Friday Five

This Memorial Day is a milestone. It marks the beginning of the Bay Area’s foggy summer months, and sadly the cancellation of mostly all of the plans we made last winter. In what is usually a celebrated time, this summer has arrived with a very bitter aftertaste. Surely many of us didn’t think we’d be here, now, when the Bay Area descended into lockdown in early March. But here we are. What did John Lennon say? “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

Plans, haha. That word isn’t even in our vocabulary anymore. But not everything summer-esque needs to be canceled — it may just look a little different this year (kiddie pool, anyone?). We’ve rounded up a few ways you can enjoy the summer without really leaving your house — or if you do, you do so in a safe way far from others.

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So happy Memorial Day weekend, Bay Area. Stay safe out there.

1. Grilling

As we all know, summer in San Francisco is not your average summer. While our friends on the East Coast are at the beach (albeit that’s unlikely this summer), those in the city can be wearing our winter coats to walk two blocks to the grocery store. However, our bodies crave summer, and there’s no better way to satisfy that craving than with a good grill sesh. Skewers, hot dogs, burgers, all the condiments; there is nothing more summer than grilling. Even if you don’t have a grill, you can improvise with a quality cast-iron skillet. And to make life easier for you, may we suggest taking up this activity with a few local-ish meal kits? The prepared meal kit service Sun Basket offers a fun grilling basket with fun Spanish spices, staple meats, and summer veggies (price varies on the subscription you have to the service). Good Eggs, an SF-based online grocery service, has summer meal kits for $99 that are a good option if you live with roommates. You can’t sit on the Bay at Pier 23 Cafe (yet), but you can bring their famous fish tacos to your home with their $50 meal kit. Missing the farmer’s market that you used to lovingly stroll on Saturday mornings? Consider signing up for a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) to get those summer veggies. The Agricultural Institute of Marin has a “Bounty Box,” which curates offerings from local farmers, and Blue House Farm offers seasonal veggies for pickup at a few markets around the Bay Area.

2. Drinking like it’s a summer day

Mojitos, rosé, margaritas, Micheladas; these are the drinks of summer. We are certainly going to miss big backyard barbecues for the foreseeable future, but there’s no reason why you can’t recreate that experience in your own home, patio, or backyard (if you’re lucky enough to have one) or with those in your pod/family, or even a small group, six feet apart, when that’s allowed. To get you started, we’ve covered where you can get takeout drinks in San Francisco and to-go beer throughout the Bay Area.

3. Exploring in nature

While Gov. Newsom continues to warn us that we aren’t out of the woods yet, we aren’t totally prohibited from traipsing through the woods (or any kind of nature) either. Summertime is adventure time, and there are still ways to maintain that sense of adventure that goes beyond your computer screen. As we’ve already covered, there is still magic in an urban hike and getting to know your city by foot. Seriously, choose your adventure for the next few weekends: maybe it’s a real estate envy walk, or the 1.8 mile resident tourist walk. If you’re more of a biker, revisit our guide on the hidden gems in San Francisco that are best experienced by bike. If you want to get even more obscure, put your history hat on and consider trying this guide to SF’s most unusual statues.

4. Camp in your living room

We don’t live in California so we can spend our weekends traveling to other states, we live in California so we can travel around California. And camping in California is one of the greatest pleasures of living in this beautiful part of the country. From Yosemite Valley to the coast of Big Sur to the desert in Joshua Tree, there’s a landscape and climate for everyone. Unfortunately, at the moment, camping is indefinitely cancelled. Although the situation is fluid and can definitely change during the summer. We recommend refreshing the California Department of Parks and Recreation page to stay up to the date. In the meantime, why not do something really silly and camp in your living room? It might feel a bit like you’re a kid again, but that’s the point. Create a fort, sleep in your sleeping bag, make it extra comfy with tons of pillows, tell ghost stories, or watch movies about San Francisco pre-pandemic.

5. Having a picnic

Picnics are not canceled! It might just be a picnic for one or two people kind of deal (birthday bash picnics are canceled), but the picnic way of life can still persist this summer. To be safe, you just need to have it in your backyard, a more secluded park, but most importantly, just with people in your household (and at least six feet away from others.) If you’re going this route, take a look at the list of parks that are open to the public. You can even head to Dolores Park and take a seat in one of the “social distancing circles” set up to help people stay the appropriate amount apart.