EATING ACROSS SAN FRANCISCO

One of the best places to stop by as a foodie, is San Francisco, California. There are always new restaurants popping in this “City by the Bay”.

Here are some of our favorite places to stop in each neighborhood!

FISHERMANS WHARF

Boudin’s Bakery & Cafe
 160 Jefferson St, San Francisco, CA 94133

Known as a major tourist attraction, the menu on at this fast serve bistro is too good to pass up especially for a quick breakfast. That is, if you like clam chowder bowls in the morning.

Found on boudinbakery.com

During this trip, we had a crab breakfast burrito right next to the outdoor fireplace. 

As of this post, there are 29 locations. This location at Fisherman's Wharf is their flagship store, where you can walk bakers prepping sourdough bread in the front window. If you were to have one thing, besides the crab breakfast burrito, is any food item with sourdough bread. What makes their bread so special is they incorporate San Francisco's fogging climate into the baking process. SCIENCE!!! And depending on the time of year you go, you can find different shapes, like a Peace Sign in July or a Pumpkin with a face in October.

After breakfast, we did a bit of sight-seeing around fisherman's wharf to walk off some calories.

Brick & Beam
555 North Point St

For a sit down breakfast, we stopped by Brick & Beam restaurant. This restaurant interior has a industrial/nautical decor that we love. The food itself, was pretty basic although they give plenty of smoked salmon. 

During this brunch, we had their Eggs Benedict and Smoked Salmon Frittata. Brick & Beam is a bit off the main strip of Fisherman's Wharf, and is even a great place to come check out for a late night brew. 

North Beach

Trattoria Pinocchio
401 Columbus Ave

Around lunch time we experiencing a pretty sunny day, so we stopped by this restaurant because they had outdoor seating and large bay windows to let in the fresh air. After my appetizer of Minestrone Soup, we split the 4 Stagioni Pizza. 

 

E Tutto Qua
270 Columbus Ave

While walking through North Beach, we almost walked past this restaurant but were greeted by the owner and the staff, who were so full of energy and super friendly, that we decide to try the restaurant out. The food was delicious and they had a good selection of wines and local beers. Keep in mind, they are only open in the evening starting at 5pm for dinner. 

Sausalito, California

Napa Valley Burger Company
670 Bridgeway, Sausalito, CA 94965

Across the bay, we went to downtown Sausalito, California. A beach town that is reachable by ferry or you can take a bike over the Golden Gate Bridge like we did and stop by Napa Valley Burger Co. for ...what other than, juicy burgers. 
Warning: the wait is here is long! Luckily, we went in and found two chairs at the bar! 

MUST TRY BURGERS:

SILVERADO TRAIL VEGGIE BURGER
Chef’s original mushroom, black bean, red beet & quinoa burger, roasted peppers, provolone cheese, watercress, chipotle mayo. *contains egg & breadcrumbs

Honestly, this has to be the best veggie burger I ever had. And before you say again, I already know, why would I get a veggie burger at a burger restaurant?! Well they make it fresh in house, and after a long bike right, I couldn't help but want to feed my body good!

Now, if you are here for the good stuff get the:

STINSON BEACH BBQ BURGER
Smoked gouda, applewood bacon, crispy onion ring, bourbon barbeque sauce. 

And like I mentioned, we sat at the bar and was able tried some yummy local beers on draft!

Mission District

Lolinda
2518 Mission St.

Lolinda is a dark and romantic Argentinian Steakhouse that serves a large selection of wines, small plates and steak. We got a few tapas, which comes in small potions and then went into get individual entrees. This restaurant is two floors, with a full service bar upstairs and downstairs. The seating is very intimate with very small tables, that are so close by neighboring groups, you could hear their conversation. 

Marina District

Tacolicious
2250 Chestnut St

Right on the corner of Chestnut and Avila St. in the Marina District, you'll find one of two tacolicious locations. We stopped in because the warm weather was calling us to get margaritas. We sat at the bar and ordered fresh guac and chips and then tried out four of their tacos. The one that stood out the most was their summer squash taco. 

That about wraps up the food question we were on in this amazing city, we missed out on a few neighborhoods, which means we will have to make a trip out there again! (Hopefully soon)

Thanks for reading! 

Providence Canyon State Park

Providence Canyon State Park

8930 Canyon Rd,
Lumpkin, GA 31815

Considered one of Georgia's 7 wonders, this family friendly trail with different nooks and cranny's to explore that makes this hike worthy of a trip!

