via Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/B0_rkuXglb-/
Showing posts with label Bay Area. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bay Area. Show all posts
Saturday, August 10, 2019
Tuesday, February 05, 2019
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
Saturday, September 02, 2017
Thursday, March 30, 2017
Muir Woods
Amazing hike in Muir Woods. I haven't been here in 20ish years. Love that is hasn't changed much!! But OMG, that light.
via Instagram http://ift.tt/2noJlqd
via Instagram http://ift.tt/2noJlqd
Friday, January 23, 2015
Rodeo Beach
This is the 3rd year Jimmy and I have gone to Rodeo Beach for our anniversary.
The sites and views along the way never get old.
The lowering sun made the Bay Bridge glisten.
The Golden Gate Bridge always looks good no matter the time of day or weather.
And every year I can't resist taking this snapshot, even with all that yucky smog.
There's a little bit of marshland between the parking lot and the beach and for the last couple of years, we've seen a handful of egrets fishing for dinner. Or maybe those are cranes. Or maybe the one with the outstretched neck is the egret, and the other ones are cranes. Even after a bit of googling, it's inconclusive and I'm more confused than before.
We had a little more time this year to walk along the beach before sunset. This year Jimmy took most of the photos with our big camera.
He took a snapshot of me taking our annual photo. A selfie of our selfie.
Here's a 2 minute slideshow of some of our photos and videos of the sunset at Rodeo Beach on our anniversary:
The sites and views along the way never get old.
The lowering sun made the Bay Bridge glisten.The Golden Gate Bridge always looks good no matter the time of day or weather.And every year I can't resist taking this snapshot, even with all that yucky smog.There's a little bit of marshland between the parking lot and the beach and for the last couple of years, we've seen a handful of egrets fishing for dinner. Or maybe those are cranes. Or maybe the one with the outstretched neck is the egret, and the other ones are cranes. Even after a bit of googling, it's inconclusive and I'm more confused than before.We had a little more time this year to walk along the beach before sunset. This year Jimmy took most of the photos with our big camera.
He took a snapshot of me taking our annual photo. A selfie of our selfie.Here's a 2 minute slideshow of some of our photos and videos of the sunset at Rodeo Beach on our anniversary:
Tuesday, September 03, 2013
The New Span of the Bay Bridge
San Francisco has a couple of iconic bridges. The most famous is the Golden Gate Bridge, spanning the Golden Gate between the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Bay. But our other bridge, The Bay Bridge is also quite a spectacular sight. At least on the San Francisco side. The Oakland side, or the East Span wasn't very pretty but more importantly, wasn't safe. In fact, after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, a section of the upper deck broke and collapsed onto the bottom deck. You can see an image of that here.
They started building a new bridge in 2002 and it finally opened last night. Since we live so close to the bridge, about a block, we decided that we had to drive on it the night it opened. They said it would open between 9-10pm and people started lining up, wanting to be the first one on. It finally opened between 10:15 and 10:30. We waited till the crowds dispersed and went out after watching the 11 o'clock news.
It really was a beautiful sight to see. A very pretty bridge.
It takes us less than 7 minutes to cross the bridge from end to end. We drove over it heading into Oakland, turned around then drove back over it into San Francisco. While that 1st view of it coming from San Francisco was quite breathtaking, it really is the most beautiful coming from Oakland going into San Francisco.
Here's a video I shot from the Toll Plaza all the way into San Francisco. But I recommend starting the video around 2:30 so you can see us approach and drive under the beautiful new span (especially if you have video A.D.D. like me and can't handle videos more than 3 minutes).
If you didn't catch our conversation, Jimmy noticed that the new span is actually in San Francisco city limits, not in Oakland. Which is kinda funny because there's been a long running conversation that Oakland has had the ugly side of the bay bridge and San Francisco has the pretty side. But turns out the new pretty part is also in SF. But it is on the Oakland Side of Yerba Buena Island, so admittedly, that's what counts.
If you're interested, here's a 45 second video I shot of the new bridge coming from San Francisco.
You can see how it's much more impressive coming from the other side in the 1st video.
So, one of the main reasons I wanted to cross the new Bay Bridge on the night it opened because I wanted to pay homage to my friend June Bryce who died in February. She drove over it in 1936 when it opened originally. It even opened before the Golden Gate Bridge, so it was a very big deal back then. An engineering feat and a great link from San Francisco to Oakland. She was 16 years old and rode over from Oakland into San Francisco with her mom. They spent the afternoon in San Francisco, but the wait to drive back over the bridge into Oakland was several hours long, so they took a ferry back. Additionally, before the bridge even opened to the public, she and a friend jumped a fence and walked across it without getting caught. She was a feisty character, even into her 90s. This was one of my favorite stories she told me. To be able to drive over that bridge on opening day 77 years ago...I just think that is so amazing.
