We’ve just spent three weeks with our friends in San Francisco! And as it was our third visit, Pete and I skipped the usual touristy sights and opted instead to explore the amazing vintage stores and markets during our visit.
Of course, “vintage” meant a visit to Haight-Ashbury…
I keep trying, but Pete’s never let me buy a WWII flight helmet from Held Over Vintage…
But I did score my find of the trip from Decades of Fashion! This 1960’s patchwork suede poncho was irresistible…
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We visited Stanford University in Palo Alto where my niece is studying – it’s full of magnificent old buildings including this ornately painted church…
…and some of the best icecream I’ve ever eaten, made from coconut cream!
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I had a delicious lobster roll at Treasurefest – a monthly market held on Treasure Island, the midway point on the Bay Bridge between Oakland and San Francisco…
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No trip to San Francisco is complete without a visit to Paxton Gate! This completely bonkers store continues to carry everything from taxidermy giraffe heads to rare fossils to quirky souvenirs. Insect chocolate or a dessicated pufferfish, anyone?
I was very taken with this knitted dissected pig but didn’t buy it…
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On our second weekend, we bravely explored the Alameda Antiques Faire. Sprawled out on the military runway formerly used by Mythbusters, it boasted over 800 stalls, no shade and no running water. We bought very little, but it was a huge adventure…
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We arrived the week before Halloween, which led to a mad scramble for costumes. The nice thing about the celebration in the US is that there’s no requirement for it to be gruesome or spooky – it’s really just an excuse for fancy dress. I found a Jack Skellington onesie in the thrift store (op shop) for Pete, and a mad hatter’s hat and bowtie for me – each piece only cost $1. My armadillo shirt cost a bit more, but not much. And in case you’re old like me and can’t figure it out, my friend Dan with the green hair is dressed as Billie Eilish…
It was difficult though to top the Ghostbuster’s outfit she’d made (and yes, that IS Bob Ross in the background)…
I’d toyed with the idea of a unicorn head, but decided that $30 was too much to spend on an outfit that I couldn’t bring home…
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SF always has the most amazing street art, none more glorious than the Women’s Building in the Mission District…
We also wandered through the Clarion Alley Mural Project off Valencia Street…
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We ate a ridiculous amount of excellent Mexican food…
…and spent time baking in Dan’s fabulous kitchen…
Lovely Obi Dog Kenobi kept us company for three weeks – I resisted feeding him for the first two days but was baking him his own meatballs by the time we left…
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Let me conclude with a funny story – we had surplus baggage allowance on the way home and I had this brilliant idea to bring kosher salt back with us. It’s often specified in recipes for smoked meats, but you can’t buy it easily in Sydney. And yes, I KNOW I have a lot of salt, but it’s slightly different and the “experts” all maintain that it clings differently to the meat yada yada. So I picked up a few boxes at Safeway for under $3 each. These didn’t fit into the suitcases, so we packed them into a separate box.
When I picked the box up from the luggage carousel at Sydney airport…dodgy looking white crystals trickled out in a steady stream from the corner of the box…
Thankfully, we declared it and border patrol let us through. We laughed the whole way home – it was an hilarious ending to a truly wonderful holiday! ♥
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
I enjoyed most of these earlier but it’s great reading it all as one. I love your pictures….. however. I think Pete is extremely mean not to sanction a flying helmet, what was the problem wearing that unicorn hat on the plane home?(ok, you didn’t think of that). In fairness it might have taken a bit longer to get through border patrol with your dodgy parcel if you’d worn it 😂
I actually brought the Mad Hatter hat home, and was going to wear it on the plane if we couldn’t get it packed! And re the unicorn head – c’mon Kim, OF COURSE I thought about wearing it on the plane home. :)
Oh that flying helmet, now that’d be an awesome thing to gave, Celia. Last trip to Budapest, a tour guide who’d taken us out a couple of times in a vintage Russian Jeep, took a shine to us and gifted Peter a Soviet tank crew helmet! A great souvenir indeed. Anyhoo. Loved reading this and seeing all your photos. Big smiles. So nice. PS The old dog looks just like our Molly. Big hugs xx
Looks like a great trip and good food!
You look smashing in your vintage patchwork poncho. Glad you were able to get it.
Can’t help thinking that you need a horse and cowboy boots to go with that poncho, Clint.
Looks a fab trip.
Dang, that trip made me so jealous! Lived in Oakland for 10+ years and loved the whole area. Thank you for the tour, No flying helmet??? aRGH
Such a fabulous trip. I would love one of those flying helmets. Peter has an old ute which i call The Interceptor, and i’ve always wanted to drive it wearing a Biggles helmet and goggles :) i enjoyed everthing about Halloween in the US – the decorations and the fun, they don’t do goulish.
Even though I only live an hour from San Francisco I enjoyed reading your post . I always bring my German friends to Coit tower and the Ferry Building Farmer’s Market on Saturday.
I think your unicorn head would have looked great with the patchwork poncho! Sounds like a fun trip with lots of quirky places to visit.
Why oh why is good cheap seafood – mmm lobster rolls – and decent Mexican food not more widely available in Australia… rhetorical question/lament/observation :)
Hon, the lobster roll wasn’t cheap… :D
Ok… good [ ] seafood. Our road trip around Australia netted us very little in the way of seafood… most of it doesn’t even come ashore here. I had an argument in Exmouth with a prawn-monger who assured me frozen was de rigeur :(
He may have been right – almost all prawns are frozen on the boat and defrosted as they need to sell them in fish shops. I was once told at the fish markets that the only fresh prawns they ever got were tiny school prawns (river prawns). I think the larger ones go off too quickly otherwise.
It makes the Christmas price hike ridiculous – better off to buy a few kilos of frozen aussie prawns a month before and save yourself the heartache – there’s every chance they’ll be the same prawns! :)
Gorgeous photos as always. The wall murals are very interesting; each tells a story. Sounds like you had a wonderful time. The salt finale was very amusing. We often put things we don’t want to leak in our suitcases into ziploc bags to contain the contents. Nothing like have tea, spices, honey or salt scattered among our clothes and other treasures. 😊
I’m so happy that you had a wonderful time! What California adventures. <3
Hugs, Maz.
Sounds like a wonderful adventure. I must also thank you for your excellent chocolate tempering 101 post from a few years ago. I finally found space to try it in my life, followed it to the letter (even bought a 5kg bar of chocolate from Chef‘s Warehouse), and it worked. You are brilliant. So thank you. I am SO ridiculously excited to start a new hobby. So thank you. Now just need to buy moulds and I am set 😁.
Love it!