My weekend in San Francisco could easily be called ‘The weekend that tried really hard not to be.’ I missed almost a whole day due to a cancelled flight, I forgot my camera battery charger at home, our wine tour booking company royally screwed up our day trip to Napa, which forced us to reschedule our Alcatraz trip, which sells out months in advance…you get the idea. If there’s a huge lesson that I can teach you from my many travel adventures, it’s that you need to be flexible. You can have the best planned trip, have all your activities lined up, and be 100% confident in how you’ll spend you’re time, and with one small movement in schedule it can all come crumbling. All that being said, we had a great weekend and covered just about all the major tourist attractions!
This trip was all about reuniting with a few friends I hadn’t seen in almost 2 years. I met Megan and Rebekah during my trip to Greece with EF Ultimate Break in July 2017. We remained friends, keeping in touch often and we knew we wanted to reunite for another trip.
What was supposed to be a trip that started in the AM on Friday ended up really starting in the AM on Saturday. I was flying Alaska Air and when I received the call, it was an automated robot letting me know they were rescheduling me to a Sunday afternoon flight. This obviously didn’t work at all since I was scheduled to fly home Monday night. I immediately called and after what felt like an eternity and a nice woman telling me over and over how busy it was this weekend (which like, yeah it’s Memorial Day, I know), I was placed on another airline’s Friday late night flight. It was the last seat on the last flight for the next two days. Cue huge sigh of relief. It ended up being a great day hanging out with my pup and playing board games with my parents. My flight got in late enough that my friends were already asleep and I immediately crashed into bed too.
Yeah, those are bottomless mimosas….what of it?
Waking up refreshed and finally ready to start my trip, we waited for our wine tour guides to pick us up from our hotel. Long story short (you can read the long version here), the wine tour was botched and we were looking at a whole free day with no plans. After a quick brunch, we made a game plan to first head to the Muir Woods National Monument. I’ve always seen pictures of people in front of huge trees and was curious to check it out. Redwood trees are the tallest in the world and can grow up to 380 feet. The National Monument hosts many different hiking trails and paths ranging in difficulty and length. For the casual visitor, the main path through takes about 2 hours to complete. The biggest key to visiting Muir Woods National Monument is to plan your travel and there and back beforehand. For those of you without a car, like us, you can certainly Uber there but there is no service anywhere in the park meaning you’ll have to find another way out. There are cabs but those can run you over $50. Check out more information on how to get in and out here.
Once we managed to figure our way out of Muir Woods, we hopped to the San Francisco side of the Golden Gate Bridge and walked along the water. Of the many bridges I’ve seen, this one is definitely a gorgeous one. It’s one of the Modern Wonders of the World and is the most photographed bridge in the world. Seeing the Golden Gate Bridge has been high on my bucket list for many years so I was incredibly excited to see it and experience it’s beauty.
Rounding out our first full day was a dinner with another member of our Greece trip, Rocky. We went to a delicious Argentinian restaurant, Lolinda, which specializes in shareable plates. Definitely recommend this spot!
The next morning, we boarded the bus for our full day wine tour of Napa and Sonoma. The post about Get Your Guide has a few more details of our tour but overall, I was impressed with Napa and Sonoma but disappointed in the tour itself. Both Napa and Sonoma are filled with rolling hills and wineries for miles. In the future, I would love to spend a full week just exploring Napa and Sonoma because, well…..I love wine. Like, love wine.
The next morning, knowing we had our Alcatraz tour at 1:00pm, I woke up extra early to fit in a few of my own personal must-see items. I first hopped on a classic trolley car and headed up and over the big hills of San Francisco. Since I was visited San Fran during a very busy weekend, I learned a few important tips about riding the iconic trolley cars. First, don’t hop on at the first/main stop. They save room and can pick up 6 people at each subsequent stop so walk a few blocks ahead and skip the line. Second, you’ll need to purchase your ticket prior to boarding; they cannot be purchased on the trolley. Again, skip the lines at the kiosks and buy them online. Finally, they definitely squeeze you in on the cars so if you’re wanting a picture with the trolley, ride all the way to the end. They stop long enough for folks to take a few pictures. While this may be the most tourist-trapy I did, I really enjoyed experiencing the car and how it worked. It’s still run manually and a gentleman worker had to change the gears each time we went up or down a hill. I highly recommend doing this! It’s worth the $7.50 in my opinion.
After hopping off the trolley, I made my way over to the Disney Family Museum. For obvious reasons, this was high on my list. I consider myself a Disney aficionado (obviously) and this museum hit every note for me. The coolest part for me was seeing the first known drawing of Mickey Mouse. I almost missed it until a kind employee stopped me and told me to go back. It is definitely a blink and miss kind of thing since they have to keep it dark and out of any kind of light. If you have a chance to visit, definitely ask an employee where it is so you don’t miss it! I also wish I had more time to spend going through everything. I only had a short window from the opening of the museum to when I had to be at the Alcatraz pier. If you are a big Disney fan, I would allow about 3 hours to really take everything in.
Finally, one of the things on my bucket list and something I have been so excited to see for so long: Alcatraz. Tickets to Alcatraz do sell out in advance, especially on busy weekends so make sure you’re buying your tickets in advance. You don’t want to miss this opportunity. You board a ferry heading for the island and it takes about 20 minutes to reach it. It’s a nice ride and you have great views of the city and of the island. Once on the island, you’re given a briefing and from there you can pretty much explore as you want.
Walking around Alcatraz and learning about its history was fascinating but also incredibly surprising. In movies and television we see crazy things happening on at Alcatraz. And while it’s true that it held some of the worst criminals in the world, it was actually one of the best prison facilities in the country. It was ranked in top 5 of food, guards had great relationships with inmates, and the families of guards lived on the island itself and report having wonderful childhoods. I was also surprised to learn that in 1969 Native Americans took over and occupied the island for 3 years in protest of federal Indian termination policies. I had no idea this was a piece of Alcatraz history. I loved checking off a big item on my bucket list and learning something new about a place I thought I knew everything about. This is my #1 to do in San Francisco. Make sure to get your tickets early and check out this incredible sight!
After Alcatraz, we had one last very critical stop on our quick grand tour of San Fran: the Full House house! I originally found the address for the painted ladies house featured in the opening theme song. We spent a few minutes hanging at the park across the street and I have to admit that I found it incredibly odd that people hang out across the street staring at homes that people live. That being said…..we still got our pictures!
A short Uber ride later, we found ourselves outside the original Full House home. It’s sitting empty right now, for sale again (from what I hear, this place goes up for sale fairly regularly). I have to say, there is no way DJ and Stephanie shared a room that big in a house this small. Blasphemy! I also can’t imagine living in a home and having people finding your home and taking pictures outside of it all day long. There’s a sign that now prohibits pictures on the steps of the home. Again, still got out pictures but it did feel a little weird.
One final stop at the Marriott’s indoor bar (we stayed at this hotel and I highly recommend it, although not the most central to all tourist locations) and we were sadly off to the airport to head home. All in all, I definitely enjoyed San Francisco. It wasn’t my favorite city, if I’m being honest, but it was definitely a great weekend trip reuniting with some great friends. I think next time, I’d love to do a full week in Napa and Sonoma.
Have you ever been to San Francisco? Did I miss anything?