CHECK OUT THE MAP

Providence Canyon State Park Map - Click here to Download

Providence Canyon has two options for Trails a 7-Mile Trail that is great for Backpackers and people that want to stay overnight and another trail that is about 3-miles, which is perfect for a half-day trip that's easy to do with the entire family.  We went on a pretty hot day but luckily the main route is through the forest so the trees kept us nice and cool! (for the most part).

Be sure to check out our adventure on our YouTube channel!

From the top, there are some Lookout sites with Incredible views of the treetops in the canyon, and down below on the floor, you're able to get into some of the little caves in the Canyons themselves.

There's a small gift shop near the parking area for you to grab some refreshing beverages and pick up a free map to navigate your way!

The interesting part of the 3-mile trail is that you'll encounter abandon old cars that would have caused too much harm to the environment to remove.

They're also picnic tables available for anyone that is looking to spend time at the park for lunch or dinner.

HERE ARE SOME QUICK TRIP TIPS

Trip Tip #1

Bring your own food as there isn't any place close by to get anything to eat. We traveled about an hour north to Columbus, Georgia for some breakfast. 

Trip Tip #2

Bring plenty of water. It’s out of here especially in the humidity of the south! We carried a lot of water bottles but a camel back would be more environmentally friendly and very useful.

Trip Tip #3

Don’t get confused when the middle of the trail ends nears a parking lot. If you continue following the path passed the playground and picnic stations, you’ll find yourself back into the woods.

Trip Tip #4

Feel free to take along your camera gear but leave the drone at home. Unfortunately, they banned drones a few weeks before we stopped by there so keep this in mind before you pack your drone! Also, bring a light tripod to get some great shots, but be aware that some of the trails are pretty sandy and wet. 

Trip Tip #5

Bring along the whole family. the walking trail is perfect for most ages as it’s pretty light with a few steep hills. The park has laid down some materials on the hills to make sure you get a good grip on your shoes. It’s a great workout and also very dog-friendly, so you can bring your fur-babies. 

We hope you enjoyed these tips and can make it out to “Georgia’s Little Grand Canyon”!

Thanks for stopping by!

Creating The Best Vacation Itinerary

"Vacation done but I'm not finished" - Drake

There's nothing like planning a spontaneous trip with your girlfriend,  and while sometimes it's cool to leave it up to the wind other times it's a little bit better going in with a plan so we don't miss out on anything.  Today, we're going to talk about how we come up with the most badass vacation itinerary.   if you've seen our past vlogs (videos on our YouTube Channel), you'll know that itineraries and planning are essential to our trip because we want to make sure we hit every spot possible.  Here is how we come up with ideas to ensure we get the best out of each destination:

PAST EXPERIENCES

As much as we love exploring brand new places, we love to revisit our favorite cities such as Miami and San Francisco. Before our recent trip, i [Kristina] have never been to Miami before yet Nicholle has been plenty of times. It's basically her second home away from home. Which means that Nicholle knows all the cool spots like Wynwood walls,  the best restaurants such as Barton G., and the most fun place for a night on the town like the Basement in the Edition Hotel.  We even stayed at the hotel that she's super familiar with, the Shore Club right on the beach!

WORD OF MOUTH

Before going out to a brand new city it's always fun to strike up a conversation with friends, acquaintances, maybe even the bartender at the bar you went to on a whim.  The best advice can come from others.

SOCIAL MEDIA - PINTEREST & INSTAGRAM (Our favorite)

 Social media is an amazing and powerful tool for marketing and when it comes to finding the best local places to go.  Leave it up to the map feature on either Instagram or SnapChat to see where the best spots to hang out are. There are some places and restaurants that are completely Instagram worthy and even Pinterest can help you to find unique places like the bookstore in Los Angeles or the pink wall at the Paul Smith Salon. Alot of these social platforms are practically social search engines so we love to utilize them  because of the stunning visual of professional photographers and even the interesting angles of your everyday user. The new SnapChat Feature shows you a map of all the "happenin" spots in real time! 

Found on Google.com

Location: Paul Smith

BLOGS & TRAVEL-esque WEBSITES

TripAdvisor.com, the Thrillest.com, Yelp.com and bloggers are a great way to find out the best things to do in a particular city because they give you a lot more thorough detail than an Instagram photo/ caption can do. The authors of most of these websites give their honest reviews, positives and negatives and even talk about the non-touristy neighborhoods to check out. A lot of these writers are also actual (not sponsored) customers, so relying on their feedback may be more certain. (That, of course, is up for you to decide).  Lastly, it's the best way to see if any of these activities and areas fits into what you're going on vacation for.

