It’s been 8 years since we first visited San Francisco and we were eager to extend our California trip with a midweek hop up the coast to take advantage of our flight reward miles. On Valentine’s weekend in 2015 we visited as many tourist highlights that we could in the city including: the Cable Cars, Golden Gate Bridge, Pier 39, Fisherman’s Wharf, Ghirardelli Square, Exploratorium, California Academy of Sciences, Lombard Street, Japantown, Chinatown, and Muir Woods. This time around we figured we could catch up on the city in a day and then rent a car to explore more of the natural destinations just outside the San Francisco area. 

Our flight from San Diego landed around dinner with just enough time to check into our hotel near the airport, change into dress clothes, and ride the Yellow Line from the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) parking garage in San Bruno. As twilight hit the city, we power-walked the hills to the restaurant while gusts of icy wind cut through our sweatshirts. Welcome to another truly Windy City! 

We used public transportation for all of our city travel. The BART trains were a convenient way to enter the city from our hotel so that we wouldn’t have to navigate parking and traffic throughout the day. Google Maps became my best friend as streetcar bus routes took us to and from the restaurants and sights we visited. When it feels like you’re already walking everywhere on these hilly sidewalks, it helps to hop on a 15 minute bus to gain another 4 miles to the next place.

All transit runs on the Clipper Card that we had to transfer to Apple Wallet to refill money on our cards. Unfortunately, that meant that the plastic card was no longer valid and we had to keep our phones charged enough to get where we were going. The following descriptions are the places we really spent some time on our four days in the Bay area.

San Francisco Center for the Book:

This unique studio is a non-profit organization that fosters the art of letterpress printing and bookmaking. Book artists are part of a studio community in this space using traditional printing methods. The center also offers workshops for all experience levels. This place is very unique but one of the unusual processes we learned about is their annual Roadworks Steamroller Printing Festival where relief printmakers create large-scale prints using a 7-ton steamroller over linocut plates. These steamrolled prints cover the walls of the center, many of which have been made by local artist, Rik Olsen. We marveled at the drawers of individual letters and old-fashioned printing presses that filled the studio. 

The Presidio- San Francisco National Golden Gate Park:

Presidio Park is a great checkpoint for visitors. We took transit to the park on our city day and viewed the national park exhibits detailing the history of the Golden Gate Bridge while also reviewing the trails and transit options with the ranger. The Tunnel Tops overlook the Golden Gate in the distance on an open hill with flowers and silly chairs. When we were exploring Presidio, food truck vendors and staff were setting up for a concert on Tunnel Tops. There is also a gender inclusive public restroom that we both used with individual stalls and an open concept that is open until 9:00 pm. Public restrooms are very hard to find in downtown San Fran so it was nice that we could count on this one being open while conveniently located next to a transit drop-off point with the free “Go Downtown” park bus route.

On our first day in the park, we hiked the Andy Goldsworthy Trail along Lovers Lane where the artist created a winding line of tree trunks as a single “Wood Line” with the help of a construction team. Because of the ease of accessibility at Presidio, we returned to the park another day after driving back over the Golden Gate from a day of hiking at Mount Tamalpais to park our car in the hourly lot and take the public transit from Presidio downtown for dinner. 

Land’s End Trail:

Just beyond the Presidio Park is where “the land ends” on the western cliffs of San Francisco. It is about a 45 min route via public transit but we had our car located at the Presidio since we had been hiking outside the city all morning, so we drove the four miles to the parking lot at Land’s End. Land’s End Lookout has a gift shop, restrooms, and historical exhibits just above the ruins of Sutro Baths that was once a lavish 25,000 person natural saltwater swimming tank that flushed with the tides. The baths were the brainchild of San Francisco mayor, Adolph Sutro, in 1894. 

The Land’s End coastal trail winds high above the seashore with gnarly cypress and eucalyptus trees rooted in angular directions on the edge of rocky cliffs. There are spectacular views of the bay and Golden Gate bridge from the trail. We also hiked down the steps to the beach at Mile Rock. Nice easy 2 miler trail easily accessible from the city!

