Jayden's Journal: Trip to San Francisco

By Jayden Hewitt
Sports Editor

It’s been a while since I’ve really traveled, outside of going to Ohio (which doesn’t count in my eyes).

The last time I left the state of Michigan was in my pre-teen years, to Washington, D.C. I’m 22 years old now, so that was quite a long time ago.

Thankfully, my girlfriend and I were given the chance to travel with my aunt. I was told to make a choice of where to go.

I finally landed on going to San Francisco, and with two well-traveled companions in my girlfriend and my aunt, I was ready for my first time on an airplane.

We departed to my aunt’s house in Chicago on a train on Friday, Jan. 27.

From there, we left first thing the next morning to O’Hare International Airport. Waking up at 6 a.m. is not my thing.

Ready to take a four-hour flight, we boarded and were on our way. My ears were definitely not prepared for the altitude change.

I watched some movies and tried to ignore the fact I was 30,000-plus feet in the air.

We then landed at San Francisco International Airport. It was very cool, for an airport at least.

We took an Uber to our hotel, it was called Hotel Des Arts in downtown San Francisco. It was right near Chinatown.

The hotel sucked. It was a cool location, but had no heat and barely had a working elevator. Both were things we did not know about prior.

The first day we wandered around the city, and it was amazing. We saw Haight-Ashbury, the “hippie” district. We also explored Chinatown and had a blast, among other things we saw.

The second day was our bus tour. The tour guide was great. We saw the Golden Gate Bridge from Fort Point, crossed the bridge and went to the Muir Woods National Monument to see the giant redwood trees.

We then stopped in Sausalito for lunch before heading back. Of course I am not including everything, or it would be a lot.

The third and final day before we left, we visited the infamous Alcatraz Island and did a tour.

Overall the city of San Francisco and neighboring places such as Marin City and Sausalito are wonderful. It was some of the most fun I have ever had.

I got to experience it all with my girlfriend and that may have been my favorite part. And of course traveling with my aunt was great as well.

Other things we saw included: Pier 39, The Bay Bridge, the Painted Ladies, Oracle Park, seals, tons and tons of dogs (they out-number children in S.F.), and so much more.

My personal favorite was the Muir Woods. It is hard to pick something because it is all beautiful and fun to see, but the redwood trees are surreal, the air is crisp, and it just felt different than anything I had ever seen or done.