One of the coolest things about my workplace is that we get an entire week off for celebrating the 4th of July. I figured this would be a good time for my first post-COVID trip since I was fully vaccinated and had some travel money saved. I decided to embark on a train ride from LA to San Francisco aboard the Coast Starlight – something I’ve wanted to do for a while. I had driven through the Golden Gate Bridge with my cousin last year and spent a few hours in San Francisco. This time, with a week to spend, I figured I could get a better feel of the city and couple of its neighboring spots. A couple of my friends from UT Dallas were interested in exploring San Francisco so they visited me in LA for a couple of days before we took off for our summer holiday on Friday, the 2nd.
The train ride was what I was most excited about. And boy, did it live up to the hype! We started from Union Station in Los Angeles at 10.10 am. While the first hour or so from LA is just views of the city, the stretch just before Santa Barbara up to San Luis Obispo is spectacular to say the least. The train has an observation car which became my office for the day!
The crashing blue waves on one end and the horizon blending into the clear blue sky on the other – I couldn’t take my eyes off if it. The observation car was fully occupied for those couple of hours and I met a couple of interesting fellow travelers too.
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Our first day in SFO was as dedicated to the Golden Gate Bridge. Thankfully for us, the bus and ferry rides were free for the 4th July weekend. So we hopped onto a bus and reached the bridge – walking across the bridge from one end to the other and back. I hadn’t walked that much in a long time. The views from the bridge are truly magnificent. The city on one side, the woods on the other and clear blue-green water all in between. The bridge was full of people of all ages from all over the world. As we walked on the walkway, I noticed motorcyclists performing stunts on the bridge, bicycle riders pacing on the other side (dedicated to bikes), couples getting all mushy, children running around, families clicking pictures… it is very touristic and yet so refreshing.
The bus back to the hotel was eye-opening and exposed some parts of the underbelly of downtown San Francisco. Some streets were full of garbage and home to junkies just sitting/walking around. I felt a bit intimidated thinking what I’d do if I were to find myself walking on one of these streets. Some others were fancy with patio seats of trendy restaurants.
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The next day, we took the ferry ride to the next available ferry. And to our delight – it was to this beautiful island of Sausalito. A beautiful, Greek-like island, Sausalito was a breath of fresh air. A marvelous place to take a walk and enjoy great views with hip restaurants, coffee shops, ice cream parlors, Sausalito quickly became the best part of our trip. That was till the next day when we visited Monterey.
So one of my friends wanted to take a drive to check out this bridge from the show Big Little Lies – the Bixby Creek bridge. We rented an car and started in the morning. While it took longer than expected because of traffic (4 hours instead of 2), we were quite happy with the last stretch of the drive as it was flanked by scenic views of fog-clad hills and pristine beaches. After a mandatory photo shoot at the bridge, we decided to stop by a trail on the way back. And that’s where we all found our favorite part of the trip.
The trail on Garrapata state park is straight out of a romantic song in a Bollywood movie. It’s surrounded by green landscapes and flowers, clean, quiet beaches, hills kissing the clouds and an X-factor I cannot even begin to describe. No matter which direction I turned in, there was a magnificent view sweeping me off the floor. We walked around for a while, then found a spot and sat quietly just to take it all in. We didn’t want to leave but realized that no amount of time there would be enough. So, after another walk through the trail, we headed back to the urban hoopla of downtown SFO.
Our last day in San Francisco was all about street walks and shopping. My friends then left for Dallas while I visited some other friends in Pleasanton and Sunnyvale. It was great to see high school buddies who are now parents to adorable kids. I took the flight back from San Jose to Burbank with a full heart and a wide smile.