Golden Gate Park

On a rare warm afternoon in May, my friend drives into Oakland to pick me up for our day in San Francisco. We haven’t seen each other in a while, so as we join the crowd of cars heading into the city via the Bay Bridge, we catch up on missed updates. 

Twenty-some minutes later, we arrive at Golden Gate Park —San Francisco’s most expansive green space and an oasis in a city with densely packed buildings, sprawling five-lane highways, and too many cars. 

We walk out of the underground parking lot and into a perfect afternoon–sunlight makes everything appear more vivid, saturated with color: the grassy field is greener, the sky’s blue more striking. 

We find a patch of unshaded grass and lay out a blanket and snacks from a packed picnic basket: fresh cherries, digestive biscuits, my favorite blueberry goat cheese from Trader Joe’s, and Haribo gummies. A band plays instrumentals from the half-dome stage behind us, and the music travels our way, interlaced with laughter and lively chatter. We cycle through conversations, dancing to whatever is playing on our Afrobeats Hits playlist, snacking, and taking photographs. It’s the exact kind of afternoon you end with a cold beverage and a nap, but our day stretches on.

From the field, we walk a short distance to the Japanese Tea Garden (which has an actual tea house inside), pay the entrance fee, and join other visitors to stroll through the manicured garden.

Waning cherry blossom petals are pink against a near-cloudless sky, lily pads float in glinting pools surrounded by verdant shrubs and blooming flowers, and water trickles down the face of a glinting rock, forming a mini waterfall. We linger here for a while, enjoying the rarity of warm sunshine on our skin and the easy pleasure of spending an afternoon at a park in San Francisco. 

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When I lived on the East Coast, I wrote short stories about my afternoons in “insert city or neighborhood here,” and although I generally try to enjoy what any city I live in has to offer, writing these encourages me to stay curious, appreciate the everyday experiences, and spend more time enjoying my home city. So, I’m bringing this series back. Since the SF Bay Area has been and will be my home for the foreseeable future, expect to see more stories featuring San Francisco, Oakland, and other nearby cities! I hope you’ll enjoy reading as much as I will enjoy writing. 

Type “an afternoon in” into the search bar to find similar stories from NYC and Miami. 

Good To Know

Golden Gate Park is home to many San Francisco attractions like the Japanese Tea Garden, the Rose Garden, the De Young Museum, the California Academy of Sciences, and more. It is a wonderful place to spend a day when visiting San Francisco.

The park itself is free to visit (parking needs to be paid for), but most of its attractions are paid entry, and tickets can be bought at the entrance.

The SkyWheel you see in my photos has been moved to Fisherman’s Wharf (another heavily visited area in San Francisco).

I’ve lived here for ~6 years and in my opinion, the best time to visit San Francisco is in late Spring (May-early June) and during our summertime (September – October). *No matter how warm it gets during the day, evenings in San Francisco are cold, so packing a jacket is always a good idea.

As always, thank you for reading!

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Same Footprints, Different Sands