San Francisco, Day 4

So i ended up not doing Anchor Steam or Alcatraz yesterday...Anchor Steam tour was booked and couldn't find a ferry that would actually take you to the island; seems like every place was just offering ferry rides that took you around the bay and circled the island but didn't actually let people off! i did do one touristy thing though, rode a cablecar a couple blocks up Hyde street from the Wharf to Pacific Ave...then bussed over to Fort Point and got some great pics of the Golden Gate Bridge...after that, went down to Golden Gate Park...it was great! i put away my map and guidebook and just let myself get lost in the park...spent a lot of time in the San Francisco Botanical Gardens/Arboretum, a really beautiful place with tons of great plants, nice landscaping, and all kinds of random little paths going off in all directions, perfect for aimless wandering...also saw the Japanese Tea Garden in the park, which was kind of hokey/touristy...in general, yesterday was a little annoying because, being friday, the city filled up with tourists much more than the previous couple of days...but that was the nice thing about the botanical gardens, there weren't too many tourists wandering around and it was very quiet and tranquil...

...after the park, grabbed a couple beers on the Haight (closest neighborhood when i came out of the eastern end of the park), then bussed over to South of Market to meet up with my friend Sameer, we did a little barhopping in his neighborhood, saw some pretty cool places, i met some of his friends from the neighborhood and got a pretty good drunk on!

...anyways, it's been a fun/crazy 4 days in San Francisco, but i think i'm definitely ready to move on and leave the city behind me...the road beckons! the plan at this point is to cross over the Golden Gate Bridge, probably stop in Sausalito for brunch, then head up to Point Reyes! doubt i'll be able to blog from the hostel in Point Reyes, so the next post might not go up until i get to Sonoma sunday afternoon!