THE Trip, THE Encore' :: San Francisco, Day 3, Ferry Ride # 2, Cable Car Ride # 1

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

May 12, 2013.  Our last day in San Francisco.  We hoped that today would go a bit smoother as we had some experience with the ferry, the tolls, the buses, the maps.  I did have a short hit, err, bucket list, including Lombard Street.  Man had on his bucket list China Town, and of course, to ride a cable car.

On the way to the ferry I check out flowers, people, scenery, and yes, even the drainage systems, I know, I am weird, but, I find this minutia of daily life in places I have never been to be quite interesting.  "No Dumping, Drains to Bay".

We headed back to the Larkspur Terminal, paid for our tickets, chatted with people in line, all aboard, San Fran, here we come - - AGAIN!

San Quentin State Prison.  Did you know, the prison was "Opened in July 1852, it is the oldest prison in the state".  Man said he saw the prisoners in the yard exercising turn and wave to the ferry as it went by.  I missed that photo op.

Clear here, sea mist/FOG there - - - almost looks like a wall, doesn't it?

Sony Too finds the bridge, with a bit of zoom.  That sea mist/fog stuff is rolling around out there.

Part of Alcatraz Island, they have tours, we were not able to work one into our short stay in the San Francisco area.

Landing at Pier One we find that the vendors have gone home and the crowds with them, quite the difference from yesterday.

Out on the street, a reminder that all is not wonderful in the lives of many, shaving on the street, breakfast of chips and some orange drink.  Many of the homeless must sleep in late on Sunday as we saw several, some being kicked awake by store keepers who wanted to open shop, the homeless were sleeping in the doorways.

Yes, Man, you are about to ride the cable cars!

Riding, up, down, soon China Town.

China Town, and lunch time, next - -




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THE Trip, THE Encore' :: San Francisco, Riding the Bus(es), Pier 39 To Washington Square To Greenbrae

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

May 11, 2013.  We have walked, we have taken a ferry ride, we have eaten, we have seen Pier One and Pier 39 and I had a great time shooting the sea lions.  The day was growing old, we were growing tired and we still had to make our way from Pier 39 to the bus line that would take us back cross the Golden Gate Bridge to Tana in Greenbrae.

As we left Pier 39, you will find the Old Port Gate, and yes, that is a sea gull standing right at the very top peak.

From the Pier area Man and I made our way to Saints Peter and Paul Church and Washington Square.

At Washington Square since it was a Saturday, people were relaxing, enjoying the sunshine (yea, no sea mist here, but, just you wait, we shall find some again before the day is over).  Some football tossing, some sun bathing (brrr), picnic meals, dog exercising with frisbees, reading a book, taking a nap, cuddling with people you love.  Saturday afternoon in the park.

The street cars need power, there it is, interesting if I could figure it out, this way, that way, what a mass/maze.

Electric, and to the far left, non-electric.  Such a collection of different types of mass transit.  We saw old street cars, newer street cars, new street cars.  Buses of every vintage.  You could do a photo book just of the mass transit configurations!  LOL

We managed to find the correct corner, the correct bus line, the correct bus number and homeward bound we were.  The bus crosses the Golden Gate Bridge and, here ya see it, out the bus window, enveloped, in, yes, fog!  This was no sea mist, of course, on the other side of the bridge, the fog dissipated and the rest of the ride home was in clear, mist-less, fog-less, sunny skies.

I ended the day exhausted and overwhelmed by the "big" city and all that mass transit.  I was ready to head for the hills, or the ocean or ??  But, we had one more day, and Man convinced me we needed to give it another whirl.  Oh, voy!  Since we had not managed a ride on the cable cars, well, stay tuned - -




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THE Trip, THE Encore' :: San Francisco, Cross the Bridge, Sharing Lunch

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Yes, we are still in San Francisco and yes, we are 4.5 months behind on the posts and yes, it has been almost 3 weeks since I blogged about THE Trip, THE Encore'.  WOW!

May 10, 2013.

After spending some time at the Marin Headlands, watching the Golden Gate Bridge playing tag with a bunch of sea mist (OK, Facebook friends, Beverly and Linda, it was heavy enough at times to be fog), we headed down to the bridge and drove into San Francisco.

Many walk and bike across the bridge:

It is magnificent, isn't it?  Massive.  Stunning.  Not "golden", but, Golden in our hearts.

Here is Jolly getting through the toll gate. This was probably as close, and maybe closer, as was Needles tunnels near Custer South Dakota.  REALLY CLOSE!! Man was sweating it, and, truth be known, so was I.

On the way back to Greenbrae later in the afternoon, we discovered that we probably were in the wrong lane, as we were NOT in the curb lane going INTO town.  NOPE, we were in one of the inside lanes.  Ooops. No wonder it was such a tight fit.  It sure was easier going OUT of town and using that curb lane.  DUHHHH  (By the way, as far as we know, they have never billed us for the toll, maybe they thought since we managed to snug through they would award us with a free toll??  Nahhh, I doubt that too.)

San Francisco, the mist hung around most of the day.

Had to try to capture the steep hills.  They ARE just like in the movies!

We drove around a bit, carefully, this is not a Jolly friendly place.  We made our way to Golden Gate Park, Stow Lake, where we were delighted and a bit surprised to find a parking spot for our big fella, Jolly.  We had a picnic lunch and the fur kids, we found a park bench and proceeded to have lunch.   There were patrons of the park having row boat and kayak rides. Lots of people walking, some walking dogs, or pushing strollers with youngsters.  Other than some fine people watching, our view included this lovely stone bridge.

Some of our dining companions.

I had to laugh at this pair, I suspect we had a male and a female, and he was the fluffed up one?  He chased her all around, back and forth.  She kept moving, he kept chasing.  I kept giggling.

"I'm cute, look see, I am not afraid of you, I'll show off for you, ohh, what DO you have in that bag?  Food by any chance?"  (The sneak attack, well the attempt!)

No food was shared with the flocks.

After a leisurely (?) lunch in the cool dampness we drove around the park some more, eventually taking in other areas close by.  Coming here to Reflections sometime, hopefully soon.




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THE Trip, THE Encore' :: The Golden Gate Bridge As Seen Through The Rolling Sea Mist

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

May 10, 2013, Man and I took Jolly and drove from Greenbrae to San Fran.  First stop Marin Headlands, which would give you a spectacular view of the bridge, IF it were clear.  It was not clear, it was rolling sea mist. Somehow I think this is more common than not.

The photos are presented in the order they were taken.  Some zoomed, some not, as we drove around the headlands area.

Approaching from the 101, heading south.  Our first view of the Golden Gate, shrouded in sea mist.

From the headlands area, above and west of the bridge:

LOTS of zoom to find the ferry.

Be sure to click on this one, I made it a bit larger than I have in the past, let's see how it looks when we click.   Looking from the Headlands east into the bay.  I liked how this really shows off the sea mist, here, there - -

Enveloped again. We did not see the tops of the bridge until later in the afternoon.

The sea mist changes the way things look from moment to moment.  It just rolls in and over and around, almost like a living thing.




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