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

China Beach

Coastline

Entrance to the Bay

Legion of Honor

Golden Gate Bridge

Memorial of Peace

Memorial of Peace

 

 

October 4, 2024 - Go to Fresno

 

Title: October 4, 2024 - Go to Fresno

Hike Info : Description :  Extra Photo's : 

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking :  Car 

Trail head: Cow Hollow Inn

Trail: Route 7 of the Stairway Walks in San Francisco by Mary Burk 

Destination: Loop 

Distance:  2.43/0.24/0.65 miles ¹

Start Time: 9:50

End Time:  11:34

Travel Time: 1:44  (1.40 mph)

Moving Time: 1:30   (1.62 mph)

Elevation Rise: 619/48/20 '

Descent: 418/10/177‘

Maximum Elevation:357 '

GPS Tracks

Car Mileage:  185 miles
Drive Time:  3 hours, 20 minutes

 ¹Once again, I did not turn on the GPS until we were a quarter mile into our walk. Towards the end of our walk, the GPS ran out of battery. All of the mileage and elevations are in the format of aaa/bb/cc where aaa is taken from the GPS, bb is from the hotel to when I turned on the GPS and cc is when the GPS lost power back to the hotel. The bb and cc are computed from Google Earth.

Description:

Casebolt Farmhouse

I did not sleep well last night. About 3:30 I woke up and did not get back to sleep until almost 6. Once back asleep I slept to 8. Even Sherri was awake then. We got packed up as last night was the last night in San Francisco. We are going home today. For breakfast we go down to Noah’s Bagels, around the corner. Both of us thought that the Farmhouse sounded good-it was. After eating, we are ready to check out of the hotel, but leave the car in their garage for a couple of hours.

What do we want to do? At first we were going to do parts of routes 6 and 8 in Stairway Walks in San Francisco by Mary Burk . But I noticed that route 7 is just up the hill from us. Up is the operative word. We head up the hill to start the route at Green and Pierce. This is just the start of the UP. We headed up Pierce to Broadway. Across the street is an old building called the Casebolt Historic Farmhouse.

Filmore St Steps

Once we reach Broadway we head across it to Fillmore. We now have our first stairway which we descend. It is pretty steep, but one step at a time gets us down to Vallejo. Here we have a choice: go down the next block of steps and avoid the tree trimmers or go east on Vallejo and meet up the stairs on Webster. We chicken out and do the latter.

Italian Consulate

When we get to Webster, we have steps going up. They seem a bit steep, but we make it up.Webster, while not leveling out, gets less of an incline. There is the Italian consulate in a pretty impressive building. There was also an interesting sign at a store about selling some interesting beer. So we got a can for Steven. While Sherri is making the purchase, I get a lesson in how Muni drivers connect the buses to the electrical lines. Then continued on our way.

Muni Hooking Up

At Clay, our route declines slightly until we reach Alta Plaza. The stairs here remind me of some pictures I have seen of either Aztec or Mayan pyramids. From the top, we can look south to Sutro Towers and much of the city. It also allows us to catch our breath. We make use of the bathroom at the playground. I also get some goodwill points by using some of my water for a thirsty dog.

It is time for the return leg. We head north on Scott to Broadway. Then go half of a block to Normandie Terrace. Here we see the second consulate of our trip. This time it is the Norwegian one-even though the map shows it in a different place. These stairs are easy on the body and nerves. The stairs brought me onto Vallejo.

Not far from there, we return back up the hill on Divisadero to Broadway. The hills are starting to get to us. This should be the last of our climbs on our trip. But the Baker St stairs show that going down can be as hard on the body, if not even more than on the mind. We look down these steps and note how steep they are, with no rail to hold onto. But we made it down, slowly.

 

 

Sherri and Alta Plaza

We could have gone over to the Lyon Street stairs for one more set of stairs, even if it is a rerun. But I think we have had enough stairways to satisfy our stairway fix. We continue on down Baker until Greenwich. Then down Greenwich until Steiner. Once we cross Lombard, we are back at Cow Hollow Inn. No need to check out since we have already done that.

