night before.  

I'll work on it.  Maybe next time?

We arrived over an hour later than we planned to.  We were greeted with a bustling city, cars, people, trolleys, all the things you expect to see in San Francisco.  We couldn't find a parking spot.  Apparently this is also to be expected in San Francisco.  I'm going to go ahead and guess that is everyone's least favorite thing about the city and not focus on how it was my least favorite thing.

We finally found a spot on the street.  Two hour maximum parking.  Just enough time to hustle a few blocks to the playground in the park and play for a bit before moving on.

I did a good amount of research online before we went.  I knew what I wanted to see and this was at the top of my list of things to do with Declan.  We had planned to go to the Academy of Sciences (which looks absolutely amazing and I can't wait to check out one day) however the weather happened to be gorgeous on the day we visited, so we decided to save our money and enjoy being outside.  

So here it is, a little peak at "Children's Playground" one of the playgrounds in Golden Gate Park.  

The park is enormous, if you plan to go I'd definitely recommend finding it on the map before you attempt parking. 

Here is a view of a good portion of the playground.  Well this is the toddler climbing/sliding area.  There is a large structure behind it.  The reason I am posting this picture is the huge spider web type thing in the background.  See it?  It gave me anxiety just watching other people's kids on there.  I had never seen anything like it before.  

Our little guy had a great time, he was so happy to be able to run and play after being in the car for a few hours longer than we anticipated.

The sandbox area was his favorite.  Luckily some nice people left behind a shovel he was able to play with for a bit.  His favorite.

He'd never been to a playground with so many kids, everywhere you looked there were kids.  

A city playground with enough room for everyone.  Love.

The reason I had wanted to check out this specific playground was the Carousel.  

It is right outside of the playground.  

So we had to take it for a spin, of course.

Then we met up with some old friends for a little walk to Hippie Hill.  How San Franciscan.  

We loved it.  There was music, drums, day drinking and the scent of peace & love drifting by.

Mom?  Where are we?

Sadly after a short walk back to a friends house for a little break and diaper change we got back in our car to go find our next destination.  Of course not before a quick stop by the coast to watch the sunset.  My last two posts have pictures from where we went.  There are more pictures I still need to look through.  Check out the ones I used for Click Chicks here and here !

When you're on a busy day trip there isn't much time to stop and smell the roses, unfortunately.  Of course we try to make the most of every moment and these through the windshield pictures is what I had to show for our little cruise through the city.

Of course they are edited up the wazoo because truth be told, you could hardly see the bridge before hand.  

There she is, isn't she pretty?  We passed an overlook and there is no way I'm going back with out stopping there next time.  Still kicking myself!  For the record, my husband did offer but I was feeling a sense of urgency to get to the pier already.  

   We did eventually make it to Pier 39.  Another great spot that was recommended to us and we'll definitely visit again next time.  Hopefully in the day light!  We'd love to do the aquarium there.  We ended up just making a quick pit stop for some dinner on our way out of the city.

Here is the double decker Carousel at Pier 39.  It is so gorgeous, definitely taking the time to go on it next time we make it into the city.

Okay, I know I have a better photo of the island restaurant somewhere.  I just can't find it right now and it's about time I post this anyway.  This is where if we had arrived earlier we would have seen the Sea Lion's.  You can sort of see their lumpy bodies laying on the docks.  I loved them, even though we didn't see them.  We are hoping to take a boat to the restaurant next time around, I'm already looking forward to it.

San Francisco, you are amazing.  This Jersey girl is so excited to live with in driving distance.  

Until next time...