Gary-Summer: DC-Arlington

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Wednesday, October 2, 2024

October 2, 2024 - Presidio

Title: October 2, 2024 - Presidio

Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking : Car

Trail head: Cow Hollow Inn

Trail: Greenwich, Lyon, Mountain Lake Trail, Park Trail, Presidio Promenade, Lombard, Chestnut

Destination: Loop

Distance: 6.06/0.49 miles ¹

Start Time: 10:27

End Time: 3:36

Travel Time: 5:09 (1.18 mph)

Moving Time: 3:10 (1.92 mph)

Elevation Rise: 782/94 '

Descent: 843/14‘

Maximum Elevation: 382'

GPS Tracks

¹I did not turn on the GPS until going about half a mile away from the hotel, on Greenwich. All of the mileage and elevations are in the format of aaa/bb where aaa is taken from the GPS, bb is from the hotel to when I turned on the GPS. bb is computed from Google Earth.

Lyon St Stairs

Description:

I slept in until about 7 this morning. I thought I might be sleeping a bit later, but I did not. The forecast calls for it to be warm today, but not as warm as yesterday. Maybe someplace in the 82-85 range. Turns out I saw that it got up to 89.

The first order of business is getting breakfast. Last night at Amici’s, Sherri asked the waitress for a recommendation for breakfast. She talked about the Cracked and Battered on Chestnut, a little more than a block away. So there we go. Sherri has eggs Benedict and I a breakfast burrito. Both were pretty good. Sherri had slightly more than she felt like she needed to eat, but she devoured it all. I finished mine without a problem and felt full. We passed by an Apple store, but it was closed. Sherri wants to talk to them about her email and calendar not syncing.

By the time we get back to the hotel room, get ourselves ready-including Sherri making us sandwiches, and making our day packs appropriately suited for our trek today, it is a bit after 10 (how is that for a convoluted sentence?). We have decided to walk around the Presidio today. We will see how that goes, particularly if it gets hot.

We go over to Greenwich St and walk towards Lyon. We want to go up the Lyon St Stairs

Us by upper end of golf course

today. Last December we went down them in the rain. I noticed when we reached Brodrick, there is a dip to get to Lyon, so we headed up Broderick until we got to Green. Here it is pretty level. This puts us to the base of the stairs.

These stairs are magnificent with landscaping on both sides and a handrail for those of us, like me, who are unsteady. The first section is both long and steep. We take our time, but do a steady ascent. At the landing, about two-thirds of the way up, there is a little garden with a big heart in the middle. The heart is part of a 2004 project which left hearts all over San Francisco-think Tony Bennett. We let our legs return to being somewhat solid after they started quaking like Jello. Then onward to the last third, which is not as steep. We get in a conversation with a person who is carrying a full backpack. She is training to climb a peak in South America and needs to bump up her pack to 55 pounds, about half her body weight. I do not envy her.

The top of the stairs puts us at the Broadway entrance to the Presidio. After crossing Predisio Blvd, we get onto a trail which crosses the top of the Presidio, just under Pacific Ave. This is the southern border of the area. I was counting on the trails in this area to be well shaded, but there is a lot of exposure on this section. By the time we had done a little over a mile, we needed to find a bit of shade. We found it at the benches by the Presidio Wall Playground.

After resting for probably a half an hour, we continue on. There is a bit more shade. Crossing Arguello Blvd, we get to a section which borders the golf course. This is also the start of the

Under Highway 1

Mountain Lake Trail. It is wide and paved with a large area on the side with mulch on it. This seems to be where all of the dog walkers congregate. At least, there were at least five clusters of dogs with multiple handlers in each cluster. But for the most part the dogs are well behaved and do not bother us.

At the end of the trail is Mountain Lake. A sign says this is where the Spanish settlers originally stayed until they could find something more permanent. We go on the south side, find a grassy area with shade and plop down. Neither of us are hungry, but feel like we should have something. Out comes a package of fig bars I have been carrying around for a couple of months. They are appreciated.

National Cemetery

I do not know if it is the grass, the rest, or the weather, it seems cooler after we have laid down for a while. Probably 45-60 minutes. We both are feeling tired, so we start our return trip by going to the North of Mountain Lake and taking the trail under Highway 1. This leads us onto the Park Trail.

The Park Trail wanders down the hill we are on and heads to where all the more modern-thin World War II-buildings are. At the top, the trail skirts the golf course with a warning that this is an active course-I guess if we are struck by an errant golf ball, we will not have recourse. We also went past a store where many years ago we got some hot food. No hot food today and Sherri is not interested in the soda. The trail recrosses Highway 1, this time over it, but you would never know as the highway is buried. It follows some streets down. We see the National Cemetery there. After Arlington

Us and Golden Gate Bridge

, there is always a pause to honor those who died.

