Friday 5/20: Day Three (Part Two)

After we finished exploring Sausalito we all made our way over to Muir Woods. We got off the highway and made our way up the winding roads and rolling hills filled with Eucalyptus trees and amazing views. Once we reached the annex parking lot of Muir Woods, seeing an abundance of parking spots quickly confirmed our decision to have an early morning. Anyone who has been here before knows parking here is an absolute nightmare. Both the parking lots are usually filled and people have to resort to parking down the road and it is quite common for people to have to walk a few miles just to get to the entrance of the park. So were doing great. 

We reached the front entrance, promptly paid our admission fee, and stood under their big sign for a picture. Once we get all of that out of the way, we make our way inside and everyone was absolutely rapt in awe of majesty of this place, keeping their heads on a permanent swivel.  I remember the first time I came here I had never seen trees as big or as tall as these. 

Once we made our way hiking through all of the park, we made our way to their gift shop. It is a total tourist trap, but has the coolest stuff-boxes made out of redwood trees, scented redwood bookmarks, life-size bears made out of trees; you get the idea. We all scattered and bought our gifts and then reconvened to get out of there before we spent all of our money. We all made our way over to our cars to get a snack and then eventually lunch.

This lunch is one of the things I was most excited for. We were going to have lunch at a Puerto Rican place in downtown San Rafael called Sol Food. From their amazingly designed interior and their communal seating, to their incredible food, this place is simply the best. This is one of top three places I've ever eaten at, it's that good. We had some free time, so we went over to Stinson Beach and parked ourselves at the beach then made our way over to Parkside Cafe to hang out for a while. We hung out for a while, got some snacks, and made our way over to the windy beach. We then got a call from Aunt Lou to head over to San Rafael for lunch. 

We found parking and make our way over to see Aunt Lou who has picked up Pat and Josh from the hotel. We all give hugs and say hello then quickly make our way inside to order and get seated.We all ordered and went to sit at our table. We wait a short while then the food started getting brought over. Everyone starts to sip their limeades and are amazed by how delicious and bubbly it is, they have no idea whats gonna come. Next the servers bring out platters full of deep fried plantains covered in thick, gooey cheese for the whole table. Steph and I promptly tell everyone to use their sauce which is on the table, which has so much flavor I can't even begin to describe it. Once everyone devours the plantains, our main dishes are brought out. Every gets a smattering of perfectly pressed Cuban steak sandwiches, rotisserie chicken platters filled with sweet and regular plantains, salads, rice and more food. We all sit and quietly eat our food, trying to comprehend the explosion of flavor thats going on in our mouths. We douse our food in their sauce, eat, share and mostly finish our plates. Then all exit the restaurant full, happy, and exhousted. 

Sunday 5/23: Day Five

After having a quite night after graduation, I woke up quite early and headed over to the Wharf. I headed up to my Dad and Ben's room to see what they were doing. They were just getting ready for their day, so I asked them if they wanted to get some delicious food and go into the city for a bit, which they enthusiastically said yes. We all quick hopped into the car and headed on over to Mr. Holmes Bakery, one of the coolest places and bakeries in the city, Lombard Street and Coit Tower

Then after seeing all the touristy spots downtown, we still had some time left over so we headed out to Outer Richmond to see the Legion of Honor and all the houses at Sea Cliff. We climbed up the windy roads, through golfs courses and mansions until we finally reached the top. After reaching the top and driving around for a bit, we found parking and decided to get out. 

After we finished exploring the Legion of Honor, we had to drop Cam off downtown on Embarcadero to meet a friend. after we dropped him off downtown, Ben and I decided to head back to the Wharf to see what was going on. We found everyone hanging out and we all decided to go to Haight. Now the Haight is the hippie district. This is the place where the summer of love happened in the 1960's, where Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix and many others lived. Its a pretty interesting place filled with hippies, homeless people, head shops, record stores and everything in between. .

Then after Haight we all headed back to the Wharf to hang out for a while and catch up on some sleep. Once we got all well rested we went out into the Italian district of North Beach, which has amazing Italian places around every block. We however decided to go to Tony's, which is the best spot to get pizza in North Beach. We waited in line for a while, sat down got our pizza, calzones, and sandwiches and start to feast. After finishing eating,  we decided to do one last trip up to Twin Peaks to see the sun go down and the city before even left the next day.

Saturday 5/22: Graduation Day

So this was the "Big Day," the reason everyone was here to see me graduate from USF. Graduating was a weird feeling- it just seemed like one more routine thing I had to do. The significance was totally lost on me, it still is right now as I write these words. It will probably hit me in a few weeks when I'm at home doing dishes or something, and I'm going to crumble into a sobbing ball of emotions, but for now we're good. 