Sherri coming down Baker St

About noon, we climb into the car, get situated and head down Lombard/101. We think we are going through Gilroy, but the GPS takes us back over the Bay Bridge. Oh well, at least there is no toll this way. We know where we are going. It is a bit slow going over Altamont Pass. Once onto I-5, we make good time, until going down Maze Blvd. Highway 99 is a bit slow as well. There is a need to stop at a rest stop in Turlock. Then it is a straight shot back to Fresno and home.

Good to be home. We went out for dinner. Then start the cleanup process. Wonder where our next adventure will be.

Extra Photo's

Sherri coming down the Baker St Stairs

Normandie Terrace Stairs

From from the top of Webster Street Stairs

Webster Street Stairs

View from Alta Plaza

October 3, 2024 - Golden Gate Park

 

Title: October 3, 2024 - Golden Gate Park

Hike Info : Description : Background : Extra Photo's

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking :  Bus

Trail head:  Cow Hollow Inn

Trail:  Sutro Heights Park, Highway 1, Wandering in Golden Gate Park,  Lakes Trail

Destination: Lands End, California Academy of Science

Distance:  6.64/0.16/1.16  miles ¹

Start Time: 10:53

End Time:   5:01   

Travel Time: 6:08  (1.08 mph)

Moving Time: 3:14   (2.05 mph)

Elevation Rise: 738/51/82 '

Descent: 595/8/101‘

Maximum Elevation: 294'

GPS Tracks

 ¹I started the GPS about halfway up the hill on the stairs up Sutro Heights. Also I shut off the GPS when we were traveling on the bus. I did not have the GPS from Ghirardelli Square to our hotel at Cow Hollow Inn. All of the mileage and elevations are in the format of aaa/bb/cc where aaa is taken from the GPS, bb is from the hotel to when I turned on the GPS and cc is from Ghirardelli back to the hotel. The bb and cc are computed from Google Earth.

Description:

Stairway to Sutro's mansion

Both Sherri and I stirred around 7. I went out for about 15 minutes to mail some cards. When I got back, we got ready to go out for breakfast. I passed by a place called the Home Plate which looked interesting. So we went down and ate there. Sherri had a Simple Breakfast Sando which was a ham&egg sandwich on sourdough bread-she said it was pretty good, maybe not as good as yesterday's. I had organic buckwheat pancakes with Nutella topping. Since it was organic, it had to be healthy, right? It was OK, but not as fabulous as I hoped for. Not saying it was bad or anything,just maybe did not meet high expectations.

We went back to the room and got ready for our trip. Today, we will take the Muni to our starting place. Route 28 stops about a block from us and we hop on. It takes us all the way to Golden Gate Park at Park and Fulton Streets. We must be getting old as two people offered their seats to us. That is courtesy. The 5R bus comes along about 15 minutes later and takes us to LaPlaya and Cabrillo Streets. This is the end of the ride for us. We have Clipper Cards, one for each of us. On the first bus, it took my day pass, but it charged Sherri $3.00. On 5R, it still used my day pass, but it now used Sherri’s day pass. I need to figure out the rhyme and reason of this system.

 

Stairway down to Sutro Baths

We walk to the end of the street and are faced with a decision: go up Highway One or climb the stairs at the end of the road. It is early and we have energy, so up the stairs we go, after all we love stairs, don’t we? There is lots of sand between the steps. Mary Burk says that this area, the Richmond, in early San Francisco life was called the sand waste. I can believe it. We climbed up to where Sutro had his mansion and conservatory. It certainly was a grand view. Also we are glad for the levelness of the area. There are several sets of stairs in the area and we decided to forego the experience of climbing them.

This brings us to the Lands End Lookout. This the Visitor Center masquerading as a souvenir story. We look around, but keep our money. We then descend down to the Sutro Baths area. Sherri prefers the long path down while I am in the stairs mastering mode and wait for her at the bottom. We see a few things in the ruins of the baths, including an area which must have been magnificent in its day. You remember what I said a couple of days ago about the futility of memorials? I think I will expand this to man’s works. All of our works will decay and fall to ruin, without upkeep. Eventually ruin will come. Am I sounding pessimistic about humans?

