Obviously David and I love to travel, and the Bay area holds a special place for both of us. His mom is from the area and her parents, as well as some of her siblings, still live there. My aunt, uncle and cousin live in Berkley, and my grandma recently moved in with them. We knew we needed a trip to visit our families and finally made it happen! While a large part of our time there was spent enjoying the company of our families, we also had a great time exploring the city of San Francisco!

I really wanted to spend some time in Golden Gate Park, and one of our stops there was at the De Young Museum. It is always fun going to museums, and the De Young had some great artwork. We went up to the top floor, which offered amazing views of the park.

We obviously love to eat, and I did quite a bit of research on some of the best restaurants. I came upon a list of the foods you have to try, and one of the items was the vegan po' boy sandwich from Brenda's Meat and Three. I've always heard great things about a po' boy, but never been able to try one because they are always made with seafood! After getting to try this one, I think everyone should be eating them with fried veggies! The sandwich was one of the biggest things I have ever eaten- I tried to take a few bites holding the sandwich and ended up having to eat it with a knife and fork. The vegan remoulade was fantastic, with the perfect amount of spice, and the portion was INSANE- maybe share with a friend!

While we were exploring the city we stumbled upon the coolest little spot, a shop in the Mission called Paxton Gate. David actually used to go there with

his family because his uncles lived super close. One of the weirdest things the shop had was taxidermy animals and a huge selection of animal bones. Definitely not for me, but to each his own! I was more interested in all of the cool rocks and gems that they had, and the expansive selection of plants and succulents.

You can't hit San Francisco without going to Chinatown! I love the energy, the sights, and all of the shops. We had a great time exploring the streets of Chinatown, and got a super cute souvenir at one of the shops: a cute little cat drawing that we have the perfect spot for at home! We would have loved to get some tasty Dim Sum at one of the many restaurants in Chinatown, but sadly it wasn't in the cards for us this time.

Right before we left on Monday we spent some time at the piers near the water. We had to have In and Out for lunch (we are very deprived up in Portland) and then spent the rest of the afternoon seeing the sights. The pier has a special memory for David's family, and I felt really lucky to be able to join in a special family experience. I really enjoyed watching the seals, even though they smelled awful! Our whole trip was incredibly special and I'm so happy to have had such a special weekend.