She may have been in one of these cars.
(image from SFGate).
And just for the heck of it, here's a timelapse video showing the construction of the new span from 2008 till now.
They started building a new bridge in 2002 and it finally opened last night. Since we live so close to the bridge, about a block, we decided that we had to drive on it the night it opened. They said it would open between 9-10pm and people started lining up, wanting to be the first one on. It finally opened between 10:15 and 10:30. We waited till the crowds dispersed and went out after watching the 11 o'clock news.
It really was a beautiful sight to see. A very pretty bridge.It takes us less than 7 minutes to cross the bridge from end to end. We drove over it heading into Oakland, turned around then drove back over it into San Francisco. While that 1st view of it coming from San Francisco was quite breathtaking, it really is the most beautiful coming from Oakland going into San Francisco.
Here's a video I shot from the Toll Plaza all the way into San Francisco. But I recommend starting the video around 2:30 so you can see us approach and drive under the beautiful new span (especially if you have video A.D.D. like me and can't handle videos more than 3 minutes).
If you didn't catch our conversation, Jimmy noticed that the new span is actually in San Francisco city limits, not in Oakland. Which is kinda funny because there's been a long running conversation that Oakland has had the ugly side of the bay bridge and San Francisco has the pretty side. But turns out the new pretty part is also in SF. But it is on the Oakland Side of Yerba Buena Island, so admittedly, that's what counts.
If you're interested, here's a 45 second video I shot of the new bridge coming from San Francisco.
You can see how it's much more impressive coming from the other side in the 1st video.
So, one of the main reasons I wanted to cross the new Bay Bridge on the night it opened because I wanted to pay homage to my friend June Bryce who died in February. She drove over it in 1936 when it opened originally. It even opened before the Golden Gate Bridge, so it was a very big deal back then. An engineering feat and a great link from San Francisco to Oakland. She was 16 years old and rode over from Oakland into San Francisco with her mom. They spent the afternoon in San Francisco, but the wait to drive back over the bridge into Oakland was several hours long, so they took a ferry back. Additionally, before the bridge even opened to the public, she and a friend jumped a fence and walked across it without getting caught. She was a feisty character, even into her 90s. This was one of my favorite stories she told me. To be able to drive over that bridge on opening day 77 years ago...I just think that is so amazing.
She may have been in one of these cars.(image from SFGate).
And just for the heck of it, here's a timelapse video showing the construction of the new span from 2008 till now.
Friday, March 15, 2013
Covering a lot of ground
I've been all over the Bay Area today. It was wonderfully a busy day.
Doris and I spent the 1st part of the day in Pleasanton at the Scrapbook Expo. Imagine a huge building at the fairgrounds filled with scrapbooking supplies. A crafters heaven but a budget nightmare. Actually I didn't overdo it, surprise surprise. We met up with our friend Marah Johnson. She's an amazingly vivacious and edgy artist with the most positive and outgoing spirit.After dropping Doris off, I came home for less than an hour to change and freshen up before heading to Berkeley.
My SIL and I went to a modern dance performance by the Trisha Brown Company. It was one of the oddest yet most amazing dance performances I've seen. My SIL is trained in dance so she was certainly more impressed with their abilities. I was awestruck and wished I could understand technically the magnitude of the skills they had. It was at Zellerbach Hall on Cal Berkeley's campus.Downtown Berkeley is just a short BART ride from San Francisco but this was the 1st time I've been there since we moved to SF. I've probably been downtown less than a dozen times in the 20 years we've lived here, which really is a shame. It's an oddball of a city, but so very full of character and life. Now that I know how easy it is to get there from BART, I might have to go more often.
Saturday, March 02, 2013
3.2 San Francisco ShEvil Dead {Roller Derby}
Well, that was a Saturday night I never expected to enjoy as much as I did!Have you ever seen a roller derby competition? It's pretty insane! And very fast! And a lot of fun! I couldn't even begin tell you the rules, but the team we were rooting for won! One of Jimmy's co-workers is a skater for the San Francisco ShEvil Dead. In addition to the half dozen other coworkers cheering her on, there were over a thousand fans that filled the pavilion cheering for either teams.
Whoda knew that this sport had such a following?
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Watching the Sunset on Our Anniversary
Today was a good day. It was the 1st warm weekend we've had in over a month so lots of people were out enjoying the sun.
We celebrated our 22nd anniversary exploring a different part of the coast, just north of The City.
We headed to Point Bonita in the Marin Headlands where the views were spectacular on this clear day.