As we approach the buildings, we go off of the Park Trail and take the Presidio Promenade. This heads us more easterly. We also rest for a few minutes when we come across a bench. Then we continue on. While warm, it is bearable. Sort of a fun fact, the Promenade goes right over Highway 101, where we drove yesterday. We are able to gaze at the Golden Gate Bridge from on top of the highway.

The downside of this, is that the Promenade now is pretty exposed to the sun. We go behind the Walt Disney Museum. It goes right past the Visitor Center, so we go in. It is several degrees cooler inside. Plus we get to see on a relief map where we walked today. Sherri asks Joseph, a volunteer, if he knows of any good places to eat in Cow Hollow. He names off a couple taco places and a sushi establishment. Also Original Joe’s. We will see what we are up to tonight. Turns out that Original Joe’s is a ways walk from our hotel. But the taco places gives us some ideas.

We left for the remainder of today’s walk. The Promenade leads us past Letterman Hospital and then to the Lombard Gate. Now we have about a half mile to the hotel. The intersection of Lombard and 101 looks pretty confusing, so we cross 101 at Chestnut. This gets us down to Steiner and our hotel is a block away.

Getting into our room about 3:15 provides a relief. Sherri is content to lay down. I consumed a great deal of ice water and then laid down and rested. Feels good. I needed about half an hour. Sherri fell asleep for a while longer. I continue my hydration consumption for several hours.

After 6, Sherri would like to go to the Apple store around the corner and see if they can help her with a few problems on her phone. We canceled our participation on Zoom tonight and went to the store. They only can tell her that the problems have a common denominator and she will need to make an appointment with the Genius Bar.

Now to find dinner. We walk down Chestnut, rejecting some as being too filling-I am not that hungry. We decided that Tacolicious fills the ticket. I have chicken verde and carnitas tacos. Sherri also has a chicken verde taco with a Baja fish taco. She also imbibed with a margarita fresca After an hour, we were filled up and walked back to the hotel. There we just lounge around and try to figure out what we are up for tomorrow. We end up in bed a few minutes after 10.

Extra Photo's

View from Top of Lyon st Stairs

Sherri coming up the Lyon St Stairs

Lyon St Stairs

Golden Gate Bridge from top of Highway 101

Top of Golden gate Bridge from the Presidio

Heart of San Francisco

Playground at Mountain Lake

Gary on Park Trail

Alcatraz

Lyon St Stairs from Lombard St

Thursday, March 30, 2023

March 30, 2023 - Washington DC

Title: March 30, 2023 - Washington DC

Hike Info : Description : Background : Extra Photo's

Hike Info:

Type: Tourist

Distance: 2.07 Miles

Description:

Supreme Court

I must have been tired as I slept over 8 ½ hours last night. Not that yesterday was a tiring day. I think it is an accumulation. We will see how today goes. We only have a few things on the docket: Supreme Court, a tour of Ford’s Theater and possibly going to the Kennedy Center.

We leave at 9:50 for a short ride on the Metro from NoMa to Union Station. It saves about 10 minutes and a ¾ of a mile of walking. But we still need to walk to the Supreme Court. We get in line about 10:10 and get admitted at 10:30. We find out that the 10:30 lecture will not be held today because the Courtroom is closed. But it will be available Friday at 10:30, 12:30 and 1:30.

So we are content to read about the building and the Court. It talks about how this building was not constructed until the 1930’s. Before that, they met in parts of the Capitol building And then there were the accomplishments of the justices of the Court. Some of them were the Chief Justices; others were part of the court. Of course the big one is Justice Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice. He set the tone for the rest of the Court’s activities. But there was also quite a display on Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female Supreme Court Justice.

Belmont-Paul Suffrage House

We did not have time to go through even half of what was there. But when I go to a place like this, there are certain things which cause me to pause and think. There was engraved in stone four court cases, one of them, and I do not have the reference, talks about how the US Constitution is malleable and needs to conform to the needs of each generation. I wonder how this opinion works with today’s Court’s activity where the justices seem more in tune with what the original documents say and what did the original signers mean. Things to ponder and look at.

We have a noon pass for the Ford Theater. So we leave the Supreme Court at 11:10. We walk up to E St NE, passing by the Belmont-Paul Suffrage House

Ford's Theater

. At E, we just miss the bus. So we waited about 20 minutes for the D6 bus. When it comes, it lets us off just a block or so from the Ford Theater.

