My husband and I spent a March weekend up in the Bay Area.

Thursday Evening

We flew up on a Thursday evening into the Oakland airport. We rented a car and drove to the Hyatt in Fishermen’s Wharf. Parking was extra at this hotel, however, we weren’t going to have it long.

Friday

We spent Friday driving around and seeing everything we could. We started by crossing the bridge to get great views like this.

After paying the toll to cross back over, we decided to see the view from the beach. We chose Baker Beach. After that,we drove around Fort Winfield Scott and viewed the USS San Francisco Memorial. If we had more time, I would have liked to see the Japanese Tea Garden.

I did my research on food and knew that I wanted Chinese for lunch. We tried two separate places that I heard great reviews for. Our favorite ended up being Dumpling Kitchen in the Sunset District, however, my husband still says the other was fantastic too. That one is just a few blocks east of Dumpling Kitchen. The second place is called Kingdom of Dumpling. We took both to-go and had a picnic at Alamo Square, right across from the Painted Ladies.

We knew that we wanted to only pay for the car for one day, so we had to return it today. Before we did, we ran over to Target to get some essentials.

When deciding to only have the car for one day, I did my research and chose the car rental company that had a return only a block from the hotel. We turned it in and we walked back. On the way, we made some stops including to a candy store and a magic shop.

Once we were ready for dinner, we took the Trolley down to Chinatown. I wanted to stop at the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory and it was worth it. It is hard to find down an alley, however, it is popular for a reason. They offered warm samples with a variety of options to purchase. We then walked down to Caffe Sport. My husband had the best carbonara in his life.

Saturday

We spent the morning touring Alcatraz. It was the only thing my husband wanted to do. He loves history and he loved walking around.

Pier 33 was where we took our ferry, with Alcatraz City Cruises. We had a walking audio tour. We were able to download an app and use our own headphones. This let us walk at our own pace.

Once we finished our tour and headed back to the mainland, we explored Pier 39. Lunch for today was Hard Rock Cafe. Normally I wouldn’t choose this chain restaurant, however, my husband has never been there. It is not in Utah and he was born and raised there.

We went back to our hotel for a nap because we were exhausted. Once we woke up, we headed to our dinner reservation at the Blue Mermaid. I am still craving my soup to this day. My husband still says it was “amazing”.

A quick walk over to Ghirardelli Square to check out the original Ghirardelli store.

Sunday

Breakfast was across the street at the Hollywood Cafe this day. I ordered it to-go because my husband is not a morning person. We ate and packed at the same time.

If we had more time

These are the places I did not have a chance to go to.

• Places/Activities
  • “Full House” House
  • Princess Diaries’ School
  • Cable Car Museum
  • Japanese Tea Garden
  • Walt Disney Family Musuem
• Food
  • Hillstone
  • Chowder’s