Neither of our bonus kids had ever been to CA before this trip. So, a day in SF felt necessary. SF has always been one of my favorite cities. Even w/ all of its current & very serious issues, I love it. Would I live there? Absolutely not. But it’s fun to visit.

I know better than to drive, and more importantly, try to PARK in SF, so booked us on an all-day private tour. Our tour guide, Patrick is an actor who moonlights as a tour guide. Could be the other way around. Patrick is a SF native, & he knows ALL the things. 

We covered a lot of ground:

Coit Tower: really cool art deco structure. Spectacular views, compulsory group photo.

Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory in Chinatown. Huge line for free fortune cookie samples. This place is about as big as a large closet, and they make 10,000 cookies per day. They start out flat and then folded over words of wisdom and your winning lottery number.

Had delicious dim sum lunch at Yank Sing. Steamed pork buns might be one of the single greatest contributions to food ever. 

Cruised through Haight-Ashbury, where we saw Charles Manson’s house. Did not take a picture because: creepy vibes.

Slow drive through the Mission to admire the murals. Tried to stop at the famous Tartine Bakery, but there was significant police activity there, so we moved on. Stopped instead for ice cream at Bi-Rite Creamery.

Quick stop at the famous Painted Ladies of SF (Patrick played the theme song from “Full House”, which btw, will stay in your head for the rest of the day).

Stopped to view the Golden Gate Bridge at the old WWII bunkers, which were built to fortify the west coast in case the Japanese decided to attack SF. Max has never met a bunker he didn’t want to explore, so we lingered a bit. Also: another mandatory picture. 

Quick stop at Baker Beach. Bridge was pretty fogged in by that point in the day, so not great picture taking. Btw, SF’s famous fog is named Karl. Feel like I need that t-shirt.

Palace of Fine Arts: stunning at dusk. 

By the time we got to dinner none of us were really hungry. Had a couple of cocktails and called it a DAY.

Cheers!