A Tennessee Girl in Oz: San Francisco times

I was in San Francisco for a little under two weeks (with a couple cheeky days spent in San Diego). I don't generally love traveling to SF, but of course I can find plenty of bright spots during my visit!

I took the Bart out for dinner one night. I couldn't get over the orderly line people formed waiting for the train! Definitely different from Sydney where everyone jams onto the platform every which way!

Working at the San Francisco office is nice, and there are always fun treats happening. This trip, there was a special hot dog lunch to kick off the baseball season, and also a bicycle-powered smoothie machine for Earth Day.

It’s always fun to get to see the dogs in the office!

I didn’t get out for too many fun things during the week, but I did have a Saturday for adventuring out in the city. On the recommendation of a colleague, I walked down to the Ferry Marketplace building for breakfast, and then caught a ferry out to Alameda.

The Ferry Building is really beautiful and had lots of really fun little shops and food stalls.

Of course, I’m always able to find a marketing going on, and this Saturday was no exception. There was a really big Farmers Market all around the Ferry Building. This might be the only place I’ve seen people line up for coffee more than in Sydney!

The ferry to Alameda was quick: only about 10 minutes to get to the island. I have to say that, as much Sydneysiders like to complain about their public transport, it’s heads and shoulders above the system in San Francisco. Buses are on a different ticketing system to trains, and it was completely unclear how to pay for a ferry ticket. The fact that local people all around me in line for the ferry were confused made me feel a bit better.

Alameda is a little island just on the other side of the Bay Bridge. It’s a strange place, as in the last 30-40 years it’s primarily been a military site. But 10-15 years ago, the military shut down the base there and moved to cheaper areas. So now a huge part of the island is just a concrete wasteland with deserted military housing, hangars, and piers.

I was sent out to Alameda because part of its revitalisation is coming in the form of distilleries and wineries taking over the old military buildings. To get to that part of the island, it’s about a 20 minute walk from the ferry. Luckily on the day I was there, I only had to follow the trendy-looking San Franciscans to find “Spirits Row.” It was a weird walk, across a crumbling parking lot, through a deserted military checkpoint, and alongside a massive row of 10 graffitied housing units. It really set the tone for an odd day!

My main destination was Hangar One vodka; I’d seen pictures of how the hangar had been beautifully refurbished, so I was keen to get a look at it inside. That building, like the three or four others on Spirits Row, was odd to navigate. There is big fencing up around the hangar, and you walk to the back of it from the main road, and enter through what I’d call the back of the building. From that side of the building, there’s a huge swatch of crumbling concrete and then million dollar views of the city. So very odd.

The building was really cool inside, and there was a small tour happening of the distillery. I wasn’t really interested in the tour, but as I was the only person in the bar area to three employees, I felt like i should do a tasting. I did my best to put on an enthusiastic face, but it wasn’t really my thing. I think they noticed.

I did really enjoy checking out the building, though, and it was such a surreal experience, I didn’t regret my trip!

There was a beer festival happening at one of the other distilleries, and I popped down to see the winery at the far end of the street. It was a bit more set up for events, but even still, I was amazed at how many people were hanging out in the middle of this deserted military base!

After catching the ferry back, I wandered back through the hills of the city and took in San Francisco. Here's a stop at Whole Foods: does it get any more California than these electric cars charging outside?