Weekend getaway to San Francisco

No matter the time of the year, I am always down for an adventure. Call it my travel obsessed gene! When my hubby asked me where I wanted to go next, San Francisco was the first city that crossed my mind. We last visited San Francisco back in 2016 shortly after we moved back to my home state of California. We had wanted to make a trip back, but then the pandemic hit. Thankfully, the city is almost all reopened now. We spent this past weekend having fun and exploring all our old and new bucket list spots in San Francisco. It was such a blast. If you having been dreaming of a trip to San Francisco, it’s a beautiful time to visit!

San Francisco is often the coldest and foggiest in the summer. Fall and spring seem to be the best times to visit, but winter is great too! The weather was absolutely beautiful when we arrived. Beautiful blue skies with a perfect temperature of 65 degrees. We began our weekend full of adventure at the Golden Gate Bridge. I had done some searching before we arrived to make sure the bridge was accessible and open. The kids enjoyed learning some of the history and testing out the suspension of the bridge before we began our walk across.

I was a bit nervous to walk across the bridge with the kids since they had never experienced anything like that. To my surprise, they did amazing! We made it about half way and decided to turn around. Both the kids said they loved it and how cool it was to be able to walk alongside the cars, trucks, and buses. We got beautiful views of San Francisco on our walk back. If you are visiting San Francisco, visiting the bridge is a must!

Next up we explored one of our favorite spots next to the bridge… the old army fort! The kids had fun climbing up and down. There are so beautiful views of the Pacific ocean and the bridge from this area. Come in winter and spring for unique wildflowers sprinkled along the cliffs. You can walk down to the beach below too!

I loved coming to San Francisco as a kid and teenager, but somehow I had never been to the Palace of Fine Arts. It absolutely took my breath away! The kids enjoyed walking around and then we had a quick picnic snack soaking in the stunning views. It was like being transferred to an entirely other country all together. We had originally planned to head to the Golden Gate Park next. Sadly when we arrived, it was insanely busy with cars lined all along the road. Parking was nearly impossible so we decided to wait till the next day. Instead, we got some delicious gourmet mac & cheese from MAC’D. If you are a mac & cheese lover like myself, you have to stop by MAC’D and give their food a try. Absolutely delicious!

We enjoyed our late lunch by the beach while the kids played. Macyn even found a perfect sand dollar! It was slowly creeping into the evening so we decided to grab some ice cream and boba before heading to our Airbnb in Pacifica. My husband picked this Airbnb out and it was perfect! With views of the ocean, cozy modern vibes, and a great yard, we ended the day relaxing and having fun as a family.

The next day we relaxed a bit and had breakfast. If you are traveling with kids, having a full kitchen makes traveling so much easier! We left our Airbnb and headed straight to the Japanese Tea Gardens in San Francisco. Afterwards, we walked a bit through the Golden Gate Park. We got to see the Windmill for the first time which was awesome! Beautiful flowers lined the walk way. We explored a bit more before making the drive back home. It was such a fun weekend and we can’t wait to plan another trip to San Francisco!

We did plan out most of this trip beforehand making it to where 90% of what we did was outside. I had heard negative things about traveling to San Francisco due to vaccine and mask mandates, but we didn’t run into any issues thankfully! If you plan on heading to San Francisco, I recommend planning ahead. Popular spots will get busy fast so arrive early and plan to do those locations first to hopefully avoid the crowds.

If you are planning a trip to San Francisco, make sure to check out these kid-friendly spots:

•Palace of Fine Arts

•Golden Gate Bridge Recreation Area

•Baker and Ocean Beach

•Golden Gate Park

•Pier 39

•Chinatown

•Little Italy

•Sutro Baths

•San Francisco Zoo

•Exploratorium

•Painted Ladies

•Twin Peaks

Xoxo

Christian