Crissy Field
After our short hike to Inspiration Point from behind our inn at The Presidio, we hopped on a shuttle bus to take the winding, circuitous route overlooking the Pacific Ocean all the way down to Crissy Field. Crissy Field is on the opposite side of The Presidio from Inspiration Point and it was getting late so there was no time to walk back down the trail and then walk to Crissy Field. Besides, at this point in our cross-country journey, I'm not sure any of us had the energy to do so anyway.
I wanted to spend some time here at Crissy Field for two reasons. First, this is an old Army airfield that is now a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and I'm always interested in visiting airfields. And second, this field is a beach on the shores of San Francisco Bay adjacent to the Golden Gate Bridge where the sun would be setting in the west over the Pacific Ocean. I definitely wanted some photographs as the sun was setting behind the Golden Gate Bridge. Before we even left Vermont, I envisioned a few different photos I wanted to capture while in San Francisco... this was one of them.
We found a concrete bulkhead on the beach right at the shore where would could sit while facing the setting sun. This was a really nice place to just sit and relax for a bit as the sun set behind the Golden Gate Bridge. We had been on the go at almost full speed for about a week at this point so just sitting and relaxing felt a bit weird... like we were forgetting about something we should be going. As we sat there watching the sun and the activity in the bay, the sun felt good but, as it sank lower in the sky, the air became a bit damp and chilly. After sweating all day, this change in climate felt refreshing.
Crissy Field was one of our early airfields which stayed in service until 1974. The 3000 foot runways ran alongside the San Francisco Bay. These short runways were only sand and clay so only small aircraft were used on this airfield. This was not a very secure location for an airfield and it had a major obstacle at one end once the Golden Gate Bridge was erected. The quickly changing weather and relentless fog also complicated conditions for an airfield. Nevertheless, it was an historic airfield that I wanted to see and feel.
There are still hangars and buildings on the old airfield which still retain the period architecture. Whenever I see these types of buildings, I am reminded of airfields and "home". No matter where I go, a military airfield always has the same "feel" and they are all very similar in appearance. Crissy Field was no exception. Incidentally, my early college years were on an old, deactivated airfield and the feel was the same there even back then before my career in the Air Force and the DoD.
On our walk from the bus stop to Crissy Field, we had to walk through a nature preserve estuary to get to the beach...
Alcatraz is very prominent sitting in San Francisco Bay...
Here is a view of The Palace of Fine Arts as seen from Crissy Field... right on the other side of this remarkable fictional ruin of Roman and ancient Greek architecture with its domed centerpiece is the beginning of San Francisco's Marina District, Pacific Heights, Russian Hill (one of our drivers was Russian and provided us with some of his own history on one of our rides... it was an interesting conversation for someone who studied the Russian culture and history during his career) and then beyond to the downtown North Beach district.
Although this photo makes everyone look bad because they seem to have their heads buried in a cellphone, nobody really had their heads buried in their cellphones. Adam was looking up the name of a ship that was passing by at the time. Of course, I can't remember the name or significance now... I truly hate cellphones but, to me, this is an acceptable use!
The sun is getting lower and closer to the left side of my photo framing... getting close to the photo I had hoped to capture...
This, finally, was one of the shots I was hoping to get while we were in San Francisco! If it had been raining as it had been for the entire previous month, we never would have seen this view. We were very lucky with the weather while in California and everyone we met told us so.
At this point, it was time to head back to Pershing Hall (our inn) before it was too dark to see where we were going. This was our first day at The Presidio so we didn't really know our way around just yet (figuring out how to get to Crissy Field from Inspiration Point was a group effort). Stumbling in the dark would have compounded the problem!
As we were walking back toward our inn, I kept turning around to see the view of the bay and the bridge. Here is the view toward the Golden Gate Bridge while walking through the estuary on Crissy Field...
One time during our walk back to the inn, I turned around and saw the moon up next to a palm tree... there aren't too many palm trees in our neck of the woods...
And one last photo of the bridge as it was getting dark...
It was a really nice first day in San Francisco and especially on The Presidio grounds. There is no doubt that each of us appreciated our time on the beach while everyone back in Vermont was enduring cold weather and more and more snow!
