We decided for our 16th anniversary this year, we would take a little vacation to San Fransisco, CA. Neither of us had been there and we figured it would be a fun place to go. We got airfare for super cheap and used points for most of our hotel, so that was nice! Between Krissy, My mom and Nick's mom, we were able to leave our kids home and still get them where they needed to go! A HUGE thanks to them and their willingness to help us out. They were amazing and the kids had a blast with them all! We left for the airport around 11:45 on Thursday (our actual anniversary) and had no problems getting on the plane and making it to SF. (Like the flight attendants photo bomb! It was so funny!). We decided to try out the public transportation in SF for our whole trip. So we took BART from the Oakland airport into SF and then from there used the Muni system and took the F line around the warf and to our hotel. It worked perfect and cost us about $20 instead of $80 for a shuttle or taxi. It was an adventure all on its own traveling that way. It was my first experience on a subway system and just all the different interesting people that we saw and encountered the first few hours in SF was quite exciting (and maybe a little scary). But we made it to the hotel and we were pretty proud of ourselves!
We spent the rest of the evening walking around Fisherman's Wharf since it was right by our hotel. We stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott Fisherman's Wharf and it was 1 block from the ocean. We also visited Gharadelli's Square and grabbed some dinner at In N Out that night. We had lots of food options close to our hotel, but I wasn't prepared for how expensive the food would be in SF. So we did our best to find decent food for a decent price. I wanted ice cream, but it was so pricey everywhere, but we found a little ice cream shop called Norman's that was normally priced and we had a yummy ice cream sundae and ice cream there. It was perfect!
We got back to the hotel and went to bed pretty early since we were tired (We both were up by 5 that morning to work out, go to choir and pack!). So we are lame and on our anniversary were in bed by 9. Haha! But we had an early morning ahead. We had tickets for Alcatraz with the first tour group at 8:45 and we were going to walk to Pier 33 and wanted to catch breakfast first. So it was a good decision!
We made it perfectly for our Alcatraz tour and it was a great experience. I have always wanted to see Alcatraz and every one told us to make sure to get tickets. I am glad I got them a month ago, because they were sold out for the rest of the time we were there! Thanks facebook friends for the advice! Just riding the ferry over was fun!
We really enjoyed the audio tour that is included with the tour. It was a great way to see Alcatraz and hear all of the stories about it. We were there for a few hours before heading back to to SF for some more sightseeing and to go to the Aquarium.
We grabbed some lunch at Boudin's Sourdough. I love bread!
We had purchased City Passes since they gave us unlimited Muni Pass for 7 days and tickets to different aquariums, museums, and a bay tour. It was a good choice! We went to the Bay Aquarium. And though small, it was still fun and they had a few cool displays. Our favorite was the tunnel that had sting rays and sharks in them. The jellyfish were also our favorite!
We walked through Pier 39 and enjoyed just seeing everything around the Wharf. We had dinner (I can't remember where we ate that night....maybe Chipotle??) We had gotten tickets to see an Improv Show at at BATS. It is located in Fort Mason, which was also just around the corner from our hotel, but we rode the bus over that way, but probably didn't save us any time compared to walking. We loved it! In fact, we bought tickets for Saturday's performance as well. We used groupon to purchase tickets for only $6 each.
It was a fun day, but so long. We didn't get back to our hotel until close to midnight. With all the walking we did, we were tired! But totally worth it!
