Our First Glimpse of the Pacific
On our second day in San Francisco, we walked from our inn down to the transportation center on The Presidio. It was a beautiful morning for hiking so that was our plan on this day. We chose to start hiking along the cliffs on the west side of The Presidio overlooking the Pacific Ocean and then make our way to the Golden Gate Bridge. If we finished all of that early enough, I had hoped to recommend we visit the Palace of Fine Arts too. It would be a busy day regardless.
We actually caught our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean the previous evening. Our shuttle bus from Inspiration Point down to Crissy Field took a circuitous route that provided us a surprise view of the Pacific Ocean as the sun was beginning to get low in the sky. I snapped a one-handed photo, below, through the window of the bus...
I was interested in hiking some of the trails along the Pacific Ocean for two reasons. First, of course, this would provide some spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean and everyone in our small group was interested in that! When I asked if everyone was okay with walking along these cliffs overlooking the ocean, Sheila and Sue excitedly shouted, "YES!". But I also wanted to hike this area of The Presidio because it was rich in air defense history. I abruptly and unexpectedly finished my career while in air defense so this was of particular interest to me. Along this trail and overlooking the ocean are historic big gun batteries and Nike missile sites. I'll write more about this and show more photos of the batteries in another blog entry but, considering my career experiences, I found walking through some of the history of our air defenses very interesting.
This was a stunningly beautiful morning so we were all excited about the prospect of walking atop these cliffs as we made our way to the Golden Gate Bridge...
From a distance along the trail, I managed to capture a nice shot of Will and Sue...
This last shot is a panorama of about four images stitched together... Will on my left and Joi on my right... Pacific Ocean ahead (obviously) and the Golden Gate Bridge to my right beyond Joi...
Our desired destination after this hike was the Golden Gate Bridge so we slowly made our way toward the bridge. The bridge was looming in the distance during our entire hike drawing us closer and closer. We'd stop every few feet to take in the sun, enjoy the views and shoot a few photos.
We made it all the way across the country, by rail, from the east coast to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. The views were great and, better yet, there was no snow on this late winter day to trudge through!
We actually caught our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean the previous evening. Our shuttle bus from Inspiration Point down to Crissy Field took a circuitous route that provided us a surprise view of the Pacific Ocean as the sun was beginning to get low in the sky. I snapped a one-handed photo, below, through the window of the bus...
I was interested in hiking some of the trails along the Pacific Ocean for two reasons. First, of course, this would provide some spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean and everyone in our small group was interested in that! When I asked if everyone was okay with walking along these cliffs overlooking the ocean, Sheila and Sue excitedly shouted, "YES!". But I also wanted to hike this area of The Presidio because it was rich in air defense history. I abruptly and unexpectedly finished my career while in air defense so this was of particular interest to me. Along this trail and overlooking the ocean are historic big gun batteries and Nike missile sites. I'll write more about this and show more photos of the batteries in another blog entry but, considering my career experiences, I found walking through some of the history of our air defenses very interesting.
This was a stunningly beautiful morning so we were all excited about the prospect of walking atop these cliffs as we made our way to the Golden Gate Bridge...
From a distance along the trail, I managed to capture a nice shot of Will and Sue...
This last shot is a panorama of about four images stitched together... Will on my left and Joi on my right... Pacific Ocean ahead (obviously) and the Golden Gate Bridge to my right beyond Joi...
Our desired destination after this hike was the Golden Gate Bridge so we slowly made our way toward the bridge. The bridge was looming in the distance during our entire hike drawing us closer and closer. We'd stop every few feet to take in the sun, enjoy the views and shoot a few photos.
We made it all the way across the country, by rail, from the east coast to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. The views were great and, better yet, there was no snow on this late winter day to trudge through!
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