A local staycation

This past weekend, I took Friday off so that S and I could get out of town for a few days to San Francisco.  We were able to get a decent rate on a hotel room off of Priceline.  It was nice to get away, as the weeks since moving into the house have been filled with busyness at work, housework, ministry items, social engagements, etc.

We tried to spend as much time on our feet, walking around the city, as possible, rather than driving all over the place.  Combined with taking Friday off, I found that it actually felt more like we were on vacation in some faraway city, rather than being just an hour from home - we could have just been in a harbor city like Sydney.  I think walking up and down the hills and streets of SF enabled us to get a better feel for the people and the life of the place.  Didn't hurt that the weather was gorgeous and we could visit farmer's markets, street fairs, and just mingle with people at parks.

We went to the Academy of Science in Golden Gate Park, which had a neat rainforest exhibit that reminded us somewhat of the rainforests in New Zealand, checked out a meter that estimated our carbon output, and unfortunately missed out on the planetarium exhibit because we made the tactical error of not going to get tickets immediately after getting in the door.  Remember to do that if you ever go.

Over the entire weekend, we did a lot of walking to eat at places on the list of 100 Things to Try Before You Die.  SF really is a good foodie town.  We ended up visiting:

The Taco Shop at Underdog's (excellent fish tacos)
Tartine (the fruit pastry for breakfast was meh, we probably didn't order the right thing)
Bi-Rite Creamery (salted caramel and balsamic strawberry are both unique and tasty, but I'm still a chocolate fiend)
Arinell Pizza (cheese slice)
Wexler's (Scotch eggs, skate stuffed with pulled pork)
Rolli Roti (porcetta sandwich, awesome, but super long line, at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market)
Hog Island Oyster Company (clam chowder, very flavorful clams)
Chapeau (reasonably priced French menu)
Fisherman's wharf
Tommy's Joynt (lamb shank)

It was good to get away, and the copious amounts of time to walk gave us time to talk about how things were going in life, God, relationships, work, and what's next.  Plus, it helped offset some of the calories we ingested.  All in all, a better than expected time away from SJ.