We've never seen the Golden Gate Bridge from this vantage point.
We wanted to visit the Point Bonita Lighthouse but after a short hike, we arrived 15 minutes after they closed. No bother, it was a gorgeous day and we were going to enjoy it.
We had about an hour before sunset and we wanted to be down on that beach to watch it.
Windswept, exhilarating, and covered with unique red and green pebbles, Rodeo beach is sheltered by cliffs and bounded by a lagoon. It offers good picnic sites and is ideal for kite flying or just watching the roaring Pacific. Attentive beach-walkers may see (but must not collect) jasper, carnelian, black agate, and jade among the beach sands. Two military forts once guarded these shores. Fort Barry and Fort Cronkhite—whose structures now serve as National Park Service facilities—were once nerve centers of Marin Headlands military activities long ago.
When we got there, we had about 30 minutes to enjoy the views before the sun "touched" water.
We weren't the only ones with this idea. This was a beautiful beach and we were happy to finally discover it.
Fort Cronkhite, a former World War II military post located in the Marin Headlands, is the park's best preserved example of a World War II "mobilization post". Starting in 1939, the U.S. Army built hundreds of similar wood-frame, temporary military posts around the country for the wartime training and housing of soldiers. By some estimates, more than 100,000 of these buildings were constructed between 1940 and 1945.
The buildings at Fort Cronkhite, completed in 1941, are typical of thousands of wartime barracks, mess halls, supply buildings once constructed from coast to coast. Fort Cronkhite originally housed hundreds of Coast Artillery soldiers assigned to the army's sprawling Harbor Defenses of San Francisco. Their mission was to protect San Francisco Bay against enemy attack and during World War II, the soldiers manned gun batteries, radar sites, and other fortifications on the high ridges overlooking the fort.
Almost there.
What a sky!
Just about disappeared into the horizon.
A fitting end to a fantastic day.
We celebrated our 22nd anniversary exploring a different part of the coast, just north of The City.We headed to Point Bonita in the Marin Headlands where the views were spectacular on this clear day.We've never seen the Golden Gate Bridge from this vantage point.We wanted to visit the Point Bonita Lighthouse but after a short hike, we arrived 15 minutes after they closed. No bother, it was a gorgeous day and we were going to enjoy it.We had about an hour before sunset and we wanted to be down on that beach to watch it.Windswept, exhilarating, and covered with unique red and green pebbles, Rodeo beach is sheltered by cliffs and bounded by a lagoon. It offers good picnic sites and is ideal for kite flying or just watching the roaring Pacific. Attentive beach-walkers may see (but must not collect) jasper, carnelian, black agate, and jade among the beach sands. Two military forts once guarded these shores. Fort Barry and Fort Cronkhite—whose structures now serve as National Park Service facilities—were once nerve centers of Marin Headlands military activities long ago.
When we got there, we had about 30 minutes to enjoy the views before the sun "touched" water.We weren't the only ones with this idea. This was a beautiful beach and we were happy to finally discover it.Fort Cronkhite, a former World War II military post located in the Marin Headlands, is the park's best preserved example of a World War II "mobilization post". Starting in 1939, the U.S. Army built hundreds of similar wood-frame, temporary military posts around the country for the wartime training and housing of soldiers. By some estimates, more than 100,000 of these buildings were constructed between 1940 and 1945.The buildings at Fort Cronkhite, completed in 1941, are typical of thousands of wartime barracks, mess halls, supply buildings once constructed from coast to coast. Fort Cronkhite originally housed hundreds of Coast Artillery soldiers assigned to the army's sprawling Harbor Defenses of San Francisco. Their mission was to protect San Francisco Bay against enemy attack and during World War II, the soldiers manned gun batteries, radar sites, and other fortifications on the high ridges overlooking the fort.
Almost there.What a sky!Just about disappeared into the horizon.A fitting end to a fantastic day.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Habitat for Humanity Greater SF
I volunteer for Habitat for Humanity once a week at their San Francisco office helping with data entry. This branch builds homes for needy families in 3 Bay Area counties, San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo. Right now their biggest build is in Daly City, the city just south of San Francisco, with 36 homes being built, to be completed sometime next year. They're also building homes in Menlo Park and East Palo Alto.
A volunteer photographer put together this wonderful video showing a compilation of photos from the Daly City build. The song she chose to go along with it really makes an impact.
from the photographer Julia Jackson: "Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco is in the process of building 36, mostly 3 bedroom homes, for 36 hard-working low income families. This video shows the work to date set to the music. This project is a huge undertaking and is being accomplished with the help of thousands of volunteers, most with no experience in the building trades. Join us in making this happen for just a day or on a regular basis. Check out their website at www.habitatgsf.org for more information.
