Tie a bow on North Beach

We set out for a New Year's Day hike in San Francisco through a couple of more touristy spots, approaching them like a local. 

Gowing up in the city my parents would often roust us out of the house for an urban hike on bigger holidays, to tire us our and avoid those fights that always want to break out when all the family is around. I try to do the same with my kids now. 

 https://www.strava.com/activities/1336665439

We set out to park on the back side of Lombard, finding a spot on Polk & Francisco, hike up past the empty Russian Hill reservoir (soon to be a new park), down through the tourists and queue of cars waiting to drive down the twisty street, crossing Columbus behind Joe Dimaggio playground, following Lombard all the way up to Pioneer Park where we stopped to have a sandwich on a bench there enjoying the view (and escaping the tourists all bound for the monolith at the top of the hill). We then hiked up to the tower (closed for the holiday) where we peeked in some of the windows at the frescos, talking around the building to enjoy the views (they really need to trim some of those trees). From there we headed down Filbert Street toward North Beach, through Washington Square Park (chatting quickly about the focaccia and the Liguria Bakery which was closed for the holiday), and on to Cafe Puccini for some coffee and cocoas. Sadly Cafe Puccini was closed due to a fire a few months back and we opted to drop in next door at Cafe Grecco next door (cash only) for some of their Nutella cocoa with an espresso macchiato for me along with some chocolate dipped biscotti. 

Following all that, we headed down Columbus to Bay Street, opting for the flatter route back to our car. 

I love these days out with my girls and to share bits of the city with them.