A Plan Revised

My cousin Barbara had offered to drive us into San Francisco for a day of touring and a meal in Chinatown.

She asked us what we like to see in the City by the Bay, and then spent a good amount of time planning a route that would include driving, riding a cable car and, possibly, one of the old Philadelphia trolleys, and walking to the sights on our list.

As we neared the city, Barbara commented that there was fog in the Bay.

"Y'know, I've seen photographs of a dense fog covering all of the Golden Gate Bridge except the tops of the towers," was my follow-up comment. "I would love to be able to see the Bridge on one of those foggy days."

"Well, let's see," was Barbara's reply, as we turned on to The Embarcadero. We drove past the Ferry Building (one of our planned stops), the locations of two of the businesses for which Barbara worked, Fort Mason, and then . . . .

along the Golden Gate Promenade, we were greeted with this view of the Bridge. We stopped by the beach at Crissy Field, an old airstrip. This area is part of the 1480-acre Presidio, which was an active military garrison for 218 years until the Army closed it in 1994.

We knew how fleeting the fog could be, so we rushed to the beach to take a few photographs. After a few, we took a few more, and then just stood and stared at this scene.

We felt very fortunate to have had the fog remain this long.

"Would you like to see the Bridge from Fort Point?" was Barbara's question to which we quickly responded in the affirmative. The short drive to the Fort, at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge, provided us with the opportunity to take some additional photographs along the way.


This photo shows some of the buildings on the former Army installation.

From the base of Bridge, we watched the fog roll around the Bay, hiding the Bridge entirely, then gradually revealing portions of the structure. This photo, we thought, captured just the right amount of fog.

We felt very fortunate to have seen the Bridge wrapped in fog, so we picked up on our original plans. From The Presidio, we drove past Baker Beach along Camino del Mar into Lincoln Park. Then we glanced back over shoulder . . . .

We could not have manufactured a more perfect combination of sun, blue sky, and fog. With the fog moving slowly and changing the amount of the Bridge revealed, we were mesmerized.

But it was time to move; there was so much more to see and do.

We continued on our drive past the Cliff House, apologizing to Barbara for altering the route that she had planned for us, and through Golden Gate Park, thanking her for showing us a number of viewpoints from which to view the beautiful Bridge embracing the fog.