Friday was the last day of the Pic Your Park Contest, and it was the most perfect day. I have a million parks to blog about in between D.C. and California, but for now I’ll just talk about my amazing day yesterday.
(Ice cream shaming!)
(Also, I feel like I need to say that I’m not trying to be smug here. So many times, life does not go according to plan! I couldn’t believe how the universe seemed to be working in my favor for just this one day.)
I woke up early in Reno and was hiking on the PCT when the sun came up. This actually put me a little behind schedule; I just wanted to keep hiking and see what was around the next corner or beyond the next ridge and finally realized I’d been wandering too long and needed to get back. But it was just so beautiful!
There was hardly any traffic on the drive to Point Reyes. I’ve visited there before and will visit again, so I took a quick selfie and continued on.
I drove over the Golden Gate Bridge (which I still get so excited about every time I do it) and easily found parking at the Presidio.
I walked around for a bit, then drove down the street to Fort Point, where it was also no problem to park. I’ve tried to stop here a few times and it’s always been closed, so I was thrilled to see a new park. And also just thrilled to be in San Francisco, hanging out UNDER the Golden Gate Bridge.
My next stop was San Francisco Maritime NHP, down by Fisherman’s Wharf. I was able to find street parking for $5!!! I took some pictures and treated myself to a chocolate soda for lunch at Ghirardelli Square.
(Ice cream shaming!)
I visited Rosie the Riveter and John Muir next; which also went smoothly and without incident. I’ve visited these before, too, so I just needed pictures.
There was a slight problem as I tried to visit the Port Chicago Memorial. Turns out that one is on a fully operational military base, so you have to call ahead for an appointment. I later spoke to someone who said it took him three tries to get there; the NPS kept cancelling! So I got as close as I could and figured I’d leave it up to the judges if it should count as a visit.
I was at my last park of the day by 5:00! I took a pic by the sign on the property, but in order to actually visit the house, you have to take a shuttle from downtown Danville. My plan was to do this today. I had a salad at Panera for dinner (because we don’t have Panera in Utah) and got to my hotel early. I spent the evening reading a Eugene O’Neill play, which I did not particularly enjoy, but that’s okay. It was a fabulous day.
This morning I woke up early and then had to wait around because the earliest shuttle to the Eugene O’Neill site was at 10:15. When I got there at 10:05, they had this sign posted.
Tragedy! The website didn’t say anything about this! See, this is why I was so excited about things going smoothly the day before. This morning was a more typical example of how my life usually goes.
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