Visiting San Francisco

A couple of quick notes about speaking engagements coming up before I launch into all my slightly requested (I think two of you wanted it) travel information on San Francisco.

Though I just got back from San Francisco late last night (actually pretty close to this morning), I will be leaving tomorrow night to head down to Tampa, FL unless Alberto has something to say. What is about my trips to FL and early Tropical Storms/Hurricanes. My friends who moved to Tampa several years back and former members of our Peru mission team have set me up some great speaking engagements from Tuesday to Friday.

After I get back I have a meeting with another charity working in Tanzania on a Canal project which I expect is about a bridge they want to build. Then June 3rd I will be speaking between services at St. Mark UMC in Greenwood, SC. On June 10th I will be visiting one of my strongest supporting groups to speak at Mauldin United Methodist Men's Fellowship during their breakfast meeting. While it is a Men's fellowship, they have always welcomed women and they especially encourage the men of the church to bring their kids (I expect to expound on that a good bit the week before that talk). After that talk I head over to Pelham Road Baptist Church to give an update during their 11 am service. I still have some great middle of the week dates available if anyone wants to host a small group to discuss ways their classes back here in the USA can help us (non-monetary) with the school in Tanzania.

So everyone on Facebook has been bombarded with photos of the family vacation trip to San Francisco last week. This started as a plan to celebrate Mom and Dad's upcoming 60th Anniversary (on July 4th) while everyone was close by. We started the discussion last Christmas while everyone was in Greenville, SC about going to places they enjoyed family trips in the past like Jekyl Island in Georgia and then some trips they enjoyed with just some of the family like Vancouver. We actually honed in on Vancouver when my oldest brother, Bill changed companies and moved to San Francisco. Being that he was starting with a new company right before our trip it was clear he would not have enough vacation days to go on a trip anywhere.

the iconic Golden Gate bridge near sunset on a cloudy day using sepia mode

He lived in San Francisco before and I am pretty certain we all went out to visit him and Gary at some point during that stay but it was probably 20 years ago. So we started making plans to go. Let me say this upfront about planning a trip to San Francisco--You need to make reservations to many things in advance (hotels and trips to Alcatraz fill up) and it will cost you a good bit of money to really engage the city and get the most out of it. Fortunately for us one of the biggest expenses was covered when Bill and Gary got a "Flat" I think is what Bill is calling it. It was a nice size apartment, beautifully done very near Castro area. This really made the trip possible for folks like me so I cannot express how grateful I am they got the apartment and got some great sofas that turned into beds for us.

So you get to San Francisco in late May and you think shorts and a t-shirt. Nope it was in the 50s the first three days. It never got hot. Someone stated Mark Twain once said "The coldest winter I ever endured was a San Francisco summer." Great quote that accurately sums up the bay's weather pattern, but unfortunately snopes.com says it just is not in his works. The key to dressing in San Francisco is layers and a backpack to put those layers you don't need in until you do. Once you move from one area of the city to another you can get a different wind pattern.

Some great things about San Francisco are the art, gardens, diverse culture, architecture and best of all is the mass transit systems. MUNI and BART are great systems that are inexpensive and can put you within walking distance of most great things in the city. Even better are the cable cars which are not cheap but not really expensive either and the street cars. The street cars were a big hit for me because they have been bringing cars from around the world and restoring them. They are beautiful.

I highly recommend learning the transit system and knowing your walking capabilities (they have a lot of hills folks). I personally loved the walking and was glad I get to do so much in Tanzania to get me ready for it all.

If you can learn the transit system and you know the areas of town you want to see like china town, little italy, the painted ladies, haight-ashbury, fishermans wharf etc then you should avoid the hop on hop off buses. You can do all of these things via the transit system and a little walking. The bus tours in city are good for going to sausalito and the observation deck on the other side of the golden gate bridge.

In town you should spend some time in China Town and visit the Asian Art collection as well as go to a tea tasting room to learn which tea you like. I also recommend going to the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory. They make the cookies while you watch. It only takes 10 to 15 minutes and you can even write your own fortune and they will put it in a cookie for you (you buy that cookie of course). Interesting note: Fortune cookies were not part of the original Chinese culture but invented in the USA. You will want to eat lunch somewhere in the area to get some great Chinese food.

