The San Francisco treat

And what a treat it was. We loved our time there and we made the most of it. Of course we missed Mirabella, but thanks to our parents, she was in good hands allowing us to enjoy a solo trip. The traveling companion in my tummy could not have been more accomodating too, leaving me feeling very well. Aside from some nose bleeds, I couldn't imagine feeling better at five months pregnant in San Francisco.

We lucked out with our hotel view, overlooking Union Square. Lights were being strung on the giant tree on the square, but we settled for the skaters to get us in the holiday spirit since the tree was never fully lit at night during our time there. It was still pretty. The weather was nice the whole time as well. It was sunny and in the mid 60s during the day. Not California hot by any means, but San Francisco warm for November.




Some more of Union Square, right outside our hotel's door



Seeing San Francisco wouldn't have been complete without a trip to The Rock, Alcatraz Island, the most famous federal prision around. We did the night tour which started at 4:20, so it was really cool seeing it during both the day and night. It was a highlight for us.




View of the Bay Bridge from the ferry...


...and of the city


Sea lions










Night views




We rented a car for a day and drove just outside of the city to Muir Woods. The beauty of the nature that surrounded us was breathtaking. Our pictures couldn't do the place justice, so I only included a few, but we'd highly recommend going there. It felt like we were in a rain forest. It was a completely different world from the city limits, and just a short drive to get there. The sun was shining brightly before we arrived and after we left, but in between, we were enveloped in browns and greens.






These are from the car on the way out



Some veiws of the Golden Gate Bridge while we crossed it on our way there and back





And two other views, not from the car



Saw plenty of cable cars...







...and finally, it was time to ride one for ourselves



In motion


Enjoying the scenery




Coit Tower







No idea why


Fisherman's Wharf


We explored a horse track too


I indulged in plenty of chocolate, Ghiradelli being among San Francisco's best known brands




We made a stop at the Buena Vista, home of the Irish Coffee, for a taste. I watched. Jeff started without me while I tooled around Ghiradelli Square.




One of our favorite food items in San Francisco was ice cream from Bi-Rite Creamery. And it wasn't just any old ice cream, it was Salted Caramel ice cream. It was unbelievably, sinfully delectable! If someone can figure out how to send us some, we will smother you with kisses. And cash.


This is our light breakfast (light for one of us) at a cafe called La Boulange where I had an egg, cheese and veggie croissant (both Jeff and I said it was the best croissant we had ever tasted), fruit and a canelé (one of my favorite patries in the world!) and Jeff had a cream cheese pastry that was outstanding. We both had hot chocolates which were also delish.



Another morning, we had an awesome breakfast at Mama's, where we had been warned of a line outside. Now that's some good grub when people wait outside for a seat. We got there five minutes before it opened, and at 8:00, we were inside. The line was just about as long when we left, so we concluded that going on a weekday was key. The place was packed.


This just may have been the best French toast I had ever eaten


He loved it, but I know Jeff's omelette took second place


Any food lover should make a stop at the Ferry Building Marketplace, containing a level of shops dedicated to my favorite pastime.



From outside the back doors


Very stiff competition when it came to food, but one of the very best things we ate during our trip was...brussel sprouts. We mean it. It won't surprise anyone that we found a Mexican joint to hit up, and Mamacita was fabulous. It was upscale Mexican for sure, and we made the most of trying as much as we could. We saw the chimichurri brussel sprouts on the menu and had to add them to our order. They were (and I don't use this term much) to die for. We had so much food coming, so we tried to refrain from eating the whole mess of them since we ordered them as a second appetizer. We could not resist them. I could go on and on, Jeff could too I swear, but I'll end with saying they are a must try for anyone who goes there. Worth a trip to Mamacita just for those and a cocktail.


Not pictured was the fine cuisine we indulged in at one of San Francisco's top restaurants, Michael Mina. Good for us, it happened to be located in our hotel. The food, the service, then entire experience was exemplary. Every bite was scrumptious. I even tried cod and liked it, which says a lot. For my main course I had the lobster pot pie and I'm telling you all, what a masterpiece. I wanted to lick the plate. I say plate because it comes in a bowl with the crusty top as you would picture a pot pie to look like, but then it is reconstructed on your plate by your server. The presentation was impressive, but the taste, mmmm. Jeff had some beefy entree that he also really liked, but I don't know how anything could compare to that pot pie. We both had the signature root beer floats for dessert, made with sassafras ice cream, root beer sorbet and IBC rootbeer served with two, big, warm chocolate cookies on the side, one light and one dark oozing with chocolate. Oh my word.

I think I can feel myself getting fatter just writing about the root beer float and cookies, and all of the food we had in general. Obviously I'm attributing much of my nine pound weight gain between doctor appointments to this trip!

We couldn't leave San Francisco without picking up a couple gifts for the highlights of our lives. I saw this and fell in love with it. It had a similar feel to the book we had gotten last year for Mirabella in Paris, so we had to buy it for our baby. Interestingly enough, we found it during our Alcatraz visit, in the gift shop. We can't wait to read it together once our family of three turns to four.


And for Mirabella, we picked up this book during our trip to Muir Woods. She has been having a lot of fun reading it since we've been back!


It was fantastic to have had this travel opportunity, but it was really nice getting back to Mirabella. The best was coming home to four more days of vacation-we were especially looking forward to Thanksgiving-before having to return to the daily grind of working. We'll treasure the lovely time we had.