On our first night at The Presidio, we went back to our suites, had a few drinks, ordered some food to be delivered and then spent some time around the fire pit behind the inn...
I wanted to spend some time here at Crissy Field for two reasons. First, this is an old Army airfield that is now a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and I'm always interested in visiting airfields. And second, this field is a beach on the shores of San Francisco Bay adjacent to the Golden Gate Bridge where the sun would be setting in the west over the Pacific Ocean. I definitely wanted some photographs as the sun was setting behind the Golden Gate Bridge. Before we even left Vermont, I envisioned a few different photos I wanted to capture while in San Francisco... this was one of them.
We found a concrete bulkhead on the beach right at the shore where would could sit while facing the setting sun. This was a really nice place to just sit and relax for a bit as the sun set behind the Golden Gate Bridge. We had been on the go at almost full speed for about a week at this point so just sitting and relaxing felt a bit weird... like we were forgetting about something we should be going. As we sat there watching the sun and the activity in the bay, the sun felt good but, as it sank lower in the sky, the air became a bit damp and chilly. After sweating all day, this change in climate felt refreshing.
Crissy Field was one of our early airfields which stayed in service until 1974. The 3000 foot runways ran alongside the San Francisco Bay. These short runways were only sand and clay so only small aircraft were used on this airfield. This was not a very secure location for an airfield and it had a major obstacle at one end once the Golden Gate Bridge was erected. The quickly changing weather and relentless fog also complicated conditions for an airfield. Nevertheless, it was an historic airfield that I wanted to see and feel.
There are still hangars and buildings on the old airfield which still retain the period architecture. Whenever I see these types of buildings, I am reminded of airfields and "home". No matter where I go, a military airfield always has the same "feel" and they are all very similar in appearance. Crissy Field was no exception. Incidentally, my early college years were on an old, deactivated airfield and the feel was the same there even back then before my career in the Air Force and the DoD.
On our walk from the bus stop to Crissy Field, we had to walk through a nature preserve estuary to get to the beach...
Alcatraz is very prominent sitting in San Francisco Bay...
Here is a view of The Palace of Fine Arts as seen from Crissy Field... right on the other side of this remarkable fictional ruin of Roman and ancient Greek architecture with its domed centerpiece is the beginning of San Francisco's Marina District, Pacific Heights, Russian Hill (one of our drivers was Russian and provided us with some of his own history on one of our rides... it was an interesting conversation for someone who studied the Russian culture and history during his career) and then beyond to the downtown North Beach district.
Although this photo makes everyone look bad because they seem to have their heads buried in a cellphone, nobody really had their heads buried in their cellphones. Adam was looking up the name of a ship that was passing by at the time. Of course, I can't remember the name or significance now... I truly hate cellphones but, to me, this is an acceptable use!
The sun is getting lower and closer to the left side of my photo framing... getting close to the photo I had hoped to capture...
This, finally, was one of the shots I was hoping to get while we were in San Francisco! If it had been raining as it had been for the entire previous month, we never would have seen this view. We were very lucky with the weather while in California and everyone we met told us so.
It was beginning to get a bit chilly with the sun this low in the sky which is pretty obvious by how Sue is bundled up...
At this point, it was time to head back to Pershing Hall (our inn) before it was too dark to see where we were going. This was our first day at The Presidio so we didn't really know our way around just yet (figuring out how to get to Crissy Field from Inspiration Point was a group effort). Stumbling in the dark would have compounded the problem!
As we were walking back toward our inn, I kept turning around to see the view of the bay and the bridge. Here is the view toward the Golden Gate Bridge while walking through the estuary on Crissy Field...
One time during our walk back to the inn, I turned around and saw the moon up next to a palm tree... there aren't too many palm trees in our neck of the woods...
And one last photo of the bridge as it was getting dark...
It was a really nice first day in San Francisco and especially on The Presidio grounds. There is no doubt that each of us appreciated our time on the beach while everyone back in Vermont was enduring cold weather and more and more snow!
On our first night at The Presidio, we went back to our suites, had a few drinks, ordered some food to be delivered and then spent some time around the fire pit behind the inn...
Comments
Post a Comment