Traveling w/ Kids: San Francisco Weekend

I love to travel while my husband prefers to stay in with a good movie. We have three children and are on a limited budget. We had such a wonderful time in San Francisco that I decided to write about it. And in the coming weeks, I’ll write about some of our other adventures, all with my trademark budgeting in mind.

We drove to the city early Sunday morning of President’s Day weekend and stayed one night at Hotel Kabuki. I wanted to take advantage of as much FREE PARKING as I could. San Francisco is notorious for exorbitant parking prices and it is recommended that tourists use public transportation. My husband, however, insisted that we drive around the city. On Sundays, metered parking is mostly free in the city (you have to pay in the Fishermans’ Wharf area).

Our first stop was Coit Tower. Along the way there, I had to ask the kids to put down their electronic devices and look around. The three year-old was impressed by the “sky scrapers” but my eleven year-old son did not appreciate any of my commentary. “Boring,” he said laughingly.

The line for a parking space at the base of the tower usually takes half an hour. But at 8:00 a.m., there was no wait and only a handful of tourists. Quite a few locals were walking dogs or exercising.

My husband took some photos. Coit Tower opens at 10:00 so we didn’t go in. I would have wanted to see the Diego Rivera murals inside the lobby but I don’t think that the kids or my husband would have appreciated them. We also didn’t spend $16 to ride up the elevator for 360 degree views of the city and the bay.

We ate our breakfast on benches and in the car. It was almost 60 degrees outside and we were bundled up for cool San Francisco weather. I had packed hard-boiled eggs, Hawaiian bread, apple slices, organge juice, and bottled water for each of us.

We stopped by Liguria Bakery in North Beach (a few blocks down from Coit Tower) for some traditionally baked focaccia but at 8:20 it wasn’t open yet (despite the posted opening time of 8:00). Mama’s cafe across the street already had a line around the corner. I’ve eaten there on a previous trip and it is really good.

We drove by Washington Square. I wanted to drive by Dragon’s Gate in Chinatown to take a picture but we were running late. I had read that it was best to take pictures in the early hours before the crowds set in.

We had registered for the Great Backyard Bird Count at the SF Zoo (8:30 -10:30) which allowed us free parking and admission to the SF Zoo while counting birds. The Zoo opened at 10:00 and we could have stayed for half price admission but we zipped around the zoo for an hour and then joined the Audobon Society at 10:15 to present our numbers.

The three year-old was loving this visit. “Penguins, penguins,” she demanded and I consulted the map. We were at the penguin exhibit two minutes later. It was warming up and the stroller was loaded with all of our jackets.

I paused in front of the tigers recalling that a few years back a tiger had reportedly jumped over a fence and mauled a visitor who had allegedly taunted the animal. It looked like the fences had been raised considerably.

The older two kids had been here before but had not really had the chance to see much because of the crowds. Today we had entered the zoo before opening and could freely walk around. I had the family booking it while we tallied mostly common birds that we saw.

My eleven year-old son consulted the bird book we had borrowed to identify birds. The Audobon Society had also lent us some binoculars. Meanwhile I was carting the three year-old trying to let her see as many animals as she could before meeting up with the other bird counters at 10:15.

At 10:00, the zoo opened and suddenly it was not as easy to get around with all of the other strollers and slow-paced visitors. We met up in the Education Center. They had fruit salad, energy bars, and coffee for us. My kids loved the fresh fruit. We met some people that were really into birds. We would love to go back for next year’s event.

We exited the zoo parking lot and turned the corner into Golden Gate Park where we parked the car. We had planned to go to the beach later in the afternoon after it warmed up, but at 10:45, it was already in the 70s so we changed into slippers and walked across the street to Ocean Beach (pictured above). The kids loved playing at the beach which was already pretty crowded for SF. It was nothing like the crowds at Santa Cruz or Waikiki but usually Ocean Beach is deserted.

The three year-old loved running into the water and squealing when her toes touched the water. Unfortunately, she went too far in and fell with a wave. Luckily her older sister Jersey was right next to her and she was lifted up, but another wave knocked her down again while Jersey had one arm on her. Jersey lifted her little sister up again. I finally made it over and scooped her up in my arms. I was afraid that she had swallowed some water because her face hit the water twice but Jersey had been fast at pulling her up.

