Forget "I <3 NY," I <3 San Fran

Of all the places in the Continental US this is the place where I could see myself living the most. NYC is too busy, not to mention expensive; Boston is steeped in history but there's not much going on there; DC is alright, if a little boring but San Fran is completely different. First off, it's warm. Secondly, everyone seems to be a lot more relaxed and friendly. Everything's within a walkable distance as well. Sure, it's really expensive here too, but the vibe is something that is invaluable. There's a lot of history here too - the summer of love, the hippie movement, the first place to issue gay marriage licenses and of course, it's home to the infamous Alcatraz.

I finally understand all those songs that were written about San Francisco - "I left my heart in San Francisco"; "Sitting on the dock of the bay" (which until now I didn't know was about San Fran. Thank you internet.)and the aptly named "San Francisco".

I don't know what it is with me now. I used to seem to want to write about EVERYTHING that's happened when I've been in a particular place/ city or wherever I happen to have been but now I'm just kinda lazy I guess. Another example of my laziness is my as yet unfinished Obama story. I don't think I'll get it done, to be honest. Firstly, I don't really know where I'm going with it. Secondly, I'm a bit rusty seeing as I haven't done anything...journalistic in the last 6-8 months. Thirdly, I have no idea what I'm talking about and don't really have time to do research.

Anyways, back to San Fran - I didn't really do much. A driving tour of all the different neighborhoods - The Castro (gay neighborhood); Haight Ashbury which is where all the hippies (nowadays the wannabe hippies) chill and Richmond where all the blue collar workers live. We also drove across the Golden Gate Bridge (I mean, C'mon, it'd be rude not to) and took a few obligatory photo's too. Then into Muir Woods where I took the wrong track and proceeded to get lost and get back to the van over an hour later than I should have (oops). The rest of the trip included Alcatraz, Coit Tower, Lombard St (crookedest st on the planet), Chinatown (several times), Fisherman's wharf and of course, no trip to San Fran is complete without a ride on a cable car. Oh, I also went in search of the Full House house but to no avail...

That's pretty much it for San Fran. I'm off to Seattle tomorrow where I'll mostly be trying to sort everything out for Alaska. To be honest, I'm not too fussed about seeing Seattle. It's meant to be raining while I'm there anyways. I just need to find a decent ski shop to buy everything I need.