City Lights Bookstore: 

We love visiting bookstores to browse the titles and search for used board games, but this one stands out from all the rest as a historical landmark. City Lights is the nation’s first all-paperback bookstore that was established as a literary meeting place for those who shared a commitment for progressive ideals and innovative writing from harder-to-find specialty publishers. From the basement section of non-fiction works all the way up the three floors to the poetry room with the old rocking chair, there is an incredible range of genre categories all in one place putting your typical Barnes & Noble to shame! The window display of books from the sidewalk had a sign stating “All books in this window have been censored or suppressed.”  

Mount Tamalpais State Park:

On the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge is the 2,500 foot high mountain with miles of trails through redwood forests and waterfalls just beyond the Marin headlands. It’s about a 20-30 minute drive up the mountain from San Francisco to the visitor center (only open on the weekends). Instead, we drove to the Pantoll Ranger Station at the campground where there was day parking, maps, and the valuable guidance of a friendly park ranger. We chose to hike down the TCC trail to Stapleveldt then back up the Bootjack and Alpine trails. Our loop could have been extended further into the Muir Woods to see the Cathedral and Bohemian tree groves but we were pretty exhausted at that point and had seen those massive redwoods on our first trip to San Francisco in 2015. 

Mount Tam is famous for the oldest trail race in America since 1905 on the Dipsea Trail with a 7.4 mile point to point run from the base of the mountain in the little town of Mill Valley and back down on the other side to Stinson Beach. It is considered to be one of the most grueling and treacherous trail races with miles of staircases and steep narrow trails sliding down the mountain. Dipsea Trail Race overview: YouTube Video (crazy!)

While we didn’t hike the Dipsea, there were some very narrow trails just on the edge of drop-offs into the pits of the redwoods that we took our time on going through airing on the side of caution since we don’t take easily to heights. The loop was challenging but absolutely stunning as we made our way through these massive trees. Mount Tam is definitely one of my favorite places that I’ve ever been to. We concluded our hike with a walk along Stinson Beach while admiring Mt. Tam from a distance while seagulls whirled around us.

Point Reyes National Seashore:

Ready for another road trip on our last day in California, we drove from about an hour north of the Golden Gate Bridge to the Bear Valley Visitor Center from our hotel in Mill Valley on the edge of the bay. As always, we started at the visitor center to review the trail options with an expert. We only had one day not including the travel time back to our hotel and we wanted a unique experience that we couldn’t get anywhere else. Our first hike was right by the visitor center but the trail was overgrown and pretty similar to our hiking experiences in the woods back in Indiana so we moved on to the Muddy Hollow Trailhead for a great birding location. This out-and-back 4 mile trail is an easy hike with a lush habitat for birdlife. We saw families of quail walking just ahead of us with their chicks and countless bird songs recording on our Merlin Bird app. The trail eventually skirted the edge of the Estero de Limantour where salt and freshwater mix in the marshes. The midway point climaxed at Limantour beach on the Drakes Bay of the Pacific Ocean. From there we retraced our steps back to our starting point. 

While our Muddy Hollow hike had a happy ending, it didn’t start out that way when we unexpectedly took a wrong turn on a side route next to the trailhead where we waded through heavy woods until giving up and turning back. On the way out my hand brushed across a Stinging Nettle that made my left pointer finger swell slightly with white bumps and bright red skin. It felt like I had been stung by either a million needles all poking me at the same time. Fortunately, we talked with a group of naturalists who assured us that while uncomfortable, it was non-life threatening and that some people even intentionally use stinging nettle for medicinal qualities. The throbbing pain dulled a bit from the initial prick but lasted for several hours. 

If we had more time we would have explored one more trail at Tomales Point where wild tule elk are known to be roam on occasion but at this point we needed time to travel to our hotel in Pleasanton before taking the BART into Oakland for our last fantastic meal at Jo’s Modern Tahi the night before we flew back to Chicago. 

We visited San Fran the way we wanted to by relishing in the natural beauty surrounding the area while still accessing the city for delicious meals and unique locations. While I took on the role of trip planner and navigator on this California vacation, all of the restaurant picks were up to Derek as the foodie in the family. Follow back for our last blog story from the California trip when he ranks the meals we had from San Diego to San Francisco!