This was a trip to visit my sibling R., who recently started working at Facebook. I have been to San Francisco before, so this post is not about the best things to do in San Francisco, but rather about what we did this weekend.
Day 1:
I flew from SEA to SFO at 8pm on a Thursday with Virgin America for 5,000 Alaska miles, which was a great deal. The flight was delayed by about 45 minutes, but otherwise the experience was great. Every seat had a personal TV with free recent movies and TV shows. You could even order snacks and food from the TVs. R. picked me up from the airport, and we stopped for some late night In-N-Out on the way back home.
Day 2:
We didn’t get to bed until 12:30am, so we slept in a bit. R. went to Facebook at around 9:30am while I lolled around at home and went to Starbucks. I took a Lyft to Facebook for lunch. It was such a fun and bizarre experience! The entire campus is like a giant theme park. I thoroughly enjoyed walking around and taking in all the sights.
My first impression of Facebook was the parking lot. There were not one, not two, but three different traffic attendants who guided my Lyft driver through the parking lot, which was filled with various signage and cars. There’s even valet parking if you arrive late and are having trouble finding a spot. We walked across a small on-campus street where we found an attendant who is paid to sit at the crosswalk and make sure that cars don’t hit pedestrians when they cross. It’s truly unbelievable.
I received my badge and had R. collect me from the lobby. The workspaces at Facebook are all open. There are no individual offices; each floor is a giant room full of desks, computers, and software developers. The campus feels like a college campus. Some of the buildings have extensive rooftop gardens, with dirt paths and trail maps and everything. It feels like you are walking through a park, until you run into an elevator, skylight, or random rooftop smoothie station. Of course, all food and drink on campus is free. There are multiple cafes throughout each building with a variety of lunch options. There are also conveniently located “microkitchens” where people can pick up coffee, drinks, or snacks. Each microkitchen has a fancy espresso machine complete with a steaming wand and a variety of milk choices, as well as uncountably many choices of flavored drinks, both healthy and unhealthy. There are even vending machines full of free electronic adapters and chargers, and the women’s bathroom was stocked with free toothbrushes, floss, and sanitary supplies. I can’t imagine how much money it must cost to keep everything stocked. After our mini tour, we left the building to lunch at the Classic Campus, the site of Facebook’s first buildings.
I felt like I was in Disneyland. There were so many themed restaurants that I had trouble deciding which to go to! Finally we settled on Harvest, a salad bar with an excellent tomato-jalapeno soup. Along the way we stopped by the arcade (again, free) and failed miserably at Dance Dance Revolution. We also stopped at the Oculus building and had some fun playing with the VR headsets. They made me a little dizzy.
After lunch, we went to the sweet shop where we shared a mojito cupcake, vegan banana bread, vegan frozen yogurt with a variety of toppings, and vegan mint chocolate chip ice cream. I was so full! We ended the day by taking ourselves on a mini walking tour of Palo Alto and, of course, eating even more food for dinner.
Day 3:
Today we took the “Baby Bullet” Caltrain to San Francisco. I assure you, I have never experienced anything less like a bullet in my life. The train was exceedingly slow and full of people. During this particular weekend, the March for Our Lives (a nationwide protest in favor of gun control) was happening downtown, so we shared the train with many protesters. It was encouraging to see so many high school students use their Saturday afternoon for the purpose of civic engagement.
We got off at the main train station and took a Lyft to Fisherman’s Wharf. Pro-tip: When sightseeing in San Francisco, it is generally easier (and sometimes cheaper) to take an Uberpool or Lyft Line around the city than to take public transportation. The city and all of its tourist attractions are very spread out. We started at Pier 39, where you can find a large colony of sea lions sunning themselves on the docks.
These sea lions were more active and aggressive than any of the sea lions in San Diego. They were constantly barking, fighting, and pushing each other off the docks. After we had our fill of the sea lions, we continued towards Ghirardelli Square along Fisherman’s Wharf. Fisherman’s Wharf is similar to Pike Place Market in Seattle, and it was an enjoyable walk. Along the way we stopped at Boudin Bakery for some famous San Francisco sourdough.
