Afa and I try to spend a weekend away at the end of May each year to celebrate our anniversary. For several years, all we wanted to do during these times away was sleep through the night uninterrupted and take a shower that last more than six minutes. We had three babies in less than four years and then lived in San Francisco through the pandemic, where we had some of the strictest lockdowns in the country. We were exhausted and used this time away to physically recharge.

Thankfully, our pace of life has changed in the last few months. Our children are older, and Covid restrictions have almost disappeared. When May came around this year, we were ready for more than crashing in the cave of a dark hotel room, barely ready to re-emerge three days later. We wanted an adventure!

We were discussing where we could go and realized that even though we had lived in the Bay Area for more than five years, we had not done much tourist stuff in the city of San Francisco. We booked a hotel downtown, decided we would leave our van on the East Bay, and fully immerse ourselves in tourist attractions for the weekend. With almost no plan, we had more fun than we had had in years.

Coit Tower

Early on Saturday morning, we were up and had breakfast at a small diner beside the hotel, then walked down to Fisherman’s Wharf. Because we got there before 9am, it was almost entirely deserted. Not to be deterred, we decided that we would walk to Coit Tower. The GPS said it was 1.1 miles, which seemed like an easy walk. Little did we know that the easy walk was almost all straight uphill. There were places where stairs were built into the sidewalks because the hills were so steep. The lady who in charge of the snack bar congratulated us when we got to the top of the stairs, indicating that most people made it panting with same deep breaths we were currently taking.

The views from the base of Coit Tower were beautiful. I love the views of the bridges from anywhere in the Bay, admiring the technological marvels that for many years were considered impossible. We found out that the Tower opened at 10am, and tickets up the elevator were only $10 per person. At 9:50, we hopped in line and were some of the first people up the elevator that morning. Climbing 37 more stairs got us to the top of the the Tower with even more incredible views. It was well worth it for the two of us, but I probably wouldn’t spend that much money if the kids were with us. The grounds and views at the base of the tower are well worth it without going to the top.

Afa had lived in the Bay Area on and off since 1992 and had never been to Coit Tower, so that was one of his favorite sites of the day.

Boat Tour of the Bay

During our walk in the morning, I had seen signs for one hour boat tours of the Bay. When we descended from Coit Tower, we walked back to Fisherman’s Wharf to find a boat tour. This is an area I wish I had done more research before jumping onto the first tour we found. We went on the Red and White Fleet, which was $38/person for an hour tour. As we wondered around the rest of the day, I found several that were much more reasonably priced, so I would pick on of those in the future.

The tour was incredible though. The narration was entertaining and informative, and sailing under the Bay Bridge was exhilarating. Afa loves being on the water, so this was another highlight of the day.

USS Pampanito and Museum of the City of San Francisco

Beside the dock for the Red and White Fleet was a sign that said “Museum of the City of San Francisco: Free Admission,” which made it worth at least checking out while we were there. The first entrance was a visitor’s center for the USS Pamanito, a submarine docked in the Bay. A tour of the submarine was $25/person, so we decided to just look around the outside, but it would be something that I would budget for the kids to do, especially if we were studying World War II at the time.

The Museum of the City of San Francisco is actually an arcade full of antique arcade games. I found it to be loud and overstimulating with too many entrances and exits to safely take all my kids too, so we will skip that one next time.

Columbus Avenue

Some friends had told us to visit XOX Truffles, so we took a stroll up Columbus Avenue to find it. The truffles were well worth the walk and would make a lovely gift for someone who enjoys fancy chocolate. Afa had some tacos from the farmer’s market beside the truffle shop for a quick snack, and we wondered around Joe Dimaggio Playground and North Beach Library, planning what our day would look like when we brought the kids.

Lombard Street

One of Afa’s requests for the day was to see the  “Crookedest Street in the World,” so we began our second uphill trek of the day. This one was even steeper than our previous walk up Telegraph Hill and required a few stops to make it all the way to the top. The curves have beautifully manicured gardens in them, and the reward for the hike are beautiful views of the city and the Bay.

At the top, we hopped onto one of San Francisco’s street cars for the ride down Hyde Street, back to Fisherman’s Wharf. Around 2pm, we started meandering our way to Pier 39 because we had 4pm reservations at Fog Harbor Fish House, our favorite restaurant in the Bay.

Pier 39

Because we had plenty of time and our feet were starting to feel the hours of walking we had done through the day, we sat down for a busker’s magic show on Pier 39, watched the sea lions when it was over, and then watched the boats on the Bay after that. Every size from personal sail boats to barges larger than Alcatraz Island passed in front of us. Taking time to simply enjoy our surroundings was a lovely break from the pace of the day.

We eventually headed back to the restaurant and had an absolutely fantastic meal. I don’t know how many times we have been to Fog Harbor over the years, but we order something different every time and have never had a bad meal. Excellence is the standard there. It’s expensive enough to only be somewhere to visit for celebrations, but it has been well worth it every single time.

NBA Playoffs

Before Afa and I got married, I had never seen an NBA game through from start to finish, but my husband is ardent sports fan. (Or he was before our children were born and consumed approximately 100% of our leisure time.) When we got married, we moved from Washington, DC, to Denver, Colorado, the week after the wedding. We spent a week in Tennessee on our way and took our time on the road trips. One of the things we built our schedule around was watching the NBA playoffs. In honor of that, our tradition is to watch at least one game during our anniversary weekend.

After one of the most fun days and most wonderful meals we had ever had, we walked the 1.5 miles back to the hotel, arriving just in time for the Game 3 of Heat vs. Celtics. It was the perfect end to the perfect day.