 |
Page 18f2 . . Touring San Francisco
We plan to break up our San Francisco tour pictures into several pages because we have too many pictures for a single page. We will link all the pages as we go. 
The former business end of Battery Spencer remains in very weathered concrete and rusted steel fittings. The sign told us that the development of radar, sophisticated naval ships, and aircraft eliminated the need for such permanently mounted weapons. 
We stopped for lunch in the scenic town of Tiburon. Brian knew of a location known as Sam's Cafe and it proved to be all that he said it would be. We ate outdoors on the old dock or wharf. The warm sun and light breeze was great along with a very nice lunch and of course a few beverages. 
From Tiburon we drove through San Rafael and then to Novato. Our goal with this portion of the tour was to revisit Hamilton Air Force Base, now closed and taken over by the town of Novato. Dan was stationed here in 1969 for about 9-months and Sandy worked at a local TG&Y Department store. The picture above in the Main Gate that looks very much the same as it did 40-years ago. Our memory is of white stucco and of course guard shacks on each side of the drives entering and leaving the base. 
We found a similiar picture of this building on the Internet and it was identified as the Commanders Office, we had a discussion that we thought it was the base chapel. We are undecided and there weren't any signs to identify it beyond the fact that it is now an art center. 
We were unable to find the apartment building we lived in so long ago so continued to Petaluma and then we circled back towards San Francisco on some back roads and ended up on Highway 1. We made stops at Stinson Beach and then to Muir Beach Overlook. In the picture above you can see the long walkway that leads to an outcropping of rock that affords a fantastic vantage point of the coast. 
We all made the long walk out to the vantage point and were amazed how the temperature dropped as we approached the end of the walkway. 
Like Battery Spencer, this vantage point included several former military installations. These were called Base End Stations, which were look out stations to help with the aiming of the guns such as Battery Spencer. Like the Battery, these are now just weathered concrete and rusty steel structures. 
Our final stop was along Ocean Beach to view the sunset. This high vantage place offered a great view of the beach as well as the kite surfers that were putting on quite a show. 
It was time for sunset as we pulled into a parking place facing west. It had gotten chilly with the ocean breeze so we backed into the spot to make sure we didn't miss the scene. Pictures of course were taken outdoors. What a beautiful end to a great day. 
|
|
Follow the links below to view the remainder of our trip.
If you do not see a menu on the left click here to go to our home page. |