Two weeks ago - it’s already strange to put that in writing, Lexi and I set out from our homeland of Oklahoma City to the city of San Francisco. We spent around three days in the Bay Area checking out everything from the beautiful northern California scenery to visiting some of the city’s premier showcases for art and sports.
After arriving pretty early at San Francisco International, we picked up a rental car and headed South to have breakfast at a great little place called Alana’s Cafe. It’s about 10 minutes from the airport in Burlingame, a place most any person reading this was probably priced out of a few decades before they built the Swarovski store across from the restaurant. While my friend Tony Bourdain would wretch at the idea, we went decided to grab a Sunday brunch complete with seafood and eggs. Somewhere, the Mr. Bourdain just lost his respect for me before he even had any. One of the best parts about Alana’s brunch is the mimosas - really. I believe they were $7 or so and they came with a small bottle of champagne and a bottomless orange juice carafe. Most places charge that for a single mimosa - here, you got fourfold. The salmon and eggs were top notch, and sorry Tony, I won’t apologize.
Following brunch we set out in our Nissan Versa and headed southwest, eventually meeting the California coast at Half Moon Bay State Beach. Being the weekend of July 4th, there were plenty of families on the beach cooking out. An ethnic sample of the whole world was out on display there, and it felt good to see such a diverse group of people enjoying America’s greatest asset - the public park. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t so beachy. While it was a pleasing 60 degree temperature outside, the clouds obscured much of the coast - but, this wouldn’t be the case for long. We set out again Northbound on Highway 1.
There are some spectacular views of San Francisco and the California coast along Highway 1. The drive from Half Moon Bay up to the Golden Gate Bridge was sometimes full of traffic but always interesting. After driving through the city and across the bridge, we made our way up to Napa Valley. The sun broke through the clouds and the temperature increased 20 degrees as we followed hundreds of other weekenders through the winding highways of Napa and Sonoma. We soaked it all in and eventually made a pitstop at Folie a Deux Winery. This isn’t a totally original choice to anyone familiar with the area, but I’d recommend it for first timers. Folie a Deux offered affordable and still high quality wine selection along with a nice vineyard in which to enjoy it. Free public restrooms, too! The rest of the day consisted of heading West through the rolling hills of Northern California. Again, we met up with Highway 1 on the coast and made our way back into SF to drop off our rental and retire to our hotel downtown.
America’s birthday started off with the fruit of another one of it’s greatest assets - immigration. Donald Trump can pry the food from Taqueria Castillo out of my cold, dead hands. No matter the genre, most of places you eat at are staffed with immigrants of various legalities and you better be damn sure whose pot you’re pissing in (and who might be pissing in yours) when you think it’s a good idea to kick them all out. Castillo is authentic and affordable and you should check it out because you’re going to get tired of dropping $60+ a meal eventually in this town. After this, we rode a MUNI bus from downtown out to Lands End and spent most of the day making the hours-long walk from the Sutro Baths all the way around the peninsula to the Palace of Fine Arts. By this time I had come to accept why everyone wants to call this place home (or homeless). California is beautiful. There’s a contingent that wants to create bad street art by stickering or spray-painting every road sign in sight, but the encroaching urbanism doesn’t change the fact that the scenery is spectacular, and it confronts you at every cliff’s edge.
No birthday for America would be complete without fireworks, so we made our way out to Pier 39 and listened to yet another completely ignorant use of “Born in the USA” while an impressive display burst just below the cloudy skies. Low fog and fireworks really do go well together.
Our final full day in the Bay was pretty tame. We’re starting to become comfortable with the slow, deliberate version of travel. Jamming every day full with activities in an ill-fated effort to “see as much as possible” or “maximize value” is a recipe for burnout, even when your entire existence no longer revolves around work. Travel will end up being work if you try to do too much. Rather than crossing items off a laundry list, invest yourself fully into fewer things so that you may experience them more fully. Be deliberate in all your actions.
After spending a couple hours at the de Young Museum, we had lunch at Lou’s Cafe. This small place sandwiched between Golden Gate Park and the Presidio does exactly what a deli should do and it does it well. We then headed up to Coit Tower for some more views of the city -the hills and cliffs provide many - before heading out to AT&T Park to catch Madison Bumgarner pitch a game for the Giants in one of America’s finest cathedrals. I use the word “cathedrals” quite intentionally here, and there’s a lot I could say about sports and how I find them to be meaningful on a personal and societal level. Let me just say that I found being there to be the most satisfying way to send off America. I’ve done enough digressing for one post, though. I hope to sharpen my writing skills as I continue these posts, and I can say more about sports later. Until then, there’s always more pictures.
- Zach