Sausalito: My Not-So-Skiing Ski Week

As I talked about in my last post, I went on vacation in Sausalito for Ski Week. (Although, it probably isn't so much a ski week this year for everyone in Park City who stayed home; I was out in shorts and a short-sleeved shirt on Friday!) I just got back from Sausalito yesterday, and, I have to say, I really needed that break! Teachers have really been pilin' on the homework for the past few weeks, so a vacation was the perfect way to un-stress.

Sausalito on a map of the Bay Area.
Image Courtesy of: Google Maps

Part of the great un-stressing feeling this vacation had comes from the place we stayed. We did a house swap with my mom's friend from business school, and we got to stay in her adorable little house boat for the week. It's literally floating on the water, so you can just walk out back and go paddle boarding or swimming or whatever. It also had a hot tub that I spent pretty much the whole time in and a turtle named Gus that didn't really like me, but that I thought was cute anyways. 

A sunset behind some of the neighboring houseboats.

Another thing my family and I did on our vacation was go to San Francisco. Since Sausalito is literally right across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, it is pretty easy to get down there (although traffic can make things a little bit complicated). I love San Francisco. I have been to San Francisco a bunch of times, since I visit Palo Alto so frequently, but still, the city never gets old. 

One of the days we went to San Francisco this trip, we visited the Castro, which I really enjoyed. I had driven through the Castro before, but I had never really stopped to get a good look around or truly understood its significance until now. The Castro was one of the first gay neighborhoods in the US, formed during the 60s and 70s when being gay was much less accepted by the rest of the nation than it is even now. This is a HUGE source of pride for the Castro; they have rainbow flags on all of the street lamps, their crosswalks are rainbow-striped, their sidewalks are lined with memorials to famous LGBT Americans, and they have like eight different buildings and parks named after Harvey Milk. 

Of course, no vacation is complete without some really good food. Since San Francisco is such an ethnically diverse city, you can find a ton of really good ethnic restaurants. While we were in Sausalito/San Francisco, my family and I had some amazing food, my favorite of which was probably Afghan food, which I had never tried before. We ate at a tiny restaurant in the Tenderloin called De Afghanan Kabob House, and I had this pumpkin dish called kado borani, which was very good. I have to say, I was kind of picturing Afghan food to be a lot less appetizing than it was, but it was delicious!

The Afghan pumpkin dish that I ate (but was too busy stuffing
my face with to remember to take a picture).
Image Courtesy of: De Afghanan Cuisine

Sausalito and San Francisco are two very unique and fascinating places full of amazing things to do. My trip this week to these two cities was very much needed, and I highly recommend a similar excursion to anyone who may be feeling the stress of school!