3 days in the city

This past Thanksgiving I was most grateful for Hamp & Sam!

These two have become my favorite travelling partners and such great explorers. They are observant and curious and always up for an adventure. Over the past few years we have enjoyed touring several cities together... and when we didn't have any plans for the long holiday weekend I suggested we get out of town go see some place new. So we decided to explore San Francisco!

It was amazing - great weather and lots to see and do. We were consummate tourists - soaking up all the sights and events the city had to offer, including:

Snacks and the arcade at Fisherman's Wharf

Panoramic views of the city and the bay from Coit Tower

Thanksgiving Day dinner in Chinatown at the Hang Ah Tea Room

A sourdough bread bowl at Boudin and hot chocolate in Ghirardelli Square

Lombard Street - the most crooked street in the world! - and the iconic trolley cars 

In just three days, we covered as much ground as we could - a lot of it on foot (and uphill! Oh San Francisco!) But we took advantage of several other modes of transportation:

• We rented bikes Thanksgiving day and rode ALL over town, including across the Golden Gate Bridge! 
• We rented electric scooters, too and zipped from pier to pier.
• Of course, we took the trolley car to Union Square one day to see the Macy's Christmas Tree. 
• And we took the ferry across the bay, called an Uber in Sausalito to get to the bus station, where the bus shuttled us to Muir Woods for a hike!

There were many special moments from the trip that I am trying to relish - here are a few (so I don't ever forget them!)

Our first day in the city we rode bikes through the Presidio, and the boys insisted we stop at the Palace of Fine Arts. I assumed teenage boys wouldn't care much to see an historic building that offered nothing but pretty landscapes... but they lingered and wandered around the garden and thought about the architecture and read the placards! While that was lovely in and of itself, the few extra minutes of loitering caused us to stumble upon an art exhibit just opening - so we purchased tickets and the boys were introduced to Banksy. It was amazing... the exhibit was very well done and Banksy's work is thought provoking and often uncomfortable. But the boys 'got it' - they pondered the quotes on the walls and asked questions about the meaning of the prints; they recognized certain images and understood the social messages in the art. It was, for me a proud moment of seeing my children's ability to understand that they are a part of something bigger than themselves.

No other special moment was quite as profound - but there were many more that were sweet for so many reasons...  in fact this Thanksgiving Day will forever be memorable because the boys were absolutely game for riding bikes all the way across the Golden Gate Bridge! Only after we made it to the north side did Hamp realize (thanks to the internet I suppose?!) that crossing the bridge was a common "bucket list" item for many people...

Other than bike rentals, the only real event that I pre-planned in anticipation of this trip was a Golden State Warriors basketball game! What a thrill - we shared in the Warrior victory with 18,000 fellow fans and I enjoyed having Hamp point out who all the players were and why he liked watching them!

And then, on day 3 we took a ferry across the bay to get up into the National Monument and see some really cool California scenery... and again these boys were totally open to take the longest hike possible! We laughed and picked on each other, they kindly waited for me up the switchbacks, and Hamp taught us a hiking song he learned in the Galapagos... it was perfect. We ferried back to the city for dinner and continued to laugh and share stories and be absolutely exhausted from it all. Best feeling ever.

Thankful, indeed.