On a personal note, I am a volunteer photographer for Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco. You can see me out at the work site in Daly City, as well as, home revitalization projects in Menlo Park and East Palo Alto and community projects in San Francisco and San Mateo counties.
The wonderful theme song for this video is "Home" by Phillip Phillips."
A volunteer photographer put together this wonderful video showing a compilation of photos from the Daly City build. The song she chose to go along with it really makes an impact.
from the photographer Julia Jackson: "Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco is in the process of building 36, mostly 3 bedroom homes, for 36 hard-working low income families. This video shows the work to date set to the music. This project is a huge undertaking and is being accomplished with the help of thousands of volunteers, most with no experience in the building trades. Join us in making this happen for just a day or on a regular basis. Check out their website at www.habitatgsf.org for more information.
On a personal note, I am a volunteer photographer for Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco. You can see me out at the work site in Daly City, as well as, home revitalization projects in Menlo Park and East Palo Alto and community projects in San Francisco and San Mateo counties.
The wonderful theme song for this video is "Home" by Phillip Phillips."
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
4.18 Commuting to the East Bay on BART
I had 10 minutes to kill on the platform before my train arrived.
It still fascinates me watching everyone scurrying around below ground going here and there.
A train arriving.
Boarding.
Fast.
Places to go, people to see, things to do.
On the train, waiting to exit.
It still fascinates me watching everyone scurrying around below ground going here and there.
A train arriving.Boarding.Fast.Places to go, people to see, things to do.On the train, waiting to exit.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Road Trip: Point Reyes
We took advantage of MLK Jr day and headed north for a little road trip. We've only been north of the Golden Gate Bridge once since we've moved here and I've been chomping at the bit for us to do some exploring.
We started off in San Francisco. Our first stop was at Muir Beach. Then we drove though Stinson Beach to Point Reyes and Drakes Bay. Then had dinner in Petaluma before heading back home.
Driving north over the Golden Gate Bridge.
Our first stop at Muir Beach Overlook. Didn't really overlook the beach, but this is the view south looking back at the city.
Zooming in to Sutro Tower atop Twin Peaks.
Looking north from Muir Beach Overlook.
Thats us! Windy day and a lot colder than it looks. We both should have had jackets on. One lady even commented on how Jimmy was wearing short sleeves and she was in a big coat and she was freezing.
Stinson Beach. Maybe the prettiest beach in California. It would have been nice to stop, but even though it had been over 15 years since we'd been there, we wanted to explore uncharted territory. We've never driven past Stinson Beach on Highway 1 before so we just enjoyed the views as we drove through.
California Happy Cows.
Looking south at South Beach on the coast side of Point Reyes.
Looking north at North Beach on the coastal side of Point Reyes.
Drakes Bay looking at Point Reyes. Drakes Bay is named after Sir Francis Drake.
How cool is this?!!? We saw a herd of Tule Elk as we were leaving Drakes Bay.
The big guy on the right was clearly in charge of this herd.
After dinner in Petaluma, a small farming town known for it's butter and eggs, we headed back home.
But we stopped at Fort Baker to take a few photos of the bridge.
Then went over to the Marin Headlands to get a few shots of the city lights behind it.
California Happy Cows Commercial.
We started off in San Francisco. Our first stop was at Muir Beach. Then we drove though Stinson Beach to Point Reyes and Drakes Bay. Then had dinner in Petaluma before heading back home.Driving north over the Golden Gate Bridge.Our first stop at Muir Beach Overlook. Didn't really overlook the beach, but this is the view south looking back at the city.Zooming in to Sutro Tower atop Twin Peaks.Looking north from Muir Beach Overlook.Thats us! Windy day and a lot colder than it looks. We both should have had jackets on. One lady even commented on how Jimmy was wearing short sleeves and she was in a big coat and she was freezing.Stinson Beach. Maybe the prettiest beach in California. It would have been nice to stop, but even though it had been over 15 years since we'd been there, we wanted to explore uncharted territory. We've never driven past Stinson Beach on Highway 1 before so we just enjoyed the views as we drove through. California Happy Cows.Looking south at South Beach on the coast side of Point Reyes.Looking north at North Beach on the coastal side of Point Reyes.Drakes Bay looking at Point Reyes. Drakes Bay is named after Sir Francis Drake.How cool is this?!!? We saw a herd of Tule Elk as we were leaving Drakes Bay.The big guy on the right was clearly in charge of this herd.After dinner in Petaluma, a small farming town known for it's butter and eggs, we headed back home.
But we stopped at Fort Baker to take a few photos of the bridge.Then went over to the Marin Headlands to get a few shots of the city lights behind it.California Happy Cows Commercial.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)