I Spent a long weekend in the Bay Area to go see the Timbers play the San Jose Earthquakes last weekend. Being that I’m still unable to drive, I took the train up (flights were more expensive than I wanted to pay). I do love the train (and look forward to high speed options coming in the distant future). I was able to do some reading and enjoyed a beer from home on the way up.
I stayed with my sister and her fiance (well he was only there the first night) in Berkeley.
One of the main reasons for the trip was to go to the Timbers game vs the San Jose Earthquakes. So Saturday afternoon, I took the CalTrain down to Santa Clara for the match to meet up with the other members of the Timbers Army that had traveled to the match. I have some pictures, but this video gives a little better idea of the match day experience:
The rest of my trip, I spent mainly hanging out in San Francisco walking around. I tried to go to new areas this trip instead of the usual suspects of the Mission & Haight/Asbury. (I wasn’t however able to escape going to the Ferry Building multiple times, they do a pretty good Farmer’s Market on Saturday’s, and the more permanent vendors inside are just too good.) So Sunday, I struck out from the Ferry Building and decided to walk along Embarcadaro towards the Palace of Fine Arts (and possibly the Golden Gate beyond). Along the way, I stopped at the TCHO Chocolate Factory (and tasting room) and the Boudin Bakery (and museum/factory tour). I didn’t take any pictures of the chocolate factory (they weren’t producing on Sunday), but I did get a few on the bakery’s factory tour.
After grabbing some lunch at Boudin, I continued on towards the Palace of Fine Arts. It was a typical San Francisco Day, blanketed in a slight layer of fog that just didn’t want to burn off.
I finally made it over to the Palace of Fine Arts (a new place visited in San Francisco) and debated what to do next. Would I continue on and walk over the Golden Gate Bridge, or would I head over to the Mission to get a loaf of Tartine Bread. In the end, I decided on the bread, as the Golden Gate would be there the next day and Monday’s were no-bread days at Tartine.
Monday, I headed back over to San Francisco for some more exploring. This time I ended up at Sutro Heights Park, where the Cliff House Restaurant is, and the Seal Rocks are just offshore.
Monday evening, I met up with my friend Cristy Rose at a local pub in Berkeley (The Albatross) and spent the night at the house she was house sitting at. We had a nice brunch in the morning (with fresh eggs from the backyard chickens), walked around Berkeley some, then it was off to the train station for my trip home. All in all, a nice relaxing trip.
