San Francisco So our getaway romantic weekend – changed a bit and the boys came with us. Though initially I was sad that we wouldn’t be able to go to some of my favorite places in San Francisco, it all changed with the excitement in Lucas’ voice when we told him about our adventure to SF (riding on a plane and seeing the Golden Gate Bridge etc.)
Here are Lucas, Rich and Owen waiting at the airport for our plane to depart. (We flew Virgin America – and we highly recommend – 5 star service from check in to deplaning.) We don’t have any pictures on the plane, because most of the ride was spent cleaning up after Owen who decided to throw up his dinner all over us.
Here we are on BART – Lucas loved it and was asking us to read all the posters etc…from there we walked 10 blocks up to the hotel. Kids smiling – Rich and I out of breath. We stayed at the Nob Hill Hotel – not the most kid friendly place – but they did have an fun little elevator, a real fire hose in the hallway and an ice machine – all staples in a 3 year olds life.
Friday morning we were up early and praying for no rain. We loaded up and rode the California line Cable Car to Van Ness and the a series of buses to get to the Palace of Fine Arts – which most of was closed for renovations – then over to the Exploratorium – not sure who had more fun – Rich or Lucas – but it was fun! – Owen enjoyed the little munchkin part and was happy to get out of the snugli. (Lunch at the Exploratorium was great too!) – From there we hopped on the 28 bus and rode it to the SF entrance of the Golden Gate Bridge…Lucas ran around and really wanted us to go down to the Fort – but we saw big black clouds heading our way and decided it was time to go. Several buses later and some heavy rain we made it safely back to our hotel.
Aunt Sue came by that evening and stayed with the kids, so we could have a quick dinner out and a visit to the Mark Hopkins and back to the hotel to crash.
Saturday morning we were out early – on to the California line cable car (heading the other direction) to the Ferry building for some coffee and snacks and to watch the boats and ferries – then we rode one of the old Street Cars down to Pier 39 to see the seals and walk around. From there we walked through the wharf – so Lucas could see the giant crabs and then picked up a quick lunch – Owen’s first experience in a restaurant highchair – he grinned, giggled and flirted the entire time. From there we headed to the Hyde Street Piers to see the old boats. Rich and Lucas spent almost 2 hours – walking and rewalking the tug boat and ferry boat – they were amazing – Owen and I hung out and walked around and enjoyed watching the other 2 boys explore. We walked up to the Powell and Mason cable car line. I knew the wait would be long, but wanted Lucas to see the turn around – we had good timing as a car was just coming in. Then both boys fell asleep – so we decided to walk the 12 blocks home – as it was in my first SF neighborhood – Russian Hill and through the Polk Gulch – so nice to remember, but so much has changed.
We ran in to a bit of a dinner snafu, as we thought we would get dinner from the hotel restaurant – but forgot it was Valentine’s day, which meant Valentine's day special meals and nothing for us -- So Lucas and I headed to Cala foods and bought a couple microwaveable items and some yummy cupcakes and the family had a night of playing firefighter and eating on the bed!
We woke to pouring rain on Sunday – packed up and headed to the airport…the trip ended like it started (minus Owen throwing up on the plane). We arrived home (after picking up Bagda the fish at my mom’s house) and were very tired but had great fond memories of the weekend and all of us can’t wait to get back!
