San Francisco and Beyond
Here is a quick recap of last month's west coast ventures apart from the previous Mount Tam post.
I wanted to share with you all the beautiful things we saw throughout the trip!
When my brothers and I initially drove out to San Francisco from Los Angeles, we were without an agenda.
But as the weekend unfolded, it was evident. All we really wanted to do was sit atop mountains, soak in the California sun, and feast on all the vivacious colors nature had to offer.
_
We drove in through the Oakland Bay Bridge friday afternoon and plowed through a plate of breakfast in Potrero Hill first thing. It's just what we needed to reenergize and regain our momentum after sitting long hours in the car. From there, the rest of the day was a lot of walking starting in Union Square to the bombarded streets of Chinatown and the Financial District and eventually up to Fisherman's Wharf. I realized how reminiscent this city was to home, both to Los Angeles and New York. In fact, if the two cities were to have a baby, it might as well be San Francisco.
After a lot of sight seeing and aimless wandering, we headed to the mission district where we grabbed dinner and wrapped the night up early to prepare for a full day ahead.
The next morning, we started off with brunch at Brenda's in Tenderloin for some of their signature crawfish beignets, sweet watermelon house tea, and rich plates of creole cuisine. From there we walked Hayes Street to do some casual shopping until we reached the Painted Ladies located across Alamo Square park. By now it was already midday so we decided to shift gears and head over to the Japanese Tea Garden located in the San Francisco Botanical Garden. And this is where our pursuit of nature began.
Not long after we arrived at the Tea Garden, we moved over to Mount Davidson Park where we climbed up to the peak, the city's highest point, to get a good look at the view from above. It was a beautiful hike up surrounded in green not to mention a slight breeze in the air that kept us in good spirits. We took some scenic shots and simply marvelled at the view from above.
After the hike, we needed a really fat ice cream break.
So we treated ourselves to Mitchell's...and experienced the fat in every bite.
The later half of the day was dedicated to catching the sunset atop Mount Tamalpais located north of the golden gait bridge. We drove about an hour up north through miles and miles of curvy mountain roads, making frequent stops in between to simply bask in the beautiful fields of nature we came across. (continued in Mount Tam post)
The next morning we took the California coast back down to Los Angeles and really hit some beauty passing through Big Sur, making stops at the Bixby Bridge, McWay Falls and a few other gems in between.
This weekend, more than anything, was about just sitting back and enjoying the view.
It's funny looking back at this trip now because frankly, we didn't really do anything but look at large bodies of land.
As Henry Miller of Big Sur once put it:
"The moment one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself."
