We are so grateful to Ryan Lum and Anji Bee, of the band LoveSpirals, who did a wonderful review of their stay at our home on their recent podcast show. This show features their Earth Day tips on being green, their experiences with San Francisco vegetarian and vegan restaurants (forward to 16:50), and glowing review of our home (forward to 19:00). They are such a cute couple and we hope they come back again soon!

Chillin' With LoveSpirals Podcast #64: San Francisco

We also really love their music. When you stay at our place you'll notice they left a few of their CDs behind for you to enjoy at the house. It's the perfect soundtrack to chill out and settle into your vacation. They are so generous! Be sure to check out their site and support a couple amazing indie artists.

Thank you Ryan and Anji!!

LoveSpirals official website
Dreamy indie electro-acoustic band of vocalist Anji Bee & musician Ryan Lum.

Chillcast with Anji Bee
The Chillcast presents the best new podsafe music, hosted by "the sexiest voice in podcasting," Anji Bee of Lovespirals. Chill out to a smooth mix of electronica, jazz, soul, and world music each week - plus special interview features, video editions, extended DJ mixes, and CD contests. Every week Anji picks a Featured Artist free mp3 download too!

When the sun is shining in San Francisco, get thee to an ice cream store! Today's guide on ice cream will take you to 3 ice cream shops — where the locals go. While there are many tasty ice cream shops across the city we'd like to give props to ones that visiting tourists may not commonly come across. Each of these shops have an interesting history so be sure to visit the websites to read more.

1) Mitchells Ice Cream (map)
"Mitchell's Ice Cream has been a San Francisco favorite for over 50 years.  Generations of families have enjoyed our rich and creamy homemade ice cream, made right in our store.  Stop by and see us. You're sure to leave with a smile!"

On a warm evening, there will be a long line going down the street. It's worth the wait.. just take a number and hang out with everyone. Kids, dogs, couples, cops, old hippies, yuppies, everyone. This place is classic and an SF institution. Their menu is organized by Regular, Tropical, Sorbet, and Seasonal flavors. The Mitchell's website has some great info on their history and their ice cream making process. Pumpkin Pie ice cream rocks.

photo credit: akarmy

2) Bi-Rite Creamery (map)
"Bi-Rite Creamery products are lovingly handcrafted in small batches. We strive to use local, organic ingredients when available, and are committed to operating in a sustainable manner. Our ice cream is made from Straus Family organic dairy products. The fruit and flavorings we use are organic whenever possible and our packaging is made from biodegradable materials."

Bi-Rite is perfectly located across from Dolores Park and on a warm day the line will stretch around the block. This is not your traditional ice cream. This is a whole new level of ice cream. My favorite is Honey Lavender!

The Bi-Rite website has some great info on their commitment to creating ice cream in a responsible and sustainable manner.

photo credit: The Kozy Shack

3) La Copa Loca (map)
"La Copa Loca! Is literally translated as The Crazy Cup! Why crazy? Ah, the freedom to savor scrumptious tropical fruits or other old country flavors mixed in sundaes using unconventional combinations. Gelato and sorbet are our specialty- freshly hand made served and packed in the Mission District in San Francisco! We honor the traditional process of making gelato with only the freshest ingredients and seasonal fruits undoctored with chemicals, artificial powders or coloring. THE ESSENCE OF AUTHENTIC GELATO IS FRESHNESS!"

This shop is located in the Mission and is the freshest, yummiest sorbet ever. I especially love 2 scoops of Banana and Hazelnut in a waffle cone. Then we like to walk around the mission with our cones.

Read more about Mario and how he got his shop started on the La Copa Loca website.

There is also a really great review of La Copa Loca by Vegansaurus. Sounds like La Copa Loca is vegan approved!

photo credit: carlos

We're working on a couple new San Francisco travel guides, from a "local's" perspective. Coming up... Ice Cream! Open Studios! Stay tuned.

In the meantime, check out this blog post Travel Can Make You Happier Than Buying Stuff. We agree!

Learning about renting out our furnished San Francisco rental home has opened our eyes to a whole new world of travel options. I don’t think we’ll ever stay in a hotel again, seriously. There is an abundance of vacation homes everywhere you look and it seems possible to find something that fits most anyone’s needs.

