Gary-Summer: December 18, 2024 - San Francisco, Legion of Honor

Wednesday, December 18, 2024

December 18, 2024 - San Francisco, Legion of Honor

Title: December 18, 2024 - San Francisco, Legion of Honor

Hike Info : Description : Background : Extra Photo's

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail head: Point Lobos&46th St Bus Stop - Lands End Visitor Center

Trail: Coastal Trail, Camino del mar

Destination: Legion of Honor

Distance: 2.1 miles

Start Time: 11:41

End Time: 1:10

Travel Time: 1:45 (1.20 mph)

Moving Time: 1:10 (1.80 mph)

Elevation Rise: 568 '

Descent: 236‘

Maximum Elevation: 392'

GPS Tracks

Description:

Mel's Breakfast

I got up after 7:30-was I that tired or was the room so dark that it lulled me into sleeping later? Whichever way, I was pretty rested up. I wrote a few cards before Sherri rolled over and started reading. While she got herself together, I visited the post office and deposited them. We went to breakfast about 9:20.

Breakfast was at Mel’s Drive-In across the street from us. It is a 50’s style place. First time we have been here. I had a ham & cheese omelet with a side of hash browns. Sherri had a French toast combo. Both good and filling.

We decided to take the bus to Lands End and walk the Coastal Trail to the Legion of Honor. We left the hotel about 10:50 to catch the bus on Lombard. We soon get on bus 28. It takes us over to the Golden Gate Bridge center and loops back around through the Presidio. When it gets to Geary, we get off and ride 38R to the end of the line-that would be 46th and Pt Lobos Ave, only a couple of blocks from Lands End.

Sherri up to Memorial

We first visited the gift shop at Land’s End. Lisa, a volunteer, talks with us about various things. While talking with her, I get the feeling we might be under-dressed, that is for the weather. Neither of us brought a coat and there is a cool breeze blowing out here. She confirms that. Oh well.

We did not buy anything. We start our walk going along the Coastal Trail. It is a trail which one day will stretch from at least the Mexican border to the Oregon border. Yesterday we walked another small section. This section follows the trolley bed of a train Sutro laid over a hundred years ago. A lot of the trail is level, except for getting up to that level.

It is enjoyable walking about the trees with the ocean on one side and a hillside on the other. There are some stairs to start off with, but we ignore them. One set would go all the way down to Point Lobos. But we are on a mission and will not be distracted. We need to get to the Legion of Honor by 1:30. Onward we go.

There is one distraction. Another set of stairs goes up to the memorial for the USS San Francisco

. We take these stairs up to the memorial. There is something moving about reading the history of this ship and how it and the USS Atlanta turned the battle of Guadalcanal around. Without it, the Japanese next invasion attempt would have been Australia. We spend about 15 minutes before we descend the stairs again.

We continue on getting views of the Golden Gate and its bridge. The sun has come out illuminating it. There is the automatic lighthouse on Mile Rock marking a safe passage through the Golden Gate. It is glorious to view across the way into Marin. Being behind the hill, there is not much sun nor much wind. As long as we keep moving, we are comfortable.

There were some more stairs on the Coastal Trail just to the west of Eagle Point. Evidently part of the trail had slid off of a cliff and the trail was rerouted over a ridge. The stairs were long and we stopped several times for breath while those younger than us seemed to bound up them. Then on the other side of the ridge, more stairs down.

China Beach

Sherri sees an interesting building, which to me looks more like a railcar barn. But after looking at a map, we realize that this maybe an area called Playland. I have a memory of my Dad taking me here. But I may be mistaking it for a different place. But when we got home, I looked at a map of San Francisco and came to realize, that the buildings we were seeing was around China Beach-so I do not know what the buildings are. We shortly came to El Camino Del Mar. This dissects part of the Lincoln Golf Course. There is a path along it which climbs up the hill to the Legion of Honor.

Memorial for Peace

Before we enter the Legion of Honor, there is the Memorial for Peace-I think it must have been donated from Japan. Then we made it up to the parking lot and stopped at a bench commemorating Russians who died during World War II-I do not see it noted on any of the maps. We ate lunch on the bench then entered the Legion.

The Legion of Honor is having an exhibition of Mary Cassatt at Work. Around the time when our first born was first with us, we visited the Huntington Library and saw a Cassatt painting called Breakfast in Bed. We fell in love with it. I got Sherri the poster for Christmas. Other Cassatt stuff saved me when I came short of Christmas gifts for Sherri.

The exhibition is in the basement and has its own entrance. Just as we got there, we joined a docent led tour which was just starting. I found out later we should have signed up for it. Oh well, it was interesting. I do not have a background in the painting arts, I learned a lot about materials and technique from the docent. Also about what Cassatt wanted to do with her paintings and the way she created emphasis. I think the techniques are interesting, but it does not add to my ability to be interested in a picture or not. It was a good thing to have gone over.

Woman in a Loge

We spent about two hours at the exhibition. I am not sure that I liked any of the pictures better than our original one which we fell in love with.There were some which resonated with me. Such as the Woman in a Loge, Children Playing on the Beach, and Maternal Caress.

Children playing on the Beach

Breakfast in Bed from the Huntington Library's web site

After viewing the Cassatt exhibition, we saw some ancient porcelain pieces. None really struck awe in me. I am wondering if I am just getting tired. Then we went upstairs to the Rodin collection. This is the largest collection outside of Paris. Lots of statues. There are pieces from his Gates of Hell. I wonder what the full piece would have looked like.

We are a bit tired after Museuming for two and half hours. We decided that there is much more to see here and we definitely are not going to see it all. About 4, we left and walked about 15 minutes down to the bus stop. But not before noticing that the Legion of Honor is the western terminus of the Lincoln Highway. A while back, the OSHER book club read a book by Amor Towles by that same name. It resonates.

We get to the bus stop and the bus comes along pretty quickly. This is bus #1 which we ride to the Park Presidio Blvd and pick up 28. But not before thinking we might get killed in an accident. A car in the middle lane decided to make a right turn into where we were walking across the crosswalk. So he moves over and comes to a stop in front of a car going 45 mph. Fortunately everything worked out. I think I would have hit him if I was driving.

We get back to our room at about 5 and rest for a bit. Sherri takes a nap and I read some. Then off to Amici’s for dinner. [As a note: a week later, I looked up this Amici’s and it is permanently closed] We share a salad and a large cheese ravioli plate. Good and satisfying. By the time we get back to our room, it is 7:30. We read and rest more, take a shower and go to bed.

Background

Mel’s Drive-In. This is a 50’s style diner on Lombard St, right across from our hotel. My wife had a French Toast Combo and I had a Ham and Cheese Omlette. They both taste good and were very filling. The service was great-it seemed like every five minutes there was someone who came by to fill up my wife’s coffee cup.

Extra Photo's