Photos from the trip.
California is a surreal place with wonderful weather, a beautiful coastline, and a freaky mix of people.
The flight over the west presented me with my first ever view of snow-capped mountains. The first view was of Great Basin National Park in Nevada. Soon after we flew over Yosemite which is — I kid you not — wet-your-pants spectacular.
I arrived in San Jose on Friday at 10:30ish CA time. Tim had a great afternoon planned. We first headed out from the airport to Santa Cruz. Until that point, my only two oceanic adventures were swimming in the Gulf of Mexico in Pensacola, Florida (not even the ocean really) and seeing the Atlantic from the Wonderland T-stop in cold and wet Boston, Massachusetts.
The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk was an ideal first stop. Even if you’ve never been there, you still may have fond memories of seeing it in the Lost Boys. It was pretty early, and the boardwalk amusement park was eerily quiet, so we grabbed an overpriced Diet Pepsi and headed to the beach. Some might consider the beach/amusement park theme to be somewhat tacky, but I thought it was fantastic. The beach and everything around it makes life feel perfect: the moving water, the wharf, the kids chasing seagulls, and rollercoasters.
By the time my feet had enough of the frigid Pacific, the Big Dipper had begun operation. I love rollercoasters, and the Big Dipper is an amazing piece of classic all-wooden coaster art. We hopped a ride with the alterna-kiddies who yelled “PUNK ROCK” as we wooshed down the dip. Thinking about it now, I have to agree: the ride was almost as punk rock as the Parlor.
So within two hours of my arrival in California, I had stood on the edge of the U.S. and rode a cool old wooden rollercoaster. Life is good.
We had lunch on the wharf and listened to some sea lions barking before heading to Monterey, CA. Monterey had their version of the Crown & Anchor, which turned out to be a fairly decent pub with a fair selection of beer and an outdoor patio. Turns out the Crown & Anchor is one of the few things Monterey had going for it (oh yeah, aside from a breathtaking view of the sea) for a couple of childless cynics in their twenties. In its perfection, the town itself was somewhat miserable. It seemed to be comprised solely of tourists stops with nothing useful at all for anyone who lived there. The people roaming the streets were either old, burdened by young children, or goth-kid townspeople. There were also some people who accosted us to give money to help a needy family in Monterey. Poverty in Monterey? I don’t believe it. I did get to see some sea lions though: they are so cute.
We escaped from Monterey and (after paying a small fee) hopped on “17 Mile Drive”, a scenic tour along Pebble Beach. This took us along some particularly gorgeous areas on the California coastline. We made a few stops to take in the scenery. Almost as breathtaking as the drive itself was the multimillion dollar houses along the drive. I don’t think I could live like that, but it made me wish I had a friend with a guest house who could.
By the end of our travels, about 100 miles stood between us and San Francisco, so we hopped on the famous Pacific Coast Highway (Route 1) and drove north up the coast. What an amazing ride: miles and miles of beautiful sea. Everything was so picturesque: the house on the cliff overlooking the ocean, the light house, the seaside towns, the surfers. It was a welcome reminder that life can be almost perfect.
Finally, San Francisco. We checked our stuff in at the Mariott and then scratched our heads for a while as we had no idea where the San Francisco scene was. We thought we’d just walk around and see what was happening, but that journey was short-lived. A short walk from the hotel landed us in proximity to a bum fight and a countless number of crackheads. I swear, Austin must be making me soft, because we got scared and went back to the hotel to seek advice from the concierge. We ended up at a Irish pub filled with douchebags and techno music. There were some ho-bags dancing on the bar. But the beer was cold and we met a couple people who told us we should check out the Castro.
Tired and weary from the long day, we decided to put the Castro on hold and get some sleep. The next day we took a bus to Golden Gate Park. We spent a couple hours wandering around and eventually found the Japanese Tea Garden. I assume that the fee at the door was intended to keep the bums from detracting from the impeccably maintained garden.
We wandered back from the park to Haight Street, known for its roots as a popular hippie hangout in the 70’s. Most of the head shops seem to have been replaced by vintage clothing stores. We took a brief stop in the epic Amoeba Music store. The place has an enormous selection of used and new records, cd’s, dvds, and videos. All you could hear was the clack-clack-clack of people flipping through media.
After Amoeba we grabbed some tasty Japanese food. I even ate some fish. Then we found a coffee shop that had $1.95 12oz. fresh squeezed juice. I got a carrot-ginger juice and chilled outside. The rumors about no-smoking in California are true; it’s next to impossible to find a cafe or bar with outdoor seating. In California, there’s no such thing as social smoking. Either you’re a smoker who doesn’t care where you are as long as you have a nic-stick in your mouth (i.e. you don’t mind smoking on the street), or you just give in to the system and enjoy your clean lungs. I’d have to choose the latter option. That evening, I gave up on finding a place to both drink beer and smoke at the same time and went on enjoying the experience of a smoke-less bar. We checked out the recommended Castro which was a little too funky (and gay) for our modest pub tastes and retreated back to Haight where we found some pleasant bars to chill out in for the rest of the night.
On Sunday morning we had time to see Union Street where apparently people go to shop and eat. We took a drive down the shockingly crooked Lombard Street. Finally, we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge before making our way back to San Jose for our flight back to Austin.
So what’s my take on San Francisco?
My first impression was that it was dirty and full of freaks. The number of homeless people in SF is shocking. It was the first big city I’ve ever been in where I wouldn’t feel safe walking around by myself. Apparently the key is headphones and sunglasses.
Getting past the bums and the cigarette butts lining the street, San Francisco is amazingly beautiful. The hills give the city an irresistible “texture”; how cool is it to always have a view of something marvelous, be it the sea or a mountain?
SF seems to have great food; for the most part I was able to eat well without eating crap food. The food also seemed reasonable priced. I love cafes, something which Austin is painfully lacking.
I got the impression that the bar scene in SF caters more to people who want to “get fucked up” rather than chill out over a few pints.
Some of the streets in SF are so steep that it feels like your car is going to roll over!
The weather in SF (and everywhere along the coast) is perfect: 70’s during the day, 50’s at night.
Would I go back? Definitely. California is amazing. I don’t think I could live there, it’s a little too surreal for me. But if I ever make it back to SF, I’d like to do the cable car thing, walk over the Golden Gate Bridge, perhaps rent a bicycle, see wine country, see Fisherman’s Wharf… among a whole list of other things I probably don’t even know exists in SF.
Photos from the trip.
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