In November I had an opportunity to travel to San Francisco for work. They needed my help inspecting units for a large group with Cirque Du Soleil.
The work days were long, but gave me a chance to see the city and a few of the properties that we work with.
Some of them had amazing views in the downtown area. You can see the Oakland Bridge in the background.
This is a closer look at the bridge. I stayed at this property for the first week. This is were I worked most of my visit.
This is the roof deck of the 2nd place I stayed at on Mission and 4th street in downtown.
I had a place on the 29th floor which had amazing views.
I only had one day off after working many long days. And what would you expect I do? Rent a bike, of course. Since Lily and I had visited San Francisco earlier this year, I was a little familiar with the area.
So off I went. First to the Embarcadero. I rode out onto one of the fishing piers and got a decent view of the city from there.
I came across an outside market and found a spot to ice skate in the city. Notice the palm trees in the background. You don't see that everyday.
I made my way down to the overcrowded Pier 39, filled with restuarants, shops, and street performers. Since I've been there before, I decided to pass it up and continued my ride along the beach and parks on my way to the Golden Gate Bridge.
Here is a spot, which was up a steep hill from the base to the top of the bridge, where I could look back and see just how far I'd gone. Great view of the city and beach I rode along to get to this point.
Here I am at another tourist spot. Bus loads of people looking for spots to get a shot of this famous landmark.
There are a two ways to cross the bridge. The bay side allows pedestrians and bikes at certain times of the day. The ocean side allows only bikes. So I crossed under the bridge to get to the bike path and found a dirt trail that follows the shoreline. I followed this for just a bit to get a look at the Pacific Ocean before turning back.
Bike traffic accross the bridge was busy. A lot of recreational cyclists hurried by. I found a lookout point and took a moment to enjoy the views. After crossing to the north side of the bridge, I made my way down a winding road into the town of Sausalito. This was a fun, but chilly downhill ride. I couldn't help but think how challenging the ride back up would be.
But it was definately worth it. I was on my way to a joint simply called "Hamburgers". They have a turn table grill in the window which gets your attention. You can see by this picture that the space is limited and the menu is just as small.
But the burgers are BIG on flavor.
I ordered mine to go and made my way over to the dock.
Here I sat and enjoyed the view of the city accross the bay. It was getting dark fast and I had to get the bike back before the shop closed. So I finished eating and made my way back up the hill, over the bridge and dodged traffic on Lombard Street to get back just after the sun had set. Overall trip was 25 miles. Not bad for a casual ride on my day off. The guys at the office thought I was crazy to go on a bike ride after working everyday all day. But for me, it was a treat!