We hadn’t brought towels so I gave the little one my jacket and we headed back to the car to change. I put her soaking wet clothes into a large ziplock bag. Good thing I had packed extra clothes for her. Jersey and I also had to change after running into the water to save the little one. We should have brought swimsuits!

We drove along Golden Gate Park, and passed Chinatown to park in the financial district. Park & Ride was $3 to park (with validation) and they had a free shuttle that would take you four blocks to Chinatown and back. We thought about just walking the four blocks, as we were told the stroller wouldn’t fit on the shuttle. Instead, we changed to an umbrella stroller and took the shuttle with the locals. We were the only tourists taking the shuttle.

It was the weekend before Chinese New Year and Chinatown was having a Flower Fair for residents to purchase flowers and fruit trees for Chinese New Year. Stockton street, where the locals shop, was crazy crowded. The inner streets of Chinatown were blocked off to cars for the Fair so it was easier to get around with the stroller in the street.

It was about noon and we were all hungry. I stopped by a bakery and bought five pork buns for $4.50. I don’t recall the name of it, but I looked for one with a line of Chinese people. We stopped in front of Tin How Temple on Waverly Place to eat our treats.

We also walked down the oldest alley in SF, Ross Alley. A lot of movies were filmed here, some of the ones I’ve seen are Karate Kid II and Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom. We stopped at the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory and bought a bag of 40 chocolate and vanilla cookies for $5. The kids also got to see how the cookies are made.

We walked to a shopping area in search of Jersey’s favorite character, Rilakuma (whom she was introduced to by her cousins in Okinawa). Yelp brought us to Dream House. The prices were so reasonable that I let each kid pick out a toy (all plushies) and they were all licensed.

The little one picked Peppa Pig, the boy chose his favorite Pokemon character, and Jersey got her Rilakuma, all for twenty something dollars, which was probably about what we spent for just one Pokemon doll at the Pokemon Center in Japan.

Next door to the toy store was a pearl tea shop with a line that snaked around the corner. It took at least ten minutes to get my order, but it was worth it. So refreshing. A huge iced pearl tea drink for $4.50. We all shared one and couldn’t finish it.

Then we made our way through the touristy area on Grant Ave. I wanted some sunglasses and when I saw that they were two for ten dollars, I bought two pairs. And then I got the kids some fire crackers. And then I got myself a pink Warriors hoody for $20. For that price it must be a knock-off but I worried that it would get cooler later and my jacket was not wearable after Ocean Beach.

Then I asked if they had any leather handbags. They showed me some Burberry knock-offs, not what I was looking for. We got our parking validated. The kids did not like seeing homeless people sleeping at bus stops and some of the areas were dirty and stinky.

It was after 2:00 by the time we stopped at House of Nanking. Usually this place has a line out the door, but at that hour, we were seated right away. We ordered sesame chicken, chow mein, fried rice, and braised green beans. Surprisingly, the little one didn’t like much. She usually eats up this stuff but it might have been too touristy for her. The older kids liked it. We spent $30 and had a few containers of left overs to take with us.

The restaurant is on the edge of Chinatown. We walked back to the parking lot and took some pictures at the Transamerica building. My legs were aching from all the walking of the day.

We drove through the Castro area to Japantown to our hotel. We saw several cable cars and I realized that I had promised the kids that we’d ride a cable car.

Luckily the kids didn’t remind us that they wanted to ride on a cable car. We will just have to return to this beautiful city.

Check-in was a breeze and we were in our room at Hotel Kabuki within a few minutes. We had checked-in online and earlier I had received a text message that our room was ready. Pretty cool.

We were on the ninth floor. The hotel is connected to the Japan Center mall.

I loved the Japanese soaking tub. The only downside was that it took forever to drain and then fill the tub for all five of us. The little one needed a bath after getting drenched in the ocean.

By the time we ventured back out of the hotel, the sun was starting to set. We had a hard time finding a local Japanese grocery store because it wasn’t connected to the mall. We had walked through the mall and had bypassed the store.

I looked around a Goodwill store for a few minutes. We finally found the supermarket where I grabbed some sushi rice and a bunch of Japanese treats (Ramune soda, Asahi beer, ice cream, Pocky & three kinds of sushi). We also got a bunch of grapes and some muffins for breakfast. We spent $30.

