san francisco

but we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies. - jack kerouac

somewhere over utah

we headed out to california just for a wedding, initially. true to form for us, the weekend turned itself into quite the adventure. 

never one to miss an opportunity to see something new we opted to fly into a different airport than we had the first (and only other) time we'd come west together. we'd rent a car, we'd drive, and we'd pretend like we knew where we were headed. 

when we arrived we were excited, and we were dog tired. the drive from san francisco airport to our hotel in fisherman's wharf felt like an eternity, but realistically it was only about 50 minutes. i wanted to stretch my legs, i wanted a shower, and i wanted food. 

it was foggy in san francisco. the fog hung low in that sort of eerie and mysterious kind of way. the clouds sat between earth and sky as if they were begging to be touched. sadly, i couldn't reach a cloud, but the moisture in the air felt as though one was engulfing you...so, i guess that kind of counts as touching. 

arrival at argonaut 

we got to fishermans wharf, and on the first go 'round passed the argonaut hotel. we successfully pulled up to it on the second try, though. valet whisked our little hyundai away and an oddly dressed doorman led us into the lobby. (i'd later note that his attire was in alignment with the nautical theme of the hotel, perhaps i was too tired to make the connection initially)

unfortunately, we arrived before our room was ready. with 6 hours of air time seeped into our bones we decided to grab a change of clothes from our luggage, freshen up, and head out. in the hotel lobby bathroom i washed my face, dry shampooed my hair, and changed into fresh clothes. officially ready to take on san fran, we left our luggage behind and set out in search of food. 

food at fisherman's

there are a lot of food options in this area. we landed at lou's fish shack, though the benny & jerry's next door was a tempting option. the food was ok, at best, but our waiter was great. my salad was pretty basic, so adding the side of sautéed vegetables was a wise move—they were delish. 

since we'd been cooped up from car to airport to plane to car we decided to sit outside. coming from the heat of NY this san francisco weather was a rude awakening. we inhaled our lunch and quickly made our way back to the hotel to add a few extra layers before heading out again. 

making it to marin 

gerry doesn't usually do the planning when it comes to our trips, that's usually my job and i'm happy to do it. this time though, he said he'd heard of a spot that we should go to. he said it was a great spot to see the bridge. i let him have this one. so, we went. 

we grabbed an uber from the hotel over to the marin headlands visitor center. i did no prior googling/research on the spot, and as it turns out, neither did he. (i'm all for spontaneity and adventure, but note to self: do a little research when ger picks a spot) we crossed over the golden gate bridge (exciting!) and proceeded to go far, far away from it. so far that we couldn't even see it. 

we got dropped off in the middle of nowhere and our uber driver slipped into the fog and out of sight. i turned on my heels and gave ger the look. that, "what the actual fuck, honey?" look. we ran into two women in full hiking gear who told us that the "trek" to the bridge would be about 4-5 hours. 

side note: i had no idea we were hiking to begin with. i'm down for whatever, and super fucking glad i had my sneakers on, but wasn't sure i had a 5 hour hike in me after all the travel time. 

we decided to head to the visitors center to get a better idea of what we were in for. if you ever go to marin headlands you HAVE to stop in at the visitors center and see dennis. he works at the front desk, and he's the sweetest. when he saw our apprehension about hiking for 5 hours he gave us his card."dennis the uber guy" offered to pick us up at any point along the way if we pooped out. 

we grabbed a gatorade, 2 granola bars, and some peanut m&ms and headed out on our merry way (grateful to have a savior in dennis the uber guy, should we need him). 

the adventure begins 

our hike started off on the side of the road. we were in search of a horse stable, and from there we'd get onto a trail. once we got to the horses, we stopped and consulted with a man working there to make sure we were on the right path. truth be told, he wasn't that reassuring. with map in hand, and one of us with a good sense of direction (hint hint, not me) we decided to wing it and head up and hoped we'd make it to the bridge. 

