San Francisco

I went to San Francisco last week for three days and it was amazing! It was a last minute trip, and well worth it! We drove up Route 1 on the way there. It was a beautiful drive. I'd never been to northern California before. I knew it was different from southern California but I didn't know how much. It reminded me more of what I imagine the Northwest is like than California. The topography was different, the vegetation was different. Most of the drive up along the coast was foggy but in a sort of ethereal, beautiful way. Plus, it was a little nice to not have to realize how high up we were as we drove along the windy road in the mountains right next to the ocean. One of the things I love most about California is how the mountains and cliffs run right into the sea. And the redwoods! I'd never seen them, and they were amazing. And huge! Good Lord, were they big.

The drive up was not all nature etc though. We stopped by some interesting places though not for long because we did the drive in a day and wanted to be able to see San Francisco once we got there. We drove though Buellton, the "home of split pea soup" (I didn't know there was one lol), stopped for a quick lunch in Big Sur, which was gorgeous. We stopped in San Luis Obispo to see the Spanish mission there, which made me immensely happy, being a student of history and architecture. We stopped in Monterey, where my boyfriend grew up as a baby. We wanted to stop and find their old house but ran out of time (we were able to stop on the way back though).

We got to SF in the mid afternoon and hit the town. Fisherman's Wharf was our first stop and we walked the city on the way. We immediately loved it. Like a west coast New York City but with more color (and more fog too, at least while we were there...). It was really nice to be in such a walkable city after being in LA, which is, for the most part, anything but. At Fisherman's Wharf, we toured a bakery, saw Alcatraz (but only from afar, we didn't enough time for a tour there), saw seals that hang out off the pier, and just generally walked around and had a great time. We intended to go out that night but I was too tired (we'd gotten up at 4 to leave at 5) so we hit the hay early to get ready for a full day the next day.

Enough for now, I think! I'll conclude SF in in the next post. Needless to say, if you ever have a chance to go (and drive up the 1 on the way), I'd highly recommend it. It was an amazing city! I'm very glad I suggested it last minute, which is very different for me, and I intend to learn from that and keep suggesting new, different things in the future.