SMS and I had the best time in SF last weekend. We wanted to get the feel of living in the city and even though a short visit is more staycation than real life, it was a great experience! We stayed at an AirBnB Friday and Saturday nights. The place isn’t really worth linking to- it was relatively inexpensive and clean but also smelled pretty musty and the furniture is on its last legs.
Friday night, we met up in Noe Valley and grabbed hamburgers for dinner. I had just gotten my haircut- third time with the current stylist. I like my haircut- I think he does a good job with “hidden layers” and keeping a lot of movement in my longer hair. So, at least while I’m keeping my hair long, I’ll keep going back.
On Saturday, we woke up on the early side, grabbed coffee & bagel at Cafe XO, and then started our day of mega-walking. We walked through the south part of Noe past the Sister Act church. I really love the texture detail and asymmetry of the two spires. SMS took me to the solstice crack at 6th and Market. A passerby was very kind and helped us find it. Not that it’s hard to see, it’s just that SMS couldn’t remember what was cool about the sidewalk at that corner but he knew there was something!
Then we trotted up Billy Goat hill. I love the small parks scattered throughout the city. The view was great and it was such a spectacular morning.
We walked through the neighborhood. So many hills and stairs! I mean, it wasn’t a surprise but it was a lot! And so steep! We walked through the farmer’s market, which is small but each stand seemed to punch above its weight- the produce looked delicious and there were a few food stands that were tempting. I bought some dried cantaloupe, but that was it for our purchases.
We went to a few open houses. It’s nice to dream of another way of living and I do think we would be happy living in SF. I don’t think it will happen soon but maybe when our lease is up?
The wisteria was in full bloom. I was also a fan of the jungle-painted house with a Cybertruck parked out front.
We went to Billingsgate seafood market for a light lunch. It was so good! We shared oysters, smoked salmon salad, and a very bacon-y clam chowder. The fish for sale looked great and not overpriced (but still expensive, if that makes sense?). That night, we went to Firefly for dinner. Great food and atmosphere. There’s a sculpture hanging from the ceiling that looks like an oversized pipe. The waiter said that in the bowl, all workers on their last day can place a secret in there and read all the secrets inside. Can you imagine the Kitchen Confidential-style drama in there?!
The next morning, we went to Pancake Boy for breakfast. I had the ricotta lemon souffle pancakes, which were excellent. Then we decided to head over to Twin Peak. Not only was the view amazing, but we enjoyed walking through the neighborhoods on the way there and back (we detoured through Castro and Eureka Valley).
I thought this Hungry Caterpillar mosaic was so cute!
I also like the offbeat gardens in front of some of the houses.
Our destination was the concrete slides of Seward park. I went down one- it was a little scary. One section is steep and it’s concrete, not known for just comfortably bouncing off when you’re turning the corner on a slide! I thought the mini-park rules were also funny. No adults without kids! We broke this rule, but no one else was there. Safe!
We admired the  ornithologic wildlife of the city streets.
We finished our weekend off with a lunch at Dumpling Kitchen, which was excellent. We had three dim sum orders and sautéed pea shoots/greens. The soup dumplings were delicious, as were the shu mai and chicken bao. I would definitely go back- to everything! It was such a fun weekend. SMS and I decided to do more weekend day trips to SF since we really haven’t taken advantage of being near such a cool city. We may not always stay overnight, but I’m really looking forward to more city walks.