By: Samie

Day 2

(Fiddle Fig, Lombard Street, Philz Coffee, Ghirardelli Square, Alamo Square, Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Brewery)

The sun began to break through the clouds on Wednesday, November 29th, marking the commencement of a golden birthday to remember.

My excitement and anticipation for the day rose with the sun, and there was no time for sleeping in on the agenda. The feelings of elation for the day were even further heightened by the fact that the entirety of the day was going to be a complete surprise to the birthday girl! Luke had crafted a full day specifically catered to me and what I would enjoy the most within the exciting city of San Francisco. And there was no better way to start the day than with a delicious breakfast at a local establishment accompanied by the best drink to ever exist; coffee! So with ‘Samie’s Golden Birthday’ buttons properly secured to our persons, and myself adorned with my special golden birthday outfit, we departed the hotel and made our way to our first stop of the day.

After a wonderfully pleasant walk into a clear and sunny day, breathing in the air after a fresh rain, we arrived at Fiddle Fig Cafe and Coffee located in the Russian Hill neighborhood. They had only just opened moments before we walked in the door, so we got to be first in line! Luke and I ordered avocado toast, an almond croissant, and an iced caramel latte.

The next part of our adventure brought us to the well-known Lombard Street. Even if you don’t know its name, you have probably seen the iconic steep, one-block section with eight hairpin turns. In order to reach our next destination, we would have to conquer this lofty hill and hike our way to the top. One leg-burning trek later, we were looking out over the city. Although San Francisco is often known for its foggy days, we were blessed with only fair and sunny skies.

Our next location didn’t open until 11:00, and it wasn’t even quite 10:00, so on our stroll over in that direction, we found the perfect stop to bide some time while enjoying a comfortable atmosphere. It was time for another cup of coffee of course! Our last coffee stop was already about 2 hours ago at this point, so it was a good chance to refuel. We made our way in to Philz Coffee, where I helped myself to a more unique coffee option, an iced coffee rosé. Our barista offered up generous compliments about Luke’s shirt and my jacket as they handed us our drinks, and our serendipity continued as a sitting area in the very bustling cafe opened up right as we were receiving our beverages.

With rested legs and caffeine once again coursing through us, we continued on our way until we ended up at a very upscale second hand store called Relove. It was definitely a much more curated thrift store than we might see back in the Midwest, but that also meant that every piece was stunning. I found a few cute pieces I liked, but with higher expectations comes higher prices, and I just didn’t quite like the pieces I liked enough to pay what they were asking. However, Evan (my brother-in-law) found a sublime (thank you Ryan Gosling for bringing this word back), high-quality, yellow jacket that he was able to snag.

Our wonderful morning had now passed by quickly, and it was time to make our way back to the hotel to drop some things off and prepare for the adventures yet waiting for us in the afternoon. On our walk back, we passed by the Ghirardelli Square, and had a little time to spare, so we decided to swing in and check it out. There were so many cool stores and restaurants that rumblings began of the potential of this being an excellent spot to come back to for dinner if there were no other plans in place.

A few things we did get to squeeze in during our initial time in the square were cooling off at the fountain with the cast bronze statue titled “Andrea” by San Francisco artist Ruth Asawa and stop into the square’s main chocolate shop, of course purchasing and filling a tin of our own hand-picked chocolate squares.

After a quick hotel drop off and a change of shoes for me, it was once again time to embark on the golden birthday escapade.

This time, our destination was a further distance. It was about 3.5 miles with some busy streets and the up and down of the hilly landscape of San Francisco. Because of this, we decided we would take an Uber to where we needed to be, especially since, I later learned, we were on a slight time pressure to arrive at 1:00. Working against my poor husband, being the only one that knew there was a time we were trying to meet, the incredibly nice Uber driver we got was also quite a slow driver. We pulled up to the beautiful Alamo Square Park around 1:10 (which is definitely not bad considering all but one of us were taking our sweet time and moving at our own pace).

Pulling up to the part of the park at the bottom of the hill, we passed one of the best-known groups of “Painted Ladies”, a row of Victorian houses painted in stunning bright colors. You may even recognize these iconic Seven Sisters from the opening credits of Full House!

As we started the ascent up the hill of the park, imagine my utter surprise and disbelief when I look up to see an entire decadent picnic set up, and we are headed straight for it. On the very loose agenda Luke had sent out to the others, he had said there was a picnic in the park, however, no one was expecting this luxurious of a setup that was also already prepared and ready for us! Below you can see all the emotions I was processing as we walked up to picnic. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. My husband had absolutely knocked it out of the park…or into the park I suppose!

When I say the service Luke hired this picnic through was amazing, I could not mean it more! SF Luxury Picnics had a couple of very simple but nice wooden tables set up on a comfortable picnic blanket and impressively and aesthetically decorated with faux flowers/greenery and battery powered candles.

The tables were also all set with food and drink ready for consumption. For safety reasons, there is no glass or alcohol allowed in the park, but they had plastic champagne flutes and cans of La Croix. There were lovely table mats and plastic plates set for each person and around the table were boxes of fruit as well as boxes that contained meat, cheese, and cookies. There were enough fruit boxes for each of us to get our own, and then we shared the meat and cheese boxes. Best of all, there was a special piece of chocolate cake for the birthday girl!

