My wife and I, on a whim, decided to celebrate our 2nd year of marriage in San Francisco, CA. Our plan was to fly in, walk the city, eat some food, see some sights, and drink a lot of delicious coffee (the coffee part was my personal plan). So I decided to write this, to detail a few of the highlights, and recommend our favorite moments from our time in the city. It’s a short story of love, adventure and very-very sore feet.

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Ferry Building

I had set my sights set on Blue Bottle Coffee^1, and eagerly waited in their long line for a cappuccino. It was an experience at most, but I as a bit underwhelmed by the flavor; high expectations probably got the better of me (their Mint Plaza^2 location, was better in my opinion). I will say, though, their Ethiopia Yirgacheffe^1.2 was killer on drip, but I digress. Moving forward, for a tasty lunch, we had a sandwich and a salad at Cowgirl Creamery^3. Good stuff, their cheese is phenomenal, and dream-worthy.

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Mission District

For breakfast on Sunday, we happened across Café St. Jorge^4; it was a great little café. We walked off our breakfast with an impromptu hike over the Bernal Heights Park. On the other side we walked down Folsom street passed by Title Case^5, and traipsed through some stores. For lunch, we ate at the famous Tartine Bakery^6, and bought a huge loaf of bread. Alex was so excited to eat here, she’s been trying her hand at their sourdough recipe for a while, and was jonesing for a taste of the real deal. She was, of course, in heaven. Then a quick swing by Four Barrel Coffee^7, and got a cappuccino and a bag. Yum.

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Walking

There is nothing better than putting one foot in front of the other, and burning off some freshly consumed calories. Public transportation was a bit shaky for getting around, I mean, it’s great if you really dig the smell some random dudes arm pits or piss. Not really our preferred option, which is why we gladly opted to walk, with just a few bus rides for the long haul. Be sure not to make the mistake of wearing bad walking shoes. One of the nice walking moments was through Alamo Square Park, which is where that family snapshot takes place in the “Full House” intro. Lovely, just lovely.

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Exodus

In a nutshell, this trip was short and sweet. We explored a small handful of other touristy places, and rode a trolley, of course, but never ended up making our way to the Golden Gate Bridge. On our way out of SFO, I had this serendipitous observation. Backstory; before our trip I made a small illustrated postcard (at the very top of this page), of the bridge sticking up through the clouds. So when our plane flew over the top of the city, my eyes were focused on seeing the bridge. Lo and behold, off in the distance was two small red specs sticking up through the fog, which was rolling in. This trip was a huge blessing for Alex and I, It helped us prove to ourselves that we can make a lot of good memories out of a weekend. It has also encouraged us to explore our own local cities, in the same fashion as we did with San Francisco. Perhaps we’ll see you again soon.