san francisco Archives - What Up Mang

Today was a wild day for nature in San Francisco. For starters, it was Friday the 13th and there was a full harvest moon. It was also one of the hottest days of the year. The weather service issued a heat advisory and temps reached the mid-90s in downtown San Francisco (which only happens on super rare occasions). To top it off, there wasn’t an ounce of fog in sight. All of these signs pointed to the obvious fact that it would be a great day to go to Ocean Beach for the sunset.

Our crew crossing the Great Highway to Ocean Beach in the Sunset District

Wilce climbing the Ocean Beach sand dunes

Atypical sunset crowds at Ocean Beach enjoying the temperate weather

The kids, plugging holes till you see straight through to the mind’s eye

For the first time in my life I witnessed a green flash tonight at the end of the sunset. Just before the corona diped below the horizon I could see a diamond shaped flash of green light. It actually glows more than it flashes and only lasts about a second or less. It happened so quickly that I didn’t have a chance to pull out my camera until it was almost too late. You can barely see it on the horizon in the photo above, but it’s there! It was spectacular in real life. Wilce and I experienced it together while wading at the shoreline.

Young Wilce at Ocean Beach just after sunset

When we made it home tonight, we set up the telescope in the backyard and gazed at the harvest moon. There’s an iPhone attachment for the telescope and as you can see, I’m still working on mastering that. In person though, the moon looked crisp, clear, and breathtaking.

Automat @ Daily Driver

Automat is a San Francisco pop-up restaurant hosted by Chef Matt Kirk. One of their specialties is making artisan versions of fast-food staples (think spicy chicken sandwiches, crispy tacos, etc).

From the Automat website:

Automat is contemporary California cuisine. We look for the extraordinary within the ordinary. Eclectic and recognizable, we offer modern nostalgia through seasonal ingredients. Chef/Owner, Matt Kirk, is a 14 year restaurant veteran formerly of Lazy Bear, Radius, and Spruce in San Francisco. A Bay Area native, Matt is inspired by local ingredients, the eclectic nature of California cuisine and classic American staples.

Matt happens to be a good friend and we frequent his pop-up events on the regular. Tonight, they set up shop at a hot new spot called Daily Driver in the Dog Patch which specializes in organic wood-fired bagels. I had a few beers, a Daily Driver pretzel, and a crispy chicken sandwich. It was great.