Much like when I was a child, most weeks I find myself looking forward to the weekend after a week of work. Even in a semi-retired state of employment Saturday, the weekend, still takes on importance, it signifies freedom. Realistically, unless I am on a scheduled vacation, the weekend is an important and much needed respite from normal work days.
In order to take full advantage of the weekend I try to take care of maintenance items, mowing the lawn, and other household chores, during the week. The benefit of this is probably evident, even if I’m not going somewhere it gives me the option of sleeping in a later than I usually can during the week. But, I am always looking for the opportunity to take off and either do fun things or participate in service projects on the weekends. Sometimes, if I have everything in order, I’m able to take weekend trips by leaving after work on Friday and returning on Sunday afternoon or evening. While I know it can be done I prefer not to take long trips, like Hawaii or the east coast, during a weekend jaunt. Weekends are perfect for trips to the coast or exploring things such as San Francisco, the Napa Valley and other locations within a few hours drive.
The older I get the more I want to take advantage of the things that are so close to my home. From my front door I can be on a freeway in five minutes heading towards San Francisco just two hours away. About an hour away, on the road to San Francisco, I can turn off the freeway and catch the highway to either the Napa or Sonoma valley, wine country.
Weekend trips to these locations are different than business trips during the week. If I have to go to San Francisco during the week, for business, I am most likely going to drive to the nearest BART station, park my car and ride BART, the subway, into San Francisco. This is possible because my business trips to San Francisco are for a specific purpose at a single location and almost always within a short walk of a BART station. I have found that this has many benefits. One is financial, a round trip to San Francisco’s financial district costs less than ten dollars. That means that I don’t pay the six dollar toll for crossing the Bay Bridge from Oakland/Berkeley to San Francisco. I also don’t pay for parking which ranges from at least ten dollars if I can find a space on the street or in an open air lot to thirty-five dollars in a parking garage. The other benefit is that on the train ride I can either review my material or even sleep while not worrying about parking and traffic.
On the weekend traveling to San Francisco I may not take my car either. One option which I enjoy is the ferry from Vallejo, a city just before the BART station. This combines a boat ride across the bay with the savings of money and stress from not having a vehicle to worry about. I can also do the same thing I do during the week and take BART. I have found that just about anything I want to see or visit in San Francisco is accessible by public transportation.
One weekend several years ago we unintentionally tested, and proved, the viability of public transportation. While talking one night we discovered that neither my wife nor any of my children had ever ridden a subway or a trolley car. My children especially expressed interest in doing so. After a little research we headed out one Saturday with a little cash and a city guide we started our adventure. We drove to the BART station where we were able to park our car for the day at no charge. Entering the station we stopped at the automated ticket dispenser and bought a round-trip ticket for each of us. While our youngest daughter was quite concerned when we went underground, our older children thought it was fun that we were riding a train under the bay.
We left the BART train at Union Square and climbed up the stairs into what seemed like the middle of the square just in time to catch our next ride, a trolley car. We watched the motorman turn the trolley around as bought our tickets and waited to hear him say, “All aboard!” He didn’t have to call any of us twice, we quickly found our seats, facing out on the street side of the trolley. Soon we were traveling across the city. Climbing up so slowly we could almost walk faster, and then racing downhill so fast we had to hold on tight. I lost count of the number of stops along the way but we passed through Chinatown and other neighborhoods before ending our ride near Pier 39 on Fisherman’s Wharf.
For the next few hours we walked around Fisherman’s Wharf exploring the piers and shops. After a fast food lunch we watched street performers and through crumbs to the seagulls. Finally, as sun started to set, we found the municipal bus stop and rode it to the Embarcadero BART station. We climbed down into the station and boarded the next train to the station where our car was parked. The ride back from the city was very quiet as our children fell asleep with the rhythm of the train. It was dark by the time we exited the train and found our car. Although they all walked from the train to the car our children were once again asleep by the time we were on the freeway home.
In the years since that trip to San Francisco our children have talked fondly about that adventure. We have never tried to duplicate that trip although we have recently started talking about recreating it with our grandchildren. One of these days…