Checking off the Bucket List in San Francisco

This will be the final post from my recent trip to Yosemite Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. Looking back on the posts and considering the work we completed during the actual business parts of the trip, I’d have to say it was a great success. Today’s post centers on a “bucket list” item for me, walking across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Ever since I first flew over the Golden Gate Bridge, in May 1980 – flying from the San Francisco airport down to the airport at Monterey, where I would attend the Russian language program at the Defense Language Institute – I have wanted to check out the experience of walking across the bridge. By some stroke of luck, the sun was shining brightly on the bridge that day and its bright red glowed against the sparkling waves below. It’s an image that has stuck with me now for 30 years.

So with found time on my hands, I set about the errands to end the business portion of my trip last Friday and then to go over to San Francisco and join the thousands of other tourists discovering everyone’s “second home town.” I checked out of the hotel and back in, so that I could expense one night (funny, I ended up with a better room at lower cost, thanks to Hotels.com!); and I turned in my rental car two days early so that I wouldn’t incur the extra two days rental as a personal expense. Then I walked the three blocks over to Oakland’s Ferry Terminal and took a boat across to the Marina District.

The photos of the Bay Bridge and skyline were taken from the boat.

I decided to rent a bike and ride around town. There are tons of little stands that offer this service, and by skirting along the bay from the marina, you can stay on relatively flat terrain all the way over to the Bridge – and if you’re up for it, even over to Sausalito and Tiburon. I thought about riding to Sausalito and catching the ferry back, and figured I could decide later, after I crossed the bridge.

I started out at lunch time, so after I got out of the bustling area around the piers my first business item was getting lunch somewhere. I soon decided I would never come back to San Francisco in June, the main tourist season – it’s too crowded and the bunch of us were very dangerous for each other – Mary and I usually come here in September or October. Henry had suggested that I try to find the Buena Vista during my sightseeing, and lo, there it was just as I veered off the bike route!

I stopped in for an Irish Coffee made with Tullamore Dew – just like the ones at the Irish Harp in Berlin. The place was too crowded to eat there, and I was worried about the bike, so I decided to walk around the neighborhood to look for something. I ended up in the café at the Argonaut hotel, a Kimpton establishment (we have a couple of these boutique hotels in Alexandria, too – you can count on a good meal there).

After a nice Albacore sandwich, a green salad, and two Flat Tire ales I hit the road. I encountered this idled cable car, and then this view down the hill to the Bay and Alcatraz Island – we’ll take that in on some future, less crowded visit. I pedaled back down the bike path, and rode along some of the small parks that make up the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Crissy Field, the Presidio, and Fort Point, stopping here and there to try and get a good photo of the bridge (finally got the one above in Crissy Field).

At last I was at the bridge and dismounted. I walked the bike across – my goal was to walk across, and every time I’d set out before with friends or colleagues we had turned back before the first tower. I went all the way across this time…it’s a long walk, almost two miles from end to end! When I stopped at the north observation area, I decided not to go on to Sausalito, and rode back across down to the Marina District.

The bridge is one of America’s favorite symbols, and I’d rank it far up there on my list. After thinking about this little excursion for thirty years I was glad I could finally check it off. Over the years, with a dozen vacations there, a year in nearby Monterey, and four business trips here, I’ve been calling San Francisco everybody’s second home town for a long time – so this was one more thing I’d gotten to know personally about the place.