Map of our EPIC trip! 2,100+ miles later 🙂

I have so much to share as far as our food adventures on our honeymoon go but after that I will get back to more educational pieces…I promise 🙂 However, IF you are or will be traveling in the future it is possible to keep your food and fitness goals in line so maybe this is for your education after all.

JJ first had the idea that we could go to New Zealand on our honeymoon as the two of us are VERY bad at sitting still so going to a resort on a nice, sunny and beautiful island was out. I am sure it would have been FABULOUS but just not for us crazy kids 🙂 New Zealand looked like so much fun and I was really looking forward to driving on the opposite side of the road but it would have been their winter and if you are from the Northeast you understand why we (ahem I) could not take ANY MORE winter! So JJ nixed that idea and said we would try to  get there some other day. He then came up with the brilliant idea of going on an adventure in the U.S. and that is when he decided the Northwest was calling our names.

Traveling for any foodie out there can be exciting but a foodie with intolerances and one who cooks for herself more times than not can mean major TRAVEL ANXIETY! A lot of people may view vacation as a time where what they eat does not matter…but for me it does matter. I love feeling the way I do and notice when I have eaten something that makes me want to crawl into a ball while my stomach and intestines do backwards somersaults. So naturally I researched the food in the Pacific Northwest and I realized as long as we didn’t end up somewhere stranded on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere (which apparently exists it’s called Van-tucky?) we were going to be just fine 🙂

I recommend before you go on ANY trip that you plan ahead as far as your food goes. My quick tips:

1. Pack as much in your suitcase as your realistically can that is non-perishable food: canned tuna/salmon/sardines, jerky, nuts/seeds, nut butter packets, etc.

2. Find local grocery stores where you will be going and pick up the canned items above and anything else that will fit in a cooler bag or refrigerator…

3. That being said MOST hotels have small refrigerators and microwaves…ask ahead of time!

4. Use phone apps like Yelp! or Find Me Gluten Free to search for good options…read the reviews and make your best judgement!

5. ALWAYS bring a reusable water bottle 🙂

Alright so let’s dive into the first destination, San Francisco! I will highlight all the food places for those who don’t want to know all the ridiculous things that happened on the trip. And then there are pictures for those of you who don’t want to read at all…you’re welcome!

Sausalito/San Francisco, California

Day 1

We flew out of Albany, NY at the ungodly hour of 6am…ungodly only because we had to wake up at 4am and if you know me then you know I’m ridiculous in the morning….and by ridiculous I may mean a monster but that is neither here nor there. We connected through Chicago and got into SFO airport at 1 pm PST! We were so excited to see sunshine and NO humidity…that does exist…it was unreal! And then we saw the rental car line…dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnn. JJ stood in line for 2 hours while I sat on the luggage around the corner with a bag of Jackson’s Honest Chips and my Cornell hat pulled down far enough so no one could see the dark circles under my eyes but not too far that I could not people watch 🙂

Dark circles + people watching hat = thumbs up

2 hours of hanging with Jackson…

I have always had the approachable face…I honestly do not know why but people think I know what’s what so everyone kept asking me where this, that and the other thing was in the SFO airport. I guess sitting on luggage means you are wise and know it all. I kept looking over at my adorable husband in line who hadn’t moved a hair when a group of three men in golf gear came up to me to ask where the entrance to the tram was. I only knew the answer because I had come from there about an hour ago. Then the one guy sees my hat and goes “My son goes to Cornell!” I  smiled and was quiet hoping he would just go to the tram already. He asked me what I did for a living and I told him I am a dietitian, which I guess is not all that exciting because he hands me his business card and says “well if you want a job, call me”. I mean the guy couldn’t have been nicer but I was perplexed…being a Dietitian is a real job…did I look homely in my yoga pants, hiking boots and Cornell hat sitting atop our luggage? I guess so 🙂

Well 2 hours later we finally got our car and the guy at Thrifty UPGRADED us because we were on our honeymoon and because I have the nicest husband in the world and he appreciated that. So you may be thinking by now OK so what did you eat up until this point? Well I was quite stuffed from the day before so I was not all that hungry until we got in the car. If you eat a good meal the day before OR before you get to the airport it makes traveling WAY easier. During the plane rides I think I ate some jerky, a Rickaroon, a packet of almond butter and an apple with water. Nothing fancy and when you are traveling it is WAY better than eating most of what is in the airport 🙂 Your plane-mates will thank you for not eating a burrito if you know what I am saying. Packing your own food is a great way to avoid over-eating while traveling, especially because airports are full of fast food and other unhealthy temptations. While we all wish we could avoid airports altogether by charting a private plane from somewhere like Jettly.com, this is not always possible for everyone so bringing along your own healthy bag of goodies is the best way to stick to your healthy eating.