WINGIN' IT 

 There are always brand new places to explore that could pop up down the street from your hotel. Or maybe you'll get lucky like us and want to spend an afternoon at this cool unexpected art piece apart of the Seven Magic Mountains by Ugo Rondinone. Like I mentioned above, sometimes being spontaneous is just the best thing!

EXAMPLES

Here are some examples of the itinerary that we created in the past before a vacation!

We hope this helps you when you comes to planning your own trip if it did definitely share this article and we want to thank you so much for reading! Happy Exploring!

The BFF Bucketlist

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So much to do, let's start now!

If you're like us, you love adventures and sharing the experience with your best friend. Down below we wrote our bucket list of things we want to accomplish together! Feel Free to download this and share with your friends. 

Thanks for reading! 

Throw The Ultimate Pool Party

Summer days are finally upon us so the best way to kick it off is to grab a bunch of your best girlfriends and through a fantastic pool party to remember.

Check out this list to find out how to throw the ultimate pool party ‘Tripping with My BFF’ style!

DECOR

Every pool party needs to be fabulously decorated.  Even if you're at a community and neighborhood pool you can find easy ways to dress up the scenery without being overbearing and causing a lot of distractions to other guests at the pool. Just find yourself a corner for you and your friends to hang at,  preferably with a table, and that’s all you’ll need!

Luckily for us, we were able to be near a wall so we put up cute signs.

FLOATS

We cannot even begin to count the number of floaties that are staying inside of Nicholle's apartment right now.  There's so many of all shapes and sizes and different price ranges.

Here's a little list of our favorites so you can up your float game!

MUSIC PLAYLIST

A fun-in-the-sun playlist is absolutely necessary especially when setting the right mood and vibes to keep the party going!

Of course, bring a powerful speaker but be mindful of neighbors

Here's a list of our favorite playlists you can listen to now on Spotify:

• Today's Top Hits [mainstream top 40's]
• dancePOP [pop/electronic dance]
• POPchillout [chill/melodic]
• RapCaviar [rap/hiphop]

 

BEVERAGE OPTIONS

Alcohol is optional for some, but a preferance for us! lol!

Check out this video on our YouTube channel on how we created this yummy Rosé cocktail created with Vueve Cliquot Rose.

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REFRESHING SNACKS

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For our 'pool party' snack, we decided on fruit salad, but not just any fruit salad, a watermelon pizza salad! Check out our YouTube video on how we constructed this masterpiece! 

Now, these are just the essentials to have a chill pool party, but most importantly, surrounding yourself with your greatest friends!

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SUMMER! 

xoxo Tripping with my BFF

WYNWOOD WALLS GUIDE

Location: wynwood walls

Wynwood Walls is an outdoor collection of street murals. For more information check out: http://www.thewynwoodwalls.com/

During our time at Wynwood Walls, we made our first stop at Wynwood Walls Kitchen + Bar. This restaurant serves latin influenced dishes. So for lunch, we decided to share a few different tapaps. 

Here's what we ordered:

SHRIMP TACOS - So good, we had to get another order. 

HUMMUS - Served with pita, cucumbers and peppers. Very filling and great addition to our light lunch. 

HAMACHI CEVICHE - served in a mango sauce. May have been a bit too sweet for our liking, but the fish tasted nice and fresh. 

And of course, we ordered ourselves some cocktails. 

Kristina had her ususal Spicy Margarita, while Nicholle got a pink drink called the Flamingo. 

After lunch, we were surprised to find the area to be less crowded than expected. Could've been the rain, could've been the day of the week, but for whatever reason, time really worked in our favor because we got to take as many pics with our favorite walls for as long as we wanted! With that said, if you do go on the weekends where there is more of a crowd. Be patient and don't be shy to ask a couple to exchange picture taking services. 

Another tip is to bring a tripod and remote.

We decided last minute to bring ours due to NIcholle's last experience, where she went around a more crowded time, but we were happy we brought them alone because they were great tools to capture all the pics we wanted! #vloggerlife

If you need a place to cool down while walking in the sun, they have an air-conditioned exhibit where you can actually purchase some art pieces for your home. $$$

The Wynwood Walls are truly unique and for anyone that appreciates hard work and the arts, we completely recommend adding this area to your itinerary during your next visit to Miami. 

Thanks for reading! 

Ponce City Market Guide

Today, we exploring a fun spot in our very own city, Ponce City Market, a mixed used development with many gourmet restaurants, shops and a rooftop amusement park. Come along with us as we explore!

