For my 24th birthday Jared surprised me with a trip to San Francisco, CA. This city is really special to both of us because it’s where we took our first trip together! Since that trip we took during spring break our junior year of college, we have been to London, Hawaii, LA, Vegas, and Canada. (We have a lot of other exciting trips coming up too!) Although we love to experience new places, I’m glad Jared picked San Francisco for sentimental reasons. Here are some of the photos from our trip!

We got into the city really late so we let ourselves sleep in a little bit the following morning then desperately needed a bite to eat before exploring downtown. We walked a few blocks from where we stayed to Beanstalk Cafe. Jared got a spicy chicken sandwich (I was secretly hoping he’d get the one with bulgogi) and I got a bagelwich with sausage, cheese, and egg.

Yellow Striped Shirt | Allbirds Shoes | Backpack

After we spent a few hours wandering downtown San Francisco and shopped, we needed more coffee. The last time we came to San Francisco we didn’t get to try Blue Bottle so we stopped into one and got the New Orleans style iced coffee. I’m a huge fan of iced coffee and loved this one. It’s really creamy and has just a hint of sweetness which is right up my alley. If you’re into iced coffee, I also recommend the mint mojito coffee from Philz though it is really strong.

No trip to San Francisco is complete until you’ve seen the Golden Gate Bridge from one of the many viewpoints. Jared and I absolutely loved going to Fort Point and a few other spots to see the bridge up close during our last trip. This time we went to Battery Spencer over in Marin County to see the bridge from the other side of the water. We even got to see the bridge through our Lyft sunroof – it was a minivan and 1000% comfy. It’s a short walk up to this amazing view point. (Would not recommend wearing your brand new white Allbirds.)

Another great spot for views of a different part of the city is the famed Twin Peaks. You could hike up there or ride a bike but in true Jared-and-Grace fashion we just paid for a Lyft up there. There’s a pretty big ledge that you can sit on top of and just take in the views. It’s amazing to see all the different areas of San Francisco, including the hilly terrain. Unfortunately you can’t see much of the view because I shot with a macro lens but just trust me that this is a must visit spot.

Red Striped Shirt | Utility Jacket (similar)

Another coffee spot that we had to stop by is Sightglass Coffee. There is no shortage of cute coffee shops in San Francisco it turns out – I think I could spend all day in them. Jared and I enjoyed a midday caffeine fix then wandered the neighborhood some. (Side note: Jared came back from the restroom and excitedly told me they had Aesop soap in there. I’m more impressed that he knows Aesop than the fact a coffee shop had some bougie soap. But both are quite impressive, haha.)

We also wandered the Mission district for quite a while because we were killing time before our dinner reservation at Foreign Cinema. This spot is really cool and they even play old films off to one side of the restaurant! Definitely make a reservation and be prepared for what I like to call fancy food – that will still fill you up. Excuse the phone quality pics but I didn’t want to whip out a giant camera in a lot of these places because they were usually crowded! The best thing I had at Foreign Cinema was the fried chicken, hands down. It’s my personal goal to always order the fried chicken at restaurants if it’s on the menu…

I’m a little out of order but before our dinner reservation, we spent a lot of time in the neighborhood. We got a quick “snack” at Media Noche (the cubano is sooooo good) and yes, it is the cutest restaurant you’ve ever seen. I was also spotted in the window at Boba Guys by a friend from college!! Jared and I got the almond milk strawberry matcha which didn’t disappoint at all. After browsing some thrift stores and some fun book stores, we walked through Clarion Alley to see the murals. I was so drawn to the art that I didn’t really take any photos, sorry!

During our last trip to SF we weren’t able to go to the Ferry building so I was really excited to come this time. There was so much food to try but ultimately I saved my stomach for lunch and just opted for ice cream. I figured ice cream for breakfast is fine if it’s coffee flavored, right? I got a scoop of Blue Bottle Vietnamese coffee ice cream from Humphry Slocombe and it was tasty! (Thanks Shannon for the rec!) Not as good as MM, but good and they offer tons of unique (aka weird) flavors. After the Ferry building we walked the Embarcadero which has many piers that you can walk out onto. There are incredible views, some restaurants, and even the Exploratorium to visit. I loved this shot of the Ferry building and that clock tower from the pier!

