I thought Manhattan was the best place in the US, but I think the Golden Gate City is giving her a run for her money. I just spent the past three days there and had the best time! I’m not easily jeeped up about anything, so that’s saying a lot.
I arrived on Friday around one-ish. An old friend of the family who I hadn’t seen in 20 years met me at Powell Street Station and we walked to my hostel, down Ellis Street. As we passed by the urine-reeking homeless people, she expressed her concerned about my safety. However, I was unfazed. They weren’t bothering us or panhandling or even being crazy, which is more than I can saw about the east-coast homeless (bless their hearts).
Anyway, my hostel happened to be on a relatively “good” part of Ellis, where it meets Larkin. There were some scantilly-clad street walkers to add flavor to the scenary, but that was about it.
My hostel was as cool as I imagined it to be. Lots of young people from all over the world. I was probably only one of a few Americans there, and maybe on the “oldish” side. I had a top bunk in a four-bed room. I met one roommate, who also happened to be from Virginia (but had a Jamaican or Bahamanian lilt to her voice). But she checked out on my second day and I never saw her again. The other roommates either came in when I was asleep, or I would come in when they were asleep. But there was no thievery, no tom-foolery, and everything was clean. And it was cheap, at $27 a night!
Let’s see. Here’s all that I got to see and do:
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I went to Oakland with my friend-of-the-family. She lived in a nice part of town, in a hilly subdivision that kind of made me think of the houses in all the children’s movies of the 80s (the Goonies, ET, etc.). We ate dinner on Lake Merritt at a nice restaurant (though I secretly wanted to eat at Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles). I wish I had explored more of Oakland, but I was glad I got to see what I did.
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I went to Yosemite National Park. The tour company picked me up at my hostel early on Saturday and as we drove throughout town picking up other folks, I felt something–like a balloon of happiness–inflating in my chest as it occurred to me that I was in California! In San Francisco! About to see Yosemite! Everyone in the van was asleep as we drove up and through the Sierra-Nevada mountains, but not me. I was like a little kid who couldn’t sit still. I really felt like I was in another world. Even the windmills were fascinating.
I was impressed by Yosemite, but there was a paroxsymal moment when the tour driver announced we were going to see the giant sequoias and I actually started to cry. They were silent tears and I turned my face away so that no one could see my face, but yes, I did actually cry. The redwoods were reason number one I had decided to take the plunge and head west, taking backseat to even San Francisco itself. And suddenly it seemed like my dream to stand next to one wasn’t going to happen.
But then sanity returned and I decided I would splurge and take a tour of Muir Woods the next day. And I was able to enjoy Yosemite in all of its granitic splendor for the rest of the day. Stone Mountain, sorry love. Yosemite makes you look like a cookie crumb. (Interesting fact: Did you know that the Miwok Indian word “Yosemite” means “Some of them are killers”? Because that’s what they would shout when they would see white people, who just assumed that was their name for what we call “Yosemite”.
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Sunday morning, I went on a tour of Muir Woods and Sausilito. I’m glad I went to Yosemite, but I really should have gone to Muir Woods first, just to get my redwood fix early on. I loved it there. I had my picture taken next to two big-ass trees and got to do the bulk of my souvenier shopping there. I even bought my own redwood tree sapling. I hope I don’t do anything to kill it, at the very least. But wouldn’t it be cool if I could grow a big-ass tree and then plant it somewhere on the East Coast, and a thousand years from now someone could say, “Wow, what is this doing here?”
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I went to Chinatown. I know it’s bigger than the one in NYC, but because I’m more familiar with that one I think I just like it more. But this one was still cool. I had lunch there and bought some small tokens for myself, like some slippers and a beautiful bowl. One day I’d like to explore the place better, but I had a busy schedule.
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I went to the Ferry Building to the arts and crafts fair, took a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge, and then took a street car to Fisherman’s Wharf. I could have easily walked the distance, but I had do the touristy thing and take one of those cars. Once at Fisherman’s Wharf, I navigated through the crowds and went to Ghiradeli(sp?) Square. I hope the people at work like the chocolates I bought for them.
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I walked up Hyde Street to Lombard. The original plan had been to walk up Hyde Street and then walk up Lombard. But the climb up Hyde just about killed a sister! Now I know why the cable cars run thataways. Once I got to Lombard, I took the obligatory shots from the “mountain top” and then walked down. Then I took another picture looking “up”. The twisty part of Lombard St. isn’t quite as long as I thought it would be, but it was much more twisty than I had imagined though.
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I had to hurry, because I could feel the sun waxing in the horizon and there was still so much to do. So I decided to take a cable car down to Union Square, instead of walking as I had planned to do. That’s where Manhattan has SF beat, afraid to say. Manhattan is much more walking-friendly. I can do hills, but not hill after hill, each one steeper than the one before. But public transportation came through. Once at Union Square, I caught a regular city bus and headed west. I had two destinations still on my list, and then I would be satisfied.
Postcard Row. You know, the iconic row houses shown in every movie set in San Francisco. Think, Pursuit of Happyness when Will Smith is running across that park from the irate taxi cab driver. I had to take a picture of those houses that were in the background.
Then I had to go to Haight-Ashbury. By this time, it was approaching dusk, but I Did. Not. Care. Sun or no sun, I was going to walk the street of legends. Alas, I only made it down to Haight and Ashbury, not all the way to the park as I had planned. But I still got to go shopping in some funky places and got to eat at a cool BBQ place that served chicken and corn on the cob on skewers.
Then I walked all the way back to the hostel. Through the rough areas and the good. It was cold and dark, but I was happy. I had seen and done everything I had wanted to see and do. Yes, I spent the entire time pretty much alone (which made me seem not-so-like a tourist, I think). But sometimes traveling alone means you get to do more than you would get to do all by yourself. Now that I know the city somewhat and I know what I didn’t get to see, I can return with someone and explore those places.
So, all in all, San Francisco gets an A. It was clean, the people friendly and helpful, the homeless and marginalized halfway interesting, and the architecture was absolutely AMAZING. Plus, the city made me feel pure, unadulterated joy. I’m reliving the feeling just thinking about everything I got to see. I wanna go back. I wanna go back right now!
SMILES ALL AROUND!!!
Check out my pics.
I wouldn’t want anyone to walk those with a suitcase. heh