Woke up late after pressing the "cancel" button on phone instead of the "snooze." This is why I set 2 alarms at home, and I will be doing this for tomorrow AM. First thing today was my search for the correct bus/tram to take me to the Haight-Ashbury district. I ended up walking most of the way, which was fine except I ended up in the Castro district instead due to my apparent inability to read street signs. Cool little neighborhood, but not "gay" enough. If pop culture is going to characterize a city and neighborhood as gay, then I expect it to be flamingly flamboyant. Since this was on my list of stops anyway, I was able to walk easily (not counting the difficulty of the hike itself) up to the top of Buena Vista Park. Then I found a really sweet little specialty beer shop with an awesome owner and found a few good brews unavailable in WA. Wish I had a larger wallet and larger backpack to bring more home. I then soaked in and loathed the modern hippie culture of Haight-Ashbury while enjoying some beer and cheese and small but creative micro-brewery and then hitched a ride on a bus out to the coast past Golden Gate Park with it's pretty gardens and odd giant windmill. Hike up coast a few miles to see the Golden Gate from the west side, and then found a bus to take me over to Hayes St. featuring Alamo Square, the painted ladies, and some nice little cafes. End evening with a walk downtown to train back to Oakland where it was cool to see City Hall and the civic plaza all lit up (speaking of "lit up," this entire city reeks of marijuana and will give you a contact high anywhere, anytime). I am writing this on the train back to the hotel, so if you don't see a part 4 by Friday, I am probably dead!
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