It's become possible to find great resources to rent couch or room from a local, to renting an entire house and having that to yourself. The combination of high hotel costs and poor service can really sour a vacation fast. We’ve all had our experiences checking into hotel to find a dingy room, loud street noise, no sign of the promised mini fridge and hidden charges to use anything. It can take a lot of energy to demand good service these days. Here in San Francisco, hotel costs can quickly add up – especially for the popular hotels and B-n-B’s with top amenities. If your stay includes more than 2-3 nights you may want to consider the option of renting a vacation home. Not only do you get more for your money but you also reap a considerable savings. Plus, you get the opportunity to live like a local and see San Francisco from a whole new perspective.

We've gathered 6 reasons why you're better off renting a vacation rental vs. a hotel:

1) Cost Savings
Trip Advisor has a calculator that shows your estimated cost to rent a hotel vs. a vacation home. We ran simple numbers for 2 guests who would eat some meals out and and cook some meals in. Their calculator shows an estimated savings of $410, but for our rental savings would actually be $660. That savings skyrockets when you have 4 people at our standard $200/night rate. Try it out yourself.

2) Fully Equipped Kitchen
Cook if you want to, keep snacks and take home your restaurant leftovers, go at your own pace. Shop at our local Farmers Market. Not only is our kitchen fully equipped, it’s has beautiful granite counters, stainless appliances, recessed lighting, and a garden view. We also provide welcome treats like coffee/cream, muffins and snacks to get you started (before you’ve had the chance to stop by the market). No minibar charges here!

3) Laundry Room
Do your laundry and ironing for free, whenever you want to. It’s out of your way in a separate laundry room. You can close the door. You don’t have to dance around the ironing board.

4) More space AND more privacy
Have the benefit of sharing social spaces like kitchen, living room, dining and deck with space to relax with your travel companions, but have your own private bedroom. Both of our rooms include queen beds and bedside tables with reading lamps.

5) Concierge
While we don’t have an on-site concierge service to book reservations or tours, we can still give you guidance and steer you in the right direction. We lived in SF for 15 years and one of us was born and raised in the Bay Area so if there is something you want to know… we can tell you. You already know about Alcatraz and The Warf, try veering off the beaten path! Plus, as an added (free) resource for your stay we are constantly updating this blog and twitter (@blizzzz) with SF travel tips with everything from restaurants, sight seeing and entertainment. If there is something you want to know, just ask! In regards to check-in, we have a site-manager to greet you and answer any questions about the house. She’s available during your stay for any type of house issues or questions, if something were to come up. We also took the time to prepare a household guide book covering all the details on how the house works (like heat, surround sound, xbox, etc).

6) Rental Resources
By doing all this research for our business we’ve come to realize that finding a vacation home online has never been easier, and we can share what we know to point you in a couple directions. We’ve looked around and found these sites the best resources to post our rental – which means we feel they cater the best to our audience, you, the renter. They either are the most well known and therefore have the most traffic and most inventory, or are up and coming new services that seem to really “get” the best way to present services to renters and home owners alike.

1) For an affordable “couch”, “room” or “entire house”: Airbnb.com
2) For vacation home listings: istopover.com and vrbo.com
3) Not our favorite for consistent rental comparisons and can be hit/miss, but worth taking a look in any region/city: sfbay.craigslist.org/vac/
4) For tips on traveling like a local: spottedbylocals.com (Europe only) and facingthestreet.blogspot.com

Photo credit: cgfan on flickr

There are so many great independent coffee shops in San Francisco.  Each one having it’s own unique style and clientele. Surely there are many more undiscovered great ones, but for now I’ll just give props to a few of my faves.

It’s very worth mentioning a few coffee shops that are conveniently located within walking distance of our home. Wake up, put on your coat and head out for a nice morning walk. A piping hot coffee or cafe latte can serve as great motivation. Here are the ones in order of proximity to our home.

Café Ponte
This is a great little coffee shop and eatery featuring organic fair trade espresso and other fair trade coffees along with high quality fresh foods. This is a great place to grab more than just a coffee. They serve breakfast and also have delicious soups and sandwiches all highlighting their freshly baked breads. This isn’t a very trendy or hipster coffee shop but they do the basics just right. Don’t forget to grab a slice of their Banana bread to go!