We walked by the Peace Pagoda at about 7:45. We have eaten at several of the restaurants in Japantown but surprisingly found that better Japanese food can be found in other parts of the city.

Our friend Liza introduced us to this store. Jersey and I zipped through here for fifteen minutes before they closed. She got a Rilakuma folder for $1.50 and I got some Shiseido shampoo (on sale) for $8.50.

We got back to the hotel and had dinner. The little one ate a lot of sushi rice which had roe and sashimi toppings. Guess she likes Japanese food more than Chinese. The Japanese ice cream we got was really good too. I don’t know what it was called because it was written in Japanese but it had chocolate and coffee cruchies in it.

After dinner, I took the kids downstairs to check out the hotel. I had been to conferences here before and thought that there were samurai artifacts on the floors where the meeting rooms were.

There was a koi pond and zen garden outside but I didn’t see any artifacts in the hotel. Maybe my memory is unreliable or maybe there were changes in ownership; it used to be the Miyako Hotel. All we saw were some orchids and Japanese artwork.

We all went to bed at about 10:00. Our bathroom had two showers. I showered before going to bed. And before we checked out the next morning, everyone bathed again in that deep tub. The hotel had bath salts and I cut up the lemons that we had brought and threw them in the tub too.

The hotel had given us two complimentary breakfast buffets. I called down to see how much it would be for the children to join us, but they were $9 each so I walked a few blocks to a french bakery. Everything looked so good! There wasn’t much of a line.

The woman in front of me ordered four fruity tart things, so I got one, a ham & cheese croissant for my son, a plain croissant for Jersey, a mini chicken & arugula sandwich for my husband, and a box of seven macarons (all different flavors) for myself.

It all came to thirty something dollars. I thought it would be much more than that. The croissants and the tart were flaky and buttery and wonderful. My husband gobbled the sandwich so I assume it was just as good. And the macarons were so good. Better than Cocola.

The morning walk was refreshing. The streets were pretty empty. We got back to the hotel and the others had gotten up. Jersey and I went to the hotel restaurant for two complimentary breakfast buffets. It was $18 for adults. I wish I had taken pictures. Really good food. One row held continental breakfast items, fruit, bagels, pastries, cereal, yogurt and another row had hot foods for an American breakfast buffet. Oatmeal, bacon, eggs, sausage, pancakes, potatoes. Jersey and I went back twice for more. “I love buffets!” she said happily. “This is way better than Stockton,” she added about our hotel buffet for her national baton championships which were held in Stockton last summer.

After breakfast, Jersey and I went to Daiso, the Japanese dollar store. I bought two pairs of socks for the little one with Disney characters on them, a calculator for Jersey, and a boy’s tie for the eleven year-old. He’s playing the clarinet for a school concert and needs a black tie.

We have a Daiso in our town but this one is much bigger. We didn’t take any pictures but here are some pics from our previous visits to Daiso. The things here are well-made for $1.50. We get things like plastic storage boxes, spray bottles, kitchen sponges, mechanical pencils, erasers, and doll house furniture.

We walked around the Japan Center Mall. We bought some Hello Kitty goodies for Aunty My. She had given us the certificate we used for the night’s stay at Hotel Kabuki. Thank you Aunty My!!

Check-out was at noon. We loaded our luggage into the car which was parked in the Japantown parking garage. It was $23 to park overnight.

For lunch, we stopped at another Japanese grocery store, Super Mira, where they sell a famous coffee cake. Unfortunately, Yasukochi bakery was closed. We loaded up on more sushi and had a late lunch at the Peace Pagoda.

We also checked out New People mall which was across the street from our hotel. There was a lot of Rilakuma but at much higher prices. We didn’t stay long at this JPop mall. It was fun to look though. On the top floor was Baby, the Stars Shine Bright, a lolita dress shop. Beautifully tailored dresses, stockings, and bonnets but an outfit here is in the $1,000 range.

We drove to Seward Mini-Park for some crazy slides. San Francisco is seven miles by seven miles so everything is pretty close but the girls had fallen asleep in the car during the 15-minute drive. My son was disappointed to find that the slides were closed on Mondays. Quite a few kids had hopped over the barriers to slide down anyway but I didn’t want anyone to get hurt so I convinced my son that we would make another trip out to San Francisco. And we drove home with the girls still asleep.

A video of our trip is here.