San Francisco and Alcatraz

[misskit]

Nice pics of San Fransisco, AO. Makes me miss the place also.

My favorite place I have ever lived was on a houseboat at Sausalito. My back door opened right on the water with a view of Tiburon. I worked in the city so commuted via the Golden Gate Bridge or on the ferry. What a way to start the day.

I later bought a condominium where my view was of Angel Island. Sitting in the living room, looking out over the bay on a clear afternoon while the fog rolled in was grand.

Very stupid thing I did, selling that condo. I'll never be able to afford a place in Sausalito again!

[Davis Knowlton]

^I have a brother who has lived in Mill Valley for decades. He also started out in the 70's on a houseboat in Sausalito.

[aging one]

A street in the Sausalito houseboat community



A couple of nice houseboats.



Lovely

[SEA Traveler]

Nice time of year when pics were taken. I'm guessing it can get a little chilly in the winter time.

The last photo of the houseboat is a charming place.

[aging one]

Sausalito is in a banana belt, rarely gets below about 50 F or 13 C. But thats damn cold for me now. The rain in the winter is the one bad part. Pushing your shopping in a cart to your boat can be a pain in the buttocks.

[Bangyai]

Glad you posted bigger pictures. Much more detail and theres a lot more to look at. Nice one.

[misskit]

^Brings back memories of lugging groceries in down the dock in the rain. Living on the water does get cold during the winter, though not unbearably so.

The other not-so-charming thing about the place is the stench at low tide. P-U!

[Bobcock]

I spent a lot of time in SF in the 80s. Wonderful city.

[bsnub]

Nice shots AO. Been to most of those places as I have a brother in Mill Valley. Didn't like that crab as much as Asian crab though.

I feel the same way. The "dungeness" crab just seem to be lacking a flavor. I much prefer the Maryland Hardshelled Crab with Old Bay seasoning and rock salt. The Thai crabs I get over on Samersan Fish Market a few kilo down the road are similar to the Maryland Blue Crabs and I prepare them similarly as well. Beer steamed with Old Bay. I still like using the Thai spicy fish sauce as well. Washing them down with some cold suds.

I am going to have to disagree with you two here. I have eaten crab all over the world and I always seem to find dungee to be the best tasting crab I have eaten. A lovely sweet flavor and excellent texture. I have been to Maryland a few times on business and always tried to find a place that could do blue crab that tasted as good to me as dungee and was always disappointed. But I will agree that all crab should be washed down with cold beer.

Cheers.

[barbaro]

San Francisco is a great city. I love the city and the Bay Area.

Definitely could live there.

[Phuketrichard]

Great blog and Pics; Can truly appreciate the area as went to College there in the 70's
in fact in '73 we were allowed to go photograph The "rock" as we attended SF Art Institute. Had a great day.

Will be back often now as my daughter just started uni at Sonoma state.

SF is the ONLY city in the world i would ever choose to live in again.

[ShilohJim]

Bsnub, I have to agree with you. I've tried both and was sorely disappointed in Blue Crab. Way too much work for a nominal return. Go Dungeness or even King! And of course cold beer.

Shiloh Jim

[draco888]

^ Its never going to go down, so bite the bullet and bury yourself in an outrageous home loan in the City and pray you keep up enough to hold the house together like the rest of them are doing.

[terry57]

^

Jesus, The housing market is nuts over there. Ain't been that severe in Aus.

Lots of people burned over there in SF.

[upupandaway]

Born there in 41 father in army moved on to other posts in war. Returned for a visit in 68 had to rent a car in Redding a 68 Shelby Cobra. That got a lot of comments.

Drove through there in 2005 stopped at the Golden Gate bridge and swore I would never come back alone to beautiful a place to visit alone must be shared.

[TizMe]

Q: How many heterosexual San Franciscans does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Both of them.

[Dead Metal]

My late wife & i loved SF and enjoyed our casual saunter around Alcatraz.

But for a place to live, i thought San Diego took some beating..IMHO

[TonyBKK]

Good Stuff!

Your kids took those pics? How old were they? Nicely done, but would be great if the pics were a bit bigger.

San Francisco is a great town!

[aging one]

They were 13 Tony. They had a nice blog of the whole trip 22 days touring the California with no mom and dad. They stayed with some of my closest friends.

[prawnograph]

Sf/Alcatraz 2009 - I did 2 swims island to mainland it's quite a tourist event, 'Escape from Alcatraz' and 'Sharkfest' hundreds do it every year

not at all difficult at all, did a 4k sea swim off San Diego far more difficult, all i can think is the average prison inmate didn't know how to swim

water too dirty now for any self-respecting shark to live there

[prawnograph]

for those swims

Sharkfest

and

Escape from Alcatraz whichj is a swim/cycle/run triathlon event

Sharkfest is a 1.5 mile event, and most years top finishers do it in about 35 minutes depending on weather conditions, with a cut-off (a boat picks you up) of 75 minutes. Year I did it winner was 30.24, I was over 42min well off the pace. I had a wetsuit and neoprene hood - separate classes, the first non-wetsuit (brave man) finished in 32.34

I got the t-shirt for my efforts.

The slower you are the harder it is as for every few yards forward you can be moving towards the bridge a yard or more as outgoing tide occurs, they have to fish people out or they'll be out to sea.

I never had time to visit Alcatraz itself - we were dropped off a ferry and swam back, pity as I'd liked to have seen it.