Perfect park day at Fort Mason

You can be sure you had a good weekend when you sleep for more than nine hours on a Sunday night, only to wake up and feel like you probably could have slept for nine more.

Once our visiting friends arrived on Thursday afternoon it was go-go-go until we dropped them off at the airport Sunday night at 9:30 p.m. to catch their red-eye flight home.

In case you missed it, we surprised Dave, had an awesome dinner out at Kokkari. And we toured the Embarcadero, nibbling our way through some of San Francisco’s top tourist spots.

Saturday morning sweat

On Saturday morning, I convinced Bre and Grant to attend my BODYATTACK class. They were good sports, walked with me to class, powered through and did an awesome job. They liked it a lot. The flushed red faces and sweat show that this work-out was no joke …

After class, we walked straight to Banana Republic, where we met Dave and did some shopping to take advantage of a big weekend sale. We each purchased a few things, then headed home to shower and change for the day’s main event.

Park day at Fort Mason

The second I knew Grant and Bre were coming to visit us, I planned for one of our free afternoons to be spent lounging at a park. While that may not sound exciting to some, until you experience a San Francisco park day, you can never fully appreciate the amazingness that one can hold.

There are a few parks in the City, and Fort Mason is by far our favorite. It provides incredible views of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay and mountains in the distance, and it’s an all-around enjoyable scene for locals and visitors alike.

To prepare for the park day, we went to Safeway and loaded up with picnic supplies (we also had some tasty local treats in hand from our visit to the Ferry Building the day before.)

Because warm and sunny weekends are few and far between in San Francisco, we were not the only ones with the idea to hang out at the park. The Safeway near the park was slammed and many items had already run out. Once we got to the park, there were not as many free areas to sit as normal. However, we found a spot, set up camp and let the afternoon play out wonderfully.

Just look at that blue sky …

For our picnicking pleasure, we brought two types of cheese, crackers, hummus, sweet potato chips, tortilla chips, an assorted fruit tray, three kinds of meat, dates, wine and some beer. It was far too much food, but over the course of three hours we finished it up nicely. I love eating picnic food and trying to make the perfect combinations of flavors in bites.

While we could have set ourselves up with a classier display, we pretty much threw it all in the center and had a free-for-all.

Yes, that’s my Dave right there in the orange glasses. 🙂

The boys joined into a nearby game for a bit with a few fellow park-goers, while Bre and I laid back, people watched and chatted from the safety of our picnic spot.

The only bad part of the day was the bathroom situation. There are public restrooms at Fort Mason, but on a busy day like this the line was quite long. I stood in it once, but the next time, Bre and I walked over to Safeway, which in the end, was probably just as long since there was a line there too.

You have never seen so many interesting people to watch as you will during a busy Saturday in the park in San Francisco. We overheard some great conversations, saw groups of bros, groups of hipsters, a few families, young girls, old girls, big dogs, little dogs, some sporty-types in workout gear and some loners sleeping in the grass.

Not quite sure where we fell on the spectrum, but we didn’t care, because we were enjoying the perfect day.

Once the wind started picking up and the temperatures dropped, we packed up our disaster scene and walked the more than two miles back to our apartment in Nob Hill. We took a winding path, just so we could show Grant and Bre Lombard Street (that crooked street that goes downhill).

Dave brought a Mini Jawbone Jambox with us for the picnic, so we had some tunes for the entire walk home too. There’s nothing quite like walking to the beat of your favorite songs through the neighborhoods of San Francisco with your visiting BFFs. Just saying …

Once we got back home, we cleaned up and went out to dinner at Ideale Restaurant in North Beach and then to a couple of bars.

There you have it. An awesome Saturday with friends.

In my book, working out, shopping, then getting outside for some fun is all I need. How about you? What’s your perfect Saturday?