Kathy provided us with a couple of options for exploring the Bay Area ... An urban adventure into San Francisco or a hike in the Marin Headlands, a hilly peninsula just north of San Francisco and across from the Golden Gate Bridge. In keeping with our tradition of hiking, we set off to the Marin Headlands.
The area is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and features amazing views of the Golden Gate Bridge. The Marin Headlands is made up of a number of military installations, fortifications dating back to the 1890s continuing through the periods of World War 1 and World War 2 into the Cold War era. Many of the original U.S. Army building are still standing and used as office space and other public uses (galleries, meeting rooms, etc).
Battery Townsley is an example of a WW2 battery that housed an enormous gun battery, the entire structure weighing over 1 million pounds, yet could a shell 26 miles at 1 1/2 minute intervals by a team of 35 personnel. The entire area was finally decommissioned in the 1960s and returned to civilian use ... And would have been housing developments but for the work of a group of local citizens who applied sufficient pressure to have the area sold to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area for the enjoyment of all and preservation of the coastline.
The Point Bonita Lighthouse is a part of the area, but it only open on the weekends. Apparently it use to have a bridge that could only allow two people at a time to pass, but the bridge has been upgraded to allow more pedestrian traffic.
Hawk Hill is the look out point for the annual (August into December) migration of raptors as tens of thousands of hawks, kites, falcons, vultures, osprey, and eagles are known to travel along the peninsula into the headlands. We had our own red-tailed hawk who was putting on quite a show for us ...
We walked along the beach ... Saw several surfers bobbing in the waves (less surfing and more bobbing ... In wetsuits) and found this Snowy Egret (notice his yellow feet) searching for lunch in the waves.
And, for lunch for us, we headed into Sausalito for a seafood lunch of our own at Scoma's on the water front before winding our way back to Lafayette.
We had a delicious dinner at Kathy's sister and brother-in-law's home (Jan and Gary) in neighboring Orinda... Which was an amazing home ... Gary is a building contractor (soon to be retired?) with a rare vision for what is possible with an architectural space and the ability to make that vision a reality. He and Jan have created an aesthetically lovely interior and exterior living environment ... And treated us all to dinner. My only regret was that I was so busy eating and drinking that I failed to get pictures of their home ...
1 comment:
Boy did you ever get a clear day on the Headlands, and thus terrific views. How do you learn so much about an area in such a short time? Are docent skills inbred?
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