Our final destination in this area was Ghirardelli Square. I had fond memories of a hot fudge sundae from the Ghirardelli ice cream shop in the square, and was not disappointed. We shared a hot fudge cookie dough ice cream sundae and fell into an instant food coma. I couldn’t imagine eating one of those sundaes by myself!
In order to retain as many calories as possible, we elected not to take the 39 minute walk to our next destination: the Palace of the Fine Arts. The Palace of the Fine Arts is a beautiful sculpture inspired by ancient Greek and Roman architecture that was constructed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. Now it hosts events, such as art exhibitions or roller derbies, and is a popular location for wedding party photos.
After the Palace, we felt sufficiently hungry to eat again. We traveled via Lyft to Burma Superstar, a popular Burmese restaurant. I was very excited to try Burmese food for the first time. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize that the restaurant is closed between 3-5pm. Luckily, we were able to sneak our names onto the waiting list at the last minute, but it was a close call. We had the tea leaf salad and the Shan noodles with tofu. The tea leaf salad was good but it wasn’t really my thing, but I loved the Shan noodles. They had a unique tomato-vinegar flavor.
From here we moved on to Chinatown. San Francisco’s Chinatown is vibrant and amazing. We didn’t do too much here but walk around and drink a lot of tea. We tried some teas for free at Vital Tea Leaf and later had a proper tea tasting and history lesson at Red Blossom. One of the workers at Red Blossom recommended nearby Washington Bakery for pastries, and I truly don’t know why, because it was awful. We also made a quick stop at the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory, where we tried some fortune cookie samples and got to see how the fortune cookies were made. I would say it’s worth seeing if you’re in the area, but it wasn’t super interesting.
We decided to end our day at the Ferry Building, a building full of small shops and restaurants, and you guessed it – even more food. There were a lot of shops with free samples and a delicious empanada restaurant. Finally, we headed back to the Caltrain. We didn’t eat dinner because we were so full!
Day 4:
We started the day at Purisma Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve and hiked the 4.4 to 4.8 mile (depending on which options you choose) North Ridge Trail. I chose this trail because I was recovering from a cold and was flying out in the evening, so I wanted to find a short trail that was also close by. It was a pleasant hike, and we saw quite a bit of wildlife. There were some views of Half Moon Bay along the trail, which, while not spectacular, were well worth it. The only downside was that this trail ended abruptly and randomly. It was quite strange to have the trail end in a grove of trees with no viewpoint.
After our hike, we headed to Madras Cafe, which is technically in Sunnyvale but is on the border with Mountain View. The cafe serves delicious vegetarian South Indian food. I had the best biryani I’ve had in my life there. It was also my first time trying dosas: a type of fried pancake. Unfortunately, I think we chose the wrong type of dosa; it was quite salty. One of R.’s friends said we should have ordered the poori or masala dosa. I definitely want to go again!
After our filling meal, we headed to the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. I was very excited for this experience. I had read about Sarah Winchester and the Winchester mansion many years ago. Sarah Winchester was the widow of the 2nd President of the Winchester Company, and as such was very rich. According to legend, she believed that the spirits of those killed with Winchester rifles wanted to haunt her, and the only way to stop them was to continuously build her mansion in ways to confuse them. The result is a sprawling, opulent, 160 room mansion with staircases to nowhere, doors and cabinets that open into walls, doors that lead to a 3-story drop, floors that are offset from each other by only a few feet, and more. I found the experience absolutely fascinating.
Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take photos inside the mansion due to a confidentiality agreement with Hollywood (they recently filmed a horror film here). You can only enter the mansion as part of a guided tour. It’s better to schedule a tour in advance, because it can get quite busy. We walked in at 4:10pm on a Sunday and were able to get into the 4:45pm tour, but you may have to wait over an hour if you don’t make a reservation in advance. The mansion is privately owned by a family in San Jose, and they must be making serious bank – an adult ticket is 39 USD! I was glad that we went, but the price is too steep.
After Winchester, we had some decent Vietnamese food, along with some frankly forgettable bubble tea. Finally, I flew from San Jose (SJC) to Seattle at 9:30pm with Alaska for 7,500 Alaska miles. I think this was a good redemption considering that this flight took off on Sunday night of spring break.
WanderLiz 