I Left My Hearrrt in San Francisco! <3

After visiting the Bay Area several times, we were well overdue to head across the bridge into San Francisco to explore this world renowned city. As Luke grew up in the area, he found some of Jelley’s ‘bucket list’ ideas a little hard to understand, such as cycling across the Golden Gate Bridge, but it was fun to be back visiting the city from a new perspective.

We were fortunate to be guests at our good friend Winnie’s house in the suburbs of San Francisco, close to the BART public transport and in a safe area (Thanks Winnie!!). Our day began with a classic American diner breakfast, complete with bottomless coffee, before we took the BART into downtown San Francisco. Of all of the public transport networks we have taken around the globe, BART was, hands-down, the most painful. The screeching noise of the trains against metal tracks will take some time to erase from our ears!

Our first stop was the Union Square district to do a little shopping for warmer clothes for the next journey into Canada during autumn. It was a little overwhelming being surrounded by people and tall buildings – this was our first time in a city since New York, and for the previous month we had been surrounded by corn, desert or mountains!

Union Square was an awesome area of the city, with the Apple and Nike stores being a particular highlight due to their unique designs. There was a great variety of stores, from high end designer (the dress in the photo below was $4000?!) to the usual Zara and H&M.

We were granted beautiful clear skies on our first day in the city, and after a quick lunch in Chinatown, made our way through the Embarcadero district to the waterfront. There is something soothing about being in a city by the waterfront, whether it be the ocean or a lake, that brings relief from the chaos of traffic, concrete and people.

Coyte Tower provided panoramic views of the city just before sunset and was an awesome way to familiarize with the landmarks of San Francisco. It was just a little too foggy to view the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance, but it wouldn’t be San Fran without a bit of fog!

It was game day for the San Francisco Giants and Winnie and Luke’s mom Claire had arranged for us to watch Jelley’s first baseball game at the iconic AT&T Park. A little unsure what to expect with the only relatable sport being cricket, it was an exciting experience complete with American hotdogs and beer. The atmosphere was electric, even though the Giants have had a poor season, and with the commentary of Luke (a little league baseball superstar back in his childhood prime), it was easy enough to follow the game. Unlike cricket games in New Zealand, there was constant off-field action and entertainment, including the singing “Take Me Out to The Ball Game” during the “7th inning stretch” . The game ended on a real high, with the Giants winning in the bottom of the 9th with bases loaded. We all had a lot of fun and agreed it was much more fun than going to a game of cricket!

Another item on the San Francisco bucket list was a trip out to Alcatraz Island. After a couple of our friends tried to visit without luck a few months earlier, Claire made sure we were booked in well in advance, and we had a full day of fun ahead with a tour of both Alcatraz Island and neighbouring Angel Island State Park..

It would be difficult to find a more scenic location for a prison than on Alcatraz Island. On a clear day, views would stretch across the city, the bridge and around the beautiful harbour. This was our first (and hopefully last!) time in a prison, and the audio tour was really impressive, with commentary as we walked through the spooky prison cells and learnt stories of inmates and guards who lived, escaped and started fights in there. We even had the privilege of meeting one of the correctional officers who worked on Alcatraz back in the 1950’s. 

Angel Island State Park was just a short ferry ride away, and equally as fascinating to visit. Although Luke and Claire have lived so close to this beautiful historic island, it was their first time experiencing it! Home to one coyote, years of history and millIon dollar harbour views, it was awesome to learn about the island and add it to the list of future hikes when we’re next back in the area! Parts of the island looked a little like the Malbrough Sounds in NZ and it felt like we were hours away from the big city life!

We returned to the mainland and hit up the ‘touristic’ Pier 39, catching up with the local sea-lions and having a beautiful seafood dinner. It is easy to see why this city captures the hearts of locals and tourists alike, with its laid-back seaside feel and the range of activities right on the pier!

Further down towards Fisherman’s Wharf we popped into the free Mechanical Museum (which sounds quite boring if you don’t know what it is) and we were pleasantly rewarded with fun and games! The Mechanical Museum is home to a large collection of historic arcade games and machines and really felt like a blast from the past.

Our action packed day ended at Ghiradelli Square, home of Ghiradelli Chocolates for a sundae and beautiful view of the sunset. Delicious!

The next day we tried out another form of public transport, taking the bus into the renowned Golden Gate Park and Haight Ashbury Neighbourhood. It was neat to visit this historic site from the Summer of Love, but also sad to see that the hippies have slowly been replaced with homeless in the area.

Land’s End was Luke’s surprise treat for Jelley – a beautiful spot on the coast with historic baths lost to a fire, a stunning stretch of beach and a scenic walk around the coastline towards the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a super cute date afternoon with wine and cheese as we enjoyed the sunny (and very windy!) weather and a chance to stretch our legs. This was a highlight for Jelley of our time in the San Francisco area!

We ended our time in the city catching up with a couple of Luke’s friends Jordan and Emma at Urban Putt, a super cool minigolf bar! It was a lot of fun sharing the evening hearing about stories from Luke’s high school and college days, and catching up with these great friends.

While we were getting close to the end of our travels abroad, there was still one big adventure ahead (which we hadn’t made too many plans for yet), and we got booking a Jucy van for a couple of weeks north to the Pacific NW and Canada!

At the time of posting, Jelley is back in New Zealand and Luke is arriving in a few days, and we can’t wait to share the grand finale of our adventure with you in the next post!

Until then,

A Kiwi & A Cali xoxo

#California #SanFrancisco #Travel #USA