By Netanya Lerner

Today we experienced the diversity of San Francisco by exploring its various neighborhoods. We began the day by going to the Haight-Ashbury district. We saw where famous singers and musicians lived, as well as heard about how this neighborhood was the center of the counter-culture revolution of the 1960s. After hearing the history and seeing some of the sights, we strolled around the neighborhood taking in the streets and doing some shopping.

Our next neighborhood was the Castro where we spoke about Harvey Milk (we had also watched the movie about his life on our drive to San Francisco) and how this neighborhood is the center of gay life in America.  We then had time to get lunch and walk around. Everyone there was really open and it was a “judge free zone.” While it was a judge free zone, some of us felt slightly uncomfortable because we don’t normally see so many same-sex couples together on the street. However, everyone acted as if it was normal. No one stopped and stared or even took a second glance when a same sex couple were walking together, holding hands, or even kissing.

Our next stop was Ghirardelli Square for a nice and healthy snack of ice cream and chocolate.

We then went back to the hotel for some time to start to pack and hang out. A little later we met in Yerba Buena Gardens for our wrap up of our San Francisco trip and for our fellow 22 dayers, it was the final wrap up of their journey. In the middle of our wrap up, a homeless man came up to us and stood in the middle of our circle and started singing part of the song, “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay.” The part he included had the lines “I left my home in Georgia and headed for the Frisco Bay.” What a coincidence as that is what our trip has been so far!

wrap up in Yerba Buena Gardens		walking through the Dr King Memorial

After wrap up we went back to the hotel and finished packing for our flight to Chicago (or home for the 22 dayers) and to get ready for dinner. We ate dinner and celebrated reaching the midpoint of our journey, as well as Josh Edelson’s birthday. Afterwards, we said our goodbyes to the 22 dayers at the hotel and went to bed to get ready for our flight the next day to Chicago.