What a Day for San Francisco

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I went to San Francisco!



The end.



But really, I'm having writer's block with the added distraction of a new trip to plan. Before I get into those juicy details, I'll do my best with the tales from my latest trip.



The morning after the Superbowl, still buzzing from the high of a glorious win, Christy and I packed up Fireball (our new name for her little red Honda Fit) and ventured north to San Francisco. We stopped for gas and food and pictures in front of Andersen's Pea Soup, but otherwise the drive was smooth and uneventful. Our host for the week was none other than Brian**, the "stranger" I met on my flight back to San Diego from my visit home. Thus, we found ourselves couchsurfing in a three-bedroom, two-bath, apartment smack in the center of downtown San Francisco with the infamous time-traveling artist and his lovely girlfriend.

**If you are not aware of this awesome human, you clearly have not been keeping up with my personal blog at http://leaveandexplore.wordpress.com. He is featured in my post called "Stranger Danger II", which you can read by clicking here: http://wp.me/p4K7e0-23

After dropping off our things and learning the horrors of city parking, we immediately found our way to Fisherman's Wharf for our seafood fix. Our third roommate is allergic to shellfish so all seafood apart from canned tuna is shunned in our household. Like crack addicts relapsing, Christy and I cleaned out the closest lobster bisque stall and gorged ourselves on all our favorite fried crustaceans. Drunk on calamari, we wobbled our way to Pier 39 for a quick stroll before returning to the apartment. We were asleep by 9 pm.

The following day we set out to conquer the bridge. After managing to find free parking (nearly unheard of!), we climbed the seaside trail to the start of the Golden Gate Bridge. We read up on the history of the bridge, a fascinating story of a battle against all the elements to create one of the greatest feats in modern architecture and engineering- in my opinion, at least. Heads full of knowledge, we stepped out onto the orange bridge and walked to the first tower while attempting not to be run over by the aggressive cyclist-commuters. We could not have asked for nicer weather; blue skies and puffy white clouds are not typical for SF in February. Feeling that the remainder of the bridge would feel similarly "bridgey", we returned to solid ground, satisfied by the scary height above the deep, churning channel currents. Having worked up an appetite, Christy voted for more seafood, and back to Pier 39 we went for lobster rolls. After lunch we watched a very talented street magician and gawked at the sea lions that haul out on the docks. In the evening, Christy whipped up a delicious dinner for our lovely hosts and we enjoyed each others company over pasta, wine, and ice cream. Another enjoyably long day.

On our final day in San Fran, we explored the remaining tourist spots on the map. First stop, cable car museum, for another history lesson on the world's last remaining fully operational cable car system. From here we strolled through Chinatown, where we picked up treats for lunch. We then drove over to Golden Gate park, found a table, and Christy experienced the magic of Dim Sum. Full of dumpling goodness, we explored the Conservatory of Flowers and the aquascape exhibit. Also, we had to find the buffalo...yeah, google that. From the park we took a driving tour of the city, enjoying the impossibly steep hills; of course we drove down Lombard St, the steepest street in the world. Twice. We checked out The Castro and grabbed some mouth-watering burritos on Valencia before praising the funky wall art in the hipster district. Later that night I met up with my high school friend Katey at Milk Bar on Haight street and we caught up over beers and some interesting live music.

In the morning we said goodbye to the hectic city life and cruised south along the coast until we reached Monterey Bay. With a sweet hook up from our bus, we found ourselves getting a behind the scenes tour to one of the best aquariums in the country. Having spent a year working at a small, less-than-ideally designed establishment, I was floored by the displays at Monterey. An experience I recommend to everyone. Even after spending the better part of a day inside, we still hadn't seen all the exhibits but unfortunately we had to drive on to race the setting sun. We veered our way down the windy cliffs to Big Sur, by far the most beautiful part of California I have seen yet. Redwoods to our left and bright blue waves crashing against the rock structures to our right, it was so pretty I could've cried. Don't worry, I composed myself. When we ran out of sunlight we pulled over into a dirt lot, set up the sleeping bags in the trunk space, and had beers under the stars with our feet perched precariously close to the decline of the cliff. Dinner consisted of leftover pasta out of a ziploc bag (a dish my sister and I consumed regularly on my first backpack trip). We finally passed out, quite cozily, in the little red car.

Our plans to camp out the next night were spoiled by an incoming storm so we started the trip south in the morning. We did make one excellent pit stop just beyond Big Sur, however, to check out the elephant seals that haul out in February along the central coast to rear their pups. Those guys are ENORMOUS, with males weighing up to 5000 pounds. Needless to say, Christy and I were losing our minds; we are such marine bio nerds.





For now I am back in Southern California, but my time here is coming to an end. It is finally time to announce my next adventure; drum roll please...

I'M MOVING TO AUSTRALIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




Like any of you are actually surprised, it's been my goal since junior year of college. But if all goes well with my visa application I should be able to legally make money and start working my way towards citizenship (if I choose to go that route). There are many possibilities but mostly I am excited to return after nearly 4 years to the only place I've ever considered establishing roots. Fingers crossed Immigration thinks I'm cool enough to deserve a working holiday visa! Feel free to message me for more specific travel details 😊

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Comments

[Home and Away]

Wow!!!
MOVING to Australia! I can't wait to read the adventures you will have. Make sure you connect with TBers there.