Recently my girlfriend and I spent a long weekend in San Francisco, and I was reminded of the merits of the Northern Cal enclave. San Francisco is both easy to get to (with two nearby airports) and get around, with trolleys, trains, buses and cabs available everywhere. If you don’t mind a bit of fog, it’s one of the best gay destinations in the world. There are a slew of incredible buildings and bridges, fantastic restaurants and a welcoming population.
San Francisco is the second most densely populated major city in the U.S. and is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the larger San Francisco Bay Area, a region of more than seven million people.
In 1776, the Spanish established a fort at the Golden Gate and a mission named for Francis of Assisi. The California Gold Rush in 1848 propelled the city into a period of rapid growth, transforming it into the largest city on the West Coast at the time. After being devastated by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt and hosted the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later.
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