Remember my cousin, Pete, his wife, Kay and their kiddies, Noah and Wes?  Well they’re going to meet us in San Fran today.  They’re driving an RV around the US – that’s a Recreational Vehicle for those not in the know.

We stated our day at Chloe’s Cafe just around the corner from our Airb&b.

It had a great write up and opened at 8am.  Jodie likes to get up and get going and today I was thankful that she did because we arrived at Chloe’s at 7.45am, so she wasn’t quite open yet, but there was a sign in sheet at the front door and small groups of people were starting to arrive and mill around.  We were about 3rd on the list and when 8am came around, the whole restaurant filled up with people left waiting outside.  There were only about 8 tables in the whole place, so it didn’t take much.

Chloe’s is sweet, and retro and kitsch.

We ordered our egg dishes, but then we noticed that people had all ordered not only their own egg dishes, but also a plate of the croissant french toast covered with entire punnet of strawberries!  We couldn’t even finish our eggs but we thought very seriously about ordering a plate to share…. the thoughts became more fleeting as our eggs reached our stomachs, and we were on our way – praying that our train would be late enough tomorrow to come back here again.

We weren’t meeting the Browns until after lunch so we popped down to the Fisherman’s Wharf to have a little look before the crowds got down there.  That’s my boat down there – Lucky Lady.

I’m not sure where the Barbary Coast Trail takes you, but I think we walked a bit of it as we headed for a good vantage point to see the Golden Gate Bridge.  I asked our Uber driver where the best place was to view it and he said, from 12 o’clock onward when the fog has lifted.  I think my question might have been lost in the accented translation.

But it turned out that he was correct.  This is the most underwhelming photo I’ve ever seen of the GG Bridge.

They do have some impressive gulls here though.

And the best looking maritime museum – it’s shaped like a boat!

We had a bit of specialised shopping to get done so we followed my expert guidance up and down some more super steep hills… You’d think I would have learned yesterday!

But we did find some fabulous treasures along the way…. check out this person’s front door!!!  They’re snake heads – very GoT!

And this little park actually looked like somebody’s back yard, but it was a public space which we took full advantage of and had a little sit down half way up a huge incline.

But then the top of the incline was this – the bottom of Lombard Street, the curviest street in the world.  It’s much more picturesque form the bottom!

Headed into the suburb of North Beach for a final spot of purchasing and looking at more street art…  This was where all the Italian resaturants were. It’s funny how you the areas are so distinct here… cross a street and youre surrounded by a completely different culture.

These peeps doing the chalk drawings were part of a street festival we found.

Then it was over to the Golden Gate Park to meet up with Pete, Kay, Noah and Wes.  I hadn’t seen them since they left New York and Jodie hadn’t seen them for a good 10 months or so, so we were very excited to hang out.

Because we had walked the length and breadth of San Fran yesterday, we thought it was a good idea to meet in the children’s playground giving the boys a chance to run around and play whilst the slightly bigger kids sat under a tree and caught up.

It sort of worked out like that, except Jodie ended up playing chasey with the boys for hours – she’s got more energy and stamina than me – that’s for sure!

Getting a bit hungry, we took a little walk down Height Street in the Heights Ashbury area – made famous by Mr Harvey Milk back in the day, but it wasn’t terribly appropriate for the little ones… although I’m sure Wes didn’t even notice, as he only had eyes for Jodie!

We called an Uber and headed back to our Noe valley hood to a Greek place we knew was awesome.

Dinner had been of the Duplex variety – we sat at 4.50pm and dinner didn’t even start until 5pm, but they let us sit early….

Then after dinner it was still daylight so we went for a walk back down to Dolores Park and to this fantastic little supermarket to buy some supplies for the train journey tomorrow.

Not sure what’s happening with our glasses here Kay….. ? #slightoverlap

Obligatory funny face photo at the request of Noah & Wes.

The boys showing us how steep the street is…. hang on, you’ll slide down!

Love a bit of house art…. there are even metal branches screwed to the guttering – that’s taking it all the way.

I mean, that’s ridiculous!

We got to Dolores Park just at the right time – the light and temp were perfect.  It was a Sunday and also Father’s Day in the USA, so there were families and friends having picnics and sitting enjoying the sunshine.

Another wonderful catch up with this gorgeous family…. I think I’d like to do it again, say… next week?  In Hawaii?