March 20th, 2009 – March 23rd, 2009

Spring Break 2009… I don’t know what to say. I do believe, without a doubt, that it was the best spring break ever! San Francisco was the destination, and I was flying solo. The reason of the travel was to have a great time and visit my brothers who live in the city – the experience was more than great… It was impacting.

The last time I visited San Francisco was several years ago. It was a day excursion my parents and I took from San Jose (if I recall correctly). I am amazed how, although we physically passed through the city by vehicle, so much richness – so much content and culture and life was missed when visually sampling such an extensive social powerhouse through the millimeters-thick temperlite glass of a car window. We toured Pier 39, looked up towards the sky to acknowledge Coit Tower, grapvined our way down Lombard Street, and walked Golden Gate Bridge. At that time, whatever the age I was, I was so blind to how posh (yes… I said posh) and diverse this entire city was. Then again… I was young, naive, and still learning. Back then, we saw the greatest tourist locations (which was great), but in essence, we failed to discover the city’s heartbeat.

Spring Break 2009… I am so pleased that I was able to explore the city like citizen San Franciscans do throughout their daily lives. I was shown around the many characteristic districts of seven-mile wide but unfathomably deep San Francisco, such as the Tenderloin, Castro, Financial, Mission, Russian Hill, Golden Gate, Fisherman’s Wharf, and briefly North Beach. We walked so many miles zig-zagging block after block – but it was amazingly unforgettable.

I originally arrived in San Francisco and was startled to find out that my brother did not drive to the airport… Instead, San Franciscans commonly travel by public transportation, and taxi in more time-critical instances. We took a nice ride on BART from SFO to the Powell Street station. Then, for experience-sake, we hopped aboard a cable car that transported us up those infamously terraneous streets, and finally to the intersection of our destination. I stayed the three nights I visited at one of my brother’s apartment on metropolitan Russian Hill – I find the neighborhood very inhabitable to my likings. His shared apartment is on the third floor of one of those classically narrow, vintage buildings, and the innards are pretty comfortable in my opinion. “The Missing Sock” laundromat is just outside and up the street a few steps – über conveniently located and quite an accomodating touch to the traditional view of urban life. I love it! We dined at a quite few unique restaurants. Something I really enjoyed about San Francisco is the originality of the majority of its commercial composition. Chain/brand stores are quite stark, as SF strictly controls the flow of business such that money can be reinvested in its economy. This makes for a wonderful experience. Everywhere you go, everything is unique.

On the evening of Saturday, March 21st, we dined at a neat location just a few doors down from the apartment called Sushi Groove. This was like fine dining done Japanese style, yet with a casual atmosphere. We ordered a variety of different rolls – and now forever on I can really enjoy sushi. I never used to be able to tolerate such food – but since I was in such a glorious city having such an amazing adventure, I figured why not give something new a try. Sushi Groove changed my life… Well… It was definitely amazing, and later that week at the Washington Square Mall back in Oregon, I actually purchased sushi for lunch – something I had never done before. Another location that particularly strikes my memory was this café of which I unfortunately cannot remember the name. It was a long and fairly narrow coffee shop, and the lines of eager customers never died down. There were many people at tables chatting and doing work and conversing – it was definitely a social hotspot. The creamer in the coffee is poured at the end of the process, and the coffee people artistically swirl in a heart design – it’s something that makes you step back and consider the formulaic business routine of such companies like Starbucks. Back at home, Starbucks or Peet’s Coffee is the norm… but in San Francisco, the possibilities are endless – whether it be discovering all the neat coffee shops, finding the best laundromats nearby, learning the fastest public transportation roues, or checking out the finest meatmarkets.

We adventured to several different parks while I visited. On the first full day (Saturday), we played flag football at Golden Gate Park. On Sunday, I saw both Valencia Park (had a great hillside just to chillax on) and Buena Vista Park (had an awesome view of San Francisco – well worth the many steps and steep hills to climb). On Monday, we walked the Golden Gate Bridge – and that is when something really neat fully struck me. There is this skyscraper called Pyramid Transamerica in the Financial District – and among all the high-rise buildings, the Transamerica building is recognizable by it’s pyramid-like shape. It was so fascinating to truly see and grasp all the locations I had traveled within the past three days. I could see it from Russian Hill, Golden Gate Bridge, Buena Vista Park, and more obviously when I was at the Fisherman’s Wharf. I bled through this city, and now it bled through me. It was hard to leave for home that evening, and on the plane, I peered out the window onto the glowing city at night, and I watched it as long as I could before it slipped away from the edge of the window.

I had such an unforgettable time, and we did so much that I cannot remember it all and be able to blog about it in a semi-orderly fashion. I would return to San Francisco in a heartbeat – and I’m contemplating what kind of future I may have there if I choose to make it part of reality. I am saddened as I find myself readjusted to this life here in Oregon that I have know for so long – I miss the thrill, the adventure, the urban freshness – the life I lived for such few days. I guess one can say, I truly left my heart in San Francisco.