But . . . at least we have the memories of a cool, brisk (sometimes TOO cold) San Francisco! What a fabulous five days our little family spent together! We couldn't have had a better time exploring, eating and relaxing!
Soph was a trooper on the plane and off - she is a better traveler than I am! She sat in her seat (thank you Alaska) and played with her toys, walked from aisle to aisle and waved at the other passengers and even ate the airplane snack - her first mini pretzles! At the airport, she patiently awaits luggage. Seriously, she is better than I am!
When we got to the hotel, we settled in, unpacked a bit (i.e. set up baby station) while Soph entertained herself with the curtains! Um, why did we pack toys?
The next morning (our anniversary) was spent exploring downtown around Union Square!
We shopped at Westfield Shopping Center - super nice! Ate at the Cheesecake Factory, and yes, I realize this is not a San Francisco place and IS a chain, but when you live in Mexico and don't have Cheesecake Factory, you take it any chance you get! We loved the charm of the city - funky cars, live street musicians, the 'ding ding' of cable cars!
We made our way over to Chinatown in the late afternoon but only had time for a peek! Before we made our way through all the crazy market streets, Sophia fell asleep on Pablo's shoulders, and we wound back through the streets and to the hotel. A busy day!
Mother's Day - well, it was my first and absolutely the best! We spent the day with a photographer touring the city, seeing the sights and getting some family photos taken! See here for the day's results!
Here are a couple shots we snapped that day as we took a snack break and played in the field of flowers!
We deemed May 11th "Pablo Day." Seems he was the only one who didn't have his own Day on vacation, so it was all about him . . . only Soph and I knew that it was really about us and we were just pretending that it had anything to do with him!
Soph began the day with joy in the discovery of unrolling toilet paper.
Once the TP was cleaned up, we hopped a cable car and headed to Fisherman's Wharf where we boarded a World War II duck for a tour of the city's neighborhoods and a view of the city from the water!
Selfie on the cable car!
Pablo got to drive the duck!
View of the city and Bay Bridge from the water!
After deboarding, um . . . I mean, "deducking," we headed to the Italian neighborhood in San Francisco for some serious lunch. We were told that there was a top secret pizza place called Golden Boy where locals go for the best pizza-by-the-slice in town! So we headed there with pizza in mind! They weren't kidding! The place was the size of my hallway (just a little longer) and the decor resembled that of a college bulletin board - with flyers and posters going back a few years! As we had predetermined that the pizza slice would be our appetizer on an Italian Cuisine Tour, Pablo, Soph and I shared one. Sometimes I'm so glad Pablo's English isn't perfect; due to a misunderstanding of the ingredients, he ordered us the clam, roasted garlic and parsley pizza - it was HEAVEN!
We left the Golden Boy dive and sat ourselves at a little table outside of the Trattoria Pinocchio and dined on calamari, ravioli and chocolate mousse. Thank goodness we had to walk around the block a few times to figure out how to get back to the hotel - we worked at least 1/100 of the calories off!
By the time we got back, it was early evening, Soph was pooped (me too!) and basketball playoffs were on - so we camped out at the hotel and ate our leftovers for dinner - yum!
The next morning was special! Sophia woke to celebrate her first birthday! As usual, she woke slowly and acted groggy - not her best moments of the day!
We headed out to the Mission neighborhood for a self-guided tour of the city's murals. I found the supposedly secret street on an underground San Francisco website, used google to figure out how to get there and we hopped a bus, hoping and praying that we weren't headed to the hood. We were, a little. I got a little nervous on the bus as we seemed to get deeper and deeper into the city, but it was sooo worth it! We found the little alley - filled with murals from one end to the other - some pure fun, some making political and social statements - others well, a bit confusing! We wandered through the street taking pics of the murals - they were really beautiful! I dare you to find Sophia, Pablo and I in some of these pics - we blend right in! (Note: We aren't in all of the photos! Just so you don't spend all day looking!)
Once we exited the alley, we rounded the corner and found the Taqueria Vallarta - no joke! We settled in for a taco snack! The tacos were so yummy we forgot to take a photo of the Vallarta sign!
We headed to the toy store to let Sophia help us pick out her birthday present! She was entranced by the rows and rows of stuffed animals, and she really checked out each box . . . although I do believe she was literally more interested in the boxes than in what was inside them!
On our way back to the hotel, a sweet little man at his downtown flower kiosk gave Sophia a rose out of the blue!
The thornless (thank goodness) flower kept her occupied the rest of the stroll back to the carousel where we arrived ten minutes too late for her to hop a ride! Boohoo! They were nice enough, however, to let us sneak in to take a picture of her on the camel!
This carousel is famous in San Fransisco. It was located at Golden Gate Park (I think) until a remodeling project when it was sold for $57,000 USD. The owner moved it to a location near Los Angeles and about three years later, the city of San Francisco decided they wanted it back to put at Yerbabuena Gardens downtown. They approached the owner and asked if he would sell it - he said "sure! For 3 million dollars." Which the city paid. Who needs the stock market? All you need is a carousel!
Whew! We ended the day (and our trip) snuggling in our hotel room before we all crashed - exhausted after a fantastic five days!
The next morning we hopped a plane and returned to Vallarta - where we found the weather had gone from hot to hotter and humid to unbearably humid. And so ended our first anniversary/mother's day/birthday trip! A super fun success!
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