Embarrassing Moments

We didn't really plan this trip. Instead we had flown out there with some general ideas of what we wanted to do. Since no itinerary existed, we basically put together each day's activities the night before. I had the guide, so I generally would come up with something and pitch it to the rest of the group.

The plan that I had come up with was to drive to Union Square, walk over to Anchor Steam, do lunch, do the tour, walk back to Union Square, and call it a day. This was all very reasonable based off of our previous day's adventures.

The catch was in the map supplied by the guide. On one page was a map of the Chinatown, North Beach, Fisherman's Wharf walk we had done the day before. On the next page was the map of Union Square and Anchor Steam. The difference, and this is crucial, is that the scale of the map changes dramatically.

Off we go, on our walk to Anchor Steam. It feels fine at first, but things start to feel very wrong about our progress. It takes us forever to get to the half way point, and it goes through this interesting area call the Tenderloin.

Wiki describes the Tenderloin as thus,

"Squalid conditions, homelessness, crime, drug sales, prostitution, liquor stores (over 60), and strip clubs give the area a seedy reputation."

The homeless are sleeping on in the middle of the sidewalk. You have to walk through the broken glass strewn grass to get by, which is probably why they are on the sidewalk. We got to see actual dumpster diving and other fun touristy sights. We walked for 3 miles through this area to reach the brewery, because I failed to see the scale change.

Oops.

After the tour we took the bus back to our car in Union Square.