We decided rather than continue along the Lands End area and go north, we will go to Golden Gate Park. We ascend the path Sherri came down. This brings us to the closed up Cliff House. There is a long decline, not in our route, but in the Cliff House which used to be a place to be.. Sherri is going much slower than I am down this. I am reminded of the James Taylor song, Traffic Jam where is talks about it Hurts my motor to go so slow. If I keep at Sherri’s pace, I think I will feel discomfort, so I go at my own comfortable pace and wait for Sherri at the bottom.

Great Highway and the Beach

Dutch Windmill

There is another half of a mile walk next to the beach to get to Golden Gate Park. Sherri and I concentrate on two different things. She makes up a story about a dog which is straying far from its master. I spot a pink bikini top laying on the sand and wonder what the story is behind it. Fortunately, we get to Golden Gate Park before either story goes too far.

When we enter the park, we want to go to the Queen Wilhelmina Garden area with its windmill to have lunch. A renovation is going on and there was not a place to sit in the shade. So we continued on, going past the archery range and the golf course before we saw a bench in the shade.

Out comes our peanut butter and Nutella sandwich providing energy for us to continue on. I am aiming for the Chain of Lakes trail to take us through the middle of the Park. It is nice walking on it. When we get to the polo grounds, which used to be Kezar Stadium, we see that there is a lot of activity there. The Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival is being prepared for. We see a security guard and talk with him for a few minutes. He gives us the rundown. We are safe to go into the area and continue on our way.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass stage

We pass by the polo grounds and find the Chain of Lakes Trail. Our pace picks up.Wdy do we have this energy? Maybe the flatness of the trail. On the other hand, the path is fenced in with temporary chain link fences. We can see over the fence that various areas are preparing for the festival. When we are on JFK Drive, we pass through the fence which will control entry. Then pass under Highway One.

 

 

 

 

Thomas Starr King's Statue

We walk down it until we get to the Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive. There are several statues. Most of these I recognize:: General Pershing and Thomas Starr King to name a few. This gets us to our second goal: the California Academy of Science.

We enter without difficulty. One thing Sherri wants to see is the Planetarium. We get our reservations and wait for the 3:30 showing of Spark: The Universe in Us. I must have been tired and the seats were too comfortable. I fell asleep during it. Sherri said that I did some light snoring. We will need to come back for it another time.

By this time, it is after 4. This is enough of the Academy. I had mentioned that Peasant Pies on Irving is close by. We ate there several years ago and enjoyed it. So off we start walking, about ¾ of a mile to Irving St. We each ordered a pie: Sherri a beef pie and I a chicken pie. Both are good.This May have been the cheapest meal we have eaten on the entire trip.

 

The peasants and their pies

We decided two things: first to return via the Muni and second, that we were hearing a sundae at Ghirardelli calling us. So we walk over to 19th Street, about .6 miles and wait for bus 28. This gives us 45 minutes of resting on the bus until we get to Ghirardelli.

There we ordered a mint-chocolate sundae. Both of us felt like we deserved it. We also devoured it without mercy. Sherri also got a small cup of hot chocolate which she thoroughly enjoyed. I did note on my Facebook post that maybe somebody should do a statistical analysis of what percentage of our posts contains sundaes. A friend said in rely, Don’t look at the count! Just enjoy the deliciousness of the ice cream!

 

 

Ghirardelli Mint Sundae

Evidently the rest from the bus ride and the carbs from the sundae put enough energy in us to walk the half an hour back to the Cow Hollow Inn. When we got there, I asked two questions: how long can we leave the car parked tomorrow? Until 2pm. And does Cow Hollow have a discount for frequent guests? No. (We are thinking of coming back to the City for the Legion of Honor’s Mary Cassatt exhibition.)

We get back to the room and relax. Not crash like yesterday, but relax. But by 10pm, it is time to go to bed.

 

 

 

 

 

Background

Mary Burk, along with Adah Bakalinsky, wrote a book called Stairway Walks in San Francisco.

Extra Photo's

Cliff House

Mile Rock Lighthouse

Rock off of Sutro Baths

Gary at Lands End

Lion guarding the entrance to the Sutro grounds

Sherri at the top of the stairs

Looking down the stairs and the great Highway