The San Francisco Treat - November 2019

Last week I hopped on a plane to Seattle to start a new job. Despite the terrifying spectre of being trapped in a metal tube with 100 potentially germy people, I was excited to finally have the opportunity of exploring a new city again. Even looking up ways to get to new restaurants or parks in my own city was a pleasure that I haven't had since March. So friends, since I haven't written about my last two vacations I thought I would do so now -- and give you the opportunity to live vicariously (and back in time) through me.

In November of 2019 the biggest challenge we faced travelling was the California wildfires. But I decided to head West anyway to join my sister M at her work conference in San Francisco before spending Thanksgiving together. I was pretty stressed at work so didn't have much time to put together an itinerary or research mass transit options. I think I threw something together that looked like this: SF Botanical Garden, Alcatraz, Muir Woods, whale watch, bike across Golden Gate to Sausalito, that windy street, Pacific Ocean!

Evidently one of my sister's colleagues thought that my visit would be stressful - that M would have to help me figure out how to get places and recommend sights to see. That's not usually the case but I will admit that I found the mass transit system more confusing than necessary. Between the BART, the Muni, and the cable cars (which are not trolleys), I needed like three different passes and wound up walking most everywhere to just avoid figuring it out. No matter.

My first day in the motor city city of brotherly love golden city, I headed to the botanical garden of course. Since it costs $12, I pulled out my "I'm a member of a different arboreta card" to get in free. But of course I din't actually have my card so the person working the front desk offered to call the Arnold Arboretum to prove my membership. I was put on speaker and when the phone was answered I said "Oh hi Ana" and she responded "Ell! How are you?"so that was pretty effective. I wandered around a bit before heading to the Japanese Tea Garden for refreshments.

The Japanese Tea Garden is the oldest public one in the US of A. It centers a small cafe with tasty treats in a beautiful landscape. However, there was a surprisingly steep entry fee so I'm not sure I would actually recommend it for the casual tourist unless you are a real Japanese landscape nerd or on a hot date. Or perhaps to reflect on the Hagiwara family who began to take care of the land in 1854 until they were expelled to a Japanese internment camp in 1942, never allowed to return. I wandered pre- and post-iced green tea.

Then I headed for the Conservatory of Flowers for a botanical hat trick. (I was once again able to argue my way in for free. Gotta love reciprocal agreements.)

After all the plantage I needed a nap so I stretched out on a grassy knoll in Golden Gate Park. Thus refreshed I took another trolley or bus or tram or some other conveyance to World's End. The world, guys. Nothing on the other side of that Pacific Ocean. I dipped my feet in just to have the right amount of wet pants and sandy socks for the trek back for dinner with my sister.