First few days in San Francisco

Great corner, at Columbus Ave and Kearny St

After three days driving from Los Angeles to San Francisco I arrived on Stanford University campus to return the rental car and meet up with my brother.  I really enjoyed the drive north on the highway 1, but to be honest I could have spent another day or two doing it a little slower and walking some of those epic beaches I witnessed up the coast.  I would happily do that drive again!

I arrived in San Francisco and was greeted by my brother, his wife and their two children; my niece and nephew!  It was my first time meeting these two and they were amazing!!  Over the next few days they warmed up to me a little and we had a lot of fun getting to know each other.  Truly it was a real treat to get to hang with the whole family, as they welcomed me into their home and we got to catch up quite a bit.  Personal highlights included getting the whole family into the hot tub one evening and a great wild night with my brother late in the week.

During the week, while kids were at school and family was working, I made trips into San Francisco which is about an hour by Caltrain from Palo Alto.  This gallery contains photos from two trips into the city.  On the first visit I walked the Embarcadero which wraps around the north end of the city on the water.  I walked from AT&T Stadium to Pier 39 where things get quite touristy, so I cut in to the city hopping a cable car to the top of Nob Hill where I had a poke around.  I then walked down to Market Street at explored downtown before hopping the Caltrain to get back for dinner in Palo Alto.

On my second visit to the city I tried out the Bay Area Rapid Transit, or BART which had just returned to work after a strike.  I rented a bicycle near Pier 39 with the plan to ride towards the Golden Gate Bridge and perhaps over the bridge to Presidio.  As I approached the Western facing area of the bridge I was met with a wall of fog, I could not even see the bridge!  I slowed my pace as since the bridge was fogged in I had decided not to ride over it.  Soon after I realized that my rental bicycle had a flat tire!  So I had to walk the bike back to the shop, fortunately I was able to exchange the bike at another rental shop not far from where I was.  Thus I decided to drop the wheels and walk across the city back to the Caltrain station.  I walked Columbia Ave through to the Financial District stopping in at the Thirsty Bear Brewery for a pint before heading back to Palo Alto for dinner and time with the family.