When we woke up early on Sunday morning, we were starving! Sleeping through dinner the night before was wonderful, but my stomach growled constantly until we found a place to eat breakfast. We had reserved Sunday for driving, so we bundled up and started driving south along the Pacific Coast Highway (CA-1) towards Moss Beach. Everything about the “One” was beautiful. The roads were twisty and the fog was hovering over the water and there were places to pull off all along our route.
The first place we stopped that was close enough to shore for us to walk cost us $10. Although the beach itself was stunning, the park was so dirty and campers had trashed the viewing area. I was disappointed, but we hit the road and kept on driving. I tried uploading an image on my phone to share, but realized that we had no cell service at all. We kept driving towards Half Moon Bay and stumbled upon Caffe Mezzaluna where we stopped for breakfast. We had omelets and hash-browns and the best hot chocolate of the week! The restaurant was right on the water and filled with people enjoying their lattes and the newspaper.
After breakfast, we kept driving south and as I was looking out the window I realized we had forgotten something. I looked over at Josh and grinned and he said, “What?!” I responded with, “Happy Anniversary!” We just laughed because that has happened to us once before. We didn’t buy anything this year since the trip was our gift. Being away from my calendar and a computer for a few days really robs you of any knowledge of what’s going on in the real world. Oh well. We decided it was the perfect way to spend the day anyway.
Our furthest point was Pigeon Point Light Station in Pescadero. We had no idea it even existed, but we rounded the corner and saw it off in the distance! We weren’t sure if it was open to the public or cost any money, so we stopped at a lookout just before we got there, but the views didn’t disappoint.
Since Sophie is obsessed with rocks and treasures, we made our way down to the water’s edge to find a few fun ones for the girls. It was so weird seeing a beach without sand, but it was stunning!
There were plenty of craggy rocks along the shore, so I wedged the camera in a tight spot and caught a quick photo of us together on our big day. We’ve been celebrating for twelve years and I swear it gets better the longer we’re together.
We had stopped so often along our route, including breakfast, that what took us almost three hours to cover only took a little more than one our to return. We were back in the city long before lunch and looking for something else to do!
I was under the impression that the curvy section of Lombard Street was closed to drivers on the weekends, but we were going to get as close as possible and then walk around in the neighborhood. When Siri told us to turn right at the stop sign, we were surprised to find ourselves driving down. It’s really hard to see very much when you’re making the drive, but the houses were so pretty and there were people EVERYWHERE! We feel sure the homeowners cannot love having people posing next to their front door.
I wanted to live in that blue house with the purple flowers! When we got to the bottom, we parked our car and walked back up on foot to get a better view of the neighborhood and to check out all the gardens and alleys. This was one of the prettiest downtown spots we visited.
When we got to the top and turned the corner, we could see straight to Alcatraz Island. I wasn’t prepared for how hilly SF was, but we walked up and down those streets all afternoon. We joked that there was no way we gained weight on this trip. We were in a constant cardio workout!
We drove a little closer to the Wharf and parked our car before exploring on foot for a few more hours. We took the famous Cable Car up into Chinatown and then walked back down to the Embarcadero to find a place to eat lunch. I had been craving Mexican food all day and there was a little hole in the wall right next to the water called Mamita’s. I had the best quesadilla of my life (are you sensing a theme here?) and a cold can of DP and Josh had a burrito that was the size of his face.
I had been telling him all morning that I wanted to find the Filbert Steps and head up to Coit Tower, but he wasn’t convinced. Filbert Street dead-ends into the side of a huge hill, but it continues in a set of stairs built all the way up to Telegraph Hill. He says he lost count somewhere around 300 steps and I’ve read conflicting reports that they number anywhere from 380 to 600. Either way, it was quite the hike! There are many apartments and houses nestled into the side of the hill, some of which can only be accessed by the stairs.
Not only were the houses gorgeous, but the gardens surrounding the stairs is amazing.
When we got to the top, the wait for an elevator to the top of Coit Tower was almost an hour, so we settled for the view from the park. You could see the Bay Bridge, Golden Gate and Alcatraz from there.
After hiking back down the stairs, we were exhausted. And you guessed it, we went straight back to the apartment for a nap! We got dolled up later in the evening and enjoyed an amazing dinner at Izzy’s in Cow Hollow. We had tomatoes and goat cheese with balsamic to start and we both had steaks for dinner. Josh got all kinds of veggies with his and I had their au gratin potatoes and steamed broccoli. I wanted so much to enjoy dessert, but we had no room left after that.
On Monday morning, we were up by 3 o’clock and packing before heading to the airport. Our flight was at 6:15 and we didn’t make it back to Birmingham until almost 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Jet Lag was catching up with me fast, but we grabbed take-out and picked the girls up from my parents just in time for dinner. They were super excited to see us and even though I was sad our trip was over, we were both missing them so bad. For Josh, it has been 13 days since he’d been home. We let them pile into our bed after dinner and after we looked at all of our trip photos, we introduced them to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids via Netflix. They giggled through the whole thing and Ella declared it the “Best Movie Ever!”.
We’ve only been home four days and we’re already contemplating where we want to visit next. We’ll be headed to Dallas/Ft. Worth again in 2016 since Alabama plays USC at Cowboy’s Stadium, but next year is up in the air. Chicago? D.C.? Alright friends, bring on the suggestions. We’ll only have four days, so it can’t be too far away.
