My daughter Elizabeth and I took a trip to San Francisco last summer. She had been asking to go see the redwood trees for the past year, so it was a natural choice for us when deciding where we wanted to go for our summer vacation.
It was my second trip to the Bay Area in as many years, and I find myself falling a little more in love with that part of the county every time I go. There’s something about it that feels like a different world in the best possible way.
The Argonaut Hotel
We stayed at the Argonaut Hotel, chosen for its location on the waterfront near Fisherman’s Wharf and Ghirardelli Square. It’s a bit pricey (what isn’t in SF?), but the service was excellent and we genuinely enjoyed our stay. It also shares a building with a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream parlor, which Elizabeth considered a major amenity and which we made ample use of throughout the trip.
Right across the street from the hotel is Aquatic Park Beach and, despite the temperature being in the mid-60s, Elizabeth insisted on swimming. She was also adamant that we get out there at sunrise almost every morning to hunt for seashells before anyone else arrived. Being on the beach in the early morning fog, just the two of us, was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip.
Playing Tourist
The location of our hotel put us within easy walking distance of a lot of the classic San Francisco tourist experiences. Pier 39 was just a few blocks away, and we made several visits out there. We rode the cable cars, walked down the famously crooked Lombard Street, checked out the Musée Mécanique (a wonderfully strange collection of antique arcade machines), and took a spin on the Skystar Wheel for a bird’s-eye view of the bay.
We also made several trips to Golden Gate Park throughout the week. We visited all three of the parks gardens: the Japanese Tea Garden, the Conservatory of Flowers, and the San Francisco Botanical Garden. At the Tea Garden we had tea and mochi overlooking a large koi pond, which was a highlight for both of us.
We also made it to the de Young Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Exploratorium, the Children’s Creativity Museum, and the California Academy of Sciences. And yes, we stopped into an Apple Store – where we had the fortunate timing of joining a Today at Apple session on using iMovie on the iPad. Elizabeth was extremely excited to end up on the big screen!
Waymo
For anything outside of walking distance, we got around almost exclusively in Waymos. This was my first time in a self-driving car of any kind, and I’ll admit I was a little apprehensive going in. However, when the alternative is getting around in Ubers with drivers that can never seem to put down their phones, I quickly decided it couldn’t be any more dangerous. I was extremely impressed with the service. We had zero issues, and it was amazing how quickly the novelty wore off. Elizabeth was amazed for about the first thirty seconds and then it became normal for her. She was more excited about the Waymos letting us pick whatever music we wanted for the trip. She chose Weird Al every time.
Muir Woods
Visiting the Muir Woods National Monument was the whole reason for the trip, and it ended up being a personal highlight – though Elizabeth seemed to be a bit underwhelmed.
Getting there required some planning. We didn’t have a car, and you can’t easily Uber to the site, because cell service is essentially nonexistent out there – which rules out ride-share entirely for the return trip. Instead, we took an Uber to a parking lot several miles away and caught a pre-booked shuttle to the woods. The shuttle sells out weeks in advance, so this all had to be arranged long before we left home.
We spent about three hours out there before having to catch the shuttle back. It was enough time to walk a couple of miles through the forest and browse the gift shop. Elizabeth spent a lot of her time looking for banana slugs and drawing pictures of the trees in her sketch book. Despite the trees towering so high you can barely see the tops and literally standing inside a couple of them, Elizabeth’s final verdict was “I thought they’d be bigger”.
I loved it. If I could do it again, I’d give us closer to half a day to give us more time to soak in the sights and to tackle some of the longer trails.
We did get a chance to get a bit more hiking in on the Batteries to Bluffs trail, which runs alongside the Golden Gate Bridge with stunning view of both the bridge and the Pacific Ocean. It’s a beautiful walk and work making time for, if you’re in the area.
Alcatraz
Alcatraz was another highlight. Walking through that place and seeing the actual conditions people lived in made history feel so much more real than any documentary ever could. We took the excellent self-guided audio tour that really helped us make sure we didn’t miss any details and fully understood everything we were looking at.
We also had the good fortune of being there at the same time as William Baker – the last living former Alcatraz inmate. He was 92 years old at the time, and was on the island signing copies of his memoir, Alcatraz #1259. Alcatraz feels like ancient history until you’re looking in the face of someone with that kind of direct connection. I later learned that Baker had also done time at Leavenworth at one point during his criminal career, which made the encounter even more personal for me – having grown up in the Leavenworth area.
One thing that strikes me every time I visit the Bay Area is how much it feels like somewhere I belong. In Kansas, the billboards advertise personal injury lawyers, adult toy stores, and the occasional apocalyptic warning. In San Francisco, they’re advertising software products and developer tools. The ads on the sides of buses are for cloud infrastructure companies. It’s a small thing, but there’s something quietly thrilling about being somewhere where the ambient noise of the culture is aimed at someone like me.
We’ll be back. Maybe Elizabeth will decide the trees were big enough after all.
