Exploring San Francisco: The Mission District

The Mission District is a neighborhood on the peninsula in San Francisco (look at me learning all the terms). We had been told by our coworkers that we had to go check out the street art and the Mexican food in The Mission.

We went on a beautiful, sunny day and The Mission felt like quintessential California to me. We rode public transportation out there, and our first stop was Mission Dolores Park. The park was full of people sitting on the grass just enjoying the beautiful day.

There wasn’t anything “going on” at Delores Park, people were just enjoying their family or friends in the sunshine. There was also a play area for children, and a couple food vendors floating around selling various food goods.

From there, we decided to wander off and explore the area. We didn’t have a plan (other than ice cream) or a timeline, we just took off in a direction to see what we could find.

We stumbled on a super cute book store called Dog Eared Books on Valencia Street. This was possibly the busiest book store I have ever been in. They sell new and used books and art. They also buy books.

Aaron and I both love book stores, so we looked around this one for awhile before venturing on to the other parts of Mission.

The Mission District is really known for two things. Street art and Mexican food. We didn’t eat any Mexican food on this trip, but we did see some street art displays.

While admiring the buildings up and down Valencia Street, we checked out some of the local shops. They have an awesome vibe in this part of the city. I could definitely see Aaron and I spending more time here.

I had been told that Bi-Rite Ice Cream is also in The Mission, and my goal that day was to find it. We had already eaten lunch and we weren’t hungry for dinner yet, so Mexican was off the table. There is always room for ice cream though.

We found the Bi-Rite Creamery ice cream truck on the side of the street and got in line. Aaron ordered the mint chocolate chip and I ordered chocolate coconut. Mine was a vegan option, which I knew when I ordered it. It was more frozen than regular ice cream, but the flavor was delicious.

I will be visiting that ice cream truck again, and heading back to The Mission for Mexican food in the near future. There is also a lot of street art that we didn’t see, so we will be back to explore it soon.