Let's Go Places (And Meet People!): San Francisco, part 1 of 3

 

When we last talked, it was Thursday and I was on a train heading from Sacramento to San Francisco. 

This is the story of what happened next.  Lunch with a friend, a tour of the town, settling in to my new digs, some FLW, Muir Woods, technology drama, and a walk across the Golden Gate Bridge.  And that was just my first two days in SF!

Thursday - let's hang out with Julie!

My train pulled into the Martinez station and I walked from the tracks to the station.  Julie was waiting for me, and she was chatting with a man who seemed familiar somehow.  But why would I recognize anyone in California?

Mystery solved, it was her husband Ted, who is officially the First Cool Blogger Spouse that I have met (and also the only Cool Blogger Spouse that I know of who is also a blogger).  Ted works nearby, and he took a break to hang out with Julie and to say hi.    

After saying goodbye to Ted, Julie and I headed off for lunch, and then to the John Muir Mansion, which was close by.

It had been 24 hours since my last Rich Person House Tour, so I was due for a fix.  The Muirs lived more modestly than the Stanford's 19,000 square foot mansion, but I found myself digging on their mantel decorations.

We went into the very top of the house and got the 360 views.

And then we made our way into the Big City.

Our first stop was the Palace of Fine Arts.  Fun fact, my family is from the Bay Area, and I have memories of being here as a young 'un and a ton of family photos of this place from the family archive.  It was surreal to be back here.

Then we headed for my neighborhood, which was close to Golden Gate Park, and just a few clicks above my income level.  The internet told me that it's possible to get a house for just under $2M here.

The ground floor of these houses usually have an inlaw suite, which my hosts had turned into an Airbnb.  I got to chat with them a bit over the course of my stay.  They were really nice, but I never got the nerve to ask how much their mortgage payment was.

Let's Rate the Airbnb!

It was a piece of All Right.  It did not have a full kitchen, but it had all of the parts and pieces (hot plate, toaster oven, etc) so I could have cooked if I'd wanted to.

It did not have a Tiny Shower.  Although the design of the doors meant that you had to get in the shower to turn on the water, which meant a brief spritz of cold water.

We dropped off my luggage and then went out to explore the hood.  The first time that we walked up one of those hilly streets it took my breath away.  I think that if I lived in SF that my fitness routine would be walking up a few of those hills every day and calling it good.  It was a workout!

On my own I would have bumbled around to get the lay of the land, but being with Julie was a crash course in learning San Francisco.  I got my bearings much quicker under Julie's guidance.

We'd had a big lunch so we weren't super hungry, but we had room for a glass of wine and a snack.  We happened upon a seafood restaurant that Julie had always wanted to try.  As we walked in the door I had the oddest feeling of being at home.  Seafood smells different (in a very good way) near the ocean.  We got our wine and split a meal, which was exactly the right amount of food.  Julie tells it better than I can - mediocre clam chowder that she was smart enough to ask for a refund for, a Caesar salad, and scallops.  

And then it was time to say goodnight.

Friday - let's explore!

I took Friday completely off from work.  Translation: I worked for about an hour.

Anytime that I travel, I always visit the Frank Lloyd Wright public sites page to see what the offerings are.  The big thing in the Bay Area is The Marin Center.  I always go into these places blind and learn as I go.  Hmm...Marin Center, it was probably something like Monona Center in Madison, which was fine but not wildly exciting.  I had so many other Bay Area sites to see, so did I really want to spend the morning at a community center or whatever it was?  The tour is only held once a week on Friday mornings, so it was now or never, but I went into the adventure with some doubts.  I was also puzzled when I googled the address and the DA's office came up.  Seriously, what was this place?

I took a look at the bus schedule, and saw that the estimated transit time was 90 minutes, so I was more than happy to get a Lyft as an alternate.  Sheesh $40 for a ride?  Well, it was a trade off between spending time or spending money so I spent the money.  I had enough downtime in the trip to ponder a lot of little things, and it struck me that over time some things get cheaper and some things get more expensive.  Back in 2018 when we started going to Chicago was the first time that we used Uber and Lyft.  A ride was almost always cheaper than the cost of parking, so it was our preferred way to get around the city.  Back then my cell phone was more than $50 a month.  Today a Lyft ride costs a lot and my cell phone bill is $15 a month so at least there is an offset.

I was pulled out of my musings when my ride got to Marin.  What the what was this place?

The Marin Center is a one stop shop for all things Marin County.  Courthouse, administration, and even the public library all rolled into one.  Neither my camera or the human eye is large enough to take in the scope of the building.

It's a little quirky, but the FLW magic soon worked its charm.

