You save my life with every word you say
You shine your light for me to find the way
Just hold me tight and cross your heart to stay
Here with me born to be
Every part of you in Half Moon Bay" - Train
1) Let me start with a major attraction... The Golden Gate Bridge IS cool... cross it and head to the Marin Headlands... Specifically, Fort Baker's Battery Spencer. It's a 19th century concrete battery. Hands down this is the BEST view of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. I've spent many hours pondering life sitting at this location. It's on the west side of 101... everyone else goes to the rest stop on the east side... ignore those people... this is a bit higher up and your breath will be taken away....
2) Now that you're in Marin County... go to Muir woods and hug a redwood. It's a very California thing to do. I spent my childhood in Mill Valley... my grandparents had a redwood grove that I visit from time to time still. Muir Woods is a majestic place for those who love to hike. For more information see their web page... fyi: it's gotten so popular that you've got to reserve in advance now. https://www.nps.gov/muwo/planyourvisit/index.htm
3) Wine tasting in Napa is overrated - go to Anderson Valley... but wine stomp in Napa on the way if it's Fall... daily during the wine harvest season Grgich Hills lets visitors jump in a barrel of grapes, stomp to their hearts content, and afterwards you get to commemorate your visit by putting your purple footprints on a souvenir shirt. https://www.grgich.com/grape-stomping/ Have lunch in the quaint eateries in Yountville then head over Highway 128 for the smaller wineries.... Husch, Roederer (bubbles by the same people that make Crystal!!!), Scharffenberger, Navarro and my favorite, Brutocao. You really can't go wrong along this road and there is way less traffic than Napa. Keep going to the end and you'll end up just south of Mendocino... It's another cute little hippy beach town with good food and shopping.
4) If you must do Fisherman's Wharf grab a clam chowder in a sourdough bowl at Alioto's or Fisherman's Grotto to eat while you walk. Look at Coit Tower, the monument Lillie Coit built to honor firemen and then leave the area... Drive to Ocean Beach (it'll be arctic chill cold unless you're there in September) but go have a drink at the Cliff House... if you want to walk Ocean Beach bring a sweatshirt or parka to fight the the arctic chill... as it goes Mark Twain is alledged to have said the coldest winter he ever spent was a summer in San Francisco. As you're walking Ocean Beach, if you see tombstones at low tide that is because between 1880 and 1940 all of the bodies buried in San Francisco proper were moved to Colma and the monuments were dumped into San Francisco Bay to create breakwaters... see this story for the history.... www.mercurynews.com/2017/05/16/matters-historical-how-dead-san-franciscans-were-moved-to-colma/ If you want to know more about this and other San Francisco history, definitely check out books by the QUINTESSENTIAL California Historians... Shirley Burgett and Michael Svanevik. www.amazon.com/s?k=Michael+svanevik&ref=nb_sb_noss (Yes for those that know me this is a blatant plug for my parents).... If you want a cemetery tour/lecture... check out Cypress Lawn in Colma... July 21, November 10 and December 8th this year... I hear the lecturer is fabulous. :)
5) Whenever I go home I MUST go to Burlingame and visit the Copenhagen bakery https://copenhagenbakery.com/. This place has been my go to for YEARS. Their petite fours are DIVINE. While we're on the subject of wandering the San Francisco peninsula... any afternoon in downtown Burlingame (Burlingame Avenue), San Carlos (Laurel Street) or Palo Alto (Middlefield Road) can be spent shopping, eating great meals, or just sitting with a coffee people watching... locals walk their dogs and catch up with friends as they go. It's city centric not sub division centric... I miss this living in Georgia. San Carlos has a budding wine industry that you can taste on weekends... and Oooh one more food plug... If you go to Palo Alto head to Los Altos for Rick's Rather Rich Ice Cream.... Computer Chip Ice Cream.... OMG!!! http://ricksicecream.com/
6) Head to the coast... to Half Moon Bay where my heart calls home... Main street is fun to wander with lots of quaint shops and restaurants. My favorite quick bite is at Moonside Bakery. All of their pastries are amazing. If their strawberry cheese danish is available, buy it! https://moonsidebakery.com/cakes-and-pastries If you're looking for something unique to do and possibly bring home a souvenir, go to La Nebbia on Highway 92. Have Doug teach you how to blow glass pumpkins. Here's a video on Doug and the experience you can have. hwww.youtube.com/watch?v=dbG1kOWVWIE&feature=youtu.be I may have done this once or twice. Doug is fantastic! As I watched the video it made me think about going back to do two jellyfish with my daughter and husband. Her bathroom in our farmhouse will need lighting... :)
Lastly, every visit to California also requires that I have a few of my favorite Sees Chocolates made with local Guittard Chocolate. If I head down to Santa Cruz I also stop at MacKenzies Kandy Kitchen https://mackenzieschocolates.com/. My family's favorite place to go though is Capitola. We wander the stores, do some wine tasting and always visit Paradise Beach Grille. Their food is great, the views are fabulous. We always sit outside with a drink and soak up the sun. http://paradisebeachgrille.com/ A side note for runners... check out Wharf to Wharf... it's one of my favorite 10ks ever. Starts in Santa Cruz and ends in Capitola... there's only one hill that tries to kill you... the rest is relatively easy.
There are so many other places I can mention. I'm sure I'll do so in future blogs. Let this one make you think out of the typical San Francisco visitor box... As with anywhere else... look where the locals go... and if you want to pretend you're local, for the love of all that is good and holy... don't call the city "Frisco"... it's simply "the city" to us that live or have lived there.
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