Girls’ Weekend in Northern California, Part One

Last weekend, I met my sister and niece in California  to celebrate my sister’s birthday. It was a “milestone” birthday so we really wanted to do it up right!! Our first stop was San Francisco. After the winter we have had in Connecticut, we all worried about me having problems with the weather, NOT my sister or my niece flying in from down South. Clearly, Mother Nature had other ideas as a snowstorm in North Carolina threatened to derail our plans. I arrived alone in San Francisco…with the hopes my travel companions would finally arriving later that evening.

We stayed at the iconic San Francisco hotel, The Fairmont, for the first two nights of our trip…it is gorgeous and just exudes history. Located at the hub of the city, atop Nob Hill, it was the perfect place for Part One of our girls’ weekend.

Faced with an afternoon and evening on my own, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Following the advice of my blog buddy, Heather, from Style Mind Chic, I walked downhill (who knew walking downhill could be SO hard!) to Union Square and treated myself to high tea at The Rotunda at Neiman Marcus…It was a delicious start to my weekend!

Thankfully, my sister and niece finally arrived late Thursday night and we hit the ground running on Friday morning.

First stop…Mama’s for their famous French toast! Locals flock to Mama’s in North Beach for breakfast…if you are going to wait in line for over an hour, it better be good! You know the line is long when you have to go somewhere else for coffee when you are waiting for a breakfast table!

It probably want the smartest thing to visit the Ferry Building Marketplace AFTER a big breakfast, but it definitely made for yummy eye candy.

We had all been to San Francisco before but hadn't spent much time in the Mission, a fun area known for great restaurants and unique shops. After wandering through the area and hitting up quite a few shops, we couldn't resist the famous Bi Rite Creamery...a malted vanilla with peanut brittle ice cream cone was the perfect afternoon pick me up! And, our little ice cream detour led us to this amazing building painted with stunning murals on two sides:

We toasted my sister and watched the sunset with cocktails and bubbly at the Top of the Mark followed by margaritas, Mexican and much laughter at Nopalito. It was a perfect ending to a perfect day in San Francisco!

On to our next adventure…Napa Valley! I hope you will come back later in the week when I share about our two amazing days in Napa.