Spending the week in and around San Francisco and Oakland. In the mornings, we’ve been going to Marina Park in Martinez, at the north end of the bay and just across the bay from Richmond. We had stumbled across this little park last year when we visited Patrick for a week and decided to come back. Martinez is the home to a Shell Oil Refinery and the town dates back to the 1849 Gold Rush, but it has a nice, quaint, picturesque downtown that’s pretty interesting. We go to the Park to feed the birds and as you can see, we enjoy instant companionship:
Today (Wednesday the 11th) we took a 90-minute tour of San Francisco and across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito in a 1955 Mack Fire Truck. We had seen a blurb of the “Fire Engine Tour” on the Travel Channel and had an absolute blast. The weather was cool and windy, so the operators of the truck dressed everyone up in fire gear to stay warm. The two people here are husband and wife and the owners of the truck as well as operators of the tour:
Here’s a picture of the Fire Engine returning from a previous tour:
The fire engine itself had operated with the San Francisco Fire Department from 1956 to 1988, when the current owners bought it at auction. (Yes, Earl…it’s red and very shiny). The hostess kept up a steady (and I do mean steady!) commentary on what we were seeing and the history behind various parts of the city as we passed through. We crossed the Golden Gate bridge and went to Sausalito, where we stretched our legs and the hostess took pictures of everyone on the tour:
This was a shot as we approached the Fort Point, under the bridge itself that I thought was pretty good:
And here were some Canadian Geese we were racing towards Fort Point:
And, finally, here is my bride on the pier at Sausalito with the Golden Gate in the background:
We had a GREAT time on the Big Red Fire Truck and would do it again in a heartbeat.
Tomorrow…we’re taking a DUKW (Duck) tour of San Francisco in a WWII Army/Marine Landing Craft that will include a tour of San Francisco Bay. More to follow!
