Carol writes: With the coming of Spring, we moved a little further up the coast to a somewhat unique campground situated on Sherman Island in the middle of the Sacramento River.
Our campsite was across the river from a giant wind farm where green technology has taken advantage of the prevailing windy conditions along this stretch of the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Our campground hosts informed us that this rural area along the river is well known in the wind-surfing world.
We arrived on Sherman Island a week before Easter and looked forward to a visit from good friends Dick and Maria,
who had promised us last summer to drive out from Colorado and see us while on a road trip during Spring Break. We eagerly anticipated sharing some of the San Francisco sights with them.
It took a day for Al and me to get our pesky coughs and colds under control. Then we headed in on the BART for a day with Dick and Maria at the California Academy of Sciences. Despite rave online reviews of this museum, all four of us found the experience somewhat wanting. After the albino alligator,
entertainment and educational value went downhill. I was especially disappointed that the planetarium show was about coral reefs! Which museum staffer thought that was a good idea???
Despite the disappointing displays at the museum, it was fun to share the 60-mile BART ride adventure and brief walk in the city with our friends. We found the mid-morning BART train fast and comfortable on the way in, but crowded and jam-packed with rush-hour commuters on the way back. Note to self: Design future trips into and out of the city around time schedules that avoid rush hour!
The next day we sent Dick and Maria off with lots of pointers about national parks to visit along their route back to Colorado.
On our next trip into the city we elected to take the San Francisco Bay Ferry from Vallejo to the ferry terminal at the Port of San Francisco. Excellent choice!
The catamaran ride across San Francisco Bay was efficient, fast and smooth,
with comfortable seats and stunning views, like this one of the San Francisco—Oakland Bay Bridge.
Weather-wise, we picked a city-perfect day; all around us we heard frequent exclamations of how marvelous this day was… As we headed into the Financial District, coffee and a snack fueled us up for what we knew would be an ambitious day’s excursion by foot.
Call us geeks, but we couldn’t resist a glance at the founding headquarters of Wells Fargo, where a bank employee offered to take one of our precious twosome photographs.
Inside, one of the original Wells Fargo coaches was pretty cool too.
As we headed through the Chinatown Gate,
the street bustle of interesting shops,
along with exotic fruit and vegetable markets,
 |
| Dragon Fruit |
transported us to a distinctive world of sight and sound. The senses were dazzled by street art
and colorful businesses run by shopkeepers who spoke with the musical cadence of the Chinese language.
San Francisco’s iconic cable cars
seemed well adapted to handle the infamously hilly neighboring streets of Chinatown.
As we steered ourselves toward the tourist area of Pier 39, we passed a honky tonk area,
a Roman Catholic church that is a favorite of Hollywood movies,
and a telephoto lens viewpoint of Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world.
Only in San Francisco…
As advertised, the wharf area around Pier 39 was touristy in the extreme. Strangely, however, we found it to be pleasantly designed and mildly interesting for “that sort of attraction.”
Pier 39 was good enough for us to grab some heavy lunchtime appetizers—a clam chowder bread bowl for Al, and crab cakes for me.
What a vista we had! Our lunchtime “table with a view” looked out on distant Alcatraz Island, with controlled chaos of numerous cruise boats coming and going in the marina below.
The end of Pier 39 had an amusing “carnie show,”
complete with the required juggling act on a unicycle.
Carnie show aside, any visitor to San Francisco soon discovers that it is the harbor seals who are the real stars of Pier 39.
Lots of sleeping, honking, and plain ole horseplay provided levity for all.
As we strolled along the pier area, slowly advancing toward our most distant destination for the day at Ghirardelli Square,
we had the perfect vantage point for that special shot of the infamous prison on Alcatraz Island.
After 7 miles of ambling throughout the sensory joys of the streets of San Francisco, we opted for a quick bus ride along the F-line back to the ferry terminal. Meanwhile, free samples at the chocolate shop
really did encourage opening the purse strings for that perfect bar of Ghirardelli chocolate to eat on the ferry ride back to Vallejo.
As our stay in the Bay Area wound down, we seized on the opportunity to visit with another of Al’s classmates from the Naval Academy Class of 1969. Phil invited us to visit him where he works at Moffett Field NASA Ames Research Center, located near the southern end of San Francisco Bay. The ease of renewing distant Academy friendships that had somehow endured over almost 50 years no longer surprised me.
Phil arranged for us to “fly” in NASA’s 747 cockpit flight simulator. With Al at the controls, I was content in the jump seat just to take in the very authentic sights and sounds of the 747 cockpit experience as Al did a couple of “takeoffs and landings at San Francisco International Airport.” This was certainly a fine cap to lunch and a tour of the NASA site that was enriched by Phil’s personal commentary about past and present projects around historic Moffett Field.
The San Francisco Bay Area had certainly captured our hearts as they say in the ole Tony Bennet song. But now, with Easter in the rearview mirror, it was time to unlock the “golden handcuffs” and move on to a less populated area on the grand northern California coast.
No comments:
Post a Comment