First, hearty thank-yous to all of you who sent tips and suggestions of things to do during my vacation to San Francisco. We didn’t have nearly enough time to do all we wanted, but still had loads of fun. I have several posts in the queue related to my trip, but first I thought I’d share a few of my favorite photos.

If you’re up for “hey, look at my vacation pictures,” click “more.”

The view from my plane. Bumpy ride coming in.

The view from our hotel room.

Boats lined up at Fisherman’s Wharf.

Here are the aforementioned sea lions at Pier 41. I could have watched them for hours.

Another shot of them.

Right outta’ the water. If you go, get yourself some clam chowder in a sourdough breadbowl.

Obligatory cable car photo. They were fun, if not the most efficient way of getting around.

“Main Street” inside the main cell building at Alcatraz. More on the prison later.

I thought this turned out to be a great shot of Chinatown. That’s the Bay Bridge in the background. That’s a guy who doesn’t want his picture taken in the foreground.

Nice view along the Embarcadero.

Another one.

One more.

The Bay Bridge, with a trammish-trainish thing.

The Financial District, at night.

When the lights…go down…in the cit-tay…

We walked through The Presidio on our way to the Golden Gate Bridge, and found this striking, slightly creepy pet cemetary along the way.

As I said, our route to the bridge was a bit off the beaten path. We walked through some wooded, rain-soaked trails, then spotted the bridge through a clearing. It’s pretty incredible to see in person. They say it’s painted “international orange,” hence the name “Golden Gate.” Looks red to me.

There’s quite a bit of work going on right now, what the state of California calls “seismic refitting.” From what I’ve read, that means they’re readjusting the bridge to fit the shifts the land made from the 1989 earthquake.

The bridge through some brush on the trail.

Another view.

Bridge cables against a winter blue sky, snapped from the pedestrian walkway.

As soon as you cross the bridge, there’s a vistior’s center with a spectacular view. There’s also a memorial to all of the seagoing soldiers (Coast Guard, Navy, Marines, and Merchant Marines) set stop a hill. It’s of a soldier, who’s looking both toward the city and the Golden Gate. This is him.

View of the city and the bridge on the rode to Sausolito, a charming little town about a mile over the bridge. I could probably do another week in Sausalito when the weather’s warmer. Lots of little restaurants, art galleries, and the gateway to Sonoma and Napa. Beautiful views, great houses, and a much slower pace than in the city.

Looking toward San Francisco from Sausalito.

The Sausalito hillside.

That’s it for now. More Bay Area blogging to come.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 17th, 2005 at 4:02 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Photo Blogging, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.