After walking around the waterfront we headed over to Burma Superstar. You guys recommended this so many times so we knew we had to try it out. We got to the restaurant 15 minutes before opening and stood in line with a bunch of others (welcome to San Francisco) so luckily we got seated immediately when they opened their doors. I can see why this place is constantly busy! We ordered a lamb curry, some sort of curry noodle, and some coconut rice. Everything was so flavorful and just really unique. And yes, I have major FOMO because we didn’t get the tea leaf salad. Don’t be like me and order this.

Lastly, just because I don’t want to bore you all with MORE food I just wanted to share one more spot we went to called Dragon Beaux. It’s referred to as an upscale dim sum restaurant and it does feel nicer than your typical dim sum restaurant. I liked the food a lot and service was pretty fast for how busy it is, but do expect a long wait on the weekends. 

That’s it for now! I’m going to be writing another post about the Conservatory of Flowers because I felt that this post was way too long, so stay tuned for that one.

To see my San Francisco food guide from my last trip and to see what else we did on our previous trip, check out those posts! Can’t believe they’re from 2015!

I’ve always had a soft spot for Canada. I remember going on family vacations here since I was little. Also, my parents almost settled down in Canada instead of the US back in the day when my dad was still attending grad school in Canada. I’m practically Canadian! :) Now that I live in Seattle and am so close to the Canadian border, trips to Canada are so easy. I even spent my birthday in Vancouver B.C. last year – see the recap here. When a long weekend came around where all of my closest friends were available, we booked a trip north and finally went on our first girls trip together! 

The highlight of our trip, in my opinion, was just hanging out together in our Airbnb. When I found our Airbnb listing, I didn’t have high hopes for it to be honest. Being a long weekend and Lunar New Year, almost all the listings were sold out! This ended up being a really affordable option that I felt looked decent enough, so I bit the bullet and booked it. When we got there, imagine our surprise when we discovered it was adorably decorated and actually just a short drive to downtown Vancouver!

You can tell that the place was decorated by someone who has an eye for design, right? We later met the owner and she told us she’s a stylist and art director. Go figure. Some of the best times we had were just sitting around on the bar stools doing our makeup while listening to music on the Bluetooth speaker. I forgot how fun it is to get ready with a bunch of other girls! 

On our first full day there, we first headed out to get some food! We ended up dining family style at Peaceful Restaurant. I can’t recall everything we ordered, but I do remember the beef pancake rolls and you definitely need to order those if you ever dine here! Next we walked to 45 Degree Bubble Tea house and each got a drink in these fun cups. Naturally, I stopped to take a photo of the dog that we saw along the way.

We did some shopping on Robson Street then headed further downtown to stop by a store that sells The Ordinary products! (The store is called CurliQue Beauty Boutique by the way and it’s right by the Vancouver Public Library.) We all went a little nuts so out we walked with 6 bags of products which we obviously dug into later that night. Another fun stop we made was to the Muji store!! I’ve never been to a Muji store so this was a dream. Luckily you can get Muji products on Amazon because now I want to get even more haha! 

At night we went to the same all you can eat sushi restaurant that I went to with Jared for my birthday which was so much fun! I highly recommend making a reservation if you have a large party because it tends to have a long wait. Later we tried to go out to some bars in Gastown but it ended up snowing like crazy so we returned back to our Airbnb. That was a dramatic turn of events as the entire day was pretty clear and sunny!

The next day we went to Aberdeen Centre to get dim sum at Fisherman’s Terrace. Of course, the wait was over an hour so we killed time by shopping, watching some of the Lunar New year performances, and pre-gaming the dim sum feast we had. The food court here is awesome and you can get everything from laksa to bubble tea to bubble waffles. We got some matcha and original bubble waffles (yum!) and all types of bubble tea to sip on. Then at dim sum we ordered so much food which I’m proud to say we KILLED!

Before heading home, we stopped to take some sunset photos along the West End of Vancouver. It was freezing cold but a beautiful day!

I didn’t go crazy with the photos because 1) I left my SD card for my DSLR at home, oops and 2) wanted to live in the moment with my girlfriends. It’s not often that we get to go on a trip together! There are plenty of other places to visit in Vancouver B.C. but if you’re just headed there for a weekend trip, I think I’ve covered some of my favorite places to go in this post and my other post. As I go back I’ll keep updating these posts to share new places I’ve visited!