For this journal, I took myself down to the mission district of San Francisco. The Mission district is full of great culture and wonderful scenery full of beautiful murals and street art. The weekend that I chose to visit was over presidents day weekend, so this area was extra busy and full of energy the entire weekend. While I was visiting this area, I chose to spend the majority of my time at one of San Francisco’s most famous parks, Dolores Park. Dolores Park is one of San Francisco’s most famous parks because of its beautiful and well-kept scenery, and the spectacular views of the city. From the peak of one of the hills at the park, you are able to see the San Francisco skyline that spans above the park’s lushes palm trees. What draws a lot of people to this location is the abundance of activities that the park offers. The park includes many areas for people to play games and socialize, including a soccer field, basketball court, and a multitude of tennis courts. These activity areas seem to pull in a lot of people due to the fact that they are very inviting to the public and kept in very clean condition. The majority of the people at the park will find themselves picnicking, playing games, or conversing with the other park dwellers. During my visit, I filled up most of my time playing Frisbee with my friends and exploring everything the mission district had to offer. Over this weekend in particular, the park saw one of its biggest turnouts ever. Over the president’s weekend, the park had around two thousand people visit it. While this might seem like an overwhelming crown for some, the park offers so much open space and fun activities that it seems to be able to handle and amount of people that is thrown at it. During these peak times of the park, the whole park has a very communal feel to it and everyone seems to share the park space in a harmonious fashion that never feels too crowded or overbearing. Overall, I would highly recommend Dolores Park to anyone who wants to relax with their friends and discover one of San Francisco’s most historic neighborhoods.
Exploring SF
Independent Project #2
Paolo Bondi
San Francisco is a vibrant beautiful city that has many recreational, public parks that are scattered throughout the city. For this journal entry, I will include a visit that I made to Buena Vista Park, located in the Haight Ashbury district of San Francisco. What initially drew me towards visiting this park was its close proximity with USF. Since the park is located in the east Haight Ashbury district, a quick twenty minute walk down Masonic Avenue brought me to the location in no time. Once I arrived at the park I was slightly taken back at the magnitude of the hill that the park encompasses. While the park itself is only thirty six acres big, the large altitude that the hill takes you to gives the park a much larger feel. What I thought really sets this park apart from other locations in San Francisco are the dense hiking trails that are scattered across the park. These trails start at the base of the park and slowly work their way up to the peak of the hill. Once I approached the park, I found the trail that I would be taking my hike on. Walking up into the park, you start to slowly become enclosed by a multitude of trees and bushes. Continuing up the trail I found myself running into a beautiful children’s playground that had a sweeping view of the city skyline. While walking up these trails I noticed that many of the locations that I was running into had driveways that led to the surrounding side streets. I found this to be very convenient for the neighboring houses that surrounded the area. After passing the playground I continued on my trail around the hill. While walking around the trail I noticed that I was being taken up farther towards the peak of the hill. This allowed for the scenery to open up a bit and expose the beautiful views that the park had to offer. Once you situate yourself towards the peak of the hill, you are able to notice a beautiful elevated view of the city, where you are able to see USF and even the surrounding bay. This area of the park also includes a charming, secluded grassy area where I found many people sitting down to enjoy a pick nick and take in the view. The majority of the people that I noticed while exploring the park where families from the area. What I found to be most attractive about the park was the beautiful assortment of exotic looking plants that had been neatly landscaped around the area. This gave the park a very rural feel that made me feel like I was taken out of the busy city and placed in a beautiful forest. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spend at Buena Vista Park and I recommend that anyone check it out if they are in the Haight Ashbury area.
The second place that I traveled to and will be writing about in this entry is my visit to Alamo square playground, located just west of the Fillmore District of San Francisco. What initially drew me towards this area of San Francisco was the abundance of coffee shops and places to eat in this area. While walking to this park from USF you can’t help but notice the plethora of beautiful Victorian houses as well as all of the restaurants that the area has to offer. The park itself can be seen as a major tourist attraction for the city due to the fact that it is located next to the Painted Ladies. This tends to draw many people to the east side of the park in order to situate themselves on the hill facing the row of houses. While this tends to be the main attraction to this park, it also has many other things to offer including a tennis court, functioning bathrooms, and a playground. The park never seems to become crowded due to the fact that there is plenty of open space for people. Overall, Alamo Square is a very appealing park and is located in a great neighborhood with plenty of restaurants and cafes to offer.
A Day in Golden Gate Park
Independent Project 3
San Francisco is truly an amazing city that offers a variety of different appealing locations to visit. For this journal entry, I took myself to one of San Francisco’s most well know parks, Golden Gate park. I decided to visit this particular location because of its close proximity to USF, and because it is the largest park that the city has to offer. To find the park from USF, you only have to walk about five blocks south of campus until you hit the pan handle. My favorite route to take to get to the park is to walk south down Clayton street until you run into Haight street. This route offers a scenic view of a variety of beautiful Victorian houses and leads directly to the upbeat, and poplar Haight Street. Once I took the desired route to get to the park, I entered towards the east side of the park and made my west towards ocean beach. 
The objective of this park visit was to make it to the top of strawberry hill, a peaceful island oasis that’s located behind the academy of science museum. Traversing through the park gives the feeling that you are temporarily detached from the city and placed in a beautifully landscaped forestry. While walking through the park I noticed the variety of activities that the area provides, including the Botanical Gardens, de Young Museum, and the Academy of Sciences. One incredibly scenic area of the park that I came across on my walk was the Shakespeare garden. While traversing around the Academy of Science, I stumbled across this secluded pick nick spot. The garden provides a nice gated, quiet space to sit down and appreciate the beautifully landscaped scenery that the park has to offer. After sitting down in this area for a quite some time, I was able to truly appreciate Golden Gate Park and all the activities that it provides to the people of San Francisco. It is quite remarkable to be able to explore such a vast and expansive park in the middle of a small and busy city. This led me to come to the conclusion that although one might live in a lively city, it is still possible to easily detach yourself from this urban environment that we live in and place yourself in a beautiful city park such as Golden Gate Park.
parkjourney 