As touring musicians, it’s rare that we get to spend an entire day off in one city... but when we do, we like to make the most of our time as tourists. We are suckers for tourist hotspots, local eateries... and if we can incorporate something active or outdoors - even better!
On this “Road to Nashville” tour, our first free day was in San Francisco. We hadn’t been to San Fran since a family road trip when we were 7. Needless to say, we didn’t remember too much. But San Francisco is the type of city that memories are made of. After just 24 hours, we fell in LOVE! We wanted to share our top 5 highlights from our magical day in The Golden City.
1 – Alcatraz Tour: We started our day on a ferryboat ride to Alcatraz Island. Having watched "Escape from Alcatraz", we were expecting a spooky tour of the abandoned prison. What we didn’t know was how beautiful the island would be. We had an amazing view of the San Francisco skyline, and the Agave trail around the island made for the perfect morning stroll.
It was so much fun soaking up the history in and around this old prison. Carli almost got left behind…
One tip for future Alcatraz visitors – be sure to use the audio tour (it was included in the ticket price). The narration and sound effects brought the stories to life. We were also really glad that we opted for running shoes… by the end of the day we had walked 25,000 steps and almost 20km! (Thanks for the stats iPhone Health app)…
2 - Lunch at Fisherman's Wharf: We lucked out with a beautiful day of sunshine, so after layering on the SPF80, we spent a few hours wandering the wharf, enjoyed lunch at Boudin Bakery (mmm fresh baked bread!) and caught a glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge from Hyde St. Pier.
3 – Afternoon Drive: We loved the sitcom Full House as kids, so we just had to Google the location of the Full House "house". Turns out there are actually two different houses featured in the opening credits, but the most iconic view is from Alamo Square. It felt like we were on a picnic with the Tanner Family hanging out in the park in front of the "Painted Ladies".
After hiking around Alcatraz and tackling the steeeeeep hills in San Fran, we were ready for some coffee (and maybe a goodie or two). We parked near the Ferry Building Marketplace and wandered the cute shops.
4 – Trolley travels: Cable cars are such a famous symbol of San Francisco – hopping on one of these cars was definitely on our list for the day!
5 - Dinner on the Pier: It was hard to choose where to have dinner because there are so many great restaurants throughout the city. We loved Pier 39 - it is packed with gift shops and restaurants - and we found a Groupon for the Mexican restaurant, Mango’s Taqueria & Cantina, which turned out to be great. Watching the San Fran sun set on the waterfront was made that much sweeter with the addition of mango guacamole.
Our day in San Fran was one for the books… it was amazing to have a full day to explore what is now one of our favourite cities! We’re still making our way across the US en route to Nashville, so there will be many more fun times and memorable moments to share. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter for more updates. We would love to hear about your favourite places too!
XOXO Twin Kennedy