A California Honeymoon: San Francisco (Days 1-2)

San Francisco | Palace of Fine Arts | Rotunda | To Make Much of Time

UPDATED: 1/22/2023

Note: Some links throughout our site are affiliate links, which means we may receive a small commission at no cost to you.

After making our way from San Francisco airport, we spent the afternoon wandering through Fisherman’s Wharf , which was walkable from our hotel, Argonaut . We grabbed a bite to eat at a Mexican restaurant nearby, drove down Lombard Street , which was exactly how I remembered it from childhood.

San Francisco is a city worth exploring on its own in order to take in its unique streets and districts. Parts can be fairly walkable, and while we didn’t take a trolley tour, that is a good option to consider and offers hop-on, hop-off. For this trip, we used San Francisco as starting place and did not plan to extensively tour the city.

The following morning, we visited the Palace of Fine Arts , with its oft-photographed rotunda, situated on a lagoon. Early in the morning it was pretty quiet with not many people about. Then, we visited and ate lunch at the Exploratorium , a hands-on interactive science museum that Dustin remembered visiting as a child. To really explore the museum, which we did, you need several hours. The exhibits are very interactive and cover different interests that span all age groups.

From there, we headed north, over the Golden Gate Bridge , for a 5-hour coastal drive up route 1 to Mendocino. While we didn’t stop there on this trip (but have visited it multiple times before), Muir Woods is a great hiking spot just north of the city offering a walk among the redwood trees northern California is known for. Along the way, we took a short hike at a foggy Point Reyes National Seashore .

San Francisco | Street | To Make Much of Time

The California coast (Pacific Coast Highway, Route 1) is one of the prettiest drives, no matter what part of the state you’re in (I’ve done the entire route in various pieces over the years). It isn’t fast, but it isn’t meant to be. This route is about the journey, not the destination. Catching it on a clear day is a must, as the coast is also given to fog frequently. Given the mountain ranges, fog is often present in the morning and evenings and burns off during the day, though not always. Luckily, after morning fog, our northward drive was fog-free!

We grabbed lunch and ate it along the water at Bodega Bay, made famous as the setting where Hitchcock filmed The Birds. We did see a lot of birds but none scarier than your normal seabird variety enjoying the ocean breeze. On the other hand, I don’t know what sort of murderous thoughts they may have had in their bird brains, nestled behind their beady eyes.

Our destination was Mendocino, far enough away to enjoy the long coastal route.