SF--West Portal and Twin Peaks

It's my first date with West Portal and Twin Peaks, a neighborhood located in southwestern San Francisco. In addition to it's attraction, West Portal Terminal of Muni tunnel beneath Twin Peaks, West Portal Avenue is like a parade of non-chain stores and restaurants, which gives an impression of local atmosphere. It's the reason why I like West Portal. This is a pic of the tunnel exit (looking northeast) I borrow from someone's website.




Today the most impressive stop at this cute REAL place is "El Toreador"--an authentic Mexican restaurant. It's decorated with colorful trinkets and memorabilia all over the walls and ceilings and even the appearance of its building. I was blown away when I saw it from outside. (The pic is from SFsurvey.com.)



As for food, I am not really an urban snob, I would say the food is not as so-so as someone says. Since it's priced reasonably and the service is also remarkable, both of us had good time here. We had Fajitas De Gambas(pic 1 below) and Fajita Quesadilla (pic 2 below). Both of them came with guacamole and sour cream, but I got more excited when topping salsa on grilled chicken in Fajita Quesadilla. Oh, I am really a spicy food addict! HaHa! Besides, Lidya gave me a prawn of her Fajitas De Gambas, and it's really good, too. Next time I should try this.




The next spot is Twin Peaks. And, uh...I need to admit sth...when knowing there is Muni terminal, I felt it's a pity we drove today. If we took Muni from downtown San Fran, then we could travel underground and enjoy the ride under the mountain through tunnel. However, few mins later, on the way to Twin Peaks, Lidya told me it took almost one hour for her and her bro to walk from bus stop to the top of Twin Peaks, I waved this feeling immediately. It's really a breath loosing! Cuz it's not so good for me to go hiking or mountain climbing for such a long time!!! HAHA!

Getting on the top of Twin Peaks, we were so excited with the view. However, it's so windy and foggy that after taking few pics we got on car immediately. Here are some pics we took on the top of Twin Peaks.

It's view of downtown, Lidya said the road in the upper center of the pic is Market Street. Oh my! I really wanna check it at night! The night view must be very beautiful and romantic if it's not a foggy day.


Right after we took this pic it got thick fog immediately. See pic below:

We're really lucky cuz we caught both clear and foggy moment at this visiting. But personally the fog always makes me gloomy, tho the frequent fog keeps this area green even in rainless spring and summer.

It's an adventure worthy of recording cuz, for the first time in my life, I drove in the mountain!! Not only the zigzag paths but the losing direction feelings hang me back to try. Actually I was not aware that this trip would be in the mountain untill we were already up the hill. It's really terrible at first. Oh! Gosh! If it were not Lidyaaaaa who tried all the way to ease my nerve! Thanks to Lidya for being my GPS..... If it were not her I would get lost here and there, with all my fears, in the mountain. Oh well, one day I will conquer the fear of driving around San Francisco where roads are always up and down, and there are so many complicated intersactions that I can't always follow the direction GPS tells.