Favorite pick: Banana Bread
www.cafeponte.net

751 Diamond (corner of Diamond & 24th St)
M - F 6:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Sat. 7:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Sun 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Free wifi

Bernies
A relative newbie to the 24th street scene, Bernies coffee shop is full of local flavor as they have a devout following of Noe Valley regulars who make it their first stop each morning. There is a plaque on the wall that explains the owner’s story of how she managed to make her dream a reality. Clearly this is a place geared towards serving great Spinelli coffee in a no frills environment to locals who like supporting a down to earth owner. Grab a bench out front and watch the neighborhood go by. 24th street is ideal for people, dog and stroller watching.

Favorite pick: Café Americano

3966 24th Street (Sanchez & Noe)
7 days a week, 5:30 am - 8 pm

Free wifi

Martha Brothers Coffee
This is the flagship location established in 1987 by Martha and her siblings. Their knowledge of coffee goes back to the 1960’s when growing up at their uncle’s plantation in the mountains of Nicaragua. They now have seven locations in San Francisco along with a roaster plant in South San Francisco. If you are looking for a super strong cup of drip coffee or perfectly steamed café late, Martha’s is a great choice. The biggest challenge here is navigating the frenzied ordering system and trying to understand if there is actually a line, or who’s next in a crowd of anxious customers.

Favorite pick: Café Latte
www.marthabros.com

3868-24th Street
M - F 5:30 am - 8:00 pm
Sat, Sun 6:00 am - 7:00 pm

Spikes
If heading down towards the Castro, or if you are just out for a walk it’s worth a stop at Spikes. A tiny shop with tons of character, Spikes is the answer to large corporate coffee. This is a place that Castro locals flock to for a great cup of coffee along with some spirited conversation.

4117 19th Street
www.spikescoffee.com

Ritual Coffee Roasters
Clearly one of the best coffee shops in San Francisco, Ritual has a cult-like following that draws customers from all over the city. Their space is funky and geared toward the Mission skinny-jean-fixie-bike type. The walls are adorned with local art complimenting the ambient grooves that play in the background. At Ritual, you can always expect a line out the door because the coffee is that good. While waiting just keep repeating…. “it’s well worth the wait.”

Favorite pick: Café Latte
www.ritualroasters.com

1026 Valencia St
M - F 6am-10pm
Sat. 7am-10pm;
Sun 7am-9pm

Free wifi, but no power outets

Ritual Flora Grubb
If you are up for another adventure in a unique location where you can drink a coffee amongst exotic plants, try their location at Flora Grub Gardens. If the weather is nice, bring along a book and enjoy one of their benches along with your cup. Flora Grub is a high end gardening supply shop with unique gifts and art.

Flora Grubb Gardens
1634 Jerrold Ave

M-Th 8am-3pm
Fri, Sat 8am-5pm
Sun 10am-5pm

Blue Bottle Coffee
Blue Bottle is hands down the best coffee in San Francisco. A lot has been written about it. There are two locations, the original Hayes Valley walk up window on Linden and the newer location at the Mint Plaza Alleyway on Jesse St. This is coffee done up by dedicated purists. For a thorough review of everything Blue Bottle, we’ll direct you to the Blue Bottle Review on CoffeeRatings.com.

Favorite pick: anything
http://www.bluebottlecoffee.net/

315 Linden Street, SF, CA 94102
M-F 7-5 or 6
Sat, Sun 8-5 or 6

66 Mint Street, SF, CA 94103
M-F 7am-7pm
Sat 8am-8pm
Sun 8am-4pm

Coffee Bar
A warehouse-type industrial space popular with the wifi crowd. A great spot to get a little work done while getting an excellent cup of coffee, but go early because getting a seat can be challenging. They also offer a tasty food menu featuring organic ingredients and an excellent wine list.

Favorite pick: Americano
www.coffeebar-usa.com

1890 Bryant Street, SF, CA 94110
M-Sa 7am-10pm
Su 7am-7pm

Free wifi

While we're working on our next "guide" post (our favorite San Francisco coffee shops), we thought you might like to watch this video about how one local woman is helping San Francisco cafes go green. Featured cafes in the video are Mission Pie and Velo Rouge. Visit the Green Cafe Network for more info on her organization.

