Even though my creature-of-habit husband wanted to eat shakshuka from David’s Deli, I convinced him to try something new with me and join me for breakfast at Sears Fine Foods. I wanted to try their famous plate of 18 (mini) Swedish Pancakes with a side of bacon.

It was delicious and along with the side of corned beef hash, I had leftovers to take back to the room for my sleepy children to enjoy. After breakfast, we completed our Trader Joe visit and I carried the bags back to the hotel while my husband and daughter went to see what Ross SF had to offer. They didn’t buy anything but they did find a fellow Hiloan.

After the morning missions, my daughter continued shopping and the rest of us headed toward Haight with a stop at Golden Gate Park. The visit to Haight was full of window shopping for vintage music and clothing.

We got back to the hotel, met up with my daughter, and brought her along with us to our next stop at the new Salesforce Transit Center on which there is a public park 70 feet above ground level. We wanted to ride the gondola to the park but that was not running that day. The park itself was pretty and the gardens with 13 different botanical feature areas were neat to see. There even was a live folk music performance while we were there.

After getting back to the hotel, we participated in a wine tasting at Chateau Montelena in the lobby of our hotel. We enjoyed our time with Russell and the delicious wine as well as a background of the movie Bottle Shock that I had downloaded. We still had time before our dinner reservation so we visited Eno wine bar right outside the hotel with a charcuterie platter. My creature-of-habit husband requested a return to Alto Vino where he ordered and enjoyed the spaghettoni that he fell in love with on our last visit.

We had a great family trip and lucked out on our return flight on Hawaiian Airlines where they accepted our upgrade certificates and we all got comfortable seats! Living Hilo Style.