Look out San Francisco, Here Comes TravelShark

Mako Mark at Fisherman's Wharf

By Becca Schwartz | Tuesday July 17, 2012

Less than an hour after getting into San Francisco on Sunday night, Katie O’Block, Mako Mark, and I were trudging uphill with all of our luggage. The three of us were in town to make a series of in-depth TravelShark videos about the ins-and-outs of San Francisco, just as we had done in New York and Chicago.

Once Mako heard that San Fran was famous for its streets with a serious incline, he suggested we find a car.

Mako Mark at Treasure Island

We set out early Monday Morning, Katie behind the wheel, Mako sitting shotgun as navigator (we’d had to promise not to let the shark drive). Apparently, sharks don’t have the best sense of direction when they’re not swimming around in the ocean—within minutes we’d gotten on the wrong road. We wound up on Treasure Island, a small island east of San Francisco with a spectacular view of both the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges.

Once we’d made it back to the main land, we decided to start off by heading to one of San Fransisco’s most famous landmarks: Fisherman’s Wharf.

Mako Mark poses for a portrait

Considering that we were only steps away from the Bay, people were pretty shocked to see a shark walking through the streets of San Francisco. Mako didn’t seem to care, though-he was just glad to be back in the salty sea air. We wandered around, went to look at the sea lions, ate some delicious sourdough bread from Boudin's, and even danced with a couple of street performers playing steel drums. And, on our way back to the car, a man offered to draw Mako’s portrait for him.

After prying our sharky companion away from the dozens of crab shacks by the water, we headed inland to the Mission. There, we met up with Chloe Bregman, the curator for streetartSF.com to talk about the emergence of and culture surrounding San Francisco street art. She took us to Clarion Alley, a famous area lined with street art murals that are ever changing.

Clarion Alley

Mako Mark, though, seemed more interested in the city’s weather than art culture. It had been cold and rainy ever since we landed on Sunday- a big surprise considering it’s the middle of July. Why was San Francisco’s summer so chilly?

Another city, another investigation.

Becca Schwartz is a chocoholic from New York City who started at TravelShark as a Content Associate last fall. She loves telling stories about how much she loves the Rocky Mountains just as much as she loves telling stories about how much she loves Central Park, but nothing compares to her love for travel.

Posted under: Sharky • Team TravelShark • Travel