We just posted our Top 10 Nature Walks in SF, and felt torn about listing a mural walk. So we're giving the murals their own posting! You'll come across street art and murals all over the city, but the Mission is the epicenter. Take a look at this great video and read below for advice to seeing them in person yourself. From our house you can walk down to the Mission neighborhood if you have time, or you can catch the bus that takes you down 24th Street, and exit at the Valencia stop or further down towards Balmy Street.

Balmy Street (map) and Clarion Alley (map) are the two most well known stretches of murals. You can just take a walk yourself, or you can pay for a guided tour that often includes these locations plus more. Zurdogo.com and SanFrancisco.com have great overviews of mural tour guides and locations. Regardless of which option you take to see the murals, be sure to stop along the way for food! I think Mission food is going to have to be another blog post. In the meantime, the Balmy Alley website lists a few food recommendations that we agree with.

One thing we love about San Francisco is exploring all the hidden nooks. Even long-time locals like us never tire of them. There are several great nature walks that you can do right out our front door, and several more that you need to drive or bus to. Here are our top 10, though if we had the time we'd easily list a dozen more! Links to Google maps included.

5 From Our Front Door:

Twin Peaks
difficulty: strenuous walk uphill
time: 50 minutes round trip

Twin Peaks has an elevation of about 922 feet situated in center of the city. They form the second highest point in San Francisco, after Mount Davidson. The radio tower, Sutro Tower, can seen from across the Bay. At the top of Twin Peaks is a popular vista point, which offers panoramic views of the San Francisco Bay. If you are up for a bit of a climb and adventure, it takes about 25 min to reach the top.
• Head out our door and veer left up the hill on Grand View Ave, taking the corkscrew stairway bridge up and over Market Street.
• Keep navigating up the streets using combination of stairs and streets and soon you will find yourself on top of Twin Peaks. The view (and finding your way) is well worth the effort.

Kite Hill
difficulty: easy
time: 15 minutes round trip

One of our quickie favorites on a sunny day. Kite Hill is a windy, grassy hill with amazing downtown and bay views. Mostly known to neighborhood locals, this park is popular with dogs and sightseers.
• Head out our door and turn right onto Grand View Ave for 3 blocks
• Take right onto Grand View Terrace and enter park at end of cul-de-sac.
• The park is small, has a few meandering paths, and one vista bench.
• Continue through park to lower right exit onto Corwin Street
• To extend your walk, take a left at the community gardens and continue to the  slides, or make a left at the Corwin-bend to steps that lead down to Douglas Street and the Castro neighborhood.
• To head back home continue on Corwin Street which becomes Douglass Street. Follow this for a few blocks and turn right onto 22nd Street to head up our hill. Then.. collapse on the couch ;) If you want to avoid our giant hill, take a right onto 21st street and a left onto Grand View Ave. You can easily find your way back from here.

Upper Douglas Playground Ridge
difficulty: moderate-strenuous
time: 35 minutes round trip

The Douglas Upper Playground is an old baseball field now overrun with frolicking dogs. Come here to get your dog fix and a little off road trek through some tall trees.
• Head down our hill and turn right onto Douglas Street for 10 blocks.
• Turn right onto 27th street and enter park.
• Hang an immediate left the entrance of the park and follow the fence up along the ridge. This takes you through the trees to the other end of the playground down a rocky slope and back onto the field.

Tank Hill
difficulty: moderate-strenuous
time: 55 minutes round trip

This is walkable if you have time. It's a 650-foot-high small park that offers really amazing views. It's so small that many maps of San Francisco don't list Tank Hill, yet this spot provides a panorama from the Golden Gate Bridge to Bayview Hill.
• Head out our door and turn right onto Grand View Ave for 4 blocks.
• Turn right onto Market Street and head to the first traffic light.
• At traffic light turn left onto Clayton Street for 2 long and 1 short blocks. You can stop and rest at the small community garden on the corner of Clayton and Corbett.
• Turn left onto Twin Peaks Blvd and the park will be on your right.

