I started really feeling like a San Francisco local when I got my first visitor recently! My friend Sadie flew in from San Diego for the weekend, so I organized a mini itinerary for the two of us (or at least a wishlist of activities, we ended up getting pretty spontaneous)!
Sadie got in on Friday evening, so just before the sun set, we popped over to one my favorite spots in the city, the Palace of Fine Arts. This place is no secret, but I love how serene and otherworldly it feels when there aren’t many people around.
The Palace of Fine Arts isn’t too far from the Marina, so I took Sadie to the waterfront for a scenic walk to dinner. The Marina’s gorgeous Mediterranean-inspired houses were just big enough to make us feel like peasants, so we didn’t spend too much time window shopping. We headed to Causwells for a late dinner of burgers and garlic fries.
We started our next morning early with a trip to the farmers’ market at the Ferry Building. We loaded up on fresh strawberries and spicy empanadas while walking along the Embarcadero. Again, pretty dang scenic.
Though we’re not the biggest sports fans in the city, Sadie and I headed to Oracle Park for a good ol’ fashioned baseball game. The game was a required event for the summer class I’m taking here, so our attendance was brief. Luckily, we stocked up on hot dogs and Dippin’ Dots before we left, so the game ended up being a home run for us (just don’t ask us which team won).
Our friend Aleeza, a bona fide Bay Area local, met up with us after the game. We enlisted Aleeza to show us around Golden Gate Park, so we spent some time walking around the Japanese Tea Garden, a little green patch in one of the city’s biggest green patches. I had never been to the garden, so I loved skipping over stones in the dainty ponds and chatting over sips of green tea in the garden’s cafe.
Since we were already on the west side of the city, we decided to head to Baker Beach for Instagrammable views of the Golden Gate Bridge. Though we were awe-struck by how small we felt next to the bridge, the view we were really gifted with was the Little Mermaid-themed photoshoot going on behind us. We were blessed by not one, but two costume changes. See if you can spot our friend splashing around in the back of our photos.
We rounded off the night with dinner at Louis’ Diner, a cozy outpost overlooking the Sutro Baths ruins. The diner is next door to the more famous (and more expensive) Cliff House, but offers the same priceless view of the shore. This little nook also happens to be where my grandparents used to go on dates when they were my age living in San Francisco.
Sadie and I kicked off our last day with brunch at Straw in Hayes Valley, just a short walk from my apartment. Straw is a carnival-themed restaurant notorious for its donut-bun burgers, but we stuck to the bacon and eggs.
After some light window shopping down Hayes Street, we jetted in another direction to Bernal Heights Park for 360 views of the city. I had never been to the area, so we explored the neighborhood’s sleepy shops and treasures.
Because of all the calories we had spent on walking uphill, we rounded off the hike with some carrot cake at Little Bee Bakery before heading out to meet Aleeza after she got off work. Deciding to venture outside the city, we BARTed on over to Berkeley for evening exploration. Since Sadie and I are both pretty inexperienced with the city’s underground, navigating our way to Berkeley probably took longer than it should have. Hilarity ensued!
More wandering around the college town meant we deserved some dinner. So we met Aleeza at La Med and checked how many miles we’d walked while waiting on our dolma and chicken pomegranate. Of course, no Mediterranean meal is complete without ice cream sandwiches, so the three of us laughed about our BART confusion over dessert at CREAM. We decided to take an Uber home.
Love! Love! Love!
What a great summer. So glad you did it!! and great excuse for Lisa and I to come visit SF!!