First stop was to see Mavericks in California. JJ had been there before and being the surfer that he is he wanted to see it again and I was pretty much down for whatever was outside because it was GORGEOUS. The drive was unreal and I even made him pull over a few times to see the beaches. The hike in to Mavericks is flat and short and so you get a great view in no time at all. The waves were itty bitty but the view was worth it. Our stomachs started rumbling so we headed to Half Moon Bay Brewing, Co. and grabbed a drink and a snack of ceviche. We sat outside and watched the cars go by, it was a super chill place and everything was half off because we just happened to hit happy hour.

They make their own beer…not for me but JJ was pumped!

Cute outside area 🙂

Next we went to The Cliff House where our friend JC told us we had to go and we gladly obeyed! Just absolutely breath-taking views and we hiked down to the bottom where there used to be an old bath house….and we caught our first glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge!

There it is!!!!! 

At this point we had been awake for close to 18 hours so we figured we should meander over to our hotel in Sausalito. We traveled over the Golden Gate and call me a tourist but it was SO COOL! We found our hotel, The Inn Above Tide nestled in the heart of Sausalito right next to the ferry dock and of course right on I mean ABOVE the water!

 Our 2 night splurge of the trip 🙂 As JJ would say YOHO (you only honeymoon once!)

We arrived about 2 minutes after their “complimentary wine and cheese hour” so the super nice lady at the front desk asked if we wanted a bottle of wine (free of charge) delivered to our room….um, yes!

This is not real life!

Not to mention they gave us a bottle of champagne for our honeymoon! Said bottle of champagne actually made it all the way back to Albany with us as we never found the time to drink champagne…it gives us a headache so if you come visit maybe we’ll splurge and open the bottle!

We really wanted to venture into San Francisco but we were so zonked that we decided the most accessible food would serve us best. So we found Copita a cute little Mexican restaurant just down the street from our hotel. I honestly do not remember much of this meal and sad to say I did not photograph any of it! The poor waiter thought we hated him because we were not very interactive and did not order drinks. We told him we were extremely jet lagged and it had NOTHING to do with him! I am pretty sure we ordered guacamole, ceviche and I want to say some fish tacos. Whatever it was it hit the spot and we zombied our way back to The Inn.

Day 2

GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE! If you are ever planning on going to Sausalito and want to splurge a night go to The Inn Above Tide. The view in the morning is just UNREAL. You  have the beautiful water literally under your deck and a perfect view of San Francisco with a little fog here and there. And since you are facing East you actually get the picturesque sunrise shining through. They say it is usually 10-15 degrees cooler in San Francisco than Sausalito…I should’ve listened better as shorts were quite cold, but living in Upstate New York has trained me to suck it up! And that I did, I mean how could I complain, the sun was shining and so were our new wedding rings!

Being the active (read: crazy) couple that we are, we decided to take a ride to the Golden Gate Bridge and then run over to the San Francisco side and back to Sausalito. I was wearing a tank top and shorts and it was so windy I thought I was back in winter in Albany! However, this was such a neat experience! We went early in the morning before there were any tour groups and we pretty much had the bridge to our selves minus the insane bicyclists. And when I say insane, I mean insane! California from what I have seen y’all are in AWESOME shape, props to you!

After our 4 mile run round trip over the bridge we decided to find the bluffs up on the Sausalito side of town and check out the views. We figured we’d get to the first one take a few pictures and go back to get ready for the day. WRONG! JJ loves his camera and I love the views so we naturally had to go ALL THE WAY UP! If you have the time I highly recommend it the views are just unreal!

 Can I get the photographer’s number already?!

