Three days by the bay.

I'm so excited to share a little bit about our trip to San Francisco last week.  We really wanted to focus on exploring so we vowed not to bring our big camera with us.  Of course we couldn't help snapping a few iphone photos here and there.

While exploring, we didn't follow any city guides. It was all about the food.  Most of our destinations involved a restaurant and we explored the area around it.  Yes, we love to eat that much. Or, in some cases, we discovered we were near something famous (thanks to the internet) and took a little detour to see it.  This method made for some crazy driving everywhere, but it was fun and adventurous. 

1. The Ferry Building ended up being our first stop after landing.  We had heard there was some great food and we weren't disappointed. We had breakfast at the MarketBar (hello delicious bacon!)  and then coffee at Blue Bottle Coffee Co. We ended up returning a couple of days later for more treats on our way to the airport.  2. A little peek at the inside of the building.  We got some adorable wooden puzzles for the girls while browsing.  3. Creme fraishe and graham ice cream sandwiches from Miette.  DELISH.  I also picked up some colorful tall beeswax birthday candles here.

4.  We crossed the Golden Gate into the cute little town Sausalito one morning and had breakfast at a little cafe.
5.  After breakfast we drove up the road a little more to the Heath Ceramics Factory.  I fell in love with this company a year ago when I was making my own baby food and researching cute canning jars to store it in.
6. A peek at the gorgeousness inside Heath.  Even though I only walked away with a couple of canning jars, my heart was happy when I left.
7.  The best baby blocks by House (Also check out their collaboration with Heath on these house numbers and with Alexander Girard on these blocks)!
8. We decided to drive up the highway a bit to investigate Muir Woods.  We didn't hike in the woods, but driving there was amazingly beautiful.  It stopped raining for a while and the sun came out.  There ended up being tons of construction on the mountain roads, but thanks to a local old-school funk station, rolled down windows and the great smelling greenery, it was no sweat.

9. Back on the other side of the bridge, we enjoyed driving around the Sea Cliff neighborhood and ended up discovering  China beach (thank you Google maps).  The view of the Golden Gate was amazing and I loved how the small beach was hidden in the rocks. The rains had let up an hour before and we enjoyed sitting by the water in the sun.

10. Cool houses (referred to as "painted ladies")
11. The famous row of houses in front of Alamo Square park in the Western Edition neighborhood-remember when the Tanner family from Full House had a picnic here?  This place was buzzing with tour buses.  I may or may not have sang the theme song out loud.

12. A huge windmill on the edge of Golden Gate park (not too far from the beach)
13. Don't let this pleasant beach picture fool you....we didn't experience any beach combing weather ;)

14. Eating at Outerlands near the beach. Note the black coat I had to purchase at Target.  It was too cold for June, but I'll forgive you San Francisco.

15. + 16. Hanging out in the Mission District.  We loved the local shops here!  Of course we had to stop at Tartine  for some dessert (the lousy picture does it no justice), after eating lunch up the street at the famed Pizzeria Delfina.

 Traveling without our kids, one would expect us to stay out late every night, but we found we were both so, so tired after packing our days so full.  There were tons of things we didn't take photos of including the whole day we spent in the south bay area.  Busyness and all, we can't wait to go back!