Monday, September 2, 2019

San Francisco — August 2019


Link to more photos.

Lured by airfares briefly as cheap as $39, I scheduled a quick trip to the San Francisco Bay area. We were there for several days this past week. The weather was warm and dry.

We landed in Oakland mid-day Tuesday, and I rented a car. There are only a few locations to buy a senior BART Clipper card, so we stopped in downtown Oakland to do that, and then visited Lake Merritt and some of its gardens. We stayed in Pinole.

On Wednesday, we hiked in Sobrante Ridge Regional Preserve and Wildcat Canyon Regional Park. The hikes were fine, with good views of San Pablo Bay, but San Francisco was too fogged over to see. Later, we went into the city. We tried to see sunset from the Marriott Marquis Hotel lounge, but it was still too foggy and there were no seats. At the Disney Store in Union Square, Victor was delighted to buy this on sale:



On Thursday, we used a hop-on, hop-off bus tour to see much of SF: the civic center to visit the central library and its LGBTQIA Center; Golden Gate Park for views from the de Young Museum tower and some gardens; North Vista Point to see and walk some on the Golden Gate Bridge; Lombard Street for the crookedest block; and Chinatown to eat. 

We were with Greg Castillo for most of Friday. At the Museum of Modern Art, while I was checking my jacket, Greg arrived and spotted Victor. We visited a few exhibits, then went to Castro Street. One new thing since I was last there: a bunch of men routinely stand around almost naked. They were happy to let us take photos with Victor standing among them:



As we were walking to one of Greg's favorite restaurants for dinner, I realized I had left my jacket at MOMA! It was now closed. After dinner, we went to several shops in the Haight to find outerwear for me. We also visited Love on Haight and tried on some of the headgear:



Greg had arranged for the owner of the Westerfeld House to give us a private, very detailed tour:



On Saturday, we went back to MOMA to retrieve my jacket, and then flew home.

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