San Francisco and the Golden Gate

After enjoying the snow-covered journey cross-country, we came skimming in over the San Francisco Bay to the San Francisco Airport and picked up a rental car. We drove north through San Francisco to the Golden Gate Bridge. Crossing it, we proceeded to Sausalito and had lunch. From the restaurant at the waterfront, you could see San Francisco, Alcatraz, and the Tiburon and Angel Island area. From there we crossed over to the road up into the Marin Headlands State Park for a view down on the Golden Gate.

This was a new view for us of the Golden Gate Bridge and the city of San Francisco. It was taken from the road up on the Marin Headland.

In this view, you can see one of the tour boats going under the bridge. It was like the one we rode for a tour of the bay during our September trip.

When we had driven up the road to the Marin Headlands, we found that the road to the highest point was closed for repairs. So we parked the car and walked along the road.

Walking the road gave us some nice views. It was cool with the sea breeze, and pleasant to be outside with such a view. We hadn't realized that you could get this high relative to the bridge.

From up on the Marin Headland we could see the patches of fog moving in over the bridge from time to time.

It was neat to be out there on the headland by ourselves and to be able to just watch the fog patches rolling in with a view of the whole Golden Gate Bridge and the city beyond.

The neat thing about doing your own tour is that you can record the views that appeal to you. There are many different views of the bridge from the Marin Headland road. This one is framed through some eucalyptus trees alongside the road. Too bad I couldn't record the aroma of the trees.

We stood and watched as this fog rose on the north end of the bridge.

From the highest point we reached on the Marin Headland road, you could see the city of San Francisco above the Golden Gat Bridge. At far left you can see part of the Alcatraz Island and at the top on the far side of the city you can see the Bay Bridge.

The late afternoon sun made the city gleam in the distance.

Fog begins to form on both ends of the bridge.

Moving further along the Headland, we could see the full north tower.

It was interesting to see the changes in this setting as we reached late afternoon. We spent long enough at these heights to see the Golden Gate Bridge fall into the shadow of the headland, while the city in the distance seemed to shine brighter with the low sun.