Travels by the Bay

Let me indulge you with Mercedes’ and my travels in the city by the bay. After arriving in Concord on Wednesday night and staying up late watching “Twilight,” we set off the next morning with the family GPS and San Francisco guide book (courtesy of Mercedes’ niece). Without either of those things, I’m sure we would have wound up in a ditch somewhere (as one of our skeptical friends assumed). We drove over the Bay Bridge and into the Mission District until we landed in the historical Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, famous for its laid back hippie lifestyle. After posing in front of the photographic intersection, we perused Amoeba Records, one of the last independent record stores around. The one in San Francisco, although small, still has that hippie feel that has permeated this neighborhood for decades.After a brief lunch in a Pakistani-Indian restaurant, where all the employees were Latino, Merci and I headed over to Golden Gate Park, a beautiful area the likes of New York’s Central Park, that spans from the bay to downtown. There, despite signs warning against consuming drugs and alcohol, all we could smell was marijuana. After driving around to the other side of the park and getting told off by an angry driver, we arrived at the center of the park and walked around the Japanese Tea Garden, where we posed like giddy school girls for about an hour. Our camera friendly antics caused us to get locked in; luckily we managed our way out…

Later, like any tourist visiting SF after the release of “Milk,” we headed to Castro Street, where we posed in front of the Castro Theatre, were mistaken for a lesbian couple, and were humbled by the openness of the area.

The next couple of days were spent wrapped in jackets and scarves as the city is known for its chilly windy weather.  We visited Fisherman’s Warf and ate clam chowder and fried seafood and walked the Golden Gate Bridge.  Not to mention that we drove past the San Franciscso Giants baseball stadium and Chinatown, and drove up and down the very steep and crooked Lombard Street.

Before we realized it, it was time to go home. After taking a wrong turn and winding up on the I-5 North instead of South and getting stuck in Easter Sunday 101 traffic, we made it home hours before returning to the daily grind of CSUN life.

Although Merci and I went to perform journalistic duties in Northern California, we did also get to enjoy our spring break clicking away at our cameras dressed as tourists.