By: Samie

”Ideas are like seeds, apparently insignificant when first held in the hand. Once firmly planted, they can grow and flower into almost anything at all, a cornstalk, or a giant redwood, or a flight across the ocean.”

-Charles Lindbergh

This came to be the case for a small idea that developed into an entire trip. My golden birthday was coming up, and I figured we would do something a little extra, but it would be silly to celebrate a golden birthday as a 29 year old right? No way. Every human is worthy of joy and celebration, including myself.

So I had this thought that I could go somewhere fun. Good start. Keep going. Well it’s a golden birthday, so we could take pictures in this place at golden hour. Fun thought. Keep going. Well there’s a Golden Gate Bridge. What if we took pictures at the Golden Gate Bridge at golden hour for my golden birthday? Now that’s a fun idea!

Everyone around me was incredibly supportive and willing to lend a helping hand when I first brought this idea to light, and so the trip planning to San Francisco began to flower and blossom into our next wonderful adventure.

The first step was seeing if we could find some affordable tickets within a reasonable window of when we were preferring to go in order for it to be considered a “birthday” event. Ideally, we would be there on my birthday, but we were willing to wiggle and be flexible if it worked out that way and meant we could go. Understandably, the week of Thanksgiving was a very busy travel time, so ticket prices were higher than we were willing to pay. It would have minimized the number of days we needed to take off from work, but our hearts had become quite set on going, so we knew it would be worth taking the days if need be.

We tried to find tickets out of nearby regional airports, but either prices or scheduling were not working in our favor. Luckily, our fortune turned when we came across very affordable tickets with Sun Country Air leaving from Minneapolis International within the days we were looking to go. It was a further drive, but we knew we would regret not going, so we booked the tickets and the excitement flourished as the rest of the planning commenced.

Because it was more of a last-minute decision, we only had to wait about two months for the day of our flight out to arrive. Luke took the whole day off, but I put in my Monday of work, which also allowed me to make sure my classroom and plans were prepped and ready for my absence. Thanks to the incredible and selfless generosity of several of my coworkers, I was able to sneak out a little after 2 so that we could hit the road and arrive at the airport without having to rush to catch our flight.

Circumstance was with us as we had a very mild winter and didn’t have to fight bad weather. It was a very clear and easy drive, and although the security line was the busiest it had been out of the other times we had flown out of Minneapolis, we still made it through, got to our gate, and were able to board with a casual ease. There definitely wasn’t a lot of waiting around, but we were ready as soon as they called our boarding group, and were seated and ready to go for our 8:30 flight.

After a pleasant 4 hour flight, we touched down at SFO and eagerly prepared to make our way into the city. Through our research, we found that the most affordable option would be to hop on the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) which directly connects from the airport to different areas of the city. There’s a free AirTrain you can take to get to the BART station if need be, but it is located in the International Terminal and particularly easy to get to from Terminals 1 and 3.

We quickly located the BART station and had already prepared the recommended Clipper app on our phone to make paying and boarding the transit quick and easy. Unfortunately, there was a slight hiccup because we had only put it on one phone and misunderstood that we would each need our own cards. Luke had already gone through, so I needed to backtrack to one of the kiosks to purchase a physical card to load up payment for the ride. It was simple enough to correct but did add a little time to our journey.

Because it was late, only 3 of the 5 lines were still running, so we took the yellow line to the Embarcadero stop where we then had an Uber pick us up to take us the rest of the way to our hotel. We had decided to book with the Riu Plaza Fisherman’s Wharf so that we could be nearby to Pier 39 and many of the locations we were hoping to visit were within walking distance. By the time we checked in, it was around midnight, which was 2am our time, so we were ready to get settled in and get some much-needed rest before our real adventure began.

Day 1

(Alcatraz Prison, Victoria Pastry Shop, The Buena Vista, Cable Cars, Pier 39)

When we first started looking into San Francisco as a destination, our first “must-do” after the Golden Gate Bridge was taking a tour of Alcatraz Prison. While doing our research, many said that these tours filled up quickly and that it could be challenging to get tickets if not booked early in advance. However, due to our trip taking place in the off-season, it was very easy for us to find a tour time that we wanted. We booked our tickets about a month in advance just to be safe, but all the time slots were still available when we did.

We decided an early morning tour would accommodate us the best. That way our family wouldn’t feel obligated to spend money on tickets or have to wait around for us if they decided not to go. Our ferry was scheduled to push off at 8:40am, and the tickets encouraged us to arrive at least 45 minutes before the scheduled departure. As the good little rule-followers we are, we did just that…and we were the first ones there by quite a bit. Luckily, it was an absolutely gorgeous and sunny morning, and they had tables and chairs we got to lounge about in while we waited for the line to start queuing up.

