As you know I wrote my last post while flying over Greenland on our way to San Francisco. A few days of jet lag brain followed that, but luckily we were in sunny Sausalito, which was a great place to start this last leg of the trip.
Sausalito is on the San Francisco Bay across the Golden Gate Bridge from downtown San Francisco. It is very picturesque and in May, very relaxed. But it is a tourist town and apparently gets very congested in the summer. It has a walking path and bike path for miles along the waterfront and is very green. It was sunny with a big blue sky and most surprisingly, we felt right at home as it is just full of Australian native plants. They are everywhere, both shrubs and trees, and being spring the bottle brush was in full bloom. Who knew?
I went on a walk with a local to get some history and insights (another of those experiences that you book on Airbnb) and he told me that the trees were planted during the gold rush, by Australians who came to find their fortune. As the eucalyptus are fast growing they thought they could make money on the timber but it was found not to be suitable as a building material there. So now they have these eucalypt covered hills adding to the fire danger!
But there are so many paperbarks and a myriad of other plants used as streetscape that it must have been a council policy at some stage. They are certainly thriving there and they add to the general gorgeousness of the place.
My guide, Ben, told me a lot of the history of the area, which was a hot house of creativity, especially music, in the sixties and seventies. Carlos Santana , Van Morrison, Fleetwood Mac, Janis Joplin, you name them, they all lived there at some stage during the height of its house boat alternative community heyday. “Dock of the Bay” was written there………………….
From there we caught the ferry over to downtown San Francisco to buy some items we couldn’t get in Sausalito and were shell shocked by that little foray. It was crowded, of course, but also noisy, dirty and just generally unpleasant. I was spat at by a guy I happened to look at who was marching at great speed with his bedroll on his back. That was not enough to put us off on its own (it didn’t land on me, by the way) but was part of the whole unhappy vibe.
It seemed on that short exposure to be one of the least attractive cities I have visited, with not much to recommend it. Though we did only walk from the ferry through the financial district and as far as China Town, which we did not explore.
So when we return from the national parks we are going to stay at Sausalito again instead of in the heart of San Francisco, near Union Square, which we had booked, and just take the hop on hop off to have a look round. I met a guy on my walking tour in Helsinki who was from Oakland, which is very near San Francisco. He told me SF has become a dirty and dangerous place in the last five years and I really did not want to believe him . I cant speak for dangerousness, but dirty , yes, I agree.
From Sausalito we went by car, train to Fresno, then rental car, to arrive at the end of a long day in Sequoia National Park. But more of that in my next post.
At the train station we had another of those experiences of people going out of their way to make sure we got on the correct platform . We are finding Americans to be very friendly, polite and articulate. A lot of people who have served us in shops and so on are willing to have a long chat and we have been delighted by their accents and outgoing ways. They do have trouble with our accent though, and I am resorting to making myself sound more American (not hard) so that they can understand me more easily!
See you in Sequoia!
Cool!! we walked over that bridge TO Sausalito and then took the ferry back…so nice you’re covering ground where we’ve been. Interesting to hear about SF. We recall MANY homeless people (drugs and mental health issues) on the streets…very sad. And that was 15 years ago. Obviously got worse.
xx
HI Celeste. Nowadays nearly everyone rides a bike across the bridge to Sausalito, then gets the ferry back. Its a thing, and actually it was considering that that made me hit on it as a place to stay, as I loved the look of it. Did you go to Yosemite as well? We are there now. Xx
Interesting! I may be in that part of the world either later this year or early next year en route to…. Central America!!!!
I remember taking the kids to SF when they were little. We were shocked by all the beggars in the downtown area, and yes, I agree it had a generally “grotty” feel to it! My son emptied his little pockets of all his pocket money (around $1) and deposited in a paper coke cup being held by one of the homeless men. My daughter, several years older and much more money-conscious, almost had a fit and would have grabbed it back if she’d been allowed!
We then drove up to Lake Tahoe and Yosemite which we adored, though the kids were terrified they were going to be eaten by bears!
Looking forward to the next instalment!!
HI Keston. We just saw a bear! It ran over the road as we were driving just on dark. How exciting! Jock is a bit worried about them but I am hoping to get a good sighting . We are at Yosemite now. Amazing!!
Where are you off in your upcoming trip? Xxxx
We only spent a short time in Sausalito on a day trip, but I just love the word for a start. As I recollect, it’s near Muir Woods which was our main reason for doing the day trip.
As for SF – parts of it are beautiful – but our policy was to avoid cities as much as possible and keep to the country. When we did our big north west trip we bypassed Portland, Seattle and Vancouver. So, I say, do it. Enjoy the countryside.
And I’m glad you are finding the people friendly. We always have.
HI Sue. You are right, its not far from Muir Woods , about a 20 minute drive. We didn’t have a car and the shuttles are not running this time of year so we didnt visit as we were heading to Sequoia anyway. But maybe on our return we might go and see those coastal redwoods.
The name Sausalito comes from the Spanish colonisers who changed the Native American word for the trees that grew round the one fresh water source in the Bay. It was something like Sawca , phonetically anyway.
Yes we generally avoid cities as you would know, but when you have to fly in or out of them it seems sensible to take a look………….. This trip we also ended up with more time in SF than we would have liked , due to flight times back from Jackson when we finish at Grand Teton. I think we are going to wish we had more days, but then again a couple of days to rest up before getting on that long haul wont be bad either.
How is everything with you?
Paula xx