The Ferry Building Blog Date The Stopped Time

 

 

 

The Ferry Building in San Francisco is where bloggers find heaven. Foodies, crafters, photographers, florists, chefs, and graphic designers a like will all be smitten. I want to go back, every single day. The Ferry Building alone might draw me to move to San Francisco. If you are planning a trip, you must plan to spend some time, simply wondering around. It may have been one of my favorite parts of the trip, well, until the greatest blogger date of all time.

After soaking in every inch of the place, scoping out restaurants and pastries, we headed outside to meet our new friend...

(which I seriously wish Mark had captured on film because we practically leapt into each others arms)

 

lunch at Il Canne Rosso, determining that our husbands would be good friends, falling in love with Whitney's perfect brown sandals (classic Shannon), being kind to the tourists from Atlanta behind us who kept interrupting our very first real life in person conversation, mourning over the sick that kept our kiddos from their first potential meeting, lots of excited smiles from Behr nevertheless, swapping notes on life as a working (in the office) mom, and strategies for coping with missing our kids, talking well beyond a normal lunch hour before we even think about wrapping things up, passing Blue Bottle Co. because of the long line and the fact that it would have been better with Erin, witnessing the mom in Whitney come out as she paparazzi-ed my son with moves only a well practiced toddler photog could be familiar with, gingersnaps and a vanilla macaron at Miette, and an all too quick goodbye to a very dear friend who I cannot wait to see again. It was perfect. Next time we are going to grab burgers at good stuff here in DC, and our third date will be back on the West Coast at la casa de McMadness. I have planned it all out. If only I had my own plane...

psst. you can read more about our date here.

oh, and next time, we will take legit blogger photos with us in them.

San Francisco Bay Area | Our Last Day

 

 

 

 

We spent our last day in San Francisco soaking up everything the city had to offer. We went to a park with swings (!) overlooking the painted ladies, headed to the Mission for lunch with Amanda at Pizzeria Delfina, and while we waited for a table, we explored this incredible neighborhood for which Amanda is so passionate! The wall murals were breathtaking. Everywhere I looked, my senses were in overdrive, from delicious food to all. of. those. bright. colors! This area of the city is truly beautiful, its no wonder Amanda loves it so much. After a fantastic lunch at Delfina (thanks to Erin for the recommendation) we kicked it around at Dolores Park, which boasts the greatest kid playground I have ever seen. Reason alone to move to San Francisco! A quick tour up Twin Peaks, and then we headed to our final destination of our trip, Golden Gate Park. It was once we settled down near this fountain that I realized how much of the city we had yet to see. Until next time, San Francisco!

Behr so enjoyed the fountain that I couldn't help taking about 300 pictures. But they work out perfectly for my favorite part of Thursdays...small style! You know I'm linking up.

Behr is wearing:
Shirt - GapKids - the best part about this shirt is it nearly matches perfectly to one of Mark's favorite shirts (did you notice?) even though Mark's is from J.Crew several years ago. Love it when that happens!
Jeans - KoalaKids, hand me downs, rolled up
Hat - GapKids
Shoes - Baby Saltwaters  and yes they are all over the internet, and some of you have gone on rants about being sick of them, but I wore them as a kid and loved them, plus they are nearly indestructible. They are a bandwagon worth jumping on!

San Francisco Bay Area | The City

 

The Golden Gate Bridge was a must see on our list, especially after our first trip to the bay area, when we excitedly drove over the bay bridge and realized like true out-of towners, that we had mixed them up! Classic. With a beautiful clear day, we knew we didn't want to miss the opportunity, so we swung by the bridge on our way south into the city from Muir Woods, and checked out the Marin Headlands too!  The coolest part of the experience is captures in the photo above, using the pedestrian walk way to go under the bridge. It was surreal, loud, exciting, and even maybe a bit frightening. I highly recommend taking the path to view both sides of the bridge.

When planning a trip to a new city, why not coordinate your trip with your favorite sports team? As we headed to AT&T Park for a baseball game, I was thoroughly impressed with the number of Phillies fans on the West Coast. We had a good showing, despite losing in the 11th inning...but no need to talk about that. Mark wore the wrong hat, completely disregarding the abundance of Philadelphia sports apparel in our home. But it was a great evening, joined with cousins and friends, cheered for the AWAY team! Go Philly!

And now for the rundown of the top tourist sights of San Francisco:

Highlights: Lombard Street (is it really the crookedest street? it is certainly the most visited) // taking a photo on a parked cable car, instead of paying for a ride // Ghiradelli for a free chocolate sample and an ice cream sundae if you are in the mood // seeing the Golden Gate Bridge completed covered by fog // hanging out down by the bay...where the watermelon grow...(not really, but we couldn't stop singing the song) // Chinatown // Fisherman's Wharf // Boudin Sourdough, pure heaven in the form of bread // Peir 39, only to see the Harbor Seals, that place is like the Ocean City boardwalk on crack! // watching Muni trains // bikes everywhere // historic architecture of the financial district. All in one day, no less.

And of course, throughout our trip, we had snapshots of quality time with friends. I went to college with Ashley and Amanda (and Ashley's husband too!) and was thrilled to reconnect with them. It was like we still lived together. I miss those girls...they are joining the campaign to get us to move West...we shall see.

Believe it or not, there is still more to share! Coming soon: 

The Ferry Building (it deserves a post of it's own) where I had a date with the fabulous Whitney.

Our last day in San Francisco, spent with Amanda in the Mission, and at Dolores and Golden Gate parks