you know when you're going somewhere and you're kind of unsure if you're headed in the right direction but a crowd of people headed the same way gives you a sort of sense of confidence? that didn't exist here. there were no other people. no other hikers. we assumed we were headed the right way, but still, we weren't sure. 

just the twooo of usss building castles in the skyyy 

onward we went. if we didn't reach the bridge, or got lost, or called dennis to bail us out i could at the very least say that this was 2 things... 1. an awesome work out, and 2. a hike with AWESOME views. i mean really, look at all this heavenly greenery behind me!

so then we happened upon this sign on the way. and in my jetlag/tired/oxygen deprived/foggy brain state i read "pacific crest trail" instead of "pacific coast trail" and FLIPPED OUT. back story: cheryl strayed is one of my favorite writers. in her book wild she hiked the pacific crest trail. 

so, in my pathetic winded stupor that's what i read. and i was telling gerry all about the book. and how cool she was. and how cool i now was because i was walking on it, too. 

side note: somewhere along the hike we started talking about the pacific crest trail, and cheryl strayed again, and gerry soon realized that the sign did not in fact say what i thought it said. being the darling that he is, he withheld this information from me because he thought it was motivating me to keep going. what a guy. 

a little over a half an hour into the hike we came upon upper fisherman's. it turned out to be an awesome beach, and a welcome pit stop along the way. (also, there were people here, so we felt like we had come back to civilization)

there was a trail that led all the way down to the beach, but we had our eyes on the prize so we headed back up towards the bridge. 

remember when i said that the clouds hung so low they begged to be touched? well, the higher we got, the closer we got to them. we walked along the guardrail to a lookout point that offered some pretty sweet views... of fog. jk...sort of. the views were awesome. but the fog was heavy. 

we walked up about a million stairs to get to the lookout. the temperature got cooler with each step, which was actually heavenly. you'll work up a sweat heading up those stairs, trust. 

worth it. 

the rest of the way was down hill, easier, and people started popping up at different look outs. the bridge was in sight, and we were about an hour into what was said to be a 4 hour hike. not sure if we move reallyyyyy quickly, or if we found a shorter route, but i was glad to be making good time. 

the more we descended the more the fog lifted, and the clearer the view of the bridge got. 

before the trip i looked at countless pictures of the bridge online, on instagram, on tripadvisor. 

people looked great in their photos, and i was wondering if there was a nix-the-wind-effect filter i was missing out on? 

the wind made it impossible for me to get a good picture of myself in front of the bridge, but i tried anyway. at least ger looks good. 

we'd finally made it, and it was well worth the effort. when we finally got to the base of the bridge i felt like we really earned that view. props to ger for picking the spot. it turned out to be an awesome adventure. 

over the bridge and to the bar

we finished what turned out to be a little over a 2 hour hike, and crossed the bridge. there were a decent amount of people on it, but it never felt over crowded which i liked. we stopped a few times to put our hands on the rail and look over. it was scary and exhilarating being that close to the edge. 

once we crossed over we hopped in a cab. we headed back to the hotel and straight to the blue mermaid bar for a much deserved drink and basket of fries. 

splash brothers: bulleit rye, african nectar tea-infused rum, pineapple, honey, lemon, angostura bitters

we passed out at 8:30 that night and slept like babies. 

oh, also, at the bar, over drinks and french fries we started going through photos of the hike. i came across the photo of what i thought to be "pacific crest trail" and noticed, at last, that it wasn't. cue: total deflation. this was when gerry let me know that he'd known all along. i was too tired to be sad. i toasted to the pacific coast trail for being just as cool as "the real" PCT, and finished my second splash brothers.

we had less than 24 hours to enjoy san francisco. the city has so much to offer, so many options of things to do, and so much to see. i'm confident that we made a really great choice in heading to the headlands for a hike, and i HIGHLY recommend it to anyone looking for a little adventure. 

xx MP