Exploring SF: Lands End

A few weeks ago my family came to the city to celebrate a big milestone in my brother's career. After an awesome party involving way too much wine (on my part) we spent the next day enjoying a beautiful sunny day in SF. It was our first time at the Cliff House where we enjoyed a fantastic late lunch before checking out the massively overrated camera obscura (save your $3).  Afterwards my brother decided he was up for a hike so we decided we would work up an appetite by walking to the Marina for dinner from Lands End. It's a pretty spectacular walk all along the cost with lots of little beaches and fun spots to check out. It was also my first time checking out the Sutro Baths in the almost 6 years I've been living here- pretty cool ruins to wander around but I'm bummed I missed out on seeing Sutro Sam.

Exploring SF: Presidio Trails Part 3

If you aren't already sick of my Golden Gate photos from other hikes here and here then you're in luck because I took a bunch more! Every time I do a walk along the coast and the weather is right (think: less fog more sun) I tune into my inner tourist and take an unbelievable amount of photos. This past Saturday I timed it right and had gorgeous views of the bridge. I headed out pretty late in the day (around 4) and walked over to Baker beach and then walked along the sand trying to find the Batteries to Bluffs trail since I neglected to find the trail head online before I left the house. I walked all the way along the beach towards where I thought the hike might start and managed to walk into the nude beach section. There was plenty of what you expected at a nude beach: confused tourists, naked sunbathing, naked reading and a fairly competitive game of naked volleyball. The problem in not knowing where the trail started was that I needed to look around to try and find it meaning I was doing my best to look for a trail and NOT stare directly at naked old men.

Exploring SF: Presidio Trails Part 2

One of my summer goals was to explore all the hikes in the Presidio so Lindsey and I headed out for a walk on Saturday and ended up walking for over 9 miles! We headed over to the Presidio Golf Course and passed some gorgeous houses along the way. 

Exploring SF: NOPA

I already covered Hayes Valley, The Mission and The Dogpatch so next on the list was checking out the NOPA area on Divisadero. At least I think this would be considered NOPA- some places identify with Western Addition or Lower Haight on their website...whatevs you get the idea. Elisabeth, Rebecca, Lindsey and Alicia joined in on the fun which was good because the goal of the day was to eat as much good food as possible. We ended up walking so we were able to take a quick detour and stop in the very crowded B Patisserie in an attempt to snag a chocolate banana croissant before starting the food fest- yup all that melted banana chocolate deliciousness combined with buttery flaky goodness mmmm. They were actually out and we didn't feel like waiting plus we knew the eating we had ahead of us so we were willing to take a pass this time around but can I just highly recommend that everyone go here and get a croissant at some point...totally worth it.

Exploring SF: Presidio Trails Part 1

 

 I love living in the city but its nice to get away from the craziness for awhile -which is why I was stoked to learn how many trails there are in the Presidio. This website gives a good overview of the different options- I had no idea! A couple weekends ago, I decided to go for a short walk and ended up walking 9 miles- hard to stop when you have great weather and amazing views. I started off on the Mountain Lake Trail which is 2.6 miles long and goes from the Broadway Gate to Baker Beach.

Exploring SF: The Dogpatch

After getting some stress out at the batting cages I ended up walking downtown and wandered through the Dogpatch. I was planning on heading there on Sunday with friends so it was cool to scope it out a bit beforehand. After getting the lay of the land, I headed home to get ready for girls night. Rebecca, Elisabeth and I ate an amazing dinner at Pacific Catch then got our drink on with Bonnie along Polk street. Per usual I obviously used good judgement and totally did not over indulge on whiskey (lies! totes did!) and giant donuts the size of my head (double lies! so good!).

Exploring SF: The Mission

Lindsey and I decided that instead of getting each other Christmas presents we would do a roomie SF day. We each wrote down ideas of things we've always wanted to see/do/eat in the city and put them in the pimp cup to be pulled the day of. Since I have no self control I voted we look at all the ideas and pick the ones we thought we could do in a day then go from there.

Exploring SF: Hayes Valley

Despite living in SF for four years, theres a lot of the city I haven't seen yet so Lindsey, Alicia and I decided to fix that this weekend with a trip to Hayes Valley. Its pretty sad that it took me this long to get over there since it is so freaking close...like an '8 minute bus ride' close. Oh well lesson learned, onto our Hayes Valley adventure! We were quickly drawn into the brightly colored window display of Room Service. Really cute (and bright!) accessories and the prices weren't too bad. Loved all the vases and obsessed with the giant horse head(s)- I have no place for it but I reeeeeally want one.