San Francisco

Since AJ and I have been dating (8 years this week), we have talked about going to San Francisco, both because it's a quick, fun getaway, and because we both have so many friends up in the Bay Area we both wanted to visit. The closest we've got was making it to San Jose last May for Priya's wedding, which... is not San Francisco.

We finally made it this past long weekend and it was both a joy and a delight - and a whats-wrong-with-us situation. Whats-wrong-with-us because, it's an hour flight that we could have made last minute at any point in the past 8 years without blinking, and yet we waited until we were toting our 2 year old along with us, which meant we had to buy her ticket and take rental cars, etc. So our quick, cheap trip to San Francisco is not the quick, cheap trip it could have been before Sophie. But, it was a great trip with her and so fun to get her out! It was also a shame because of the storms and the weather was essentially predicted to rain 24/7 the entire time we would be there, so that was disappointing. But in the end, we got plenty of great time without the rain, so we were very happy.

We had a flight out on Thursday afternoon. A one-hour flight was perfect with Sophie, and she did great - she loved having her own seat, looking out the window, and getting unfettered Cocomelon time.

It took forever to get the rental car, and she passed out pretty much before we had even left the parking lot.

Sri had offered us to stay with him, but in the end I just felt too guilty - he doesn't have a kid, he worked on Friday, and we had never even met his fiancée before. In the end I was all in my end because they were both wonderful, in general and with Sophie, but we enjoyed our hotel in the Marina District. We checked in and went to sleep, and in the morning, Sophie was very excited to wear her butterfly raincoat (finally an opportunity to do so!) and we walked to a perfect crepe restaurant, where exactly none of us ordered a crepe, but the breakfast and chai lattes were delicious.

After that, we drove over to Pier 39 and much to our delight, the sea lions were out and about and quite active! I've only really seen them basking in the sun, so I was worried they wouldn't be out on such an overcast and drizzly day, but there they were. Plus a great view of Alcatraz, and Sophie was very excited to ride the carousel.

 

It started raining so we visited the Aquarium of the Bay, which is cute, but none of the fish in the bay are exactly cute or fun to look at, but the long tunnels and bubble tanks were fun and there were also river otters, and frogs (which Sophie is inexplicably obsessed with).

After this we went back to get Sophie her nap, and after she woke up we made our way to the Presidio and the Golden Gate lookout point. Sophie was very unhappy (she didn't realize she was seeing a notable monument - her loss) and then we deliberately looked up a Target to get her rain boots, but it was a small one, and not only did they not have rain boots, but they had whole displays of kids' swimsuits. In January. In San Francisco. What? 

 

We then went to the Mission District to meet up with Sri and his fiancée Annu for drinks. I was interested to see how this would go with Sophie but oh my goodness - she was SO WELL BEHAVED, we didn't know what had gotten into her. We had a big wooden booth at Fort Point brewery that Sri's friend started, and she was calm and quiet and entertained and wasn't fussy or loud or anything. We got to have lots of quality time with Sri and Annu, it was shockingly nice! Annu had to leave and not long later, Sri took us around the block to get some delicious burritos to go, we said goodnight, got back to our hotel and put Sophie to sleep, and then devoured those babies.

The next morning we checked out and went to go to Chinatown. I love San Francisco's Chinatown, but we mostly went because after I brought it up, AJ mentioned he had never been there before, which is crazy to me considering how often he's been here and how important it is in SF, the first Chinatown in the US, supposedly (and maybe the world?) Either way, I was excited, and it turned out to be particularly apropos, because they were gearing up for Lunar New Year happening next weekend, and it was so busy and active and fun! Vendors and performances and dragon dances and just overall bustlin' and fun.

We met up with AJ's friends for lunch at the Ferry Building. We see them when they make it down to So Cal, and their daughter is about a year and a half older than Sophie, so at their ages now, they're getting close to being playmates, but Sophie isn't quite there yet.

After lunch, we were going over to Sri's condo, where Palak and her family were going to meet us and we were going to watch the 49ers game. Sri lives quite literally around the corner from the Painted Ladies (aka Full House houses) so we stopped there first to get some photos, and then walked over to his condo.

It was a great time, the kids all did great, and it was so fun for us all to be together again! Sri, Palak and I all lived on the East Coast at the same time (Philly, DC/Baltimore and NYC) and spent a lot of time together during those years, lots of holidays and breaks and weekends, so we have a special bond and had a lot to reminisce on, and even though we've all been together since, at big weddings and events, we haven't really had time just the 3 of us to catch up and reminisce, so it was a great time.

We ended up leaving around halftime of the Chargers game (and I can't even think about that without tearing up), we were staying at Palak's new house out in the East Bay, and the kids were crashing. We got to her place, put the kids to bed, ordered Burmese food and watched the end of that devastating game, hung out for a bit, and then went to bed.

On Sunday we had been planning on getting out and doing some Bay Area things, but everytime we went to get ready, the rain would start, so in the end we just called it a day and ordered in food and coffee and had a rainy day at home. Which, by the way, was a great way to end vacation and not bad for the kids at all. They had deer wander into their backyard and the kids were quite entertained with their bounce house and some occasional Netflix.

Sri and Annu came over in the afternoon for more football, and it was a great way to spend a rainy day - all together with our friends.

We had a flight at 9:30am the next morning, and we had an incredibly smooth morning with everything (how rare and nice is that?) and we left feeling very refreshed and renewed although again - could have been much cheaper had we gone before we carted around this toddler with us!