Nicole and I awoke from a deep and much-need sleep reluctatly. Our travel day was terribly long, so our good-intentioned early morning plans went out the window. We ended up getting some peanut butter toast from the hostel kitchen before setting out on our first big adventure~
We walked around a bit, towards Fisherman's Wharf. Fisherman's Wharf is kinda the touristy area of San Fran-- much like Navy Pier in Chicago or the Boardwalks in New Jersey. Except, instead of looking out to a lighthouse, San Francisans look out to... Alcatraz. Interesting psyche that must imbue in a town...
Of course we did all the tourist shit. Its a blast when its not your city! Nicole got us there mini doughnuts her friend had reccommended. They were simple and sugar-y and delicious to munch on while we searched for sea lions. When we did find them, the silly creatures were barking at seagulls and each other like big dogs. Nicole and I watched, enamored with these flobby creatures, for a long while...
San Fran is filled with beautiful gardens and parks. We treked through so many of them, they kinda blur together. Nicole says that San Fran feels like "a city that is trying very hard to forget it is a city." When you look out across the concrete jungle, you understand why the green is so desired-- on these cold and cloudy days, the greenery seems to glow against the gray of the city. So much so that I feel my eyes are almost playing tricks on me when I try and comprehend it.
Before leaving the Wharf, we stumbled into this little arcade & oddities shop. Luckily, I had three spare quarters in my pocket, so I was able to play a couple "games" with Nicole.
Eventually we ended up at the Palace of Fine Arts. This was an important one for us to see because it was featured in the movie "Vertigo." I'm not the biggest Hitchcock fan in the world, but I really enjoy his work, so it was an absolute delight to see irl. In person it was so stunning-- you could tell because there were so many girls taking graduation and quincenera pics lol.
Though we got a late strat to the day, we still managed to walk about thirty thousand steps. Like crazy people, we ended our day with a short hike up a very long and beautiful hill.
It is possible I was just being a scardey-cat, but when the wind picked up, those trees really freaked me out! To be fair, we only saw one branch fall (and the local kids seemed not to mid whatsoever), but the entire time I was just thinking about getting smushed!
Luckily we ended the day intact, give or take a few blisters!
The second day was sprinkled with rain, but even those little showers couldn't keep us inside for long.
We didn't have much planned for the morning. We really just took a minute to soak in the atmosphere of the city.
Of course we visited all the iconic buildings-- the garteful dead house, the painted ladies, etc. Although these places were usually swarmed with tourist buses, so we ditched them for the parks shortly after.
Day two was unfortunatly a little rainier than the rest of them. We took shelter in San Fran public library for a while. Nicole read her new copy of Dune two, and I checked out the manga section...
We went over to the touristy-hippie part of the city, which reminded me alot of Tuscon, Arizona. It was fine, lol. Not neccesarily our vibe, but fun to look at. Nicole got a somewhat subpar chicken sandwhich from a thai chicken place and I got a coffee from a little cafe.
We popped by Golden Gate Park for a while, before making our pilgrimage over to my Mecca-- Internet Archive :3
UNFORTUNATLY IT WAS LOCKED AND WE COULDN'T GET IN!!! I could cry :( Nicole bought me a Napoleon from this little Russian/Albanian bakery to cheer me up. Next time I will call ahead...
In the evening, Nicole and I met up with her Auntie for an evening cruise on the Bay. The little boat took us around Alcatraz and towards Sausalito-- the fancy little suburb of San Fran. At night, the city looked so beautiful. As we drove past Alcatraz, I was suprised to discover that signs from the Indian student occupation were still up, even after all these decades.
On a pactical note, I can't believe I didn't get seasick. I had anti-nasua medicine in my bag but forgot it at the hostel. I was really nervous about boarding and blowing chunks in front of everyone, but miraculously I was ok! I think I was just super excited about seeing everything that I distracted myself enough from the water moving under me. It was a choppy ride too! Especially when the boat went under the bridge and hit the currents smacking against the poles. Maybe it was just Karma from my dissapointing trip to IA earlier. Whatever force I have to thank, I was grateful!
To end the night, Nicole and I got pizza and half a bottle of Preseco and fell tf to sleep at like ten pm. A very tiring, but good, day
The drive up to Muir Woods is spiral-y and freaky, since we are on the side of an open cliff. Luckily we make it up the mountain unscathed. Immediately, I am hit with a breathe of the freshest air in the world.
My wonder only grows the further we move into the park. I have seen pictures of redwoods before, but I am nonetheless in awe of their massive precense. Everything is green, and the world smells unbelievably fresh.
Here's a Muir Woods tip-- book your taxi beforehand. Though I had heard the wifi was spotty on Reddit, I stupidly did not order an Uber/cab for our trip back before getting to the top of the mountain. Annoyingly, even when we were able to make a call from the vistitor center, all the taxi companies wanted to charge us crazy amounts of money for a ten minute drive back to civilization. Luckily, a park ranger offered to give us a ride back to town for thirty dollars.
At dinner, we chow down on dry fried chicken and seafood soup in the near-empty resteraunt our park ranger friend had reccomended. It was bitter sweet. I did not want to leave San Francisco, but it was time to go.