BRUNCH SPOT

For brunch, we sat at the bar at The Mercury. A midcentury decorated restaurant serving American Style Cusinine. 

While they offer Bottomless Brunch served buffet style in their cocktail area, we recommend the Crab Benedict - Jumbo Lump Crab, Spinach, Poached Egg, Hollandaise, Toasted English Mun, Home Fried Potatoes - absolutely delish! 

For more information, check out: https://www.themercuryatl.com/

SKYLINE PARK

To enter Skyline Park, you have to pay an admissions fee. Once you get through, you are greeted by a freight elevator that can hit so many people, it's hard to count! But once you're up on the roof, that's were the fun begins! 

For more information, check out: www.skylineparkatlanta.com/

DINNER IS SERVED

Feeling hungry?! 9 mile station restaurant and beer garden is where it's at to get incredible food, a wide selection of beers and cocktail and most importantly, the best view in the city of Atlanta's skyline. 

For more information, check out: http://www.9milestation.com/

When you make it out to Ponce City Market, you and your friends are going to have a ball! 

Thanks for reading 

Georgia Aquarium Guide

Location: The Georgia Aquarium

Today, we want to talk about the Georgia Aquarium. 

The Georgia Aquarium is located in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the largest public aquarium and absolutely the most beautiful that I've ever been to. Here are some tips and tricks to ensure you get the most out of The Georgia Aquarium. 

Save $$$ on General Admission

As of June 2017, take advantage of some great discounts offers for your group. 

1. Early Bird Discount

2. Purchase tickets ONLINE and receive 20% off walk up ticket booth prices on the weekday and 10% off on the weekends. 

Nicholle and I took up this opportunity and purchased them on our phones right before we entered through the security check. 

Please note that these prices are subject to changes without notice. Always make sure to check out their website for any updates. 

Professional Photographs

Okay, maybe not quote us on professional photographers, but they do have a few staff members with large DSLR cameras walking around and/or set up in positions to take your photo. Once we went through security, we (Nicholle and I) were greeted by a camera set up on a rig facing a large screen backscreen. And of course, we always love a good photo-op. 

Here are the photos we took with the green screen:

Again, there are photographers walking inside of the building that may be available to take your photos in case you need an extra hand. 

Here are some other amazing photos that we took at the aquarium:

Also, if you want the professional photos to keep, you can purchase them at the kiosk and receive hard copies or go the digital way and send them straight to your email address. 

What We are Looking Forward To Next Time
 

Animal Interactions

Can you believe that you could get the opportunity to hang out with some cute marine animals? I would love to do this one day, especially with the dolphins! 

Swimming with The Whale Sharks

This may be way, way down the road because I have a slight fear of open water but to dive and swim with whale sharks sounds pretty epic. 

Behind the Scenes Tour

For a small fee, you can check out the backstages of the action. I didn't know this was an option until I checked their site, so make sure to purchase this along with your general admission. 

Some Things to Keep in Mind

During the week is a great time to go, fewer people than the weekend crowd but also keep in mind especially local schools love taking their students for field trips to the aquarium. 

Keep up with special events that are held at the aquarium. One event in particular that we are looking at is the "Sips Under the Sea", a 21+ event. The Aquarium also holds sleepover parties! How cool does that sound? 

No worries about leaving your mirrorless camera behind, they didn't give us a hard time at all about letting them in.

Get into the shows early to get a good seat! Nicholle and I opted out this visit to make it to the next destination in time but you don't need us to tell you that seats can fill up quickly

And last but not least, allow yourself to take living in the moment (if time allows you) and don't be shy taking a million selfies, everyone's doing it, and there is a lot of memories to capture with all the adorable aquarium friends. 

If you're getting hangry, go ahead and enjoy some lunch before heading to the aquarium. Last time we went there were quite a few people near the cafe. Plus, the aquarium is in a prime location in downtown Atlanta with many restaurants that are walking distances, full-service and fast food. 

Before we wrap this guide up, make sure to check out our vlog at The Georgia Aquarium and come with us to see the fishes! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Tripping with my Bff 

This article was not sponsored. 

Links: 
https://www.georgiaaquarium.org/

Where it all started!

The first place that Kristina and Nicholle met was in Las Vegas back in 2012.

They were both celebrating their 21st birthdays and 3 years later, Nicholle decided that she needed a change of pace, so she move down from New York to Atlanta and she happened to move right down the street from Kristina. Thus, Tripping with my BFF was born. Of course, this happened very organically and they are so excited for the future of this new project. 

Some may call it fate! 

Make sure to Follow along with our journey via the social media links down below!