Dear readers, I hope you all have a great start to the new year! Wishing you all happiness, love, success and peace in 2022. We went on an 8 day winter trip to California in December. This post is part of a trip where I will be covering days 1-5 of our vacation where we visited San Francisco, Golden Gate Bridge, Union Square, Coit Tower, Lombard Street, Ghirardelli Square, Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf. In my next travel article, I’ll be writing about our visit to Yosemite State Park and Napa Valley. So read on for a wonderful trip we took a few weeks ago where we also ushered in the new year: our trip to California in winter.
introduce
Who doesn’t like vacations? Family trips and travel add joy and change to everyday life, which in turn leads to refreshment, positivity, and higher productivity! We do 2-3 trips a year – definitely one in summer, one in winter, sometimes adding an excursion during spring break in March and/or Thanksgiving break in November.You can read my previous post about us road trip experience, Disney World Tour Winter 2019 and Europe trip Summer 2019. In 2020, due to the pandemic, we had to cancel our planned trip to Boston in the spring and couldn’t travel anywhere in summer or winter. 2021 is here and it’s time for our grown-ups to go to college. We visited Pittsburgh over the summer to explore her university, and New York City. Below are two articles, if you are interested to read them – First vacation to Pittsburgh since the pandemic and Explore New York City. We’ve had the pleasure of traveling again in winter 2021 and have put California on our list of the third states to visit in 2021! This is a post about winter California travel.
Day 1
We flew from Houston, Texas to San Francisco, California on Christmas Day. The flight time was 4 hours and we arrived at SFO around 12:30 pm. We immediately rented a car from the airport, packed our bags and drove to Big Sur. Big Sur is a beautiful and peaceful drive that stretches for 17 miles.You can read more about its official website here bigsurcalifornia.org. It was cold, especially since we are from Texas, but we did make multiple stops to capture some great views. It was dark at 5pm and we were ready to drive back to San Francisco.
Did you know these facts about Big Sur?
- Winner of Travelers’ Choice Award for Top 25 U.S. Destinations.
- Big Sur was named “Best Place to Hookie” and “Best Romantic Getaway.”
- Big Sur is also home to “North America’s Best Marathon” and “North America’s Best Hotel.”
- According to a Zagat survey, Big Sur is now home to the “Best Restaurants in California” in addition to our “Best of” list.
- National Geographic Traveler listed Big Sur as one of the “50 Places of a Lifetime/Greatest Destinations in the World.”
- Always the “go-to” for weekend getaways and dream vacations. ”
We ended our day dining at Denny’s as not many restaurants were open on Christmas Day and had a good night’s sleep at the hotel near Big Sur. I highly recommend Big Sur to anyone visiting California for the first time or someone who has never done a picturesque drive!
Day 2
We checked out as we were now booked for 7 nights at the Hilton San Francisco Financial District. We have booked the Poseidon Whale Watching Tour from Monterey and our cruise time is 12:30-3:30pm. We had our late lunch at Chipotle and dinner from an Indian restaurant near our Hilton hotel.
Day 3
We visited Coit Tower and Pier 39. According to sfrecpark.org, Coit Tower, a slender white concrete column rising from the top of Telegraph Hill, has been a symbol of the San Francisco skyline since its completion in 1933, a beacon that welcomes visitors and visitors. the same as residents. Its observation deck, accessible by elevator (tickets can be purchased at the gift shop), offers 360-degree views of the city and bay, including the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges.You can click to see more information here.
Pier 39 is a fun place to shop, dine and visit attractions. To learn more, visit their official website: pier39.com. We had lunch at Boudin Bistro; we didn’t have a long line to check in online. The marina is crowded, but masks are required and the vaccination status of any indoor dining is checked. We ended the day with dinner at Hong Kong Claypot. As a vegetarian family we have a lot of options and would definitely recommend this place.
Day 4
We took a bus day pass called Muni in San Francisco to the Golden Gate Bridge and Union Square. We also walked a lot. We average 15000+ steps per day, a great way to be active as we eat a lot 🙂 Lunch at The Melt and dinner at Taqueria Zorr. We also walked through Chinatown and bought some souvenirs.
Day 5
It’s been freezing cold since we arrived on the 25th, so we decided to do some more winter shopping. Note that we love snow trips in the winter and have packed our fleece including hats, gloves, socks and sweaters, but to be on the safe side we also bought 2 jackets for our teens from Costco. We chose Costco because we are members and it is nearby. We walked up and down the steep streets of San Francisco and enjoyed Lombard Street. Lombard Street in San Francisco is often called the crookedest street in the world. It’s a beautiful sight, with eight, hairpins twirling between beautiful flower beds. Fun fact: These eight sharp turns are on a 600-foot steep slope that is driven by about 1 million cars each year!
Later we also walked to Ghirardelli Square to try and taste many of their sweets and drinks. In the evening we went to Pier 39 again, saw the music Christmas tree lit up, and walked around Fisherman’s Wharf. Lunch that day was at the Italian Homemade Company and we ordered Fettucine Alfredo, Veggie Lasagna, Flatbreads and Tiramisu. Dinner was Domino’s as we were so full after eating at Ghiradelli’s.
wrap up
Here I would like to wrap up the first part of our travel post: Days 1-5 of our winter trip to California. We enjoy every day, but pick our favorites are the Golden Gate Bridge and Union Square. Ghiradelli’s and Lombard Street follow. Stay tuned for the next travel post where I will cover visiting beautiful Yosemite National Park and Napa Valley.
Dear readers, we would love to hear from you. Have you been to any of these places in California that we explored? What do you like most and recommend? Did you travel anywhere in December in preparation for the new year 2022? Please share any recent travel you may have done in 2021.
related articles
First post-pandemic vacation to Pittsburgh
Fun things to do in Texas with kids
Places of interest in and around Houston
