We go to the top of the Twin Peaks, visit the Conservatory, walk through the Golden Gate Park, Head over to Ocean Beach and see the Cliff House and Sutro Baths ruins, Watch the Sunset, and head back to the Twin Peaks for the fireworks at midnight. Definitely not a normal day in my life.
I am going to try to document a lot more of my days and post them here, I find it really helps with my photography, and gets me to take more pictures.
I still have the rest of the 2 whole weeks trip to edit and post photos of. Including all the other days in Sf, and the drive back to Indiana, through Vegas and all.
First thing's first in the morning, get ready. There are no time checks, sorry I forgot, but the day starts around 8 am and ends after midnight.
Check the weather, the perspiration means its sunny! The first day with no fog in the past 3, exiciting when you're visiting SF and actually want to be able to see things. (Tried seeing the Golden Gate Bridge the previous 2 days to no avail.)
Jump in the car, one of the only days we ride in it all week. We usually walked or took the MUNI busses or trains.
But this morning we wanted to go see the city from atop the Twin Peaks, which I heard was an amazing photography spot. Got a ride with my boyfriend's dad.
And it was, an amazing view. The downtown area is ahead, center.
I love how all of the houses are packed together and built up on hills.
Beyond the water in the East Bay (Oakland). The street running straight into downtown in Market, these are all things I learned from my week in SF.
The Golden Gate Bridge can be seen on the left.
Head back home and properly get dressed and ready, was woken up quite early to go to The Twin Peaks. I look exhausted; This was our 6th day in SF and we walked more than 7 miles around the city each day, not something I am used to.
Next we get dropped off at The Conservatory of flowers, in the North eastern corner of Golden Gate Park. They have an exhibit over the old PlayLand that used to be in SF during the early 1900s.
I love this building.
Gargoyle.
Anything regarding the Sutro Baths is fascinating to me, as we are going to see their ruins later on. The Wiki.
Playland at the conservatory.
They had a miniature train set up with a miniature Playland.
Did some reading about the baths.
The Cliff House is a house built, literally, on the cliffs and has been rebuilt several times. We go by it later on.
Walked out into the conservatory's main area, with flowers, trees, different rooms with different climates, etc. I don't normally like flowers, but they are a great subject for photography.
It's a Victreebel!
After the conservatory we enter the park and start walking west.
There is a lot to see in the park, museums, fountains, etc.
And the Japanese Tea Garden, our next stop. And much better than expected.
We recently got into tea drinking, so this was pretty nice.
Mochi.
Continue walking through the park.
We check our progress. In the end we walked around 4 miles, I think. Starting from the bottom right, and going all the way out at the top.
Eucalyptus, rampant around SF, invasive species they say, also smells amazing.
The park was a great break from city walking the whole week, a big difference from cement and brick exhaust. Amazing how they have such a big park right in the middle with ponds and rivers.
Right after getting out of the park.
One of my favorite pictures, with volleyball players shirtless in the background, winter in SF is much much different than winter in Northern Indiana.
Seal rock, someone apparently tight rope walked from there to the cliff house, back in the day. Read that on the sign for the Cliff House back at the conservatory.
The cliff house can be seen up ahead.
Behind the Cliff House was a giant camera obscura, one of my favorite parts of the day.
The lens is at the top of the building and is slowly rotating around, showing different parts of the beach, rocks, and Cliff house, and reflects down onto a curved "canvas"
Right behind the Cliff House was the ruins from the former Sutro Baths.
Of course we climb around in the ruins.
We find a cave with a small crevice where the tide can be seen.
Some daring rock climbers scale the rocks on the other side of the cave.
I am all for this kind of exploration, and right beside the ocean?! Yep.
I took a bunch of wave pictures, to make a GIF of them later, being from Indiana I don't see this too often.
Back on the bus for a ride, to some huge orange bridge.
Bus change.
These are what the cables are made of.
We get a ride down to the ocean right before sunset. I heard those were good too.
So did they.
The Cliff House in the distance.
Dusk right after 5 pm.
I am not sure how this photo of silhouettes ending up looking as if it was from the 1930s, but it did. And I like it.
Hop on the train, back to where we are staying.
After searching for that nights dinner we decide Ethiopian.
Interesting, a vegetarian platter you eat with your hands and the spongy bread seen below.
Next I get ready for New Years Eve celebration, making this around 9pm. We planned on taking the Muni downtown, to see the crowds, fireworks, and nightlife, from down there.
But after waiting 25 minutes for a train to come by, and seeing it was already packed to the brim with people, we decided heading up to the peaks, again, sounded like a better idea.
We stock up on some snacks and drinks, gummies and flat tire.
And take the car up to the top. There ended up being a lot of people here too, but much more manageable than that packed train.
We sat for an hour and waited for the fireworks to go off, and mark the coming of a New Year.
Everyone cheered and hollered. You could hear bursts of celebration coming from the different districts down below.
A good start to a new year.
Then we drive home, exhausted from all the walking, and the chilly night. (This is not where we stayed, just a shot from the window of the car.)
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