City Spotlight: San Francisco

This is the first in a new series where we share favorite cities that we love and hope you plan to visit and enjoy them too!

The City by the Bay is a beautiful city to visit. It’s one of my favorite places and has a ton of things to do. Here is just a sampling:

• Rent a bike and cycle across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito, you can take the ferry back.
• Wander Chinatown and eat here at least once.
• Coit Tower, climb to the top and watch the sunset.
• Fisherman’s Wharf. Despite all the tourists, it’s worth visiting to see all the sea lions and enjoy Dungeness crab. It’s also the departure point to Alcatraz (which must be booked well in advance if you want to go there).
• The Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park is beautiful.
• Full House fans must make a pilgrimage to the house featured in the TV show.
• The San Francisco Wave Organ is an under the radar attraction, plus it’s free. Go at high tide.
• The Palace of Fine Arts is a great spot for your instagram selfie.
• Ghirardelli Square, I like their hot fudge sundae!
• There are some great sushi bars here, I like the ones with the revolving boats.
• The Tonga Room, I love a good tiki bar and this is a great one!

Some other things to know about San Francisco.

• Sadly, the homeless situation here is pretty bad. Avoid the Tenderloin district where it seems the worst. Don’t leave any bags visible in your car or you have a great chance of having your window bashed in. I have always felt safe here so don’t let this discourage you.
• Some great nearby attractions are Napa and Sonoma Valley, Muir Woods, and Point Reyes National Seashore.

Have a great time on your visit and please comment on some of your favorites. Thanks rk

The Palace of Fine Arts

Coit Tower

Sea Lions at Fisherman’s Wharf

My Favorite Coffee Roasters

A while ago I wrote a blog about my favorite coffee shops that I’ve been to while traveling but some of my favorite coffees come from roasters that don’t have their own shops or that I haven’t been lucky enough to go to yet. So here is my list of my five favorite coffee roasters I’ve had so far. 

     1. Counter Culture Coffee

     Calling home Raleigh, North Carolina, Counter Culture is very popular in the southeast. A good bit of the coffee shops in Atlanta carry Counter Culture and so it is my go to roaster and I get to try most of their available coffees. Counter Culture consistently roasts delicious single origin coffees and I never have to worry about getting a coffee I may not like from them because they are dedicated to sourcing and producing quality coffee that supports the farmers and helps them to farm the best coffee possible. If I had to choose only one coffee roaster to drink the rest of my life it would be Counter Culture Coffee. 

The two bags of Counter Culture I have right now (the one on the left is getting kind of old)

     2. Dapper & Wise 

     Located in the hipster Mecca of Portland, Oregon, Dapper & Wise is not only dedicated to making the tastiest coffee possible they’re also hilarious (just watch some of their Instagram videos and you’ll see). I first had Dapper & Wise a couple years ago when I received a sample pack for my birthday. Ever since then I have been in love with their roasts and even have a couple bags in the mail coming to me right now. 

One of Dapper&Wise’s shop locations

     3. Crema Coffee Roasters

     If you are ever in Nashville and can’t decide on a coffee shop then i’ll go ahead and decide for you. Go to Crema. I have been to most every shop in the city and Crema is easily my favorite. Not only do they have a dope shop but they roast their own coffee and they do it well. They care about the quality of their coffee and it reflects in the delicious roasts they produce. 

Crema’s delicious Ethiopia Sidamo that I bought last week (it’s almost gone)

     4. Intelligentsia Coffee

     Starting in San Francisco and then moving to Chicago and now with 10 shops in LA, Chicago, and New York City. Intelligentsia has been around for 21 years and with two decades of roasting experience you’d hope their coffee is good by now. And it really is. There is a reason they are one of the biggest names in specialty coffee and have so many locations across the country and it’s because they cook some tasty beans. 

Enjoying some Intelligentsia at the beach

     5. Cartel Coffee Lab 

     The last entry to this list and the second that was also on my favorite coffee shops list, Cartel populates the Grand Canyon State with 6 shops and they roast probably the best coffee in the state. Like the other entries Cartel cares about quality and sourcing and it shows through their coffees. My favorite coffee I’ve had from them was a honey processed El Salvador! 

My Cartel mug that is now broken 😦

– Josh

Picture of the Day – The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco

I took this picture a few years ago from a jetty in San Francisco Bay.  This jetty is where the wave organ is located.   I thought the wave organ was really cool and one of the under the radar things to see when in San Francisco.   You can learn more about the wave organ here:  https://www.exploratorium.edu/visit/wave-organ.

rk

Muir Woods

I was talking to a friend who is flying into San Francisco and visiting Napa Valley for a few days.   He had some spare time before his hotel check in, so I mentioned that he should visit Muir Woods just north of town.    This was something he wasn’t aware was so close to San Francisco and Napa Valley.

Muir Woods is an impressive grove of old growth coast redwoods.   It is also part of the National Park system, having become a National Monument in 1908.  The Coastal Redwood is the tallest growing tree on the planet with the specimens here towering to as high as 258 feet.   These trees should not be confused with the giant Sequoia’s in Sequoia National Park which seem to be as big around as they are tall!

Driving to Muir Woods from San Francisco International Airport is almost as fun as visiting the park itself.   Muir Woods is 12 miles north of San Francisco, so you will drive through the Golden Gate Park, over the Golden Gate bridge and through the hills north of Sausalito.   One of the most vivid memories I had was of smelling the eucalyptus while driving through the switchbacks on the way there.

At the park, there is a series of trails that wind through the trees with many an opportunity for an iconic photo.   When I was there the banana slugs were mating or something and were everywhere.   They were pretty cool and up to 10 inches long.

To get over to Sonoma or Napa Valley it is just a quick one hour drive northeast of Muir Woods.   I doubt it adds more than 15 minutes to your trip to go this route.   Well worth it.

rk