San Francisco, California

Left Berkeley after walking around UC Berkeley (Cal) a bit. I love the vibe there; still hippy, still aggressively liberal. Funky place.

I spent much of the rest of the day in San Francisco. It’s one of my favorite cities in the world; Dolores Park always has something fun going on, the food is great (shout out to Kingdom of Dumpling), and the people are fun. I went to a museum/park there that I hadn’t been to before, called the Palace of Fine Arts. Beautiful spot on the far north end of SF.

After enjoying the city a bit, I crossed the bridge to go take pictures from the Marin Headland. It’s the area where the Golden Gate bridge ends on the north side; unlike SF, it is a park, not a city. That’s where you get the beautiful pictures of “Sunset with the Golden Gate and downtown San Francisco behind,” the quintessential photo of San Francisco. I’d never been there before but have wanted to go for years, literally years. Finally made it, walked around, and took some pictures. But it was still an hour or two before sunset.

While I was there, I accidentally came across a hostel run by a company I’ve used before. It’s tucked in the middle of the Marin Headlands and doesn’t have cell reception or much of anything else, but it’s a beautiful place. It does have a little “The Shining” vibe, I won’t lie.

I checked in and they had an extra spot, so that worked out! Then I returned to the area to take pictures of the sunset; it was cold, windy, and generally miserable. But the view was worth it.

Slept at the hostel and enjoyed the company.