San Francisco Fisherman's Wharf

We arrived in San Fran for our long weekend vacation on Friday right before noon. Even though we were too early for check-in we were able to park our truck at the hotel while we ran across the street to HotSpud for lunch. It was a gourmet, baked potato eatery that made all gluten free items, including desserts. I picked the shrimp spud that had a chipotle tartar sauce with corn, olives and green onions. It was so ridiculously good.

Chris day dreaming of meat filled potatoes....

I need a HotSpud in Chico pronto like. The boy ordered a sausage spud which he quickly gobbled down much to his delight. There couldn't have been a more perfect restaurant a stone's throw from our hotel. And to top it off they had gf sweet potato cheesecake and sweet potato brownies, both of which we picked up for dessert (the cheesecake two nights in a row). Love, love, love, love.

After lunch and checking in, we decided to stroll down along Fisherman's Wharf and the Embarcadero to get to the Ferry Building at Pier 1 (our hotel was across from Pier 39) so that I could visit the gluten free bakery I had on my wish list.

Across the street from the Ferry Building was an arts and crafts street fair that I of course had to visit after finishing my business at the Ferry Building.

It was a much longer walk down the Embarcadero than we'd realized so we caught the trolley back up to Fisherman's Wharf so that we could go back to the hotel and nap. Because that's what old people, like us, do. When we woke up, we decided to head back to the wharf for an early dinner at an Italian restaurant that looked promising online. We both ordered some clam chowder and I got a dinner salad while the Canadian splurged on some fried calamari.And to wash it all down I had a sweet little glass of sangria.

After dinner we proceeded to wander around Fisherman's Wharf observing the oddest lack of people. We practically had the whole place to ourselves. Of course the Bay Bridge was closed Friday through Sunday night to incoming traffic, but still, we expected a few more than the dozen or so people walking around the wharf. We enjoyed a nice beer sampler at a sports bar there and then just enjoyed the city lights.

On the way back to the hotel we walked around the surrounding neighborhood looking for the Barnes & Noble the tour book said was nearby. After not having any luck, I searched for it on my phone only to find it had permanently closed, but in our travels we stumbled across a restaurant in a residential neighborhood that looked right up our alley for breakfast. I love finding something on accident that turns out to be the best surprise of the trip. By then, it was getting late so we headed back to hotel so that we could rest up for an action packed Saturday, but that's another blog....