…the Streets of San Francisco

I was beginning to dread my trip into San Francisco.  Traffic an hour north of the city was already terrible and someone once warned me that driving in downtown San Francisco is much like driving in Manhattan, which is something I really don’t care to do, EVER!

The traffic lanes began multiplying.  What was two lanes had grown into five lanes of full traffic traveling just above the allotted speed limit. Oh yeah, I must not forget to give credit to the few people who find it necessary to break their personal best when it comes to lane changes per mile. Idiots!  I tried to ignore them, but it didn’t work.  I don’t know, maybe my driving ten mph under the speed limit in the center lane had something to do with it?  Just kidding. haha.  In any large amount of traffic, you’re always going to have a certain number of fools.

Golden Gate Bridge

As much as the traffic was trying to deter me, I kept telling myself that this is a place that I need to see, not that I want to see, but I need to see..  Everyone I have ever talked to about San Francisco has said the same thing:  A beautiful city.

I have a list of a few things to see during my short visit, the first being the Golden Gate Bridge.  While I couldn’t see the city skyline due to all the mountains on the north side, I could sense that I was getting closer because the traffic was becoming insanely busy.  I finally saw a sign for Golden Gate Park and figured the bridge had to be close.

I exited where the sign told me to, but when I went to make a left turn towards the park, it was blocked off and the parking lot was full.  There were bicyclists everywhere!  Go figure, the day I decide to pull in here, there is a bike event and I’m being detoured by police. Instead of turning left, I was forced to turn right.  After turning right, there was a fork in the road, which most of the traffic headed into the right fork. I, being the fool that I am, made a quick decision to NOT follow the traffic and veered to the left. Here I was, among three or four cars that didn’t decide to follow the 50 cars that went to right.

The road quickly turned into a two lane road and appeared to be heading toward a town filled with tumbleweeds and two men waiting for a shootout.  I have no idea how I went from a road filled with thousands of cars to a small two lane road heading into the only desolate region of San Francisco.  I had to turn off this road because I had no idea where I was going and the other two cars seemed to live in one of the shanties hugging the road because they left me alone quite awhile ago.

Lombard St.

Without thinking, I turned at the first road I saw.  It just so happened that it was a gravel road heading straight up the mountain and it was designed for one car.  Great move Eric!

I got to the top, thinking to myself on how happy I was that I have an entire day to find my way out of here.  What I didn’t expect at the end of the road, which was the top of the mountain, was to find a paved road full of cars and bicyclists….and the coolest view of a city that I could ever have imagined.  I had inadvertently taken a back way up to “The Spot.”  Clearly this is the place to see everything because the road was packed.

I have a decent camera, but once again, I am at a location that is used to create professional caliber photos.  This is “The Spot” that we have all become so familiar with. It was on the top of a mountain overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge and the city.

There were a lot of people here, but I was ok with it once I found a spot on the side of the road to park.

While trying to get a “decent” photo overlooking the bay, I heard a jet growing very loudly and coming from behind the mountain.  We all turned to see what was going on and were surprised to see a brand new jumbo jet come screaming from around corner at an altitude lower than the buzzards and the mountain dwellers!  I figured the airport must be on the opposite side of the mountain and it was taking off, but judging by the reactions of the people, this wasn’t the case.

It appeared as though it was going to run directly into the Golden Gate Bridge. I couldn’t stop thinking “WHAT’S GOING ON!”  I would have grabbed a photo, but I was in disbelief and stood paralyzed while thinking. As it was about to crash into the bridge, it pulled up and flew right over it and the people started clapping and cheering.  Obviously, the crowds of people were either high on acid created in San Francisco back in the 60’s, or they knew something I didn’t.

I had to ask someone what was going on…it turns out that I had arrived here just in time for a Blue Angels air show. I don’t whether it was good luck or bad luck to arrive on such a festive day.  I guess it didn’t matter since I found an obscure way up the mountain.  If I hadn’t stumbled across the back road, I probably would have never found a city view such as this.

Air shows are pretty cool, but I had seen parts of one a few months ago back in Tampa and needed to get exploring this city before dark.  I would have liked to spend a few days here, but I guess everybody else wanted to also because I couldn’t find any couches available.

Alcatraz

I headed down the mountain and into the city. Lombard Street, here I come. I found out from someone watching the air show that Lombard was pretty easy to get to from where I was, so I headed there right away.

Traffic in the city was busy, which is no different than most city centers, but it was tolerable.  While everyone sat along the bay to watch the show, I took advantage of the “less than busy” streets to make my way around.

Lombard is neat to see, but definitely over-hyped.  It took me all of 30 seconds to get down the self-proclaimed “curviest street” in the world, and that was at 5mph!

I thought it was much cooler to sit at the bottom and watch the cars coming down.  Occasionally you would see a psychotic skate boarder flying down the street out of control.  They made it down in half of the time the cars took and if not for the traffic cops at the bottom, they would have skated straight out into oncoming traffic each and every time.

Since it took me 20 minutes to find a parking spot for me to view Lombard St. from the bottom, I wasn’t going to waste my efforts in parking.  I headed off on foot to explore.

I made my way down the 30-degree streets to Fisherman’s Wharf.  It was a pretty cool place.  There were painters, musicians, and food vendors every 30 feet.  The masses of people were making their way from restaurant to bar and visa-versa. From the Wharf, one has a great view of Alcatraz.  In person, it looks so much closer to the shore than it does on TV.  It almost appears as though someone could swim from the prison to the shore, but having watched documentaries on it, I know better.  It’s not the distance that would get an escapee, it was the frigid water and currents, along with the Great Whites.

I spent much of the day exploring by foot and then later by car. As far as my opinion on the city, I must agree with everyone else….It is a beautiful and lively city.  It is Manhattan with less of….well…Manhattan.  It had the liveliness of Manhattan without the traffic. It had skyscrapers, but with unobstructed views. Overall, the traffic was tolerable and the landscaping was postcard worthy.

It is quite obvious that whoever laid the first foundation down for this city was not overweight.  The city streets are all on hills and comparable to most hiking trails.  It was a workout walking around and I could see that most of the overweight people were the people carrying cameras, otherwise known as tourist.  Those who live in this downtown district are probably not suffering from a lack of exercise. It’s an incline everywhere you walk!  It was challenging, but fun.  The views were awesome and the constant hum from the chatter of people sitting outside the cafes created enough energy to keep me going.

If I had the choice to live in any of the downtown districts I have visited so far, I would pick San Francisco in a heartbeat.  The random jingling of the trolleys and the murmur from restaurant patrons electrified air with sounds of activity.  It wasn’t the sound of horns and cars like many other cities, but rather the sound of people enjoying themselves. As most cities, I’m sure S.F. has its share of downsides, but on this day and at this time…..I didn’t see any

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