August 18-Goodbye Golden Gate

After one last pit stop in the Bay Area, I am now heading north towards home, filled with fond memories of my time in SF, many of them of the time spent admiring the reddish orange steel suspension bridge that captivated my heart ever since I was a little girl riding in the back of my mom’s VW Wagon on day trips to the city.

My heart is so taken with the Golden Gate Bridge’s gracefully curved cables, massive towers stretching almost 750 feet into the sky, striking international orange pigment, and stunning placement between the city of San Francisco and the Marin Headlands that I make it a point to visit it at least three separate times when I am in the area, ensuring I can appreciate its beauty in a variety of visual conditions.

My favorite perches from which to take in vistas of the bridge are Hawk Hill and Battery Spencer, both on Conzelman Road off highway 101 just past the north end of the bridge.

Whether in the frequent fog, wild wind, or stunning sunshine, this mammoth steel structure beautifully frames and enhances views of the brown and green Marin grasslands in the foreground, surrounding silver blue sea, silhouetted San Francisco city skyscape in the distance, sailing ships below, and scenic Sausalito to the north, providing peeks of these iconic landmarks between and beyond its 4,200 foot span across the Golden Gate Strait.

On this trip in particular, the wind was especially ferocious on each of my three visits, creating a howling sound while simultaneously buffeting my body back and forth as I attempted to steady my camera and keep from tumbling off the top of the cliff. I had to chuckle when I heard one visitor leaving the Battery Spencer overlook say, “I need to go home and fix my hair.” Just another part of the adventure. What a great day on the road.