Also provided was a record player with a Bluetooth speaker and a cute little tent, so not only did we get to enjoy the relaxation of a preplanned and prepared picnic, we got to play our own music to really set the ambiance and lounge in the shady soft glow of shelter. To top it all off, there was a Polaroid camera and 10 picture printing pages in the package Luke picked, so we got to take some fun and retro-looking pictures during the duration of our picnic as well.

What started as a forecasted rainy and cloudy day ended up being the most sunny, stunning, and completely comfortable day we could’ve asked for, so we had 2 hours to sit, take in the magnificent views of the city from the hillside of this perfect park, enjoy the wonderful snacks and drinks, and soak in stimulating conversation with loved ones.

When our snack boxes were empty but our stomachs were full, we spent the rest of our time basking in the unbelievable opportunity we had been granted just to be here and be all together. We got to absorb the gracious sunshine, stroll through the park, make friends with some pooches, and take pictures in the tent as well as some group shots with the Painted Ladies where we were either fully shaded or staring directly into the sun.

Once our time at the park came to a close, and our accommodating host came to pick up the perfect picnic, it was time for us to say goodbye to Alamo Square Park and depart for our next destination. It was time to make our way to the big one, the main reason we picked San Francisco to celebrate my golden birthday. It was time to finally put our feet down in front of the most photographed bridge in the world, the Golden Gate Bridge.

Although not having a scheduled time we needed to be there like with our picnic in the park, we were still on a time crunch to arrive within a certain window if we were going to catch our golden hour. So we once again opted to take an Uber as the quickest and most convenient form of transportation. Our driver was very speedy and efficient and was clearly comfortable navigating the busy and sloping streets of San Francisco.

We arrived around 3:30, and our timing couldn’t have been more perfect. It was a short stroll from where we got dropped off over to the pier that brought us out to a wonderful view of the bridge as backdrop for some golden hour golden birthday pictures at the Golden Gate Bridge. We don’t know if it was because it was the off-season, the fact that it was the middle of the work week, or just not a busy time, but we didn’t have to fight for space or worry about bumping shoulders with other tourists. There was a lot of open space and a few other families and friends came and went, but for the most part, we had the spot to ourselves. There were some crab fishermen behind us, but they were more worried about the seagulls trying to steal their freshly caught crab than they were about us enjoying our time at the bridge.

Once we had the pictures we wanted, we started making our way back to land. However, curiosity started to get the best of us, and we began to wander and meander. We happened upon a trail and like the good explorers we are, we had to see where it took us. At first, it took us up and weaved back and forth through some historic gun batteries that were used to defend San Francisco Bay when the Presidio was a U.S. Army post. We even ended up walking through Presidio Battery East Tunnel!

However, as we kept walking, we realized the path we were on was about to take us directly under the bridge. We hadn’t even thought to walk underneath the bridge, but here we were, each step bringing us deeper into the setting sun with the bridge beginning to take shape overhead, looming so close that we could almost reach up and touch it.

Once we crossed through to the other side, we came out to this beautiful outlook that looked out into the ocean with the sun sinking further and further into its depths. We decided to peacefully stand in this too-good-to-be-true spot and watch the sun set on our golden day. As the sun dipped, so the temperatures, and we started to make plans to find a good place to meet an Uber to take back to hotel to grab our jackets or some warmer clothes before supper as we savored the last few moments of sunlight. Evan and Rebekah ran ahead to find where a vehicle would be able to meet up with us, then skipped their way back to us to share their intel. The night was beginning to settle in, so our whole group made our trek away from the bridge and contentedly parted ways.

After our full day and flourishing off coffees, pastries, and snacks for lunch, we were very ready to end our day with an all-out birthday feast. Our stop on Ghirardelli Square that afternoon had piqued our interest, so we made our way back to the square after our hotel pit stop. Seeing the square all lit up and twinkling in the darkness of the evening was a whole new experience and would’ve made our return worth it on its own. We made our way through the square, glancing over railways, peaking through bright and inviting windows, and scanning signs and menus before enthusiastically settling on San Francisco Brewery.

We cheerfully loaded our bellies with delectable appetizers, warm food, and refreshing cocktails. We simply sat and marinated in the joy, good fortune, and unbelievable blessing of our day.

Can you think of any better way to end the most superlative day than with a happy helping of dessert from a world-famous chocolate company? We made our way into The Original Ghirardelli Ice Cream and Chocolate Shop and each picked out the tasty sweet treat that tickled our fancy. I ordered a sea salt caramel hot chocolate, and Luke got a gold rush caramel sundae. While we ate, we admired North America’s largest flowing chocolate wall!

We made the beautiful nighttime stroll back to our hotel, where we weren’t quite ready to call it a night yet. We found some seats at the hotel bar and each ordered ourselves a drink of our choosing. We ended our night sharing stories and laughter until our bodies could no longer carry us any later into the evening. We bid my mom and sister Rebekah goodnight as they headed to their room and tiredly made the trek to our own to turn in and sleep soundly.

Needless to say, it will be a day we will all remember and think of fondly for years to come!