Day One!

This (and my 24 hours in Chicago) will probably be the most action packed day, since the rest will be spent sitting on a train.

I came in to San Francisco without a game plan, which is very odd for me. But travelling by myself meant I could do whatever the heck I wanted without objection from anyone else. Perhaps being raised as an only child is what enables me to actually enjoy being alone.

I started the day by Google Map-ping "San Francisco." I know, so specific. There was this giant block of green that jumped out to me, and it was labeled the Golden Gate Park. Cool! I like parks. At this point, I have absolutely no clue what's in it, but why not?! Okay, now how to get there...

When I booked a flight that arrived at 1:00 AM (and then ended up on a different flight that arrived at 1:30 AM...), the only thing I had in mind when looking for a hotel was "Something with a 24 hour shuttle and stupid close to the airport." What I did NOT take into consideration was how far the hotel was from everything I'd actually want to go to.

SFO International is about 20 minutes south of the main part of the city, so public transit was only an option once I gotm up there. And not being old enough to rent a car, Uber it was! Now let's take a moment to point out that I have absolutely no experience with ridesharing services like Uber or Lyft, but I know they exist. Can't be that hard, right?

Now in theory, something like an Uber isn't any different than a Taxi. You just don't have to go searching for one and you can pay via PayPal. Sounds pretty easy to me, and it was!

Fun fact: Zen Gardens are actually Chinese!

So my first stop in Golden Gate Park was the Japanese Tea Garden; mostly because it just happened to be right there when I got out of the car. (I'm all about convienence)

I sort of knew of the fact that San Francisco had a large Japanese population, so it would make sense that their park had a tea garden. What I didn't think of though that makes even more sense is that things I'm used to hearing or seeing in both English and Spanish, they do in English and Japanese; so cool!

Just across the street from the tea garden was the SF Botanical Garden! (Seriously, this park is huge. Go look it up.)
I learned that San Francisco is in the perfect weird spot on the planet where the climate can fit the needs of native plants from all over the globe: North and South America, the Asias, South Pacific, and Africa!
There is just so much there, I had neither the time nor patience (I am certainly not a patient man by any definition of the word) to try to see it all. Also, I knew I had a lot of walking ahead of me, anyway.

Did you even go to SF if you didn't take a selfie with the GGB?

I'd be a failure of a tourist if I didn't see the Golden Gate Bridge. Those cables are a lot bigger in person than they are on your smartphone, by the way.

SUPER FUN FACT! San Francisco has The Walt Disney Family Museum!!!!!
While it has no affiliation with the Disney corporation, it is a magnificent place of history on the Disney family (even before Walt) and the beginnings of this empire that shaped my childhood (Let's be real, my adulthood, too).

Being "one of those theatre people," I'd be a disappointment to myself if I didn't see some sort of live theatre while travelling. Apparently SF is known for some great Improv (Thanks Jenni/Google!).

BATS Improv was founded in 1986 and is now longest running professional improv theatre company and school in Northern California. They happened to be having a show last night, so while standing on on the GGB I was able to purchase a ticket right from my phone! I seriously don't know how anyone travelled before the Internet.