Welcome to Part 1 of our San Francisco 21st birthday
adventure! When it’s just the two of us
sharing girl time, especially 8 hours in the car, it’s all about the music, (dare we belt out
the finale to Hairspray one more time!?!) It's about stopping to take lots of pictures, planning the cutest places for lunch
and of course lots of green ice tea and soy chai lattes which means lots of
potty breaks. Which by the way is a challenge on the many miles of Highway 1
between Los Angeles and San Francisco. (Miles and miles and miles.)
I had made this trip by myself when I was 22. Excuse the
cliche but I was off to find myself. I
flew from New York, (my home town), to LA, stayed just long enough to
fall in love with CA then took this drive, alone, (pre cell phones!), up the coast to SF. I met a
women while touring
Hearst Castle on that trip who told me how brave I was for going
it alone. Turned out she was alone too, all the way from Oklahoma and she was
85! Now who’s the brave one!
As we drove one winding sharp curve after the next I thought about that trip and realized I was brave, and in case you’re wondering,
I did find myself ;)
I loved seeing my daughter in awe of the sheer beauty of it all. It’s
truly breathtaking and if you have never seen it I highly recommend.
Sunbathing seals were an amazing site.
And where else would we stay for a 21
st birthday
but a hotel called
DIVA. (More about
that in part 2.)
We tried to do some new things this time in SF like climbing
the stairs at
Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower.
We actually discovered the stairs by accident, they just looked cool. As we started up a man
offered to take our picture and told us about Telegraph Hill. Usually we like
to visit neighborhoods and shy away from too much touristy things so I never
had Coit Tower on the list. Turns out
there are good reasons things are touristy. As we climbed, (284 ft!) and yes, she was WAY
ahead of me, I kept thinking there
better be something spectacular at the top to make this worth it. And there was,
a 360 degree view of all of San Francisco. Gorgeous! What intrigued me the most
were the homes and apartments along the stairs tucked into nooks and crannies. (I’m a nook
and crannies lover.) Living along the stairs offered amazing views and trade offs like if you forget something when you get to your
car you may have a 200 step climb to get it! On the way back down, which was
much easier, I counted 590 steps that means we did 1,180 all together, although
my brain was deprived of oxygen around
step 100 so that may not be a completely accurate count.
And what else makes 1,180 steps worthwhile? …lunch of course
Grove on Fillmore is a favorite.
As always, my favorite pics are from under the Golden Gate just having fun at
Crissy Field.
Sometimes I look at her and think how the heck did she come
out so gorgeous!?!
On the way home we stopped in Carmel by the Sea for an early dinner at
La Bicyclette. A charming French Bistro
where my now adult daughter ordered her first split of sparkling wine and
possibly her last since she hated it. I
knew she would, a tea girl like me ;)
Lots more from the birthday girl coming in Part 2.
If you have the opportunity to make memories instead of
giving material gifts, we highly recommend it :)
Check out last years blog posts of SF
here and
here for shopping and eating recommendations.
xoxo
.