Treating ourselves in San Francisco and staying on a budget

The children and I received Giants tickets from Santa. These tickets have waited and waited in the drawer and finally nearly six months after Christmas, the time arrived to use them. We were all three excited. The tickets were for a Friday night game. Taking a six-year-old and a three-year-old to a major league ballpark may seem daunting, but I am...SUPER MOM! Ok, so maybe that takes things a bit far. However, I hatched a plan that succeeded on multiple levels.

One, we had to arrive early because parking at AT&T Park was a must
Two, I booked a hotel room for that night knowing it was the safe thing to do. Driving home tired was not an option. To save on the room, I found DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel San Francisco Airport. In traffic, it was a 30 minute drive to the park. Without traffic, it took 20 minutes. The savings was worth it and the drive was easy.
Three, I called it...VACATION!

AT&T Park Experience
We arrived early enough to park near the ballpark. The tailgaters and all-day types arrived super early and got the best parking, but our parking was enclosed and the walk was nice. The kids and I had fun. I consider it a $35 investment. We were safer, we had fun, and the car was in a good spot. Excellent! We will do this again. (It would have cost that for the three of us to take public transportation, by the way.) In fact, CD and I will attempt our own tailgate picnic at the next game we attend.

The long walk from downstairs on the right field side to the view reserve on the left field side took some time and patience. Going to our seats, I found that I had to occasionally pick up Miss Hollywood to give her a little rest and to help navigate through the crowds, but we made it. In fact, we made it with smiles on our faces! So, we lined up for food. Three hotdogs, one page of peanuts, and a bottle of water. A $25 dinner that actually worked out pretty well. If you want garlic fries, beer, and all those sorts of things, obviously you need to be prepared to pay a lot more than $25. We later added a cotton candy that the kids split. $6.75

Overall, our AT&T Park experience was incredibly good! Giants fans are the best! They were patient and understanding with my two small children. Some even engaged them and encouraged them in all of their "FANtastic behavior" (quoting from Candlestick Park). We left after the seventh inning which allowed us some calm time to walk together. That, of course, allowed me to take some photographs.



DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel San Francisco Airport

First, let me again say that I chose this hotel because hotels near the airport ran better price-wise and price was a factor. The kids and I went there first (crossing the San Mateo Bridge was such a relief compared to dealing with the game day Bay Bridge traffic) to check in, get settled, and change into our clothes for the game. As we checked in, we each received a cookie, a warm chocolate chip cookie. When I saw that DoubleTree offers a cookie upon check-in, I envisioned one cookie sitting on our bed or dresser. Instead, we each received a warm one at the check-in counter. That scored major points for me immediately. We were offered help bringing in our things, but since the kids had rolling suitcases, I declined. I paid a lower price for parking because I included it with my room reservation. our room key worked to get us in and out of the parking lot with ease.
When we returned to the hotel after the game, the restaurant had closed, but the bar remained open. I ordered two hot chocolates and a glass of wine. The bartender made the hot chocolates for the kids and poured my wine that they had ON TAP! This glass of Cabernet was one of the best I have ever tasted. When Miss Hollywood dropped her hot chocolate in the elevator, she reached a point of devastation. We went back downstairs to inform the night clerk. He located someone to help with clean-up. In the meantime, the bartender who had previously helped us walked by and saw a sweet boy comforting his very sad sister. When he learned about the spilled hot chocolate, he went straight back to the bar to make her a fresh one at no charge. He brightened that little girl's night. We finally settled in back in our room. A calm fell over the three of us and we snuggled into our King sized bed for the night. We were comfortable, we were content, we were happy. We were on vacation.
The next morning we tried the restaurant for breakfast. our waitress went over and above any expectations. We felt as if we were enjoying a fancy breakfast, with orange juice in nice tall glasses and cloth napkins. She guided me through the menu to make our breakfast as good and price efficient as possible. Needless to say, she got a great tip.
As we checked out, I thanked the clerk for the amazing service we received. Upon hearing this, she handed me four more warm chocolate chip cookies for our drive back. I filled out a comment card for the room and the restaurant and now I give this hotel two thumbs up! If you ever find yourself needing a place to stay in San Francisco and you won't mind having to drive into the City to do things, this is the place to stay! Every single person was helpful, pleasant, and worked to make our stay amazing!

And, finally...thank you Santa for the Giants tickets! (Just a side tip, I hear "he" got them on sale for $11.50 each just before Christmas. Watch those pre-season sales that start around Black Friday. Sign up at mlb.com to stay in the loop.) Another tip, sign up for the HHonors program with Hilton hotels. You earn points for everything while you stay at one of their hotels.