Super-fantastic Journeys

 We have visited San Francisco a couple of times, but we had never been out to Alcatraz Island, so we wanted to prioritize this.  The island is part of the National Park Services, and its notorious history as a prison sitting in the middle of the San Francisco bay is legendary.  Alcatraz housed some of the nation's worst criminals, and "The Rock" has been the subject of many movies over the years.   To visit the island, you take a ferry from Pier 33 on the San Francisco harbor.  This requires advanced reservations that you want to make sure you schedule well before our trip.  The ferry is operated by Alcatraz City Cruises .  The ticket was running $41 for adults and $25 for children when we visited.  This is an inclusive ticket price, and there are no additional park service fees collected.  The ticket will ask you to arrive at Pier 33 early for your scheduled departure.  I recommend following this suggestion as there are many people on each boat and you do not want to mi

  We were traveling in the Napa Valley and San Francisco area for a week, and Seven Hills is the best restaurant of our entire trip, and we have enjoyed some pretty amazing places to eat. If you are a local and have not been to Seven Hills, you have to go because you will fall in love with it and have a new favorite spot yourself. The next time I come to San Francisco, I will make my reservation weeks ahead to make sure I can get a table. The restaurant is located on the corner of Hyde and Green. Hyde is on the Cable Car line, so imagine being able to ride the cable car directly to this amazing Italian restaurant from Ghirardelli square; this would make the ultimate romantic experience. The cable cars were not running, so Uber dropped us off at the front door. When we arrived for an 8:00 reservation Alex, the owner, greeted us at the door. We were a few minutes early, so he set us up with a wine list and encouraged us to look it over. We asked a question about an Italian wine tha

298 Gough St. San Francisco, CA 94102 415 503-1666 Web Site Service: ✮✮✮✮✮ Food: ✮✮✮✮✮ Cleanliness: ✮ ✮✮ ✮ ✮ On our last night in San Francisco, we visited with a couple at the table next to us at the restaurant.  They obviously knew good food based on what we had just eaten, and somehow we got on the topic of dumplings.  They shared with us that their favorite place for dumplings is Dumpling Home.  Dumpling Home is hidden away in a neighborhood south of downtown and not in the China Town area, so this was a real find. The great news is that the dumplings are the best I have had in my life, and now you know about this amazing hidden gem in San Francisco. We went to lunch at Dumpling Home right before we caught our flight back home.  Since the timing was a little tight, we showed up about 10-15 minutes before they opened, and a line was already forming.  The line continues to grow after we arrived, so we knew this must be a trendy spot because we were there on a Tuesday at lunch. It was

 There are many places for cool photo opportunities in San Francisco; it is a dream city for photographers and Instagrammers alike.  During our recent visit, we went to these sites and had fun exploring the city while we did it.  We visited several different neighborhoods and locations.  While we did not begin to hit all the possibilities, here are some that we would definitely recommend checking out. (This post will grow as I have the opportunity to add more about the locations that we visited.  Sites are listed in the order that we enjoyed most and will be updated as more sites are added.) 1) Queen Wilhelmena Garden and the Dutch Windmill The Dutch Windmill stands tall in the beautiful and peaceful Queen Wilhelmena Gardens in Golden Gate Park.  The flowers gardens surrounding the windmill make it a unique and picture worth location.  The Windmill stands tall, reaching almost 75 feet above the park and gardens below.  It is one of two windmills constructed on the west end of the park

 San Francisco has such a wide variety of food options that deciding where to eat while you are visiting here is a really tough decision.  You can find any type of food that you are looking for.  Seafood is a great option to look focus on while you are here as much of it is as fresh as you can get it.   Fisherman's Wharf as its name suggests is a great place to find lots of restaurants that focus on seafood, but a walk down the piers will offer you many other options, many of which are less touristy and really doing seafood well.   1. Hog Island Oyster Company Address:  Ferry Building, One, #11; San Phone:(415) 391-7117 Website Food:   4.5 Stars Service:   4 Stars Location : 4.5 Located in the Ferry Building Hog Island Oyster Company is a great location to enjoy a meal out on the pier on a beautiful day.  As you enjoy your meal you can watch the catamaran ferries come and go and see the Bay Bridge from your table as well.  Hog Island Oyster Company has multiple locations including