We have a noon pass so they let us in, even though we are 15 minutes late. So we get herded into the basement where there is a museum which they funnel all visitors down into. When we get down, they announce something about allowing us up into the theater in a little while. In retrospect, it was probably the tour. But Sherri and I just continue our looking around as the displays talk about Lincoln’s presidency, principally about the Civil War. But there is talk about his relationship with African-Americans. There is one which they showed a History Channel film on, Fredrick Douglass.

I think we are getting hungry, but we still want to go up into the Theater. First thing, we try out our seats for tomorrow night’s performance. They will do, even though there is a pillar slightly obscuring the stage right. The seats are pretty compact, as was said, this is a Victorian style theater. From the stage right side of the theater, you can look up into the Presidential box where Lincoln was shot. We go on up to the second deck. Here we can see clearly into Lincoln’s box. It is a bit numbing being this close to this great event. How could it be so?

Lunch at Succotash

We make our way down the stairs-a bit tricky since the steps are narrow and end up being very narrow on the inside of the curved stairs. Our next objective: find someplace to eat! The Supreme Court does not allow any food or drink, even water, into the building. So we are hungry. Sherri finds a place called Succotash Prime just around the corner from the Ford Theater. As we go in, we see it is a James Beard award winner. I guess this will not be Shake Shack pricing. I go with what I think I am going to like: a Fried Chicken Sandwich. It is really good and really big. Sherri orders Chicken and Waffles with an asparagus side and Belles Punch to drink. She is immensely satisfied with it all. She showed an interest in how the asparagus is made. The waiter uses the term mint chimichurri. She will need to look up what this is.

Now what to do with the rest of the day. It is 4pm. We can meander back to our room. But we decided to go over to the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. We take the Metro from the Metro Center Station to Foggy Bottom. Then walk the half of a mile to the Center.

RiverRun Rug at Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center is right next to the Watergate building-yes that Watergate. But as large as the Watergate is, the Kennedy Center looks humongous. From the outside, it is just one large block of stone. But when you wander inside, you get the feeling of the complexity of the building. The first thing which catches our eye is the rugs both hanging and laying on pedestals. They are not flat, but show relief. They depict life in the forest.

States Flags

I wander over to someone who looks like she may be able to help me understand what we are to do with the building. She directs us down some steps to the lower part of the building. There is a station there which provides tours. One is being organized-with twenty five high school students from Alabama, plus their chaperones. We are invited to either wait for another tour and join this one. We joined.

Helen is our tour host. She is really good, dialoguing with the students, and explaining what we are seeing. One of the things she talks about is a festival underway right now called RiverRun. The idea is that the art is depicting scenes where water flows through, from the forest scenes we saw in the rugs to overhead where there are waves and curves of blue shirts flowing through the air-atmospheric rivers. She also calls our attention to this hall is the Hall of States where each of the states, the five territories and the District of Columbia has a flag high up. There is an international hall where country flags are flown who contributed to the making of the Center.

She then takes us to the various theaters making up the Center. The most predominant one is the Eisenhower Theater-he is the one who started the planning of a Art Center back in 1958 It was after Kennedy died did this become a memorial to Kennedy She also takes us into the Opera House where the Performing Arts awards are presented each year. In both of these theaters, there is a Presidential box which we see from the outside. I assume the other four theaters also have similar boxes for the President.

The final area Helen takes us to is the terrace. The terrace gives us a splendid view of the Potomac. We can see Arlington over to Georgetown. She points out the Pentagon. We can see both the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials as well. Such a good view.This is the end of the tour, and in many ways the exclamation mark on it. Helen invites us to walk around the terrace and view DC from all sides of it. It is worth the steps. We also go into the display which talks about Kennedy. Interesting what we lived through in our youth.

And now it is time to head back to our rooms. Parked in front of us is bus 42 which is one of the routes Google says to take. So we took it to Farragut Park. I saw the Metro station just before the park, so we went there. But there is no Red Line sign! Why? When I ask, security says this is Farragut West, not North. So we take a Blue Line to Metro Center, get off and get on the Red Line to NoMa.

It is good to be back in our room before dark for a change. I do go out for a few groceries, but we spent most of the rest of the night just resting. This travel thing is wearing on us.

Background

Trip Advisor:

Succotash Prime: This is the type of place which my wife and I eat at maybe once every five or ten years. As you might guess, my sense of taste is not finely developed. We had just come from the Ford’s Theater and were hungry. Succotash being right around the corner seemed like a good fit-it was.

The food was excellent and the servings were plentiful. Plus the wait staff were present without bein intrusive. I had the Fried Chicken Sandwich; my wife the Chicken and Waffles with an asparagus side and Belles Punch to drink. All was good and if anything, the serving size was overwhelming. But with food this good, we enjoyed it to the last morsel.

Extra Photo's