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Published: January 23rd 2007
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Beautiful San Francisco
Walking tour of Pacific Heights San Francisco Sojourn
After Australia, we decided to go home to California for a few months…for the holidays (we missed the 2005 holidays b/c of traveling), my dad’s 70th birthday, to see other family and friends and to just generally re-group (It’s tough work visiting non-stop wineries! As many joked, “We needed - a vacation from the vacation!”)
We made our home in San Francisco with our close friend, Jackie. “Made our home” is probably more accurately described as “Booted Jackie out, changed the locks, adopted her place as our own and then proceeded to invite Jackie over as a guest!” hehe…Joking aside, we couldn’t have asked for a better hostess! We lived in the Marina neighborhood of SF, a great spot -- beginning with the gorgeous view of the Golden Gate Bridge. As expected, the Marina is not only right near the bay, it boasts wonderful shops (you can’t go wrong with any neighborhood that has a shop that sells only cupcakes - Kara’s Cupcakes!), restaurants, wine bars -- it’s a great walking area. In no time, we felt like locals in the Marina…riding neighborhood bus #30 all over the city to explore.
During our California stay, we
PRIDE & GREED
Two of the seven deadly sins had a plethora of parties to attend, starting with Shekels and Murphles hosting a “Welcome (temporarily!) Home” party in Santa Monica to the SF Halloween bash (complete with haunted house!) to Larry’s Backyard Campfire & S’Mores party…we had a much-loved, full social calendar.
No matter how many trips we’ve taken to San Francisco, exploration of the city always seems to bring more hidden treasures and surprises…whether it was finding a small pet cemetery in the Presidio or uncovering the funkiest luggage tags at a boutique in Hayes Valley or stumbling upon the perfect light to photograph the picturesque Painted Ladies Victorian Homes -- serendipity prevailed.
Our months in SF were packed full -- ballet at Yerba Buena Art Center, plays @ Off Market Theater, brewery tours at Anchor Steam and Speakeasy, art walks in Fort Mason, book clubs with a group of fabulous women or Friday nights at the de Young Museum. One of my favorite finds of SF was the free walking tours around the city -- from the Mansions of Pacific Heights to the Murals of the Mission District to the Barons of Nob Hill (Check out the walking tours at www.sfcityguides.org). I also recommend the vampire tour
of Nob Hill - - that is definitely a unique way to spend an evening! (http://www.sfvampiretour.com)
There's never a shortage of outdoor, nature and sporting activities in Northern California -- we did many fun runs around the area (and conned others into them as well (Norm and John!) -- luckily, they were able to nurse their running pain with mimosas at the Beach Chalet!), hiking in Marin County and the Presidio, strolling Russian Hill, and running to Aquatic Park…Nor was there a lack of birds and animals around the city -- Jason loved to feed the ducks at the Palace of Fine Arts or spend time watching the visiting raccoon wander across our outdoor patio (aka “The Bistro”).
We were fortunate enough to have many visitors to SF and the bay area -- many of the family varietal (my mom, dad, my brothers and their families, our cousins, Pat, Darrold & Julie) coupled with discovering other spots in the Bay area, such as watching the boat parade in Jack London Square, sampling cheeses @ Cowgirl Creamery in Point Reyes Station (speaking of cheeses, Jason, Jackie and I tried our hand at homemade cheesemaking - Farmhouse Cheddar!), football games at Berkeley,
The Girls
New Year's Eve @ Palace of Fine Arts wine-tasting in Morgan Hill…In fact, I was able to complete the full deck of cards, “50 Fun Things to Do in SF.”
During our stay in SF, we snuck in some work to pad the travel fund. Jason had a temporary job as a contract doctor in Richmond while I had a temporary contract lawyer job in downtown SF (To be fair, I admit, Jason worked a lot more than I!!)
Although I may sound like a broken record, thank you to everyone for the wonderful visit…we love seeing you all and we cannot adequately express how much we appreciate all the wonderful things that people have done for us (and continue to do for us)! We want to send a special thank you to Jackie for hosting us gypsies (some day I may even return the mail key and give you a key to the new locks!! haha)
Some things I loved about SF:
*Marina Supermarket (great little neighborhood market - - always carrying fabulous, local products from Cowgirl Creamery to Casa Sanchez salsas to Scharffen Berger chocolates)
*Watching all the miniature-sized dogs having a ball at the beach near Crissy Field
*Throwing the Christmas tree out of
Long time friends!
Katie & Kimmy @ Welcome Home Party Jackie’s two-story window (to put out for the recycler) and having it land stand straight up!!!
*Having the bus stop one block away from our place (see how I like to use “our place” haha)
*My “Pre-Wedding Girls’ Day Out” complete with exploring, shopping & cocktailing
*So many fabulous viewpoints (Twin Peaks, the Marin Headlands, Lyon Street stairs to name a few)
*Wine bars! Wine bars! Wine bars!
Next stops:
South America & Antarctica
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kathryn krieger
non-member comment
next time you're in the bay area
hey katie! my 20th reunion is coming up, so feeling a little nostalgic. i googled you . . . what a fantastic journey! continue to have amazing travels. when you're back in town - runkkrun@gmail.com. best -- kk