![]() To get there, we drove via Chinatown and down Lombard Street (not crooked enough to impress the kids apparently…ha!) and easily found public parking on the street even though the area was so so so so, so, busy. ![]() But now, we were all getting hungry, so I requested the indoor market at the Ferry Building. The kids had been eating odds and ends that we brought with us during the entire morning. We hiked down and around, and loved spending 15-20 minutes just soaking in the view. We had to circle a few times to find parking, but since people come and go quickly, we eventually found a good spot. Our next stop was Lands End, one of the best parks in SF I think. With so much enthusiasm, he kept repeating “MOM…ONE BRIDGE!!”. We have the San Francisco 123 counting book, and Arjun was excited to see the Golden Gate bridge in reality. It was an amazing drive and while I know we missed a lot being in a car rather than on foot, it was the perfect way to tackle it on a short trip! Then with a latte from Rise & Grind, we made our way to the Golden Gate Bridge in Presidio Park (home to beautiful mansions, a fort, a beach, Walt Disney Museum, Lucasfilm and the Yoda fountain, to name a few another destination where one could easily spend an entire day). For our part, we basically parked near the Japanese Gardens and walked around bouncing from fountains to gardens to playgrounds. It is absolutely massive with a list of things-to-do that could easily take a day or two. Our first stop from the airport was the Golden Gate Park. It helps that Devang enjoys driving in new cities (I could do it but it intimates me for sure) and his internal GPS means we rarely ever get lost. Even with the rental cost + gas + parking fees, the car was still cheaper and infinitely more convenient than getting a hotel room and then commuting with BART and Uber. We thought of getting a hotel room for the day, but in the end, chose to rent a car instead. We left PDX at 6:30am and arrived at SFO by 8:00am. It seemed worth it to opt for a super long layover that let us get out in a new-to-them city and explore, rather than the unavoidable 3 or 4 hours inside an airport which inevitably makes one dwell on the fact that the good times are over. Devang and I have been there a few times, but not the kids. This might seem counterintuitive to many, but to add one last mini adventure to our vacation before succumbing to the said doldrums, we chose a return flight with a 12-hour layover in the beautiful city of San Francisco, CA. And while I firmly believe that the excitement of an impending vacation will carry one through any travel inconvenience (including multiple layovers), it’s on the way back home when even the tiniest of mishaps makes everything seem so dreadful and hard and depressing. When we were looking for flights for our family vacation to Portland, OR, one thing was clear right off the bat – there is no quick way to get there and back from Raleigh, NC.
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