Another fun highlight of the trip was the day where I took a hike!
I helped out with my friends’ daughter in the morning. (Yeah, yeah, I know, the word “daughter.” Weird how some of us have kids now. Let’s just keep going…)
Anyway, I was helping in the morning, so I didn’t get to Lands End until the afternoon. I figured I’d do a short little hike before the sun went down. What I didn’t realize was – it’s all a short little hike!
San Francisco seems to big (to me, at least) on maps. But then when you start walking around, you start realizing everything is practically right next to everything else. I stopped into the Lands End visitor center (because I love being a tourist – asking questions, getting advice, and meeting people). (Plus I love mugs from gift shops! (Even though I didn’t buy any here.)…
While in the visitor center, I was asking to where I should hike. They were telling me about some places only a couple of miles away. Then someone mentioned, “You could go to the Golden Gate Bridge, but it’s kinda far.” Well, it looked kind of far on the map, but when we started talking about it, I’m pretty sure it was only a bit over 2 miles.
(How is everything so close to everything else?)
So, I headed off, saw some scenery, made it to a beach, ate a delicious kind bar, and then got to the Golden Gate Bridge.
One thing that was funny to me was that I’d always seen these pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge from the side looking so majestic and such. It never really dawned on me that it’s a normal bridge that people drive across with tolls and such. It looks so normal from the front.
(Speaking of the toll, apparently you don’t even pay right there. What I heard is that a picture is taken of your license plate and you get billed later. Is that true? Also, how is that possibly more efficient than people paying right there? …I guess it’s too time consuming to have people stop on the bridge? I dunno.)
I didn’t go across the bridge because I’ll be doing that in the upcoming San Francisco half marathon. But I totally poked around the gift shop. (I love mugs! Though yet again, I didn’t buy one because I haven’t yet gone across the bridge and back.)
I also stopped in at the little food store (which has marked up, pricey snacks, in case you’re wondering). So, pack up, friends!
I then kept on going back through the awesome Presido (where I found a super cool sporting store that was holding a triathlon club meeting with a bunch of super nice people!), ’til I hit the Palace of Fine Arts (which was beautiful. I’d love to see something there). And then I walked on home to my friend’s apartment. Another gorgeous rejuvenating day complete in San Fran!