A Day in "The City"

We decided to meet at the Cliff House in San Francisco for lunch.  It was a beautiful, clear and unusually warm day for mid winter. It was January 20, Martin Luther King Day, a holiday for almost everyone.  
So come along with us!

Michelle was away at Azuza Pacific University, but my grandson Evan, his dad, my son Tim and his mom, Cheryl and I... met with my oldest son, Ron and wife, Elisabet for a day of joyful family fun.  It was our annual belated Christmas celebration since we had not been able to get together during the holidays.  

The Cliff House has a nice restaurant mounted on a rocky point jutting out into a raging ocean that beats against the rocks.

As we were eating our meal we could see a couple of dolphins playing in these waves.

After a delicious lunch we drove to Bakers Beach just west of the Golden Gate bridge.  It is mid-winter, but it looked like summer with the beach covered in people enjoying the sun and water. 

The view of the Golden Gate bridge from Baker Beach is awesome.

Just above Baker Beach are solid cement military bunkers hidden behind the bank.  In 1904 huge guns were mounted long before World War 1 to defend the entrance to San Francisco Bay.

One of the guns has been preserved, covered with canvass to protect it from the elements.  I understand that it is uncovered for special events.  It looks like Evan is trying to maneuver it into position to fire.  

"Us boys" went hiking down behind the bunkers...

And of course our "Spiderman" decided to scale this smooth cement wall.  

How do you get that high up on a wall with nothing to grasp? Easy, you leap!

On our way to Golden Gate Park we stopped to admire the exquisite archi-tecture of the Legion of Honor Art Museum in Lincoln Park.  (It was closed for the holiday.)

In Golden Gate Park families were enjoying the lake, the weather and the sights. 


We found a bench by the water and took a break to open Christmas presents.  Ron and Elisabet have many trees on their property.  Tim and Cheryl gave them some cute tree faces.  

So when you visit them and see a tree smiling at you, don't be surprised. 

We left Cheryl to care for our gifts, crossed this old rock bridge and hiked completely around this island mountain on the right.

On the other side of the mountain we found this pretty little Japanese "tea shelter"... 

complete with a marble table and stools...

and an artistic ceiling

with some silly looking people looking down at the camera.

We also discovered a waterfall.  

Evan, how did you get out there?  And how will you get back? The answer again was "leap!".

Evan is always loaded with energy and this nice tree was just calling to him to climb up.  

When I was a boy we had lots of trees in our yard and throughout the entire neighborhood.  I loved to climb them, sometimes to the very top.  I must have passed on some Hiatt genes to Evan. 

It all happened in a single delightful day at "The City."

(Photo taken from Lincoln Park)

Ralph