Mid-morning Friday, we headed over to the Valejo/Napa area of the northern S.F. Bay. The wedding we booked was to be held at Mare Island chapel. So, we got there early enough to explore a little and take some photos.
A "stitched together" panorama shot taken from the knoll on the north side of the bridge.Mare Island was the first naval shipyard built on the west coast, in 1855 to be exact. Though it has since been decommissioned as an active navy base, it is rich in history. It was immensely active during WWII and continued to be a very productive navy shipyard through the 1970's. Mare Island's biggest claim to fame is that it was where submarines were built, especially during the 50's and 60's...nuclear subs. One can get an idea of its history with a visit to the base museum. St.Peter's chapel was built around the turn of the century, as were many of the resident's mansions where the admiral's were housed.
Some of them have been purchased by a contractor who has been building new houses there. One of the largest of the mansions has been used in films, several seen on the History Channel. They area all very stately, well-maintained, and beautiful. The base itself has been in many motion pictures as well.The rehearsal (Friday night) and the wedding (Saturday) went off without a hitch. They had a great reception at the Napa Embassy Suites. It was all well organized and was a pleasure to photograph...unlike many other weddings we have done!
Sunday, we packed up a headed toward home by way of San Francisco. We took a bit of a circuitous route through San Rafael so we could drive over the Golden Gate on our way to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. We stopped at the Golden Gate Recreation Area near the northern entrance to the bridge.
The windy little road takes you to the top of a knoll overlooking the entrance to San Francisco Bay. At top of the hill sits an old gun emplacement, built during WWII to guard the entrance to the bay. There used to be several huge guns there, ready to defend against enemy ships. San Francisco Bay was considered the most critical port on the west coast during that time. All that remains of the emplacement is the cement bunkers and artillery mounts, the guns are long gone. The weather was incredible, clear and temperatures in the 70's. As we were leaving the city by the bay around 4:00 pm, you could see the ever-present fog bank creeping its way back over the city after waiting patiently just off shore during the midday.
Loretta wanted to visit Pier 39 near Fisherman's Wharf, it was really all we had time to do. Pier 39 is the ultimate, commercial, San Francisco tourist spot...filled with souvenir shops and corporate restaurants like Hard Rock Cafe, Bubba Gump's, and Starbucks. We were famished when we arrived, so opted for the Hard Rock Cafe. After all, they validated the over-priced parking.
I must say that I have never had a worse $13 cheeseburger in my entire life! Not to mention the $5 Bud Light. But, we split that along with a side Caesar...making it a bit less painful when the check came.
We walked around Pier 39 for a while, dodging tourists from Bakersfield, Taiwan, and Austria. The place was packed. It's only March and the tourist season is in full swing here in California. It was Sunday, so we kind of expected it to be busy. Since we only live about 70 miles from San Francisco, we'll plan on coming back when we have more time...during the middle of the week. We never made it to Fisherman's Wharf. And, the sourdough bread shop on Pier 39 was still closed for renovations. Oh well...next time.
We made it out of the city and onto the Oakland Bay Bridge without too much trouble. The traffic was nasty driving around the embarcadero, but at least it was moving. Apparently, we just missed getting caught up in some of the area anti-war protests going on that day. San Francisco is always a busy place. The streets are small, many of them one-way thoroughfares. Electric buses and restored trolleys roll by everywhere. The cable cars are one of the most popular tourist attractions, but also provide essential transportation for some San Francisco residents. The parking situation is atrocious...and very expensive.
Our plan for the next S.F. trip is to actually ride a cable car up the hill to Union Square and do some walking around. Chinatown is on the cable car route and will provide some excellent photo opportunities. I gotta get some shots of those ducks hanging in the windows of the restaurants and butcher shops!
There just too much to do there. Unfortunately, it is extremely expensive to live in San Francisco proper...or anywhere in the bay area for that matter. But, that is where we will live after we hit the lotto. For now, we have to settle for being somewhat "local" tourists.
I'll post some more of my touristy photos on the flickr site shortly.
