This day could have set a record. Since I had recently visited San Francisco as a tourist and spent 10 days getting to know the city, I was able to give Kelsey an intense overview in just a day. For most people our agenda would have been considered ridiculously overburdened but not Kelsey. We started our tear around San Francisco at 8:00 AM on Saturday and except for sleeping we didn’t slow down till the next morning.
We started the day with a drive around Apple’s campus at 1 Infinite Loop in Cupertino and continued on to a tour of Stanford University’s campus in Palo Alto. These are a company and a university which we both admire and wanted to see first-hand. We visited both these icons in one morning. The day had only begun!
The day was beautiful as you can see above and consequently traffic through the city was heavy. We checked in to our hostel at Fort Mason, drove across the Golden Gate bridge to the Marin Highlands, and toured all around the north peninsula’s Golden Gate National Recreation Area. It may seem incredible to you but as we ran through the day we visited ever-so-briefly most of San Francisco, Sausalito, and the sites listed below:
Marin County (peninsula north of Golden Gate Bridge)
- Fort Baker
- Fort Barry
- Fort Cronkhite
- Marin Headlands
- Muir Woods National Monument
- Muir Beach
- Muir Beach Overlook
- Nike Missile Site
- Olema Valley
- Point Bonita Lighthouse
- Stinson Beach
- Tennessee Valley
San Francisco County (south of Golden Gate Bridge)
- Baker Beach
- Battery Chamberlin
- China Beach
- Cliff House & Sutro Baths
- Crissy Airfield
- Crissy Field Marsh & Beach
- Crissy Field Center
- Fort Funston
- Fort Mason
- Fort Point National Historic Site
- Lands End
- Ocean Beach
- Presidio of San Francisco
- Sutro Historic District
I know, crazy right? This was an ambitious agenda and we only skimmed the surface of these places but we accomplished my goal. The San Francisco Bay Area is one of my favorite playgrounds. I wanted Kelsey to get a taste of it, to see what excited me, and to plant the seed for her future return. Given her enthusiasm for San Francisco I’m certain she’ll find her way back there.
We finished the day with a walk from our hostel (“A”) along the waterfront to Pier 39 (“B”). Along the way we saw historic ships, enjoyed street entertainers, did a bit of shopping and ate the classic San Francisco meal of clam chowder with sour dough bread. Yum! Suffice to say when we got back we collapsed into the bunk beds in our private room. Sleep came easily.
Sleep may have come easily but it didn’t last longer than necessary. We had scheduled to meet family friends for breakfast and we were in line at Mama’s before opening. I’ve found that Travis has excellent taste in breakfast joints and Mama’s was no exception. Oh my gosh is their breakfast good! The long line forming before opening was easy to understand after sampling their faire. Afterwards we headed to Travis’ and Coleman’s apartment to take in the view from their roof. Another wonderful moment.
After we said goodbye we headed back to the Golden Gate Bridge. To continue our drive north we needed to cross it again but Kelsey had already driven across it twice: north and south. I wanted this third crossing to be something special so instead of just driving across I asked her to pull over at the south end of the bridge. I then kicked her out of the car, foisted my folding bike upon her, and told her I’d meet her on the other side and that’s exactly what I did. Her self-portrait taken during her ride can be seen above.
Want to get a feel for what it was like for her? Click here.
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