The Museum of Ice Cream and Under 24 Hours in San Francisco

Hey guys!

Since the San Francisco location of the Museum of Ice Cream was just announced as its first permanent location, I thought it would be fun to do a post with my visitor tips and experience. My blogger pal, Ayron and I recently did a quick whirlwind trip of San Francisco and our big stop was the Museum of Ice Cream! Read along for our experience!

Go on a weekday if you can. If you would like to avoid as many screaming, sugar high children as possible, this is vital. There will still be lots of kids but not as many.

Make sure you bought your tickets ahead and received them via text. It sounds so dumb but so many people were coming up to the staff and asking if they could buy from them. The answer was no.

Buy into a time slot that has lots of tickets available. The Museum of Ice Cream organizes admission by entry times that are spaced fifteen minutes apart. If you buy a certain time slot, you really are expected to be there in that time slot. Late arrivals are not admitted and there really isn’t much point in getting there early. If you buy a time that has lots of availability, you are definitely more likely to have time to wander in a less crowded space.

Don’t expect that empty sprinkle pool shot. Do expect to get hit in the head with a beach ball at least once. Also expect sprinkles to be everywhere.

Take advantage of the selfie stations as you line up for the sprinkle pool. These are kind of the only spots you are guaranteed to not have other people in your photos. The “carousel” is another good spot if it’s not too crowded as well as the unicorns and the mirror room.

All in all, keep your expectations for photos a little lower and just have fun. Eat the ice cream. Bring a buddy! The Museum of Ice Cream is a lot of fun but also kind of exhausting. You will likely only be here the hour so plan accordingly!

So you’re probably wondering- did they just fly in for MOIC and leave? No. We did not.

We started the morning by taking the BART to Embarcadero and grabbing breakfast at the Ferry Building. I love grabbing something portable and sitting up on the lookout where the ferries come in. It’s got the best view of the Bay Bridge and a pretty awesome view of the Port of San Francisco! The Ferry Building has so many great vendors- including a completely gluten-free bakery for Ayron!

After breakfast, we wandered around Union Square for a bit. Unfortunately, it was under construction. Still, that didn’t stop us from wandering into some fun shops and admiring the window displays of the designer stores.

We did our time slot at MOIC after this and really did clock it in at under an hour- even with crowds!

From here we headed to the Powell cable car stop. We saved time since we bought tickets in advance on the SF MUNI app but there was still a pretty long line. To be honest, this was the biggest time suck of the whole day. For us, it made the most sense since Ayron had never been on the cable cars and our destination was literally at the end of the line (by Ghirardelli).

We grabbed lunch over at the Blue Mermaid inside the  Argonaut Hotel. I’ll be honest- we picked it for the name and the listing of gluten free chowder. The food was okay and the service was confused. I probably wouldn’t go back! We got dessert at Ghirardelli and it was delightful. Going there goes against my major travel rule of not eating anywhere on a trip that I could eat at back home; however, the ambiance at the real Ghirardelli cannot be duplicated.

One of our main goals for the trip was to check out all the pretty houses we always see on our IG feeds. Since it was still summer, we knew a lot of flowers would still be in bloom and we were not disappointed! We headed towards Hayes Valley to try the macarons at Chantal Guillon (all gluten-free for Ayron) and then wander the streets in search of pretty homes until we got to the Painted Ladies at Alamo Square.

Our last stop for the day was in the Mission District. If you follow any bloggers from San Francisco, I’m sure you’ve seen the cute photos of Media Noche! Let me tell you- the food was awesome and reasonably priced and the service was great as well. The whole restaurant is super IG worthy and the mural outside was stunning (it's no longer the flamingos but it’s just as pretty). The area also consists of a ton of candy-colored homes!

From there, we headed back to SFO where we almost were late for our flight and then sat on the tarmac for an hour. By then we were so exhausted it just meant more time to nap!

24 Hours in Singapore

I have so many early memories of Singapore. 

I remember going to the Singapore Zoo in a Minnie Mouse dress and hating the humidity,  falling into a small pond after trying to climb across the deck on a wooden plank with two older kids, playing in the biggest ball pit ever, and lots and lots of good food. 

Going back to Singapore after all those great memories was a lot of fun. We revisited one of my childhood favorites, ate a ton, and made the most of our very short time!

Where to Stay

We stayed at the Mandarin Orchard in the downtown area. The hotel is nice and clean and the price was super reasonable. This hotel has been around for decades but the upkeep has been great and the room was modern and updated very nicely. The restaurant downstairs, Chatterbox, is one of the top places to get chicken rice and has been a family favorite for over 30 years. The hotel room service chicken rice comes from that restaurant and is delicious. The hotel bar also serves up a great Singapore Sling!

What to Do

Singapore Flyer- Time it just right and go around sunset. It's worth it! The view is amazing; you can see all the major points of interest from here! The price isn't high and the lines during the late afternoon really weren't very long; especially compared to the Vegas Highroller. 

Gardens by the Bay- If you see nothing else here, go to the Supertree Grove and the OCBC Skyway. And do it at night, trust me. The view alone is worth it. The OCBC Skyway does sway a little bit in the breeze though, so if you have an issue with heights, beware of that ahead of time! There is also a great foodcourt that's worth a visit!

