I flew across the country to visit San Francisco and my lovely friend Denisse this past Easter weekend!
A quick Google search to learn more about the city before my trip:
Hilly, cold, bad, busy today, dirty, windy, foggy, empty, AND cold in the summer – exactly how a city would want to be described!
From what I’ve seen on the news, San Francisco’s reputation seems to have gone down in flames. However, from my four days there, it is actually not as dire as they say.
My deep observations:
San Francisco is a city of contrast
We zoom around in the backseat of a self-driving car listening to Telegraph Avenue (“Oakland”) by Childish Gambino while gazing out at storefronts with cracked glass and penniless homeless people walking on all fours.
What is the weather like in San Francisco? About 10 degrees cooler than you think it is going to be.
I stuffed my trusty JanSport backpack (the same one I’ve had since high school) with a bunch of dresses, running shorts, and cheerful tank tops, fully embracing my California-is-sunny-and-warm delusion. My most used piece of clothing turned out to be my ex-roommate’s ski jacket. On my first day, I naively set off to explore Haight-Ashbury in running shorts until it randomly became cloudy and chilly (still 65 degrees but somehow felt colder than a March day in NY).
Everywhere is farther away than it looks on Google Maps
I may have severely underestimated how long it takes to get from one neighborhood to another... (or even just down the street within the same neighborhood.) This is partially due to the steep, rolling hills. As someone who thought she was moderately fit, I've been humbled, like everyone on LinkedIn. Additionally, I realized I’ve been absolutely spoiled by New York City’s public transit, where CitiBike stations are prolific and subways and buses appear every two minutes! On my first day here, we were driving on a street with such a vertical incline that I was terrified that my Uber would start rolling backwards. Nevertheless, you get to save on gym membership here and your calves will naturally become ripped. There are also random peaks throughout the city which give you magnificent, panoramic views of the city. Anyways, MUNI is such a cute name for a mass-transit system, and I’m a big fan of the BART! I heard from my genius friend Denisse that they use the sounds of the BART going in the underwater tunnel from downtown SF to Oakland in horror movies.
Daily Journal (shortened/less TMI'ed version of my notes):
Friday, 4/18/25: On Good Friday, I woke up late at 6:15AM and bolted out of the door to take the E Subway and AirTrain to JFK. I prefer JFK over Newark though people say that Newark is closer to Hell’s Kitchen. Newark is closer to Hell. I was the absolute last person to board the flight (thank God for TSA Precheck). Got super lucky since I was in the last row of the plane by the window (and the middle seat was empty) so it was spacious and I got to read on the plane! Landed around 1 PM, hopped on the BART into downtown SF, and immediately went to explore the hip Haight Ashbury, where I browsed through vintage clothing stores, cafes, and a music shop. I loved observing all of the pretty pastel Victorian houses, including the Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin house!
Amoeba Music where you can get lost in rows and rows of records, CDs, old DVDs, and posters
Later in the afternoon, I rented a bike from Avenue Cyclery and biked through the magical Golden Gate Park, passing by the bison paddock, a roller skating ring, bumpy dirt trails, a rose garden, and vast flower meadows! Eventually, I reached Ocean Beach and biked along the highway by the ocean views and sand dunes. Then I went to a pole class at V3rve (shoutout to Sara for the rec). Finally, I ended the night in Chinatown and at Vesuvio Cafe- the birthplace of the martini.
And honestly as a depressed ex-UChicago kid SAME!!!!
The atmosphere felt exactly like high schoolers vibing outside in an early 2000s romcom (something about soaking up the sun.. on actual grass! 0_0)
We had some delicious Burmese food from Burmese Love and watched new moon ✨. I never noticed it when I was younger, but now I noticed that Jacob is actually incredibly manipulative and lowkey putting thoughts into Bella’s mind. Still, team Jacob 4eva.
Sunday, 4/20/2025: Woke up early, grabbed a Lime scooter, and zipped around the misty streets of North Beach, seeing Coit Tower. I also went to Café Trieste (an old-school Italian cafe where Coppola famously scribbled out the Godfather screenplay over endless cups of espresso) and City Lights Bookstore.
In the afternoon, I met up with my friend Ashley outside of Soko Hardware in Japantown. Turns out there happened to be a Cherry Blossom Festival that day! We had lunch at Copras, eating a dosa bigger than our wingspan.
We headed to Mission Dolores Park, where everyone in the city decided to congregate that afternoon. It was PACKED and people were vibing and trying to sell weed.
After asserting our dominance through the crowds for a bit, we wandered the neighborhood, exploring all of the niche shops lining the streets and admiring the beautiful murals. There was a random taxidermy shop! I thought all the animals were fake, but the majority of them were real… very unsettling honestly.
We also browsed Dog Eared Books and indulged in a nontrovial amount of desserts at Dandelion Chocolate, including an apple pie-esque dessert and elevated smores, and lychee cocao smoothie.
Then, I smoked my way over to Little Italy where we had dinner in a lovely Italian restaurant with Denisse and her SF friends!
Monday, 4/21/2025:
On Monday, we left the city behind and drove an hour north, chasing the mist all the way to Muir Woods. Wowww- it felt like slipping into another world! Walking (and let’s be honest, occasionally hustle jogging and hurdling over the roots) along the trails was pure magic. The trail we took wound through ancient redwoods with THICK trunks that soared impossibly high into the sky. Clovers stretched across the earth like soft green carpets, and fallen logs lay scattered like forgotten ships abandoned in a lush sea of ferns.
Afterwards, we had seafood for lunch at Sausalito, a seaside town. I was absolutely wiped, so I curled up for a much-needed nap on Denisse’s couch before catching the 10:30 PM redeye out of SFO, landing back in NYC at 7:30 AM.
This trip was so needed – it felt so refreshing to see old friends again and to explore a new place, and I have returned to NY with a renewed vigor and inspiration for life! For example: the day after I returned, I finally started on my goal of mastering 10 new recipes this year (starting with sundubu, a spicy Korean tofu stew.). Admittedly, I spent half the time reading the recipe aloud commanding my friend Joseph to chop up the green onions. My real culinary contribution was tossing in the gochujang and aromatics.
I secretly just LOVE San Francisco – I kinda wish I grew up here *.* It is such a special place - vibrant, culturally rich, filled with fresh fruits and kale and bubble tea, surrounded by truly beautiful wilderness, and fog/sun/fog again!
