San Francisco Road Trip: My Perceptions of San Francisco

I had some preconceived notions about San Francisco before we even left home on this extended weekend whirlwind road trip.  I kept hearing about how expensive things are... Most notably: Parking.  Well, sure--it was expensive, but it seemed to be a lot less of a problem to find parking there.  There seemed to always be a spot somewhere near where we were looking.  We parked free all but one time.  Beat that, Seattle!

Living in the Pacific Northwest has taught me well about traffic.  I spent a decade of my life driving a food delivery truck in our traffic, so I'm very familiar with it.  With that in mind, I didn't find San Francisco to be the least intimidating.  I did, however, find a few of the hills intimidating.  Even the famously worn (but stalwart) Neon had to grunt going up a couple of them.  Although Seattle has a couple hills that are very steep (one or two of them leading east from Pike Place Market come to mind), let me tell you--San Francisco has those beat hands down.  There was a section of road that was almost mind-blowing steep.  1st gear and don't take your foot off the gas, and when you crest the top at the stop sign, make sure your front wheels are over the crown and turn it into a rolling stop!  Whew!

The architecture of San Francisco is very, very evident everywhere you go.  It seemed like almost all the buildings were either so close together that they were almost touching, or they were all one building but had differentiating designs and colors to separate them--They were all that close.  It made for a lot of interesting variety as you drive down the streets.  Lots and lots of bright colors, accents, pinstripes, ornate moldings, and anything else you can think of that would make someone's home unique in some way.  They all had the same protruding window designs, and all had teeny garages if they had them at all.  While that works for cars of 100 years ago and cars of today, I have to wonder what they did during the 40's through 70's when cars where so big.  There is no place in that city where you can park your grandfather's 1958 Bulgemobile.  Maybe they all drove Volkswagens or something similar.  I think that after driving around in San Francisco for a few days, if I ever saw similar building design anywhere else in the country I'd say, "Hey, that's San Francisco style."  I've got it down.

The people of San Fran are fit.  I've never seen so many people walking, running, and riding bicycles as I did there.  If you went to a beachfront area, there were wide, concrete pathways that carried a steady stream of runners.  Ditto the harbor areas.  Everywhere there seemed to be a multitude of wide, safe-from-automotive-interference walkways, and they were well used.  There were lots of tourists doing the "bike thing" too, but they were easily distinguishable from the locals by the fact that they were, (1) slow, (2) they traveled in groups, and (3) slow.

Suzie already dwelt on the many modes of transportation that are available to people of that city in her blog post.  There are so many things to move you around the city.  The cable cars for the hilly terrain of course, and trolleys for flat surface streets.  Trolleys are probably all over the U.S. in various cities, but I really enjoyed the retro look of the trolleys in San Francisco.  They looked old and had that cool, retro style.  The ordinary things like buses, cars, bicycles, trolleys, and taxis are a no-brainer, but when you throw in the unique stuff it gets a little more interesting for sure.  I'm talking about the Segways and the Go-Cars, both of which Suz already mentioned.  For tours, we saw luxury motor coaches, open-top single and double-decker buses, a Model A Touring car, and even Ducks like they have in Seattle.  There are also cops on horseback.  One thing about the cable cars that I was interested to find out:  You don't really think about it, but the cables are running under the street, and they are running all the time whether or not you can even see a cable car from where you are standing.  When you're standing on the street over one of the grooves in the pavement, you can hear it turning down below you.  It kind of makes you wonder about scope of pulleys and gadgetry required to make them operate.  In addition, ponder the fact that they have been operating for 138 years on the same basic concept and design!

I'm not one to dwell on the gay stereotype that is associated with San Francisco, but I admit--I analyzed stuff while I was there.  I saw same-sex couples everywhere.  There was nothing flamboyant about them.  As a matter-of-fact the general populace seemed way more "normal" looking than a lot of people around here are.  There was one picture I wished I would have been able to snap with my camera, but it was one of those fleeting moments that you won't get if your camera wasn't already pointed.  It was just a very plain-looking ordinary guy wearing a black leather jacket that said "Gay.com" on the back of it in white letters.  I don't know--It just seemed to fit the city.

I liked San Francisco.  I wouldn't make another special trip there, but if I were headed anywhere near the area on I-5 I think I would definitely detour myself back over there.  I like a lot of what that city has to offer.  Like many people, I'm one that tends to "romance" a city.  Everything is just so close together and accessible.  You can walk almost anywhere you need to go.  It just looked to me to be a very friendly place.

For a U.S. city...