20+ Best Places to View the Golden Gate Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge.

There's just something special about that international orange span across San Francisco's Golden Gate that pulls at the heart strings. 

Like the Eiffel Tower, Empire State Building, or Sydney Harbour Bridge, it's one of those landmarks that I will never tire of seeing, no matter how many times I see it. And trust me, we saw it a LOT in our eight years in the Bay Area as we had a view over the Bay from our Berkeley apartment. Every single day the sight of the towers peeking out over the fog made my heart flutter.

I know that this is a pretty common reaction for a lot of people, especially if you're seeing the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time, so today I'm sharing some of my favorite places to catch a glimpse of the bridge.

Batteries to Bluffs Trail

After a grey and quite cool couple of weeks, the weather has really warmed up here in the Bay Area To make the most of the sun and the long weekend (and to celebrate my birthday) we decided to head to the Presidio in San Francisco and go for an afternoon hike.

I'm always a little embarrassed to admit that, despite living here for 6.5 years, we really haven't spent much time in this part of the city at all. This has mostly been due to the fact that we didn't own a car for such a long time, and it takes a long time to get to the Presidio by public transport from Berkeley. Now that we have a car for weekend adventures I'm keen to get out and explore more of this beautiful city as much as possible - especially now that the weather is nice.

Ava and I have been feeling a little under the weather this past week, so while I would've loved to take a long hike along the coast line I figured it was best to take a short hike for now. I checked out the hiking trails in the Presidio and the Batteries to Bluffs Trail jumped out at me straight away. At only 0.7 miles (1.1km) I knew that it would be an easy hike for the kids (they walk further to school each day), and with the beach at the end, there was definitely an incentive to get them moving!

Spring Adventures with Fruit Shoot

This past weekend the girls and I spent an afternoon at Crissy Field, one of our favorite places for a little outdoor fun in San Francisco..

It was a pretty rainy and grey day, but that didn't stop the girls from having fun on the beach! With their raincoats on and their backpacks full of snacks and drinks they were ready for anything. And seriously, with the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge as the backdrop to their playing, nothing could put a dampener on their spirits.

While it was too cold to actually go in the water (which is almost always true of San Francisco!), it was the perfect day for running from the small waves as they crashed onto the beach. Isn't every day? My girls can entertain themselves for hours running from the waves. With the Golden Gate Bridge in the background in one direction, and Alcatraz in the other, I was happy to just sit back on the wet sand and watch, while listening to the sound of the girls' laughter ringing through the air. Ah, the glorious sound of happy children.

52 Weeks: Week 48

Week 48: Sunsets

This week's installment of my 52 Week Project is a little different. Instead of sharing what the kids have been up to I'm sharing sunsets. And oh boy, are they beautiful.

We're lucky enough to live in an apartment building with a roof deck that overlooks the San Francisco Bay. On evenings when we're not busy with swim classes, the girls and I head up to the roof to watch the sunset. It's always pretty, but lately the sunsets have been just spectacular.

Over the past week (plus a little bit as I just had to share one from the previous week) we've been blessed with a variety of amazing sunsets. Some evenings have been foggy diffusing the sun's glow across the sky. Some evenings have been perfectly clear with not a cloud in the sky resulting in a perfect ombre from blue to orange. Other evenings have ended with the sky full of cotton candy pink clouds. The one thing in common is that they've all been stunning.

Albany Bulb

The Bay Area is home to plenty of waterfront parks with stunning views. It's also home to a lot of quirky street art. Every now and then these two things combine and we end up with truly original places like Albany Bulb, here in the East Bay.

Albany Bulb is a peculiar place. A former landfill site created in the first half of the 20th Century, this small peninsula was, until recently, most notably known as a homeless encampment. From the early nineties through until 2014, Albany Bulb was home to a small community of residents who were otherwise homeless. More than just a tent city, Albany Bulb was filled with semi-permanent structures created out of scrap wood, discarded building materials and hard waste. We never went to Albany Bulb during this time but from what I've seen online some of the structures were pretty amazing, although not the most sturdy looking. You can see one of the biggest structures here.

Golden Gate Bridge Walk

Having visitors from home is a great excuse to get out and explore San Francisco. So when our friends Kylie, Joel and Sebastian visited recently we knew we had to do something we hadn't done in a long time: walk across the Golden Gate Bridge.

The Golden Gate Bridge is one of those landmark structures that amazes me every time I see it no matter how often that is (I can see it from our apartment). Every time it pops into view it's a reminder of what a fantastic part of the world we live in. It's magical in much the same way that the Eiffel Tower appearing from behind a building feels magical when you visit Paris. Or the Empire State Building in New York. Or the Harbour Bridge in Sydney (five years of seeing that one almost every day and I was still in awe!).

Visitors from Home

The last few weeks have been pretty busy for our family. We had our trip to Seattle and Portland, Ava went back to school this week and our good friends Marta and Mark visited from Australia.

I have lots of posts about our trip coming up soon so for now lets have a look at the fun we had with Marta and Mark.

San Francisco Bay Cruise

One of my favourite things that we did with my parents on their recent visit from Australia was a San Francisco Bay cruise. We actually went on two boat rides in the bay with my parents. The first was a Ride the Ducks ride which took us in the water close to AT&T Park (and which you can see here) and the second was a Red & White Fleet cruise which took us under the Golden Gate Bridge and past Alcatraz.

SFMOMA On the Go at Crissy Field

Over the weekend we headed into the city to check out a few places we've been meaning to visit. Our first destination was the San Francisco Cable Car Museum (which I'll write about in another post soon) and our second destination was Crissy Field down by the Golden Gate Bridge.

We've visited Crissy Field quite a few times in the past though I don't think I've ever written about it on Little Hiccups. While Crissy Field is a great park with spectacular views over the Bay and Golden Gate Bridge, and therefore a popular tourist destination in its own right the reason for our visit this weekend was specifically to check out an outdoor art exhibition. Back in June last year SF Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) closed its doors due to extensive building renovations set to be completed in 2016. While the museum is closed SFMOMA will continue to hold exhibitions around the Bay Area as part of their SFMOMA On the Go program.

The expansive grassy park that is Crissy Field is currently home to one such exhibition featuring eight large sculptures by artist Mark di Suvero. The monumental sculptures date from 1967 through to 2012 and have been brought to San Francisco from all across the country. The Golden Gate Bridge, which has clearly been an inspiration throughout the artist's career makes the perfect back drop to this exhibition.

An afternoon at Lands End

This last weekend was a busy one for us - aren't they all lately?

We spent most of our time this weekend going from open house to open house trying to find a new rental home for our family. Not the most exciting way for kids to spend the weekend - admittedly, it wasn't the most fun for Kim and I either. After looking at all those (mostly unsuitable) apartments and cottages we all needed a break. So Sunday afternoon we jumped in a Zipcar and headed to Lands End in San Francisco; another spot that we hadn't yet made it to.

Ava and Lola at Lands End Lookout