San Francisco

101 Route

I get a message from a friend asking, ‘Do you want to go to San Francisco? We leave in 4 days’  I checked my pay status, and income possibilities, and even knowing that it would be a tight budget, decided to go! I really enjoyed getting to explore new places and spend time with one of the friends I would be going with (HS). There was 4 of us all together, 2 guys, HS and me.

We loaded up around 2:00 am and headed out. Oh did I mention I’m the only one on the trip who doesn’t speak Korean, Yeah…

We drove straight through Washington, getting onto the 101 around Portland Oregon. Now the 101 is BEAUTIFUL, it is also mostly 40 miles per hour through the drive of small sea side towns, all advertising  fresh sea food and dead animals washed up on the beach. Quite lovely really.

California!

 We made it to California, eventually and drove through the Big Sur area, I’m pretty sure I slept through this though, continuing south until we hit Eureka… and a flat tire. The seal had be busted earlier while we were checking the tires. (The method used was a little aggressive, leading to the seal being busted) We called someone out to fix the tire for us, unfortunately, all we had was a doughnut, and were told NOT to drive on it for more than a few miles. We spent the night at a Motel 6, where I’m pretty sure they gave us a deal, as the 4 of us spent less than $75.00 for the night. Maybe he took pity on us. We went to find our room, and were given the wrong room number. We figured this out after about the 5^th time we swiped the key card, and the light didn’t turn green, but a half-naked old man opened the door to figure out “What the hell is goin’ on.”

We walked back to the office through the thick smell of marijuana that was floating around the parking lot and got a new room, as none of planned to share with a room with the old guy.

We got the tire fixed in the morning, and continued on, making it to our hostel in the late afternoon.

                  We made it to San Francisco. !!!  YAY
 It wasn’t a bad set up, we had bunk beds and no privacy from each other.

Fisherman's Wharf

3rd one on left*

We also had a window that opened up into the common area on the 2^nd floor. We were on the 4^th floor, so we weren’t shaking hands with people as they walked by. (*Our window is third one up on the left)

We walked all over Pioneer Square, and took the Muni (municipal transport) to Fisherman’s Wharf. It was great, until I realized I’d worn the wrong shoes, and my feet were absolutely blistered to the point I could barely walk on them. HS let me borrow her shoes for the rest of the trip (praise heaven)

MOMA Art Museum

  HS and I went to the San Francisco MOMA art museum, SO cool. Several floors, different galleries and very strong espresso. Tasted like licking a coffee grinder. As we walked back to the hostel we checked out a fancy hotel and a couple shops.   MOMA reflections

I gave up on day 3 and bought a pair of boys sneakers… my feet still thank me for them.

Blue-ish skies

RAINING!!!!

The one thing I REALLY wanted to see was Haight-Ashbury. The center of the counter culture revolution of the 1960’s for America. We walked down to Golden Gate Park, it was a beautiful sun shiny day, a few clouds in the sky, but still nice. HS and my counter parts were going to meet us up at the intersection so I could get a couple photos. We quickly headed up to the intersection… block after block it was raining now. Kept walking, rain getting harder. Walked faster, rain got harder. Two blocks away, I cannot see anything. My glasses are covered in rain (if I take them off I’m blind) We finally make it there… I can’t see a bloody thing. I attempt to snap a couple shots, but I’m upset about the weather and complete lack of visibility. We are looking for the guys, but we don’t see them. They are back down at the park (as far as I can tell, no one spoke to me in English during this exchange and my Korean isn’t very good yet) HS and I walk all the way back down. My feet are wet, and blistered, I am walking as fast as I can to keep up with HS. We finally make it down to the park where we started, and the sun is shining again. Nothing like the heavens flippin’ me off. We checked out Lombard street and Ghirardelli Square.

Ghirardelli Square

very nice, and yummy smelling. HS and I got some nummi goodness and took pictures. We visited the waterfront, where I went running to touch the sand and water, and the sun set on us. We walked all around the area, of course I took more photos as per usual, before going back to the hostel.

Early departure: Good bye

We headed out around 2 or 3 am to go back home. Super early. We took the I-5 North, but hit some nasty snow in Weed, California. The chains we had were too small, and even after we got the chains on, we had issues. I wasn’t allowed to help, so I’m not sure 100% what the problem was. The guys did a good job fixing it, and we continued on while freezing until the heater managed to thaw us to some degree. I was happy to be in Vancouver, Washington that night. Thank heaven for wonderful friends.

We made it back home the next day, Christmas Eve.