My Favorite Place

 Although it has the highest real estate prices and a rising number of wildfires, my travel destination is San Francisco. I visited Palo Alto (where one of my cousins lived), the Bay Area, and Mill Valley in March 2019 with my family. 

          The trip started in Palo Alto. My family and I met up with my cousin, Shawn, at Stanford. He’d graduated a year prior, so he was familiar enough with the campus to give us a tour and get us into Hoover Tower with his expired Stanford ID. Afterwards, we went to a popular ramen shop called Ramen Nagi. While my family waited in line to be seated, Shawn, Cadi, and I went to a juice bar to get smoothies. After eating ramen, we visited the Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, since we knew someone who worked there. When I walked on the 250-acre campus, so many large buildings surrounded me that I felt like I was in a town. I went inside a few buildings, each of which had office spaces, meeting rooms, and dining areas. 

Afterwards, we drove an hour north to our Airbnb, which was in the Richmond District near San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. The place was one floor, and the living space was crammed behind the garage. After walking down a hallway that leads around the garage, you enter a small bedroom, and walking further south, you enter another bedroom, which is in the same room as the kitchen. The door to the bathroom is in the southeast corner of the kitchen, and the door to the backyard is in the bathroom. Although it was compact, as most living areas are in San Francisco, I enjoyed it. The compactness made it far more cozy, and the sunsets and small backyard made the evenings so peaceful. 

We ventured around the Richmond District at first, finding places to get groceries and other essentials. We also walked to Ocean beach, which was only a few blocks west of our Airbnb. We then traveled around the city for half a week, visiting iconic landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge, the Palace of Fine Arts, Coit tower, Lombard Ave, and Ghirardelli Square. We also went to the 16th Avenue Tiled Steps, the Twin Peaks, and the Painted Ladies, and ate seafood on a pier. These landmarks were one reason why I liked San Francisco so much: I’d seen them before in pictures and videos, but it was even more incredible to see them in person. 

After living in San Francisco, we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge to get to Mill Valley, which is half an hour north. We checked into our new Airbnb, which was far more spacious, and we were soon ready to explore. The first night, we were looking for somewhere cool to visit, and we found a place called “Battery Spencer”. We weren’t sure what to expect at first, as it said it was an old, abandoned fort. When we drove up to the parking lot, it looked sketchy and my dad was hesitant to check it out. However, after walking down the dirt path, we were starstruck. The cliff overlooked the Golden Gate Bridge, which was lit up at night. Furthermore, a large part of the San Francisco skyline and Fisherman’s Wharf was visible in the background. It was so breathtaking that we came back a few more times before leaving the Bay Area.

Throughout the rest of the week, we visited a few more places. One was Muir Woods National Monument, where we hiked by giant redwood trees. Another was Point Reyes, a two hour scenic drive from the house in Mill Valley to beautiful beaches overlooked by the Point Reyes lighthouse. 

So, if I could go anywhere, I’d go to San Francisco again. There were endless landmarks to explore, and although my family and I spent two weeks there, I still don’t think we were able to fully experience the culture of the city.