Thursday, May 24, 2018

18.05.14: My heart is in San Francisco

One day while I was staying with Pat and Tom, I took a personal-day side trip and drove the Jeep up to San Francisco with the bike and took a trip down memory lane.



I started at the ocean by the Cliff House - a famous landmark restaurant built on the cliffs at the very beginning of the south west entrance into the San Francisco Bay. 

When we moved to SF in 1982 from Michigan, we would often run from our apartment to the Cliff House and look at Sutro Baths

then stop to look at the ocean and the seals who lived on those three big rocks - appropriately named Seal Rocks.  The seals have since found more pleasant living quarters inside the bay on the docks surrounding Pier 39.

I visited Sutro Park above the Cliff House where we planted Mike’s brother Fritz (who worked at and loved the Cliff House) after he passed in 1992.  



continued on via bike through the Golden Gate National Recreation Area - public land all along the north and south side of the entrance to the San Francisco Bay from the ocean to the bridge and stopped for a while at Lands End  
which was in our immediate neighborhood while we lived at 33rd and Geary Blvd. This place is very dear to us (and many others who live in and visit the area).  This is the view from the public benches at the top of the cliffs - a short 1/3 mile from our apartment where we would also often walk to enjoy the sights and smells of the Golden Gate.  
                     
There were other people enjoying the view when I arrived but divine intervention was at work this afternoon to send the other walkers away long enough that I could share it alone with Mike for a few minutes. Once the people started walking by again, I asked someone to take my picture.  Mike is happy to be here, too.  

                   

Continuing on, I rode down into Baker Beach where we could go to lay in the sun if we could catch it at a non-foggy time.
         
and then up the waterfront road to the bridge deck anchor on the south side.

on my way to Fort Point - a favorite place to get as close to the water and the bridge as possible.

We were here two summers ago with Eric and Claudia on a foggy day.
Next stop on my waterfront bike tour was Crissy Field - the flat land between the bridge and Fisherman's Wharf area.  The city has restored the area from the US army airfield it was during WWII and made it even more accessible to the public than it was when we lived there during 1982-85.  Here we are again two years ago enjoying the view of Alcatraz in the distance.

Continuing on past the Marina Green I climbed the hill above Fort Mason for a closer look at Alcatraz 

before dropping down into the Fisherman's Wharf area 

and riding long the Embarcadero - the busy commuter road that was underneath the "Highway to Nowhere" when we lived there.  The city tore down the double-deck highway after the 1989 earthquake and now it is a beautiful thoroughfare.
Here is a view of the financial district and the tippy top of the Transamerica Pyramid building behind the Clay Building where Mike and I worked when we lived there.  
This is the waterfront area between the ferry building in the financial district and where I worked on Pier 28 for three years at Southwest Marine a ship repair company.

And finally AT&T Park where as luck would have it, a crowd was gathering for an evening game.  I rode all the way around the park before the crowds got too big to ride through.
                
Finally, I rode to the Transbay Bus Terminal, put my bike on the front of the city commuter bus and took it all the way across the peninsula back to the Cliff House and my car.  I went in to the Cliff House for a cup off Clam Chowder to watch a bit of the Giants on TV before driving back to San Jose.

After winning games Tony Bennett sings his song in the ball park, but win or lose, I know my heart will always be in San Francisco!

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