Spring break in San Francisco, CA

Last week was spring break at the University of Arizona. Since I’m just working part time and my only duty is teaching, I took the opportunity to travel to San Francisco to see some friends.

Originally, my trip was actually planned for a weekend in February but a storm messed up air travel in the area and my flights were cancelled. In the end, it was for the best because the change gave me more time in SF plus there was much better weather!

Day 1: Travel

My flight left Tucson in the late afternoon, so I actually had a pretty full day of normal life before I started my adventure.

I got to the San Francisco airport (SFO) a bit after 8 and took the BART (train/metro) into the city to meet my friend (who we’ll call R) for dinner. We strolled around Chinatown till we found a good place that was actually open (it was fairly late by that point) and had a great and filling dinner.

Not much else to report that for Day 1; R had very generously offered to let me stay at his place in Berkeley so we headed there (BART again) and I settled into a makeshift nest of blankets and pillows on his office floor. I do love sleeping on the floor.

Day 2: A very long walk

Since it was Wednesday and my friend had to work, this was destined to be a classic Schluntz wandering day.

Those of you who know me even a little know that planning trips is not a strong suit. I generally don’t think much about activities till I actually arrive somewhere. So, when I woke up, I decided Alcatraz might be cool to try.

I BARTed over from Berkeley to the first stop on the other side of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and walked about a mile over to Pier 33, where the Alcatraz ferry departs.

Then I saw this sign:

Dang. The whole not planning thing gets you sometimes. I was leaving Saturday afternoon so no Alcatraz for me this trip. Maybe next time.

No worries though – I had only decided that would be a nice thing to do about an hour earlier. So I made a decision to just keep walking along the waterfront towards the Golden Gate Bride.

Along the way, I stopped at Pier 39, where I went on a short tour of the bay in this cartoonish boat:

I also stopped at Pier 45, which is home to a WWII submarine and a WWII Liberty ship.

Of note, there was a broom atop the submarine (see photo below). Can anyone tell me why the heck that broom is there?

Though I didn’t get to go to Alcatraz, my walk along the waterfront did give me several good looks at the island. This is the closest I got:

In no rush, I made sure to stop and smell the flowers:

And finally, I made it to the Presidio, where I snapped this photo at the beach and a couple winning selfies with the Golden Gate Bridge.

After a quick stroll partway over the Golden Gate Bridge, I came back to the San Francisco side and decided to just keep going along the Presidio’s waterfront. So I went to the Pacific side of the bridge and wandered south along the coast. Here’s what the Pacific coast looked like:

After all that, I made my way back to the Union Square area, where I met some friends for a well-deserved meal.

We capped off the night with some more snacks at a place called “The View,” which certainly did have a nice view of the city:

Google maps tells me that I walked 13.1 miles in my impromptu jaunt around San Francisco that day. I actually went a bit more cause I did some trails in the Presidio and went to the ends of several piers so I’m going to say 15 miles as a conservative estimate. As it turns out, my body did not appreciate this unplanned walking assault. I did see a hell of a lot though.

Day 3: Brunch, tandem bicycling and Sausilito

I woke up with knee and ankle pain in my right leg so my walking pace was limited to a hobble.

I started the day in Berkeley, where I met some Oxford friends for brunch.

In the afternoon, I headed back into SF, where another friend and I rented one of those awesome-looking tandem bikes and went for a little tour.

We started out by going to Fort Mason. Then we followed the same route I had taken a day early over to the Golden Gate Bridge. This time, though, we crossed it, then went down into the town of Sausalito on the other side.

We stopped in at a few fun shops and also at Bar Bocce, where we rewarded ourselves with some tasty snacks and views of the bay.

By then it was past 5pm and we didn’t have bike lights so biking all the way back wasn’t an option. Fortunately, though, ferry tickets are part of the bike-renting package, so we took our tandem bike and hopped on the ferry back to SF. We still had to bike a ways back to the rental place, but we returned the bikes just as dusk was settling in. Success!

Total biked: 11 miles (with some serious hills!). Total walked: about 5 miles (I sill had to walk around Berkeley, to/from BART stations, and around Sausalito). Not bad for having a bum knee/ankle 🙂

Day 4: Chilling and St. Paddy’s Day block party

After two long and physically taxing days it was time for a more low-key day. I spent some time at an antique shop around the corner from R’s house but otherwise my day was spent laying in the grass in his backyard. It was the perfect temperature for this (and no clouds!) so I’d say time well-spent.

I even fell asleep out there for a couple hours.

It just so happened that this Friday was also St. Patrick’s day. I don’t normally care about holidays but when in Rome I suppose. So I ventured out with a few friends to a St. Patty’s Day block party. There was fun dancing, and ok music. The best part? The food truck outside. It certainly made the wait to get inside more tolerable.

The party shut down at 10, so we wandered over to a bar for some more snacks and chatting. I got back to my friend’s place in Berkeley around 1. Good thing I had that nap.

Day 5: Friends, walking, and travel

Last day! In keeping with my tradition of high activity at the beginning of trips and lower activity toward the end, this was another relaxing day, but this time with friends!

We met up for brunch at Blackwood, which had a wait but also had excellent bacon.

After brunch I needed some dessert so we walked over to Ghiradelli Square, home of the “Ghirardelli Chocolate Manufactory and Soda Fountain.” I don’t know exactly what that means but I do know that there are free samples. Yummmm.

We carried on along the waterfront back towards the bay bridge, stopping in a place that claims to be the first place to serve Irish coffee in the US (I don’t like coffee and I don’t love whisky, so I didn’t really care) and a gallery with Dr. Seuss paintings (much more appropriate for my personality) along the way.

Finally, we met up with another friend at one of the piers and chatted for a bit before I had to head off to the airport for my flight home.

All in all, it was a great way to finish off the trip: hanging out with friends, eating good food, and enjoying the good weather.

On the whole, I got to spend lots of time outdoors and see lots of friends, so I’d say the trip was a success! My next trip? a 10-day adventure in Belize after the semester is finished 😮

I’ll keep you updated!