The Painted Ladies are a collection of Victorian style houses that are painted bright colors and are both architectural detail beautiful but also the paint colors I understand make them cool. This area is near the high school where scenes from The Princess Diaries were shot and the house for Full House. Interesting note that the entire family from Full House could not all ride in one car in the district where the house is located. They have a limit on passengers in one car to 8.

Fisherman's wharf, pier 39 area have some great restaurants, sea lions, and of course views. It is also home to some big attractions like Ghirardelli chocolate square (home of the original factory). You can get about anything chocolate you want there. Just below that is the Maritime Museum which was very interesting and free. They had a great exhibit on photography around the wharf area and some of the first to make a living taking people's photos during the boom years of the gold rush. It is not large and only takes about 45 minutes to an hour to go through. Another great attraction for me was Musée Mécanique which houses a lot of really old coin operated arcade games, music boxes as well as some newer ones. No cost to visit, but the games cost quarters. There are a lot of things touristy to do there like old navy ships and submarines to tour and Ripleys and Aquariums that pop up anywhere people congregate. And of course seafood!!!!!

I also recommend the cable car and street car museum. Neither is very big so they only take 30 minutes or so to do but they have some really interesting information. Most interesting thing I learned about the cable cars is that the guy who invented them did so because he saw horse drawn supply wagons struggling to get up the hill and if a horse lost its footing the weight of the wagon would often drag both the horses down the hill killing them. The cables run around 9 mph and the car goes up the hill by clamping onto the cable and goes down by gravity and brakes.

One of the things I really wanted to do and wished I had given it more time to explore is the Presido. I remember it as a military base having to travel there in 88 on duty for about two weeks. This old base is a great example of the maintaining the overall character and historic value of these places while using the massive facilities to generate funds to operate them. They rent out many of the restored buildings on site to businesses and some were taken over by large groups like on of the George Lucas film groups. The officer's quarters which were huge are rented out for about $10,000 a month (a good deal in California).

The officer's club has been converted to a small museum and event hall that is free to venture into. The one I did not have time to go to was Fort Pointe where they have some history and the exhibit on the Buffalo Soldiers part in the Presido. The also have a military intelligence museum I did not get to. I did make it to the Disney Family Museum which does cost $25 to get into. However when I was talking to the young lady about enjoying my visit to the Presido because I had been there when it was still a base, she sweetly thought I was active duty and offered to let me enter for free. She still let me in free when I explained I was no longer active.

I recommend going as soon as the base opens on Sunday because you want some time to visit these museums at different locations and still be at the main parade grounds around 1 to 4 pm for the picnic. They allow international food trucks to set up and familys bring their own food as well and sit around on the grounds having one huge family picnic. The lines for the food trucks get long quick but the portions are generous. My calamari was enough for 3 people (yes I finished it myself).

One side note about the Presido is that I recommend Mark Harmon's movie called Presido before visiting.

I also recommend the ferry type tours. We did the Red and White line sunset cruise with appetizers. Though Bill got us empanadas which were great. The top photo came from that cruise.

We also did two other bus tours to nearby national parks. Nearby might be a stretch for Yosemite. While I enjoyed the trip I would have loved more time to explore and see the sights. (one must remember that my idea of a good time is to hike until I am exhausted then turn around and hike back) Yosemite has great waterfalls and granite face mountains. Using the bus tour takes about four hours one way then an hour in park traveling before you get to your stop point and get three hours to do what you want. I recommend if you can try to stay in the park a night to explore more.

The second park was a shorter trip but again not nearly enough time for me. That was to Muir Woods. The majestic trees are so hard to capture on film with out special equipment or at least something other than a smart phone (I do miss cameras). The trip is about 3.5 hours on bus and you get a little more than an hour. The park is fairly simple with a loop paved walking path that has bridges every 1/2 mile so you can easily make it back to your bus. Be warned though: if you are going to go yourself to get more time you have to reserve your parking spot in advance through their website.

You may notice that I take a lot of grayscale photos so I can help people understand a little better what I see as 100% colorblind.

Of course if it is your first trip to San Francisco you should include a trip out to Alcatraz. I did not do that this time since I have done it in the past. This is one of those things that books up early (they are full through July I believe).

Some odds and ends of the trip: