Tag Archives: San Francisco

San Francisco-ish July 2026

San Francisco gets a bad rap. It’s an amazing place with near perfect weather and a ton of stuff to do in the area and the surrounding area. In the last 1.5yrs I have gone to the San Francisco area three times for fun (https://word.christopherwagner.org/?p=10103, https://word.christopherwagner.org/?p=9968) and this time I brought my family because I enjoyed the solo trips so much.

Why the San Francisco area is great:

The weather was perfect, sunny and upper 60s low 70s every day.
Very easy to get around with lots of options: there are buses, light rails, cable cars, waymos, taxis, walking, bikes, scooters, and, rental cars. The city is built for walking, bikes, and, scooters.
There are a ton of family activities, from free to paid.
There are factory tours/visits like the Jelly Belly factory or Dandelion Chocolates.
The nature around San Francisco is amazing and not well visited because no one goes to San Francisco to visit Henry Cowell State Park to see redwoods, they go to Redwoods National Park. Same is true for Yosemite, Sequioa, Kings Canyon, and so on.
In the city, there are a lot of fabulous to eat, tons of options were available for us at reasonable prices.

Sure, there are some very obvious negatives: the homelessness is absolutely stunning, there is drug use out in the open, and, a handful of the city parks/playgrounds required a city employee to watch the ground so kids / families could play in peace.

But, for us, the pros far far far outweigh the cons. We had a ton of time exploring the surrounding area and I had an absolutely fantastic time going to the Golden Gate Bridge area every morning before the sunrise to watch the fog / nature in quiet solitude.

There were a ton of surprises this trip:

Waymos are extremely polite drivers. When I turned on my blinker to get into a lane the Waymo would give way, not slam on the gas to close the gap. Never did a waymo cut me off or take a right from the far left lane. We thoroughly enjoyed riding around in waymos and I really preferred driving around them vs. the inattentive, speeding, distracted, rude, human drivers.
It is entirely possible to see the Milky Way on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge park / preserve area. One morning I went up to Hawk Hill and was surprised to see not only the Milky Way but also a moon-set over the Pacific. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a moon-set, it was quite beautiful because it happened well before sunrise.
The Golden Gate Bridge area was extremely safe in the early mornings; I saw at least one park / bridge enforcement officer every morning. I was there early, some mornings I was there around 3AM local time. The wildest thing I saw I saw at the Golden Gate Bridge in the early morning was an entirely tame racoon ripping thru a garbage can. It did not care about me and I could not shoo it away.
The massive difference in attendance for local/state parks versus National Parks / Monuments: we visited a handful of state parks filled with redwood trees and peace / solitude. We visited Muir Woods National Monument and we had first entrance time slot. In no time at all the park filled up with tons of very loud people. The redwoods, mountains, and, streams in the state park are awfully similar to the redwoods, mountains, and streams in Muir Woods but there are no people. This reminded me a lot of Vegas: no one goes to Vegas to go hiking and there are a lot of beautiful areas to see / hike. The amazing state and local park areas around San Francisco just aren’t well visited – to our benefit since I don’t go out into nature to listen to someone’s shitty spotify playlist.

There just aren’t that many places in the US where urban stuff, mountain stuff, ocean stuff, kid stuff, and, quiet solitude are all available within a hours drive.

We stayed in the Nob Hill area and it was amazing to find out we had access to three donut shops within walking distance from us. Back to the homelessness: it was fine for me to go out in the early morning to get donuts but don’t think I’d like anyone else in our family do so. That said, I have a fairly simple test to figure out if an area is safe: are women in the area, by themselves, and, running for fun / exercising? This test has helped me out a lot over the years, and, around our hotel there were tons of women out and by themselves in the early hours. So, either there are a bunch of incredibly stupid women in San Francisco, or, it’s quite a bit safer than it looks at first pass.

The first time we went to San Francisco long long long ago we did it entirely wrong. This is well before Google Maps existed and we did some of the typical tourist things on a pretty tight budget but we had no idea what was available because we weren’t good at traveling. This time, I had already visited the area twice by myself, and, we had access to Google Maps / Claude to get ideas on what to do. There was a lot of doubt by some of the travelers that San Francisco would be fun or neat. By the end, we were all in agreement: we’d love to come back. San Francisco is now on the list of “fantastic places we’d return”. The list is pretty short: Boston, Portland, Charlotte NC, and, maybe Florida.

A bit unrelated: on the way over we flew directly over Yosemite, it was super cool to see Half Dome from the plane!

All in all, 10/10. Would go back. Enjoy the photos!

Chris W.

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San Francisco 2025

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What a trip. What a fabulous time. What an incredible area to explore!

I visited the San Francisco area about four / five months ago. I went back because I loved the first visit and wanted to spend more time in the area. Long ago, I went there and we just ‘visited the area wrong’ and left with a fairly poor impression of the area. My visit in fall 2024 made me think we traveled the area incorrectly long ago and this recent trip confirmed it. I also had the unique privilege of being confused as a homeless person, or, at the very least casting doubt on whether I was a productive member of society which was a hilarious experience.

I really wanted to spend time around the big trees. There are redwood groves all around San Francisco, to the north, south, west, and some to the east, all within 30min to two hour drive from downtown. Last time I went north to Armstrong State Park so this time I went south this time into the Felton to visit Henry Cowell State Park, Big Basin State Park, immediately after landing in San Francisco and found myself largely alone in redwood forests – it was incredible.

I was treated to a pretty big surprise – the area had some horrible fires and hiking around the burned forests and slightly recovered forests was amazing. It was wild seeing how redwoods recovered from such horrible fires and I was able to see my very first wild azalea in Big Basin State Park! The non-burned areas were amazing too, I loved my time in Henry Cowell State Park and greatly enjoyed meandering on the trail along a babbling creek as the winds rocked the towering redwoods wayyyy above back and forth. It was truly a treat.

The trip just got better. I’m an early riser so I found myself alone on the highway in the early morning the next day on the way to Santa Cruz. Normally this doesn’t matter but I was surrounded by MASSIVE redwoods so I dropped the convertible top down and putz slowly thru the forest. I visited the pier in Santa Cruz and then headed north along Highway 1. Last time I drove Highway 1 between LA and Monterrey Bay it kind of sucked – lots of cars, pretty drab, lots of winding roads, repetitive scenery for hours. This time was different because all the parks / areas I visited were flowering and super colorful, no one was really on the road since it’s not tourist season, and, it’s a rather short drive between Santa Cruz and San Francisco. This was a far better Highway 1 experience!

The state parks and stopping points I visited along the way to San Francisco had very few people. I found myself a long for quite a few of the visits in Natural Bridge State Park, Wilder Ranch State Park, Butano State Park, and, the numerous stops along the way. It’s strawberry season out there so I stopped by a farm stand and bought some freshly picked strawberries to eat in Butano. I had quite the surprise when I was the only person in Butano and had a chance to eat the the strawberries in solitude while sitting on a fallen redwood straddling a creek in an old growth area of Butano.

I think state parks are where it’s at. National parks are over run by people and my trips to state parks over the last couple years have been nothing but wonderful – far fewer people, decent enough facilities, reasonable admission fees. No one goes to visit state parks in areas with national parks!

San Francisco was a ton of fun too. Once again, I had perfect weather – sunny and 60-70 degrees every day, it was fabulous. The rest of the activities were fun:

Walking from Sausalito to Chinatown along the Golden Gate Bridge and Prominade was a cool experience – I had a lot of fun watching other people over the super long journey, and, it was nice to get the ocean breeze nearly the entire way.
Early morning walking in Nob Hill, Chinatown, Coit Tower, and, the pier areas of San Francisco was great. Eating a freshly made donut in a park in Chinatown during sunrise was 10/10. Seeing the sun rise through the buildings was fantastic and catching the Transamerican Pyramid shadow was super cool. I have a litmus test for whether I am in a safe area and it was clear the Nob Hill and Coit Tower area were safe.
I had a chance to walk some of the stairs and see the parrots! The parrots are LOUD. I heard them long before I saw them!
The cable car was made a lot more fun because I struck up a conversation with the car operator. She answered a ton of my questions about the cable car and life in San Francisco. She even asked me, “So, are you going to move here?”
It was a surprising amount of fun to take an autonomous Waymo and get a ride to the Golden Gate Bridge, there’s something a bit odd about being a passenger in a moving vehicle with no driver.
Overall, I walked ~15.3 miles in the Nob Hill – Chinatown – Pier 33 – Golden Gate – Promenade – Lombard – Chinatown walk only taking a waymo to get from Pier 33 to Golden Gate and a cable car from Chinatown to my hotel in the afternoon. I put an image of the journey in the album.
I also found out, quite hilariously, if a person is wearing hiking shoes, a big floppy sun hat, a sunshirt, long pants, and, wearing a backpack filled with extra layers of clothes and water (San Francisco has some wild temperature differences and there are very few public fountains), then, one can be confused for a local homeless person.

I found a few activities I’d never do again: Alcatraz wasn’t that great, and, the gardens in Golden Gate Park are nice but really small. Overall, the trip was a 10/10 and I walked around 45 miles over three days. On flat ground, that’s not too much but San Francisco and the surrounding mountains in state parks definitely aren’t flat but I would happily do it again 😊.

I have added a bunch of photos below including a lot of wild flowers. I cannot believe the shear amount of flowers I saw during my travels. It was absolutely fantastic.

Enjoy!

Chris W.

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Phoenix / San Francisco 2024

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I managed to engineer another break in my jobs and decided it would be a good time to make a solo trip to Phoenix and San Francisco.

Why? A few reasons:

To hike!
To get somewhere warm; San Francisco is warm even in the ‘winter’.
I have a boatload of American Airlines points and wanted to travel somewhere, anywhere, for free. Phoenix and San Francisco required very few points.
To get a decent bowl of ramen and other delicious, hard to get in the twin cities, Asian foods. This means heading west is best.

Phoenix:

I decided I wanted to hike Camelback in Phoenix which broke my rule: don’t do hikes where people die. I’m not the smartest person on the planet, and, I’m rather “accidenty” so I feel like I have an above average likelihood of injuring / dying while hiking dangerous hikes. Regardless, I’ve been told by numerous individuals that Camelback “isn’t that bad” so I decided to go for it.

Overall, it was a neat-ish hike. I started before sunrise and reached the top three minutes before sunrise. I was mostly alone on the hike and was surprised that I, a flatlander fresh off the plane a day earlier, was able to keep pace with a younger couple who hike the mountain multiple times per week. I found myself mostly alone on the top after sunrise and it was neat to sit and take in the sights / watch the color change even if the Phoenix metro area is a bit fugly. I finished the hike and fully understand why so many people need rescue. That hike was not easy, it felt like it was straight up, and, the danger is ever present.

The rest of my time in Phoenix was quite fun! There were lots of plants flowering and the air had a sweetness smell to it! I had a chance to hike around the Phoenix Preserve, one of my favorite hiking areas, visited the Frank Lloyd Wright Museum, had the most delicious donburi meal at H-Mart, and, went out to the reservation to eat some delicious flat bread tacos and dessert from a literal shack called “The Stand” that very much matched the types of places we bought meals in third world nations.

San Francisco:

I picked San Francisco because I wanted to go hang out with the redwoods outside of San Francisco, and, I wanted to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. It just so happened that the weather was near perfect and all the clouds / fog moved on the morning I arrived. Walking across the Golden Gate to Wagner Battery in the Marin Headlands was a wonderful experience. I was surprised by the shear number of people walking / biking / running across the Golden Gate on a Wednesday mid-day. The number of bicyclists hauling ass without regard for pedestrians was shocking. That said, there is something quite nice about the fresh smelling sea air on the bridge and the same smells mixed with the smell of the lush grasses and forest on the Sausalito side.

I originally planned to drive to Muir Woods National Monument but had a former coworker tell me about Armstrong Redwoods State Park. The state park was bit further drive but was absolutely worth it. I showed up well before sunrise only to find out the park doesn’t open until sunrise. While figuring out what to do, I encountered a park employee and asked him; when I asked him what I should do his reply was hilarious: “I don’t know, no one shows up this early.” I decided to go find a cup of coffee and wait for sunrise. Once I started hiking I found I was one of the few people in the park on an early Thursday morning. It was incredibly cathartic to walk amongst the towering trees on a foggy and calm morning. The smells were incredible, the sounds were incredible. It was wonderful to be in the forest by myself.

One very kind person recommended I head to the ocean since it was a 14 mile drive from Armstrong Redwoods State Park. I’m glad I did, I had the beach to myself and the sun was just right to make rainbows in the mist from the wave – I’ve never seen anything like it!

My hotel was in Chinatown and I spent the rest of the time in San Francisco walking around Chinatown, walking to Coit Tower, and, the very famous pier. The weather was fabulous. Finding a decent dim sum restaurant and ramen place was quite the treat. I didn’t realize San Francisco was so small, in many ways the walkability reminded me of Boston or Portland.

On the flight back I happened to sit next to some other travelers and we had a wonderful chat. One person asked me for recommendations on solo traveling and I was a bit surprised. I’ve never thought about solo travel being its own category of travel, and, since I’m a dude, the number of precautions I need to take is very different than a woman traveling by herself. It was a tough question to answer! After some thought, the only thing I could come back with is: “do you enjoy your own company?” I greatly enjoy and appreciate time alone and time spent in quiet areas. I don’t need to see people, I don’t need to interact with people. Pondering it further, it makes sense that solo travel is pretty easy for someone like myself 😊.

Overall: 10/10 trip. It was awesome.

Enjoy the photos!
Chris W.

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