Sunday afternoon my little group took a trip over the bridge for some lovely scenery…

Today (because I missed my yoga class) Drew and I took a rather long walk all the way down Market St. And went into a hotel thats down there with a pretty amazing view (and really cool elevators made of glass), these pictures aren’t the best, because obviously they were taken behind glass, but if you’re ever down market by the Embarcadero then I recommend going into one of the taller buildings and checking out the view.

Angel Island is the bigger of the two bay islands, located right behind Alcatraz. Probably most well known for being the “Ellis Island of the west”, as well as a military fortress and Nike missile site. There are countless sites you can google if you want more historical info, but I wont bore you with that. I’ve been to the island twice now, there are few people on the island and the walk all the way around is about 5 or 6 miles. The second time I went was on Valentines day, we hiked around the whole island, and saw some breath taking scenery. Its deffinetly worth a visit, there are tons of old buildings and amazing views, but be cautioned that it is an all day trip, the boat there leaves at 10:30am and the boat home doesn’t come until around 3:50 (I think the times change somtimes but I’m not sure?). Heres a slide show of my photos from the day.

I was wandering around Haight St. yesterday when I stumbled upon Buena Vista Park, I hadn’t ever seen it before and I didn’t even realize it was a park at first, where I entered you walk through a gate over some grass and into the woods…and I was so weirded out, because once you’re in the wooded part its crazy! All sorts of winding paths going up this gigantic hill that you didn’t even realize was there. What more is the trails have many scenic overlook points of the city, it was breath taking, and we got to the top most point right as the sun was setting. 

Apparently Buena Vista Park is the oldest official park in San Francisco, established in 1867, and at first it was named “Hill Top Park” (and aptly so!).

There are paved trails that wind up the steep hill to the peak at 575ft, but there are also staircases and dirt paths that wind and climb every which way. There are also many rare plants and trees in the park, including at least two Red Woods and many plants non-native to California that were planted as an experiment. One creepier feature of this park is that the paths on the west side have gutters created out of old headstones from the city’s old victorian cemeteries on Lone Mountain. 

This was the view you are greeted with on a clear day at one of the scenic outlooks, luckily for me it was clear out and so I got to see some pretty incredible views! I am very happy to have stumbled upon this park, so if you’re ever down on Haight St. be sure to visit!