|
san francisco
On Friday the 15th I arrived at Oakland International Airport off of a cramped Southwest flight. I had had layovers in Phoenix and Ontario (California that is), and although my body told me it was 5:00 P.M. it was in fact 2:00 ... the day was still young. I took the shuttle to the BART and took it to the 16th Street Mission station. Upon disembarking I made the trek down 16th street (pictured at right) to my brother's place and hung out there for a while until he got back from practicing with his band mates for an upcoming concert (more on that later).
Here is a close-up of Andy and Alissa taken as they were walking back to Andy's place from Adobe books. That night I made sure to get a good night's rest since the following morning (at noon actually ... but I had to get up earlier to get there on-time) I was to meet up with my friend Allison in Berkeley. As I was to experience the entire week, I slept soundly (walking everywhere is great exercise). The following morning I headed onto the BART and took it to the Downtown Berkeley station. Of course I had to forget something ... in this case it was my camera. So you'll have to take my word as to what happened on Monday.
Speaking of the Haight ... if you're wondering what the intersection of Haight-Ashbury looks like, I have a picture at right. I find it kind of amusing that the focal point of the psychedelic movement now has ... a Ben and Jerry's. I guess everything gets commercialized these days. I came back to Amoeba on Wednesday, this time with my brother and his roommate Nathan (sorry no picture). Afterwards we hitched a ride back on the MUNI 33 line and made the trek over to Valencia Pizza and pasta. The food there was delicious and reasonably priced (I had a lobster ravioli for only $7!). That night I got some Chinese food at Yum Yum in the Mission.
On Friday, I went back to Amoeba for the third and final time and finished my search throughout its cavernous lair of music. I also took the opportunity to do some reading in Golden Gate Park for some of the classes I was taking for summer courses. The remainder of the day was fairly laid back and relaxed ... I worked on some homework and did the remainder of my reading. I went to bed early because the following day I was to meet up with my friend Danielle who was driving down from Santa Rosa.
That night I fell soundly asleep, even though there was a fair amount of commotion back at my brother's place. The following day would be my last in the San Francisco bay area, and it would be a fairly laid back one. By sheer coincidence, the last Sunday of my visit was the day of the Pride parade. I have some photos of the event, but they don't pass the PG rating test ... so they will not be shown here. Needless to say, it was a wild display. Evidently there were one million people lining Market Street that morning. After the parade I made the trek down to my brother's book store (see below) and picked up some cookbooks for the upcoming school year.
The next morning I made my way back to Oakland International Airport and made the trek back to Baltimore-Washington International. At 11:00 I was back on the other side of the country filled with memories and stories to tell.
All Photographs and Writing |
I
had the plane tickets. I had the time. All I had to do was
make the decision to go. In Summer 2001. I did just
that. I spent ten days in San Francisco in mid June from the
15th to the 25th and had an absolutely amazing
time. On this page you'll find a few of the images I captured on
my Kodak disposable camera accompanied by a brief description of the
events that transpired on my vacation. Let's begin.
The
next day (Saturday) I did a good amount of walking and ended up at North
Beach. There was a festival going on (conveniently called the
"North Beach Festival" if I recall correctly) and I stopped
for a little while to have a beer and listen to some music in the warm
summer sun. The weather was absolutely amazing, a fact that would
remain true for the majority of my stay in the city by the bay.
Afterward, I journeyed back to the Fisherman's Wharf area, where I
stayed briefly and then made my way back to my brother's place via the 
I
had an absolutely incredible day with Allison on Monday (I have an old
picture of her from last year on the left). We met up in Berkeley
and walked around for a little while, stopping by a couple bookstores
(Cody's and Moe's) and grabbed some lunch at a burrito joint on
Telegraph. After lunch we decided to take the long walk across the
Golden Gate Bridge and the parks between our BART stop and the bridge
itself. I had no idea that the walk would be as long as it was,
but I am glad that we made it. It was a lot of fun. We
walked along Crissy Field taking in the beautiful scenery and pristine
blue sky. Next we climbed up the hills to the bridge and started
our voyage across. It was a hike and a half, but worth it.
It is incredibly windy up there, but the view is absolutely
breathtaking. From the span of the bridge you can see most of San
Francisco and the bay area as well as the boundless Pacific. Once
we got across, we had to walk back. When we did we took the MUNI
bus as close as we could go to El Rio (where my brother was spinning)
and walked there just in time to meet up with my brother as we walked
in. Allison had to go back to where she was staying at 9:00, so I
walked her back to the BART and then stayed for the rest of the night at
El Rio enjoying good music and cheap alcohol (always a good
combination).
On
Tuesday I began fulfilling a promise I had made to myself the last time
I was in San Francisco. I promised myself that I would go to 
Talk
about an incredible deal. So much great music can be had at that
place. I highly recommend that you stop by there if you are in the
area. If you are like me, you will be able to get lost in the
stacks of compact discs and records that are housed therein. The
best part is that many of the CDs available there are less than ten
dollars, and hundreds are less than five. I found so many great
CDs there ... and next time I am in San Francisco, Amoeba will
definitely be on my list of sights to revisit. I also made the
hike out to Ocean Beach which is just past the end of the Golden Gate
Park (take the N Train to its terminus). The view was incredible.
If you want to see what Ocean Beach looks like, look no further ... it
is below.
Also
Tuesday afternoon I revisited a brew pub I had gone to in January when I
was visiting, the Magnolia. Lunch there was great, and the beers
were wonderful. If you're on the Haight, it is a good place to
stop for a beer and a sandwich. 
On
Thursday I visited the 
On
Saturday, after some delay, Danielle and I met up outside my brother's
place in the Mission and drove off to get coffee at a coffee shop in
North Beach. After catching up we decided to head over to Golden Gate
Park and take a walk. You can see Danielle at the right, she is
standing in front of one of the many ponds at the park. As you can
see from her attire, the weather was a little cooler on Saturday. Both
of us were toting jackets, but it was just the temperature where it is
too hot to have one, and too cold not to have one. After finding an
absolutely beautiful sylvan pond we headed to the downtown area where we
grabbed dinner at a diner. The food was standard diner fare with
generous portions. Afterward we visited the Metreon, and then
parted ways.
That
evening we went to a restaurant that specialized in vegetarian foods
that are prepared to simulate meat based foods. The food was very
good and that evening we went to bar where my brother was
spinning. We were accompanied by Allissa and Jonathan.
Afterwards we grabbed some frozen pizzas at the local food store and had
a late night snack.