San Francisco Trip

We just had an amazing week in the San Francisco area.  What a beautiful area and a nice reprieve from the hot and humid South.  What's not to love about Northern California?  You've got San Francisco (and Oakland), the rugged Pacific coast, the low, brown mountains, and Silicon Valley, the home to Apple, Google, Yahoo, McAvee, Intel and countless other cutting-edge technology companies.  Of course I took a lot of pictures, about 600 to be (somewhat) exact. Here are some of my favorites!

Here are my obligatory Golden Gate Bridge shots. Really liked the Presidio too, the old army fort that we accessed to get to the bridge. I was also very impressed with the Bay Bridge connecting S.F. to Oakland. This photo was taken from AT&T Park, home to the baseball Giants.  We caught a day game between the Giants and Cubs.

AT&T Park is a beautiful stadium with a neat location on the bay downtown. Statues of Giants legends Willie Mays (pictured), Juan Marichal, and Willie McCovey surround the park.  I wonder if Barry Bonds will ever be memorialized this way by the Giants.
                                
We spent enjoyable time touring the Northern California coast north and south of San Francisco.  The water was a little too cold for swimming for those of us used to the Charleston area warm summer waters. The boys and I had fun rappelling down one bluff south of Half Moon Bay.  A rope was tied to the top to help people descend and return to the top.

We visited two lighthouses in the area at Pigeon Point and Point Reyes.  Point Reyes (first below) took a lot of driving then walking to reach, including more than 300 steps to descend and (ugh) to walk back up.  But well worth it for the views and adventure!

At Pigeon Point a worker told us, upon hearing that we are from Charleston, that this Lighthouse, built in 1871, is the same design as our Morris Island light.

Back to San Francisco for these last shots.  Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill was cool to see on our last night.  It was too dark to read the statue's inscription.  Only later via the Internet did I learn that it's of Christopher Columbus. 

 

I was struck by the residential housing in the city, its stacked, steeped and layered look. My older brother Matt is an artist in Alexandria, Va. This photo reminds me of one of his paintings. Hope you like this Shout Out brother!

Finally, a parting view from Treasure Island of San Francisco from across the bay. 

 

Hope this isn't my last visit to this wonderful and interesting part of America!