While the sun’s rays kept us pleasantly comfortable on land, the ferry ride out to The Rock was brisk, even for a couple of seasoned Midwesterners coming from below-freezing temperatures. We had worn our light jackets and brought our hats and gloves, and we were very grateful we did so that we could sit up on the top deck to enjoy the best views on our short trek over.

Once docked, a park ranger met us to offer some helpful tips and information before sending us on our way for a completely self-guided tour of the island. We meandered our way up the steep climb to the prison itself, taking a few small pitstops along the way. Everything is clearly marked all around the island, so finding the entrance to building where we would pick up our audio tour was very straightforward. The audio tour is included in the price of the tickets. They offer a refund if you choose not to utilize the audio tour, but we highly encourage you take advantage of the audio guide. For us, it made the tour, enhanced the experience, and allowed us to feel more immersed in the history and saga of this infamous maximum security penitentiary.

We ended our time on the island by having the opportunity to walk the Agave Trail, which is only open seasonally due to habitat protection of nesting birds. It is typically only open for about 2 1/2 months out of the year, so we of course took advantage of this serendipitous opening.

We boarded a ferry back to the main land at 11, after about 2 hours exploring the grounds. The ferries leave every half hour, and they are very timely. They leave at the exact time, so if you arrive late, you will either have to wait or fill half an hour until the next one.

Once our feet were planted back firmly and solid ground, we decided it was time for a caffeine and nourishment pick-me-up. We made our way over to a lovely patisserie called Victoria Pastry Shop. Everything looked tempting and delectable, but we settled on a cannoli and strawberry cream puff, accompanied by two iced caramel lattes. Neither of us had ever tried a cannoli, and it was a marvelous first experience, a crisp fried pastry dough shell filled with a sweet and creamy ricotta filling. However, as mouth-watering as the cannoli was, the cream puff was an a whole other level. The chou pastry was extraordinarily airy with a whipped cream filling light enough to carry you away.

The first of our expected guests rolled in around 1pm, so we made our way back to the hotel to meet them and get them checked into the room with us. Once settled, we walked a few blocks over to eat a late lunch at The Buena Vista, known as the institution that brought Irish Coffee to America, which we of course had to try. Each of the meals we ordered to companion our drinks was just as eye-catching and mouth-watering. There was an order of garlic fries, fresh Dungeness Crab, fish and chips, and lobster roll with lemon aioli and fries to share and stuff our stomachs to contentedness.

With brimming bellies and high spirits, we stepped back out onto the sidewalk and realized that there was a turn-around point for one of the notorious San Francisco cable cars, the last manually operated cars in the world. We figured, “when in Rome…” and bought a day pass so that we could hop on and off as many times as our hearts desired. There was some buzz and unclear communication between the operators about a power outage downtown, and we weren’t sure the cars would run, but the operator on our car didn’t seem concerned, and off we went. The power issue caught up with us about halfway through the ride when the cable car had to stop and the operator said we would need to get off here. We were not discouraged, however, as the ride was enjoyable and worth the experience. The pier and our hotel was only a brief and pleasant walk away, so we made our way back to relax before the rest of our company arrived from the airport.

With everyone reunited and on-site, we ended our first full day in the Bay Area win an evening on Pier 39. Time had passed quickly, and it was now about 6:30pm, so we were keen to once again find a meal to subside our rumblings. We eased into it by strolling the entirety of the pier and taking in all our potential eatery establishments. We came to agreement on a place called The Hook. Luke ordered a sourdough bread chili bowl, and I chose a fresh order of fish and chips. We bellied up to a high top table and prepared for some heartening conversation and enjoyable grub within the comfy company of family.

Once content in both our hearts and bodies, we started to make our way back out of the pier. However, we would be remised if we didn’t do some souvenir shopping at the tourist-curated gift shops. Also, with it being the week after Thanksgiving, Christmas decorating was in full swing, and there was a huge tree at the exit of the pier with a light and music show every half hour. Finding a few joy-bringing items to commemorate our expedition was a great was to fill the time while we waited for the next show.

With a few new memorabilia items in hand, I couldn’t resist a warming cup of hot cocoa and cookie from the Biscoff cafe on the pier. Shortly after acquiring the last goodies of the evening, the tree began to dance and splash with sound and color, and we ended our day on a bright, cheery, and festive note.