Brian and Maryann's travels Pacific Coast 2009

San Francisco Tour Jun 28, 2009

June 22nd we drove a 49 mile tour route to get an orientation to San Francisco. The route was marked on a map and there were signs along the way indicating turns and points of interest. Our first stop was Twin Peaks overlook. Located west of downtown, it is the highest point in the city and provides excellent views in all four directions. Fortunately, the weather was clear, with some haze, so we were able to get some good pictures.

The route winds through the city past major landmarks and places of interest. So we went through or past Golden Gate Park, Twin Peaks, downtown, Japantown, Chinatown, Italiantown, Telegraph Hill with Coit Tower, Fisherman’s Wharf and finished at Golden Gate National Park.

At one point we followed a cable car down a steep street. We were able to get a parking spot in the lot at the top of Telegraph Hill to see Coit Tower. A large hallway goes around the inside of the tower and its walls are covered with a series of murals depicting life in early San Francisco. We could see Lombard Street from the parking lot. Located in the Russian Hill district, Lombard Street is known “as the crookest street in the world”. It is so steep that it has switch backs near the top and is restricted to one-way traffic going downhill.

Fisherman’s Wharf was busy, so we planned to come back to see more of it later.

Our final stop was Golden Gate National Park. It is located at the base of the bridge. It is also connected to the Golden Gate Park to the south. The route continues south along the west coast past the San Francisco Zoo to Harding Park where we started. Our RV park was located a few miles south of Harding Park.

It was an interesting drive and allowed us to identify places and things to do for the rest of the week.