California Day 2 Part 1 - Eating Tour

On our first full day in California we woke up to a lovely view of the city from our hotel window. You can't see the Golden Gate Bridge or anything, but it was still a nice view of the city.



When we looked down out the window we could see the street in front of the hotel was still closed off to the public and was now lined with dozens of police motorcycles. They were definitely getting ready for something, and sure enough about an hour later we saw a line of black SUVs and a limo with 2 American flags in front pulling out and down the road. President Obama's motorcade? Who knows...

After the excitement from our hotel window we headed back to the Westfield mall to meet up with Phil's other cousins. Winnie, Lucia and Phil were all on the phone outside the mall, probably talking to one of the other cousins.

Once everyone was assembled we took a quick train ride on the BART and made our first stop on our day of eating to the Tartine Bakery. The menu sounded so good Winnie and Lea were both all smiles.

We ordered their morning buns and an almond pastry of some sort.

We also ordered some of their bread pudding that had fresh strawberries inside. Everything was so good. But the bread pudding seemed to be an especially big hit.

After finishing all the food we headed to our next destination. Along the way we passed a "One Way" sign turned "Gay". So of course we had to take a picture. Here we have our lovely models, Kevin and Lucia. Only in San Francisco... ^__^

We also passed by a Mr. Pickle shop. Although we didn't stop in I still grabbed a shot of Winnie and Lea posing with Mr. Pickle himself.

After some more walking we made it to our second destination - Dynamo Donut. I know, pastries and donuts, not exactly the healthiest breakfast, but we're on vacation! By the smiles on Wally, Lea and Alex's faces, I don't think they mind too much.

They definitely had an interesting list of donuts...

Here I am with Phil and Lydia, and of course the baby belly. ^__^

Glazed bacon donut, yum!

After chowing down on some donuts at Dynamo Donut, we decided we needed more sugar, so we stopped by an ice cream place - Humphry Slocombe...

They weren't open yet, and the owner had only just put the chairs outside, so we decided to sit and wait. He probably thought we were crazy for wanting ice cream so early. I wonder if they've ever had so many customers waiting for them to open before.

Today was definitely the day of interesting flavors, first with the donuts and now with the ice cream. How often do you see "Jesus Juice" as an ice cream flavor? I asked the guy what was in it, but I can't remember what he said....they even had an Olive Oil flavor!

Not to mention a double-headed cow head...

Phil and I split their Peppermint Chip. It tasted like actual mint.

Some of the cousins were a little more daring with their flavor choices - including the Olive Oil and Golden Beet.

By the time we finished our ice cream it was lunch time! After all the sweets we decided it was time to have some real food, so we headed to a taqueria called La Cumbre. This area was full of taquerias - there seemed to be at least one every block - but this one was featured on Man vs. Food, so we had to give it a try. It seems unassuming from the outside, but the inside of the restaurant was very large and festive.

Phil was impressed by the menu and ready to eat (as always).

Burritos and chips galore.

Whew - that was a lot of eating! After our bellies were stuffed with a full morning and afternoon worth of eating we started our sight-seeing. But that's for another post...