Sometimes you need to stop doomscrolling the budget deficit, the latest SFMTA fare hike, or whatever fresh bureaucratic nightmare City Hall cooked up this week — and just look around.

San Franciscans were treated to stunning views this past weekend, and the photos pouring in are the kind of thing that makes you forget your rent payment for at least thirty seconds. Shots from the Presidio on a rare sunny Sunday, aerial views from planes descending into SFO, morning light hitting the Southern Hills looking east — this city, when it decides to cooperate weather-wise, is absolutely unmatched.

And here's the thing: this beauty is free. No $18 craft cocktail required. No $45 parking garage. No permit from the Department of Building Inspection. Just step outside, find some elevation, and let the skyline and the bay do their thing. The Presidio alone — 1,500 acres of public land with Golden Gate views — is one of the best urban parks in America, and it costs you exactly zero dollars to enjoy.

As one local put it simply: "We live in a beautiful place." Hard to argue.

Of course, it's worth noting that beauty doesn't maintain itself. The fact that we have the Presidio, that we have accessible hilltop views and waterfront trails, is partly a function of smart land preservation decisions made decades ago. The lesson? Not every acre needs to be rezoned, developed, or turned into a "mixed-use activation space" to have value. Sometimes the highest and best use of public land is just... being public land.

So before the fog rolls back in — because it will, probably by Tuesday — get out there. Hit the Presidio. Climb to the top of Bernal Heights or Twin Peaks. Grab the ferry to Sausalito and look back at the city from the water.

This is what your cost-of-living premium is supposedly buying you. Might as well collect on it.