Wanderung 26

Walkabout, Sailabout

March - May 2012


 

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Sunday May 13th, 2012: San Francisco

Bob:

I awakened while it was still dark as we passed underneath the Golden Gate Bridge on our way into San Francisco. We threw on our clothes, grabbed the camera, and rushed up on deck, but we were well past the bridge by the time we finally made it. Although the Oakland Bay Bridge ahead of us was well lit and quite pretty, I was surprised that the Golden Gate Bridge just had lights on the main span. Not having lights on the cables made them almost impossible to see in the dark, but we took pictures anyway and then repaired to the Horizon Cafe for our last breakfast on the Sea Princess. Sigh.

Monika:

We woke up as we were sailing underneath the Golden Gate Bridge in the dark. Of course, we quickly dressed and went up on deck for pictures of San Francisco. As it is always in New York, it is kind of eerie to glide quietly into a dark city where all the people are still asleep. To our right were the hills of San Francisco and to our left the island of Alcatrez. Another Princess ship came in behind us, also sailing in front of Alcatrez. We must have won the race, since it seemed we got the best berth.

Bob:

The final wave of packing was to stuff all our toiletries and electronic devices including our Rube Goldberg charging system into our bags, and thankfully it all fit. The extra space taken up by our accumulated souvenirs, "Princess Patters", and other miscellaneous things was just about perfectly offset by a slight decrease in bulk due to all the paperback books we had recycled to the ship's library after reading them. We also had a slight increase in total space in our suitcases as I was using our small blue backpack as my "carry-on" luggage, into which I had stuffed our swim fins, snorkels, three pairs of shorts, and my charcoal gray sweater.

Just as he had promised, our old friend Chris was waiting at the exit when we walked off the ship at Pier 35. We stowed our gear in the trunk of Chris's Kia Soul, a big but efficient box of a car, and decided to walk along Fisherman's Wharf since Chris had found one of the few legal but unmetered parking spots in the area. We strolled along the waterfront, getting some nice pictures of the Sea Princess back across the sailboats at the nearby marina.

I was surprised that one set of small, square floating docks of some kind had apparently been turned into a sanctuary for the local harbor seals. I'm no expert, but the colony of 20 or so seals seemed to be thriving in that we saw old bulls, cows, and what appeared to be a couple teen-age seals plus one baby seal.

Monika:

Our friend Chris from Los Angeles was awaiting us. He had gotten in the night before, and since he is an early riser, we had decided to walk off quite early, carrying all our belongings. That way, we were the first ones off the ship and could spend the whole day with Chris.

As promised, Chris was standing right at the entrance to Pier 35. Chris is an old friend from our college days, and he is another one of those friends, that no matter how long between visit, we pick up right were we left off the last time. Since we live on opposite coasts, we see him less than we would like, so we always treasure the time we have with him.

Chris had scouted out the area the day before and found out where he could park close by and without parking meters. So we dropped off our luggage and walked back to the pier for a good look around.

I enjoyed walking along the harbor front. Pier 39 was reserved for harbor seals, and it was fun watching them laze around in the early morning sun.

Bob:

Down near the far end of the pedestrian promenade we found a National Park Museum and of course I had to see that. It was quite small but had some nicely done exhibits on the seafaring side of the history of San Francisco, which is quite extensive. From the museum we curled back to Chris's car and started off on a scenic drive around San Francisco and down the western edge of the peninsula upon which it is located.

Monika:

A little further on we found a National Park Museum about San Francisco, the harbor, and the history. Of course, we had to walk through it. Luckily it was not too big, so after about an hour and many pictures, we walked back to the car admiring the cable cars that are iconic to San Francisco.

Chris first gave us a tour of the city, driving up and down some of the steepest streets for which San Francisco is famous. We then went out to the western edge of the city from where we got a really good look at the Golden Gate Bridge.


 

Bob:

We punctuated our drive down the coast as far South as Santa Cruz with short walks out to the headlands where we could get better views up and down the coast. Although I had some success taking "drive-by" pictures of the passing scenery by rolling down the window and holding the camera outside to take pictures, it was far easier to calmly compose a picture when we were standing on a headland!

The views up and down the coast were often quite stunning. The scenery varied more than I would have expected, with some of the coast featuring sheer cliffs dropping right into the sea, some sandy coves with long, gently shelving white sand beaches that looked quite swimmable (although the water was undoubtedly cold!), and some wave-washed rocky headlands that were just barely above sea level with the waves breaking over them in a huge shower of foam and spray. So pretty!

Monika:

From there, we started driving down the coast. We stopped whenever possible for short walks and picture taking. It was a wonderful coastline with high cliffs and sandy beaches.


 

Bob:

Our last major stop on the coast was at a small park around Pigeon Point Lighthouse, where we also had great panoramic views.

Monika:

We went as far as the Pigeon Point Lighthouse, another wonderful stop for picture taking.


 


 

Bob:

Turning around just before we reached Santa Cruz, we crossed over the peninsula on Route 92 to get to the area around San Francisco airport where Chris had made hotel reservations for us for the evening. The mountains in the middle of the peninsula were quite green and covered with decent stands of trees and some bushes. Since a Wendy's restaurant was just down the road from our hotel, we had a light evening meal there and then returned to our room to chat about old times, things that were happening now in each of our lives, and trips that we might take together in the future. Good times!

Monika:

But then we decided to turn around and come back via the inland route. Again the scenery was wonderful and varied, with deep lakes and mountains. Chris had made reservations in a motel close to the airport. We had a nice meal at Wendy's, and a wonderful evening chatting.



Copyright 2012 by R. W. Holt and E. M. Holt


 

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