On the second Tuesday of each month we share a segment on our blog we call "What we do when we're not on tour." This week, we invite you to journey with Jared on his recent trip to "The Concrete Jungle."
I recently adventured to San Francisco for the first time to meet up with some friends from college. I made it to the city late on Friday with just enough time to catch the last two periods of the Bruins game and head to bed. On the following day, after a wonderful breakfast outside in the sun, we started our first day by renting bikes and traveling to Golden Gate Park. We were stunned by the beauty and wildness of the park. After biking around for a while, we decided to visit the Japanese Tea Garden.
The natural beauty and serenity of the garden was amazing. It was very pleasant walking between the perfectly manicured trees and flowers while taking in the beautiful aroma of all the flowers. While exploring the gardens, we discovered that we were at the site where a gentleman named Makoto Hagiwara first introduced the fortune cookie to America in 1914, which I thought was pretty neat. After spending quite a bit of time in the gardens we decided to move on and explore more of the park. The next stop we made was at Stow Lake. We spent a fair bit of time walking around the lake and up Strawberry Hill for an overview of the city. On the way down we went by a wonderful waterfall by the name of Huntington Falls.
We spent some more time biking before we went to the San Francisco Botanical Gardens. This garden is 55 acres of stunning vegetation that boasts over 8,000 species from all over the world. I truly enjoyed the Ancient Plant Garden and the Garden of Fragrance. I am always an advocated for taking time in nature to slow down and smell the flowers, and this was the perfect place to do it. When we had seen everything we decided it was time for food. After dinner we decided to head to Cellarmaker Brewing Company’s tasting room. Of the many beers we sampled I would have to say the Double Comfy Pants IPA was my favorite.
Our next day started off by meeting up with some old friends and coworkers from Maine. We then went over to the Muir Woods National Monument where we decided to hike the Dipsea Trail.
It was a stunning hike that was split between a gorgeous coastal ridgeline and beautiful redwood trees. Upon completion of the hike we ended at Stinson Beach. The weather at the Stinson Beach was about 55 degrees and windy, but that wasn’t going to stop me from enjoying a nice swim in the Pacific Ocean.
On the final morning of the journey, we had just enough time to visit the Golden Gate Bridge. It was not only a stunning view, but it was also fascinating learning about the process of building the bridge. I really enjoyed experimenting with some of the hands on exhibits they had in order to help fully understand the physics behind the design of the bridge, as well as reading all of the interpretive signage available.
