Sunday, April 10, 2016

San Francisco, CA - Marin Headlands

We had planned to stay here today BUT I’ve just got to get our of this RV - I’ve been almost cooped up for 2 1/2 weeks, we’re nearing the end of our stay here, I’ve got a knee brace for my leg and I’ve got to go.

However, it was already 1:00 so we planned a shorter trip to visit the Marin Headlands, a huge rolling hilly park on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge. Pretty cool park - it’s got everything, great trails - check, a beach for summer swimming - check, history with the batteries stationed here for defense and a fort - check, a lighthouse with a bridge over the rock out to it - check and great views of the Pacific Ocean and the Golden Gate Bridge - check. Heavens ! ! ! What more could you want? Oh, yeah a seal playing in the surf below the cliffs. Check. It’s got it all.
Here’s one of the trails we took - right through the underbrush.
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Not too many trees but we found this one with its curled limbs darting down towards the ground and then growing upwards again.
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When we got to the lighthouse, we had walk down this cliff, through the tunnel and over the bridge to get to it. Imagine doing this in the middle of the night in a storm with rain, thunder, lightening. Oh, my.
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The views are always amazing.
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Then there are the batteries - this is Mendell. San Francisco was a critical port and needed to be protected. It was built in 1905 to keep enemy warships farther from San Francisco’s harbor than any previous batteries had done. It was armed with the biggest guns that America had at the time: its 2 12-inch cannon could hit vessels 8 miles out at sea.
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The fort where the army stayed is still there and people still live here though it is no longer an active fort and the batteries have been decommissioned.
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The beach is wide and long but it was a bit chilly today so it wasn’t crowded. There are some posters around the beach to warn of the dangers of Global Warming and what it might do to this beach.
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Oh, yeah, there’s still that seal. Got you covered.
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But you can never have too many pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge.
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