So once we got our fill of the Golden Gate Bridge (lies I want more!) we decided it was time to head into San Francisco and see what all the fuss is about. The ferry was right next to the Inn and we love to walk so it was a no brainer for us to travel by ferry to the City By The Bay. When we arrived it was quite chilly but the sun was out and our hearts were warm….cheesy but it was our honeymoon come on people! We first stopped at Pier 39 where I made a bee-line for Biscoff’s Coffee because I was dying for something warm and I somehow forgot to grab some coffee at the Inn! The coffee was nothing to write home about but it warmed me up. Pier 39 reminded me of a much more crowded and jam packed Navy Pier in Chicago. It was a bit of a tourist trap so we decided it was time to venture off away from the crowds.

At this point we had only really eaten some food from the inn (read: fruit and eggs) and so I was getting hangry and JJ knows better than to mess with a hangry Laura. So I really wanted to grab a burger at Roam Artisan Burgers. We traveled the 1 mile by foot there via Fisherman’s Wharf! What a neat place, I love fish and it reminded me of being home, however the ocean is on the opposite side and that kept throwing me off. We get to Roam and I was SO STOKED…until we see the CLOSED FOR MAINTENANCE sign. OH MY GOSH WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?! So I used my handy-dandy phone and Yelped (is that a thing?) another burger place. Much to our chagrin there was ANOTHER Roam restaurant, yippee!!! One problem, it was another 1 mile away. JJ suggests we just find something else, and then he sees the look on my face…and realizes I MUST go to Roam.

And this is what our trek looked like:

Hello buns o’ steel!

 Yup, you’ve got it ALL UP HILL! We got some funny looks from people and I can understand why we were the only ones going UP the hill but it was kind of fun and we got an amazing reward afterwards:

 Hello Gorgeous!

By now we just wanted our burgers and thank goodness we found ROAM! If you go to San Francisco I highly recommend their food. We each had a GRASS-FED burger (mine bun-less) and we split the sweet potato fries. They also had kombucha and beer on tap so clearly this was a match made in heaven for the two of us lovebirds. What I absolutely LOVED was when I asked for no bun they did not give me an odd stare instead they asked “would you like a lettuce wrap”. UM, YES can I marry you? Just kidding….but that is how we should offer burgers, enough of the squishy processed hamburger buns, let’s get some greens wrapped around the meat.

Drool worthy menu.

That my friends is a glass of kombucha…black currant kombucha ON TAP!

I wish I had taken a good picture of the burger but honestly we were so hungry we had to scarf it down…just had to. I got bacon on mine with a local cheddar cheese as well as caramelized onions and their amazing house-made pickles. My mouth is watering again, take me back! So, needless to say this was the best burger we had EVER had and if you don’t go there some day then we just cannot be friends, no I am just kidding I promise.

So we were satisfied and now miles away from civilization (not really but tourists definitely) so we meandered to a nearby park and then decided we had to see Lombard Street and Coit Tower. We walked down Lombard Street with all the tourists and then walked up to Coit Tower but decided better of paying and standing in line to get to the tippy top and honestly the views are so gorgeous up there we did not feel like wasting any time indoors.

We also hit up Ghiardelli Square…and they were of course handing out free chocolate samples, yum!

We spent the rest of the afternoon being total tourists and just soaking up the culture that is San Francisco. We think overall we walked/ran over 10 miles that day. Our dogs were howling but we had so much fun and would do it all over again.

We caught the ferry back to Sausalito for dinner at The Seafood Peddler with our good friend JC! She of course told the waiter it was our honeymoon and BOOM a bottle of champagne pulls up at our table, I could get used to this! We ordered the Dungeness crab appetizer which was so fresh and so clean 🙂 I had this for my main entrée:

Bacon meet crab <3

 I think it was some white fish with crab and bacon on top…I did not eat the artichoke hearts because they were fried…no bueno! Otherwise the fish was fresh and melted in my mouth, I would go back there. It was then time to turn in for the night as we had a road trip the next day to Yosemite, the mountains were calling!

Before we left on Day 3 I told JJ I had to get some local coffee and so we hit up Philz Coffee down the street. I got the Jacob’s Wonderbar coffee and it was super buttery and delicious. I wish I had gotten some to take back with me!

Wake up and smell San Francisco! 

Ok I think that is enough for now, I will have the next part(s) up soon!

Up next: Yosemite, South Lake Tahoe & Napa!

Until then stay sassy!

xoxo