Achievement unlocked! The SF edition

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The last time I was in San Francisco, I was still pregnant and I had dinner at The Pawn Shop, a hidden gem of a tapas bar in the SOMA neighbourhood with Joycelyn, Anna, and Kuya Allan. More than a year later, I drove into the city, this time with my son as one of my passengers! Mommy, Daddy, and Anna were with me on this trip (we all fit in the Mercedes Benz C230 thanks to the narrow base of the Diono Radian 3QXT).

Our journey brought us into the Inner Richmond district, whose spaciousness is a far cry from the downtown's hectic and crowded vibe (thanks to the downtown area's skyscrapers and narrow roads).

Geary Boulevard, San Francisco

We opted to eat lunch somewhere in Clement Street, a popular enclave of Asian immigrants peppered with really good restaurants. I proposed that we eat at Burma Superstar but it wasn't open for outdoor dining (the Bay Area is now allowing restaurants to serve diners outdoors because the number of COVID-19 cases is consistently dropping). Mommy's craving for Chinese food was satisfied when we spotted D & A Cafe just across the street from Koja Kitchen (a restaurant that I have always wanted to try out because it fuses Korean and Japanese influences into savoury dishes).


The restaurant satisfied Mommy's cravings for Chinese food.

Everything we ordered was delicious and actually reminded me of the yummy dishes that I have eaten in Hong Kong and Singapore. The ambience also reminded me of my dining situation in Hanoi because, in both places, I had to eat by the street! 

We ended our trip to San Francisco with a pit stop for boba tea at Little Sweet.

While waiting for our boba tea, Anna and Daddy were seated in the outdoor dining space. Mommy and I (with the wee one in his baby carrier) opted to stay by the bench outside the shop.

Now, the day we drove up to the City allowed me to achieve a few things:

  1. First time to drive into San Francisco (not to the airport this time)
  2. First time to bring my son on a full-day field trip (he enjoyed it a lot; not one tantrum despite the long day)
  3. First time to drive across the Golden Gate Bridge (I used to walk the length of it; this was my first time to drive on it)
  4. First time to drive across the Richmond Bridge
  5. First time to drive on the US Route 101
Thank goodness for GPS and real-time updates on phone maps! If I were driving the Nissan Sentra, I would have had an easier time checking our route while I drove because of Apple CarPlay (Apple Maps is displayed on the screen). However, the C230 didn't have an onboard screen so I had to rely on my phone's screen for the map and my smartwatch for cues on turning.

With these achievements, I am now confident to go to the City by car. However, I don't think that I'll do that if we're visiting the downtown area because parking fees are too expensive! If we were going to the Golden Gate Park or to the Presidio, I prefer to drive up there now over riding public transportation.

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