As far as items for the TIL/I was today years old category, I've heard the term Bird of Paradise before, but I never in a million years would have guessed that it's a flowering plant.

At any rate, after a few hours of FLW and Bird of Paradise lore, the tour ended.  I had lunch at Bahn Mi Zon across the street from the Marin Center.

My next stop was sort of in the area, and I ordered up another Lyft to get me there.  Gah, $40 again!!!!  But it was worth it because I was headed for Muir Woods to get my redwood on.

It was a gorgeous drive, and as we ascended a giant hill a few miles out I noticed that my phone had no signal.  Huh.  When we arrived I still had no signal, but I thought nothing of it.  Surely it was just a small dead spot and there would be service in the park, I mean c'mon we're just a few miles away fro a major US city.  The reason why I was so interested in my phone is that I'd emailed myself a link to an article about recommended hikes and I was planning to use Alltrails.  Yep, I just needed to get a bit further into the park and I'd have service again.

As I walked down the main trail, this guy was out loud and proud having a snack.

And there was this gorgeousness.

A bit further along I accepted there was no cell service anywhere in or around Muir Park.  I also realized that my phone was going to be looking for a signal which would drain the battery, so I flipped it over to airplane mode.  With that I happily settled in to my off the grid hike.  I kind of remembered the trail names from the article, and used the trail side maps to do the Fern Creek/Lost Trail/Canopy Loop.

I stopped at the gift shop.  This was my favorite merch image, but I couldn't find it on anything that I wanted to buy so I took this picture instead for the memory.

Alright, it was time to face the music.  There was still no cell signal to be had, and if you know anything about Lyft, you know that you need cell or internet to get one.  I asked the ranger at the info booth what folks do in my situation.  He said that AT&T is the only provider with service, and let me hotspot onto his phone.  How nice!  And also how useless because AT&T wasn't running with enough juice to be able to connect to the outside world.  He said that plan B was to make like it was 1999 and call a taxi from their pay phone, but warned me that the taxis were very expensive.

I took a minute to ponder all of this before deciding my next move.  Luckily a cab drove up so I didn't have to go old school and call one.  I got in without asking her price, because it was a forgone conclusion that I was going to pay it.

She said that she couldn't take me into San Francisco, but gave me the choice of a town that I had never heard of where there would be cell service or a place called Vista Point, which she said was easy to get to SF from.  $60 to Unknown town or $75 to Vista Point.  I figured that I might as well take the $75 option,  since I would most likely just end up paying the $15 difference to the Lyft to get from Unknown town to civilization.

We got down the big hill and a bit later we were back on the grid.  Yay!!!  And double yay when I figured out that Vista Point is right at the Golden Gate Bridge.  I'd kind of wanted to walk across it, but hadn't been sure when exactly I would do it, and now it was being handed to me on a platter.  Woo hoo!

First I figured out that the side of the bridge that I was on was only open to bikes, so I took the path under it to arrive at this view:

And then I tucked into the walk/bike side of the bridge.

The bridge is two miles across, and the experience was everything that I hoped it would be.  I got to the other side, and saw that my Airbnb was just under 3 miles away, so a bit much to walk after a hike plus 2 mile bridge walk.

But I was also in a mood and didn't feel like dropping more dollars on Lyft.  Maybe I could figure out the bus?  But that would take mental energy, which I was running low on.

Option #3 happened by default.  Left foot, right foot.  There was a walking trail along the coast.  It was no redwood forest and it was no Golden Gate bridge, but it was very lovely in its own right.

I finally arrived back at my crib and was glad to sit down for one minute before realizing that I was very hungry.  I looked at the host's recommendations and Cielito Lindo caught my eye.  I talked myself into getting back on my feet and walking two blocks, and then inhaled a burrito and a quesabirria.  I don't know exactly how to describe the quesabirria other than to tell you to drop everything and get one.  

And with that it was lights out.  We'll pick up our adventures next time.

Let's Rate the Things!

• Hanging out with Julie: 1000000000/10
• Muir Mansion: perfectly fine, but the highlight was hanging out with Julie
• Palace of Fine Arts: 10/10.  It's a must see
• Marin Center: 10/10.  FLW gets me every time.
• Muir Woods: in spite of the cell drama, it was a clear 10/10
• The amount of money that I spent on Lyft and the taxi in one day: look, I got where I needed to go.
• Golden Gate Bridge walk: 10/10
• The "I'm too stubborn to get a Lyft or figure out the bus" walk from the bridge to home: 10/10
• Cielito Lindo's quesabirria: 100000000/10

See you soon to continue the adventure!  Who's been to any of these places?  Ever get caught without a ride in a cell dead zone?  Had a quesabirria?