Singapore Zoo- The Singapore Zoo isn't the biggest zoo or the most fancy but it's a favorite from my childhood. It's easy to get around with the tram and has one of the coolest experiences- breakfast with orangutans! This is a really fun breakfast experience with lots of local flavors and the chance to visit with the cutest orangutans. 

Changi Airport- It might sound weird that I put the airport down as a top attraction but considering it's the largest airport in the world (and growing by almost 100% soon), it's an attraction in itself. With gardens, a ton of shops, and so much food you can spend a day inside this airport alone. My favorites were the orchid garden and the butterfly garden. So gorgeous!

Merlion- When I was little, I thought this statue was huge. When I saw it as an adult, it was way smaller than I remembered. Still, it's iconic and should be seen, even just once.

What to Eat

Singapore may be a small country but there is literally so much to eat here. Today's 24 hour guide is going to be a bit different- I can't necessarily tell you where to eat but I can tell you what to eat. To be completely honest, most of the time it doesn't matter what food court or hawker you go to, the food is going to be good! In fact, when I last visited it was the 50th Anniversary of Singapore's independence and they had displays of all the beloved local dishes.

Laksa- A type of curry noodle soup. It's really good and often pretty spicy. There are often fish balls and (don't laugh, I get asked this a lot) they're not fish testicles, they're balls of fish meat. 

Durian- It smells disgusting but try something Durian flavored at least once. There is a Durian store inside Changi Airport and I walked in and then walked right out because the smell is so overwhelming. The taste is pretty good though and worth the suffering if you can stand it!

Chicken Rice- Before this trip, my last memories of chicken rice were from over 25 years old. You know how you can hype up something in your head and it doesn't live up to the memory? The chicken rice in Singapore was EVERYTHING I remembered. I made sure to eat it at least twice on our short trip. 

Roti Prata- Not really a flatbread, not really a pancake. So good with a curry dipping sauce! They had these at the Singapore Zoo breakfast and since a lot of the tourists were eating the Western foods, I loaded up on these. 

Singapore Sling- Why wouldn't you get one in Singapore? It's the signature cocktail and it's a creeper so be careful!

Kaya Toast- I can't describe this stuff but you should eat some. I made the mistake of ordering extra at breakfast without realizing how many pieces were in an order. Needless to say, we had toast for a couple of meals. 

Last- Go to Swensen's. Even if you have one in your hometown, go. They have some pretty awesome menu items you won't find outside Singapore!

24 Hours in Temecula

Welcome to a new 24 Hour Guide! 

Today, we're visiting Temecula. I had a great time visiting some time ago with my good friend, Lara. It was a super quick trip but we covered so much ground and still had a ton of time to relax and have a great time while drinking wine and eating some delicious food!

Where to Stay

I feel weird saying this but we stayed at the nicest looking La Quinta I have ever seen when we were in Temecula. Since we were just there for one night, we didn't want to splurge and we weren't planning on spending a ton of time in the room. We were very pleasantly surprised with the easy location and comfortable room. Everything was clean, the lobby was actually pretty nice, and the service was great. 

What to Do

Clearly, you're going to be drinking wine! After all, it's wine country. 

Europa Village- We had to leave town super early to get here in time for this tour. The winery is gorgeous and since we figured we would be hungry, we booked the tour with the box lunch. This was the only winery where we got to walk around a lot and enjoy the vineyards. The weather was perfect and the vineyards here are extensive so we got some amazing photos. The tour had us walking through the different sections and doing tastings at each which was a lot of fun and once we hiked to the top, the view was spectacular. We even got a cute stemless glass to take home!

Lorimar Winery- We were a little bummed because our tour got rained out. We did wander the grounds a little bit and to make up for it, we got an upgraded tasting with chocolate and cheese and some meat. We camped out in the tasting room and just drank for a while and enjoyed all the cheese (it was delicious cheese). This actually turned out to be a fun stop even without the tour!

Briar Rose Winery- We didn't get to take the tour or do the tasting and we were pretty bummed because this place was the cutest! We did stop for photos though because it's gorgeous!

Make sure to wander Old Town Temecula as well! There are some great shops, cafes, and lots of great places to take photos! It's a fun afternoon stroll, especially when the weather is nice!

Where to Eat

Vineyard Rose- This restaurant is located at the South Coast Winery and we had such a great meal. We both got the prime rib specials and some glasses of delicious wine. Service was really good and our meals were amazing. We got to walk around the parking lot and take lots of photos too because the property is really beautiful! There were lots of gorgeous flowers and fountains!

Crush & Brew- This was the perfect rainy day restaurant because they have so much comfort food. The menu has changed since our visit but the service was OUTSTANDING and everything we ate was amazing. We enjoyed the rain while eating some delicious food; great way to spend a lunch hour!

Mo's Egg House- We got into town earlier than expected because there was absolutely no traffic so we had time to stop for breakfast. This place has a huge menu and it was pretty packed which is always a good sign! Everything was delicious! We figured it was best not to start our wine trip off with empty stomachs, right?

Incr-Edible Cupcakes- We wandered in from the main drag and found a cupcake haven. We got a fun variety of cupcakes to enjoy in our room because we like having snacks for the times we just want to veg out and enjoy our comfy hotel beds. These cupcakes were so yummy!

SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave
SaveSave