Damkier's Travels: San Francisco

San Francisco Panorama

Driving to the California Coast from the Central Valley is always interesting. During the summer, it is common to have clear skies and heat in the valley and hit cold, grey fog on the coast. In the winter, you can often find clear skies on the coast with inland fog. It makes for a very interesting drive, especially when your destination is the great city of San Francisco. I have visited many times and always get a special feeling driving over the Bay Bridge and peeking out of Yerba Buena Island seeing the city skyline.

Golden Gate Park Benches

I began my day at the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. On this trip, I drove my car to and through the City just to remind myself why I hate driving in San Francisco. After paying more for parking than the museum admission, I spent the morning seeing the various exhibits and artwork at the museum. I highly recommend seeing the collection if you are in the City. On a sunny day, the park is green and luscious with families and joggers dotting the landscape. It is almost as pretty as the paintings inside the museum!

Delicious Platha Bread

San Francisco is definitely a foodie town with may excellent restaurants representing many different global cuisines. On this trip, I had lunch at Burma Superstar - a Burmese restaurant in the Richmond District. This place rocked! I had Chili Lamb with an amazing fry bread called Platha. The spicy lamb was hot and tender and complimented the flaky crust of the fry bread. It is a popular restaurant with horrible parking, but worth the effort!

Pacific Ocean Wave

San Francisco is a peninsula with one side directly on the Pacific Ocean. Having a car does make it easier to see the coast, especially the Sutro District of the Golden Gate National Recreational Area. This area on the northwestern tip of San Francisco has steep cliffs overlooking the ocean and its beauty. Coastal cypresses and hiking trails allow visitors a convenient escape from the urban jungle. The location used to house the Sutro Baths, a historic bathing area with pools and other facilities.

AT&T Park with Port of Oakland in Background

Right smack dab in the center of the City is Twin Peaks - a small mountain overlooking the entire region. At the top of a long and winding road - often featured in car commercials - there are several overlooks underneath the massive Sutro Tower. On a clear day like I had, you can see all the bridges and San Francisco landmarks. With a zoom lens, you can even see AT&T Park - home of the 2010, 2012, and 2014 world champion San Francisco Giants! The panorama shot at the top of the page was taken from here.

Sunset over Golden Gate

With the day quickly coming to a close, I headed to the pier to catch my cruise to Alcatraz Island for my night tour. That will be the subject of my next blog post, but please enjoy the rest of my San Francisco pictures below.