SAN
FRANCISCO
We
drove into San Francisco around rush hour on Friday, which was spectacular
timing. We can in from Marin County,
across the Golden Gate Bridge. Luckily,
traffic wasn’t too terrible going in that direction. We headed straight to our hotel, a Hampton
Inn in Daly City. After checking in, we
headed out in search of dinner. We did a
lot of driving around, as we weren’t interested in waiting an hour or two. We eventually found an Italian restaurant in
a neat little neighborhood that had gluten-free pasta for Christy. It turned out to be an excellent choice.
Afterwards,
we returned to our hotel and gathered up all of our dirty laundry. Then I headed out in search of a
laundromat. The first place I tried was
very busy, and they didn’t have laundry soap for sale. I’m pretty sure I was the only person there
that spoke English, too. The second
laundromat I tried was more pleasant, and they had vending machines with
laundry detergent. I had just enough
time to do all of our laundry before they closed. I settled in there with a book. A couple of hours later I returned to the
hotel with a car full of clean clothes.
We
went to bed early since Christy had a race first thing the next morning. This would be her second time competing in
the “Escape from Alcatraz” swimming race.
The race is a little over a mile, from Alcatraz Island to San
Francisco. On her first attempt, she
finished first in her age group in the non-wetsuit division. She was hoping for a repeat, even though she
hadn’t really trained for the race.
We
got up early on Saturday morning and drove to Fort Mason along the San
Francisco waterfront. We paid for
all-day parking, and Christy hurried off to get ready for the race. I eventually caught up to her, but scoped out
some places to take photos along the way.
Eventually
Christy headed over to the boat that would take her out to Alcatraz. After she left, I walked back up a hill
overlooking the waterfront. I thought
that would provide a good angle for photos.
However, after the race started, I decided that I was too far away, even
with my zoom lens. I returned to the
waterfront and walked out an old concrete pier to get closer to the
action. That offered a better vantage
point, but the ideal angle would have been from higher up. Maybe next time I’ll see if I can get up on
top of the one of the buildings along the waterfront.
Christy
finished second in her age group, again in the non-wetsuit division. This was a little disappointing, but not
surprising considering her lack of training.
We hung around for the awards before heading back to the hotel. Christy took a shower and we checked
out. Then we drove to another neat
little neighborhood to get a late breakfast at Stax. Afterwards we walked a few blocks to see The
Painted Ladies – a row of colorful houses that have been featured in many
movies. The walk from Stax was all uphill, so I walked back, got the car, and
then picked Christy up.
From
there we drove up to the top of Twin Peaks.
Not THAT Twin Peaks. This Twin
Peaks is a pair of summits that overlook San Francisco. They offer great views, and they are a
popular tourist destination. Luckily, we
were able to snag a parking spot as soon as we arrived. Unluckily, we both needed to use the
bathroom. This, as it turns out, was
poor planning on our part. Twin Peaks
features the most asinine toilet situation I’ve ever encountered. There was one toilet there, with a very
unusual design. The sign on the door
stated the following:
1)
Only
one adult allowed at a time
2)
Toilet
bowl and seat are automatically cleaned, disinfected, and air dried after each
use.
3)
Do
not enter the unit if the door is still open and someone is leaving. The door must close and the cleaning cycle
must be completed between each user.
There
were perhaps 15-20 people in line when we arrived. That didn’t seem terribly unreasonable, at first. What we didn’t realize was that the cleaning
cycle takes 75 seconds each time (yes, I timed it). So that’s an additional 75 seconds on top of
the time each individual spent inside.
We ended up waiting for 30 minutes.
The
toilet was designed by a moron. It was
probably the same guy that designed the 485 / 85 interchange on the west side
of Charlotte.
Our
time at Twin Peaks breaks down this way:
In
line for the toilet – 85%
In
the toilet – 5%
Enjoying
the view and taking photos – 10%
From
there, we drove to Haight Asbury. Haight
Asbury was the center of the hippie culture in the late 1960’s and 70’s. I’d been there once before, and I thought
Christy would really enjoy it.
Unfortunately, my perspective on it was a little different this
time. For whatever reason, it seemed
more like a tourist trap than anything authentic. We did a little browsing and some walking
around, and stopped at a couple of bars for drinks. Mostly we ended up just killing time until
our dinner reservations.
Dinner
was more successful. Christy picked out
the restaurant, Firefly. It was a neat
little place in a funky neighborhood.
The food was fantastic, too. It
was the best meal of the trip, and a huge improvement over the restaurants at
Fisherman’s Wharf we had visited back in 2008.
It
was after dark when we finished dinner.
That was good timing, as there was very little traffic on our drive to Oakdale,
CA. We went straight to our hotel, which
I’d picked because it was about halfway between San Francisco and our next
destination, Yosemite National Park.
Back to California
Back to Hiking and Backpacking Trip Reports
Please remember to Leave No Trace!