Traveling with Snuggles--San Francisco

Recently, we visited San Francisco, CA. We just happened to go during the wettest time in recent history. Despite the wet weather, we all had a good time between the rain drops.

The Golden Gate Bridge is popular with pedestrians and bicyclists, and was built with walkways on either side of the six vehicle traffic lanes. The main walkway is on the eastern side, and is open for use by both pedestrians and bicycles in the morning to mid-afternoon during weekdays and to pedestrians only for the remaining daylight hours. 

My most anticipated destination was the historic area of Haight-Ashbury. The mainstream media's coverage of hippie life in the Haight-Ashbury drew the attention of youth from all over America. During the "Summer of Love," psychedelic rock music was entering the mainstream, receiving more and more commercial radio airplay. 

"San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)," became a hit single in 1967. The Monterey Pop Festival in June further cemented the status of psychedelic music as a part of mainstream culture and elevated local Haight bands such as the Grateful Dead, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and Jefferson Airplane to national stardom.

The neighborhood's fame reached its peak as it became the haven for a number of the top psychedelic rock performers and groups of the time. Acts such as Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, and Janis Joplin all lived a short distance from the intersection. They not only immortalized the scene in song, but also knew many within the community as friends and family.

Across the street from Skates On Haight, is Amoeba Music. They are located in a converted bowling alley at the eastern edge of Golden Gate Park.  They stock lots of music and movie titles from every genre imaginable. I spent a lot of time browsing through just a small part of their vinyl records.

One of the busiest and well known tourist attractions in the western United States, Fisherman's Wharf is best known for being the location of Pier 39, the Cannery Shopping Center, Ghirardelli Square, a Ripley's Believe it or Not museum, the Musée Mécanique, Wax Museum at Fisherman's Wharf, and the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.

Seafood restaurants are aplenty in the area. The area also has an In-N-Out Burger; local business leaders said they opposed every other fast food chain except In-N-Out, because they wanted to maintain the flavor of family-owned, decades-old businesses in the area, with one saying locals would ordinarily "be up in arms about a fast-food operation coming to Fisherman's Wharf," but the family-owned In-N-Out "is different."

There is a sea lion colony next to Pier 39. They "took-up" residence months before the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. The sea lions lie on wooden docks that were originally used for docking boats.