We had an incredible time in San Francisco! We had a fast-paced two weeks and whenever Thomas was done with work we headed out to do something, which kept us very busy! This is just what we did in the first week, and the second week was just as packed. We were able to do a lot since Thomas took Friday off and we had Monday off as a holiday. A long weekend is really all you need to do many of the best things in San Francisco.
We recommend getting the GoCity pass, which has different options available depending on what you wanted to do. We used the pass for significant discounts to many of the attractions, like the Exploratorium, USS Hornet, BigBus Tour, and the Harbor Tour.
Whales
The RV park is right on the coastline in Pacifica. We walked out of the camper, walked 20 feet to the edge of the campground and saw whales. We never did see many of them after this, but these gray whales were migrating north and really close to shore.
Lands End
We drove around Lands End in San Francisco, which is a really cool park with lots of walking trails. The flowers are incredible this time of year and it was well worth the hilly climbs.
Muir Woods National Monument
We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge to the Muir Woods National Monument. We knew we wouldn't be able to make it to the redwood forest but this is the next best thing. These trees were huge!
Bay Area Discovery Center
One afternoon we drove over to Sausalito to the Bay Area Discovery Center, which had a ton of stuff for the boys to do. Very hands on and a lot of exploration.
San Francisco Harbor Tour
The boys love a trip on a boat, so this 90-minute ferry tour around San Francisco Harbor was awesome. It was very cold, but very cool. We saw sights of sail boats, windsurfers, cityscapes, and Alcatraz!
BigBus City Tour
Many major cities have bus tours and San Francisco's was definitely the best way to get a view of the city. If you want to see many things in just a few hours, do this!
Chinatown
We walked through Chinatown and had lunch in a local restaurant. If you enjoy Chinese or Cantonese food, this is the most authentic place to try it.
California Academy of Sciences
One of the days we had off we went to the California Academy of Sciences. Claire and I went there about 10 years ago and it was just as cool back then as it is now. Riley loved the planetarium movie about space and dark matter (totally over his head, but still cool). We spent a lot of time running around so we didn't get many pictures, but that's ok since we spent more time in the moment!
Exploratorium
We also spent a lot of time running around and coralling the kids, so not many pictures here, but it was really cool. This wasn't necessarily a children's museum as it was geared more towards middle school students, but there was plenty to do for everyone.
Quarry Hike
Nearby were some hiking trails and this was our first glimpse of the flora of the Bay Area and we were not disappointed! It being a eucalyptus forest the smells were great!
Up Next
We have another week in San Francisco and are looking forward to it!
