San Francisco Trip

Warning: Super long post!  Read and scan at your own discretion.

I mentioned before that we took a trip to San Francisco.  Weston had an anesthesia conference there in October.  He and I had been looking forward to going together for about a year now, but we weren't sure if we could or should do it with the baby.  I had thought about leaving Hannah with Grandparents, but I soon realized I didn't want to be away from her for that long.  Plus we're still breastfeeding.  So there was that factor too.  Well my parents volunteered to come help us out and enjoy the sightseeing with us!  It was SO nice to have them there.  I had them to go exploring while Weston was at the conference, and we were able to get away for a dinner and cocktail reception two of the nights while they babysat.

On our flight to San Francisco, we had the stroller, carrier, bjorn, pump, suitcase, garment bag, and diaper bag...and that was just our carry on items!!  It was hilarious going through security.  I was busy trying to figure out how in the heck I was not going to back up this line, and the couple behind us was so sweet and talking with Hannah while we waited for our turn.  The woman compliments Hannah, and I thank her.  Then she offers to help me load everything when we get to the front of the line.  I look up to thank her again and realize she looks so familiar.  My first thought was "Is she one of my friend's mom?  How do I know her."  So I ask her, and she smiled and said "Every Friday at 8/7c on TLC"  She was Lori from Say Yes to the Dress!  I had no idea the whole time waiting in line it was her!  It reminded me that I really should look people in the eye when talking with them.  Especially when they are being so kind to your baby.  I knew she had battled breastcancer.  So I asked her how she was doing, and she said really well, thank you.  She was the kindest lady, and it was a great start to our trip.  Here we are finally on our plane.

Our first day in town, my parents, Hannah, and I took a trolley tour around the city.  We started in Fisherman's wharf and then visited areas like Chinatown, Haight-Ashbury, Alamo square, and Golden Gate Bridge.

San Francisco Chinatown really amazed me.  It is the largest Chinese community outside of Asia.  Next time we visit, Weston and I would like to explore it more.

The trolley tour day was our only true cold day there.  We bundled up, and when we were away from the water, it was toasty in the sun.   Hannah looked happy and cozy in her grandad's arms.

The trolley tour was a hop on hop off type of tour, and I just had to get off at Alamo square to see where the opening intro to Full House was shot.  Luckily, my parents obliged.  Full House was my absolute favorite show as a kid, and it was really cool to see.

 

 

When the tour ended, it was starting to get a little chilly.  We grabbed a delicious hot chocolate from Ghiradelli square that really hit the spot.

One afternoon Weston was free to do a little sightseeing.  Being a civil engineer and taking several transportation courses in college, I had read and heard about Lombard street, the "crookedest" street in the world.  So we hiked over there to see it in person.  And when I say hike, I literally mean we hiked it y'all.  Really I was hoping to give us a cable car experience over to Lombard street.  The only problem was we were going to start at the one cable car by our hotel which wasn't crowded at all, and then catch the second cable car in the middle of it's route to arrive at Lombard street.  Well we soon realized we are NEVER going to get on one because they were completely full from the start of its route.  So we walked it and truly appreciated the topography that is San Francisco.  I am impressed that my parents hiked it just as well as us.  Wahoo!

San Francisco in October is gorgeous!

And after all that hiking, we decided it definitely deserved us stopping by Ghiradelli square again, but this time for an ice cream sundae.  It.was.amazing.  Yum!

Weston had one day that he took completely off to hang out with us.  His number one thing to do there was visit Alcatraz.  Well of course our luck, we visited during the government shutdown which meant no Alcatraz and no Muir woods to see the redwoods.  Boo!  But we did have an awesome time visiting the Golden Gate bridge and the quaint, coastal town of Sausalito.

Our last day we took pretty easy.  We had lunch at the Boudin sourdough factory and walked a little bit around Pier 39.

  For fun, I took Hannah on her first carousel ride.

Not quite sure who had more fun... :)

Love her big, beautiful eyes.

Overall I would say everything went pretty smoothly with bringing Hannah.  I was definitely worried about how we would travel with her.  I am so much more confident to go on trips and flights with her now. The cabin pressure wasn't an issue for her.  We took a direct flight out of Atlanta (still about 5 hours) to avoid trying to connect to a different flight, and we met my parents in SF.  Hannah pretty much explored the city like a champ in the baby Bjorn and took her naps in there too.  We nursed wherever we were with my nursing cover.  That is one surefire way to get over your hesitation to nurse in public.  Go on a trip!

The one factor that did make traveling with her difficult was the time difference and sleeping.  Hannah was ready for bath and bed at 4 PM!  It sure did make going to dinner difficult.  It also meant she was ready to get up at 3:30 or 4 AM.  So every morning we would go down to the lobby and walk around the exhibits, look at the windows, and ride in the glass elevator to just kill time while the rest of the world slept.  Not to mention Hannah does not sleep really well in the pack n play or small crib nor does she like to cosleep.  She really just wanted her bed which is funny, because I had spent atleast a month prior to this trip working on getting her to sleep on her own! 

This was our sunrise view.  Our hotel was right across the street from the Ferry Building and the Bay Bridge.  It was an awesome location.

I had such an awesome time.  I can't wait for all our other future family trips with Hannah.  It will be hard to top this one!