It was wonderful to see all my family once I came out of the ceremony, and they were all waiting for me with praise and leis. It was surreal seeing all their faces in SF and at my graduation- that's when it started to hit a little bit. I took many pictures with everyone, exchanged a multitude of hugs, and accepted much praise and congratulations. I ended up graduating cum laude with a GPA of 3.7 and a degree in International Business with a minor in Chinese Studies. 

I have to wait a few months to receive my actual diploma in the mail. Once I have it, it will be the most expensive piece of paper I own. By Far. So I need to buy a really nice frame, just to make sure I don't loose it. 

Now back to the big festivities. After all the picture taking and hugging, I taught my aunt how to hail an Uber for half the family for brunch at Sweet Maple, which is in my opinion the best brunch in SF. We all packed into the remaining car again and made our way over to Sweet Maple. We parked, walked over to find out that we had about a forty five minute wait, which is not bad at all for Sweet Maple. Sometimes it can reach up to an hour and a half to two hours. Half us headed over to Japan town while the other half waited at the restaurant. After poking our heads in and around Japan town and then quickly making our way back to the restaurant, we were seated fairly quickly. We ordered coffee, lattes, mimosas, Bloody Mary's, omelettes, crepes, french toast, and their famous "Millionaires Bacon". This Bacon in UNREAL- thick cuts of bacon that are drenched maple syrup, brown sugar and a variety of peppers, then baked until it is properly caramelized and ready to devour. 

After brunch we made our way back to the Marriott to go into our food comas and recover from our feast. We all napped for quite a bit, then decided on heading over to Grandview Park for the sunset, which is by far the best view in the entire city. It has views of everything. You can see downtown SF, the Golden Gate Bridge, ALL of Golden Gate Park, The Pacific Ocean and many more. It simply has everything.

These are the stairs leading up to Grandview Park. They start out at the ocean move their way up to land, then the stars and the moon, ending with the sun at the top. 

After we climbed up these stairs we made our way to the top, which literally feels like you are on top of the world. The sunlight dances off everything it touches and blankets the city in a serene layer of light, making for a stunning view. 

After we finished at Grandview Park, we headed over to El Rancho Grande on Divisadero to make everyone go through the rite of passage of eating a California Burrito. For those of you who don't know, a California Burrito is a burrito filled with a meat of your choice, guacamole, and french fries. It is absolutely amazing and this place is my favorite spot in the city to get them. We all head over and all practically order the same thing, a California Burrito. We grabbed our chips and beers, then proceeded to find seating. We all sat down, started eating our chips and made our way over to their amazing salsa bar. We got a good variety of salsa and munched on chips for a while. Just as we were about to run out of chips, our burritos came, and it could not have been better timing. We all took off the foil and dove into the burritos. I could not have asked for a more perfect day.

Friday 5/20: Day Three (Part One)

This was a full day, starting with a sunrise view of the Golden Gate bridge and the city, except there was one problem- the weather report had the wrong sunrise time. Instead of the promised 6:25 am sunrise, the sun rose around 5:45 am that morning, which was way too early to galvanize everyone to get up. Nonetheless, we all got up and made it the Marin Headlands at 6:25 am which was a miracle in and of itself, with the day off to a good start.

Even thought there was no sunrise, the Golden Gate Bridge and the city were shrouded in bright, breathtaking sunlight. One perk of waking up that early was that we ended up having the place all to ourselves. Anyone else who has ever been here knows how crazy this is. The Headlands usually have tons of traffic with all sorts of tourists, locals, and photographers clamoring for a position. This morning it was our own personal playground. 

Once we finished exploring the lower portion of the headlands and admiring the view of the city, which never gets old no matter how many times I go there, we made our way to the top of the Marin Headlands. The top of the Marin Headlands is even more majestic and grand than before. We all got out of the car and set loose on the top part. We hiked up the to the top of the hill with Mom blazing a path out in front, taking in the views and admiring our surroundings.

Once we got our fill of the views and we set our sites on breakfast, so we made our way to Sausalito. We didn't have any particular place in mind, but descended through the hills of the Headlands and through the hills of Sausalito. We admired and looked at all the wonderful houses on the hills over looking the bay and Sausalito and SF. 

We ended up finding parking and made our way to the Sausalito Bakery and Cafe, a small quant little cafe operated by one man in a full chef outfit with everything including the classic goofy hat. We all clamored to look at the pastries and what to order, ending up ordering an assortment of coffee, tea, pastries, and breakfast sandwiches. We all sat, chatted, took in Sausalito, and talked to one other over our breakfast. We then made our way around the downtown of Sausalito talking to one another and exploring. After we had our fill, we made our way back to the cars to make our way over to Muir Woods next.