Glen Park Canyon
difficulty: moderate-strenuous
time: 1.5-3 hours round trip depending on your stay at the park

This is walkable if you have time. The great part is, the entrance is through the parking lot of the Safeway mini mall with a variety of food and snack options to take along into the park. The park is 70 acres, and has a variety of terrain.
• Head out our door and straight onto Hoffman, all the way to the end.
• Take a left onto 25th Street
• Turn right onto Douglas Street for 5 blocks
• Turn right onto Duncan Street for 1 block
• Turn left onto Diamond Heights Blvd.
• Turn right into Safeway parking lot.. get supplies and head behind the mall to the park entrance.
• Follow the path behind the playing fields and down the trails into the park. Read here about the trails at the park. There is a lot to do and see here in one afternoon.


5 To Drive or Bus To:

Fort Funston
Go here if you want to know what it feels like to stand on the edge of our continent. • Head left up Grand View Ave and turn right at Clipper St.   0.2 mi
• Turn left at Portola Dr.   1.8 mi
• Turn right at Sloat Blvd   1.3 mi
• Continue on CA-35/Skyline Blvd   1.2 mi
• Turn right into parking lot
• Stay to the right and park as close to the right side entrance as possible
• Walk up the wide sandy/bark pathway and go right on winding concrete walkway
• Veer left at Y (at dog water fountain)
• Turn left where the paths meet back up, down the steep sandy path to the beach or our favorite is to climb up on the right to the top of the hill to perch above everything.
• Explore around.. you have beach walking, meandering dune paths and the old army fort ruins.

Corona Heights
This is probably walkable if you have the time, but we typically stop by here by car when we're out-n-about and are up for a quick nature-hit. We recommend grabbing a Peasant Pie or a Holy Bagel egg tasty and a drink, and enjoy it at the top with the stunning view. Both shops are on 24th Street in Noe Valley. And for some personal trivia: this is where Dave proposed to me :)
• Head down our hill and turn left onto Eureka for X blocks
• Turn left onto Market St
• Make next right onto Douglas St
• Make next left onto 17th St for 3 blocks
• Make right onto Roosevelt Way for 5 blocks
• Park at the Roosevelt Way and Museum Way intersection, enter the park and head up up up!

The Cross at Mt Davidson
We recommend taking a blanket (or even beach chairs) and some snacks up to the top bluff where you can enjoy the view and sun and a good book. There is some interesting history about The Cross.
• Go left up Grand View Ave Turn right at Clipper St  0.2 mi
• Turn left at Portola Dr  0.6 mi
• Turn left at Evelyn Way  328 ft
• Turn right at Juanita Way  0.5 mi
• Turn left to stay on Juanita Way  308 ft
• Turn left at Dalewood Way
• Trail entrance will be on your left, park anywhere

Sutro Baths Ruins
This is less of a walk or hike, but rather a place to meander around and hang out by the sea. Here's some background on the Sutro Baths. It's also very close to The Cliff House, Ocean Beach and Fort Miley.
• Head down our hill and turn left at Eureka St  0.2 mi
• Turn right at 20th St  0.2 mi
• Turn left at Castro St  0.9 mi
• Continue on Divisadero St  0.9 mi
• Turn left at Geary Blvd  3.5 mi
• Continue on Point Lobos Ave a park at the bend just before The Cliff House
• Entrance is on your right.

Fort Miley
There's more than one hike here, all enjoyable. See if you can find the rock labyrinth! Fort Miley is also very close to The Cliff House, Ocean Beach and The Sutro Bath Ruins.
• Head down our hill and turn left at Eureka St  0.2 mi
• Turn right at 20th St  0.2 mi
• Turn left at Castro St  0.9 mi
• Continue on Divisadero St  0.9 mi
• Turn left at Geary Blvd  3.5 mi
• Continue on Point Lobos Ave for 6 blocks
• Turn right on El Camino De Mar into the parking lot
• Entrance is at the left end of the lot.

This is a great video about San Francisco from the Lonely Planet writer of the California guide book. Loved that he says (approx at 1:36) Noe Valley is the best neighborhood! We couldn't agree more. From Lonely Planet TV.

We have a "guide book" in the house, but we'll also be posting more recommendations for your stay in Noe Valley and San Francisco...

• best coffee
• neighborhood parking guide (free, no permits needed, no meters)
• our favorite walks
• more restaurants
• neighborhood corner markets
• getting around by bus

Let us know what else you'd like to know.. we'll do our best to steer you well!