One of my favorite things about the San Francisco Bay Area is the fog. You can look at the view of the city from any angle on any day or night of any year, and you never see the same thing twice. Sometimes the fog rolls in like a slow motion tsunami, curling over the headlands, squeezing under and around the Golden Gate bridge, slowly enveloping the city in its gray, cottony shroud. I have been driving around taking pictures with my new Father’s Day camera, and once again this had allowed me to take the time to really cherish the views that I grew up with.
Good views are like flowers and clouds and babies. They are each stunning, each unique, but they are always around, so people just get used to them and stop appreciating the magic in them. And we can’t forget the light, the spectacular light. The way it caresses the world, sparkling off the water, dancing off the windows, adding highlights and shadow, tinged by the color of sunset and sunrise. It warms us as it delights us.
But still, as much as I love the light, it is just a part of the glorious vistas one can find. At night, when the sun has gone on to shine upon other parts of the world, the views of the bay come to life in different ways. To find a lofty vantage point and watch the sun sink behind the Pacific Ocean in a riot of hues and colors, and marvel as millions of lights flicker on to dispel the gloom, that is a moment to be treasured.
And yet the fog still holds its own place in my heart. When my friends and I were young teenagers, we spent a lot of time hanging out in the cemetery near my mother’s house. There were nights when the thick fog blanketed us in veils of mystery. But perhaps best of all were the rare ground fogs that crawled close to the damp earth. Like a scene from some old black and white Dracula movie, it left just the tops of the tombstones peeking out, and lent the cemetery a deliciously creepy air. When nature decides to be your set decorator, you know you are in for some astounding scenery. Take a new look at the world around you. It is never the same as you thought it was, no matter how many times you have seen it. Not if you look hard enough. Or I might suggest that you take a child with you, and let them show you the things you think you have seen. Because their eyes are never blind to the mystery.
Pouring My Art Out 
Excellent!
Thank you.
This is sooo true. I absolutely adore the fog as well, but I call it by a different name. Misty. It is not as accurate, but it alludes to the mystery you are talking about. Love this post.
Misty is like fog that is sweating…
Can’t wait to see the photos!
Wanna hear something funny? I just had my friend Åndy drive me up to Grizzly Peak where I took those panorama pictures with my cell phone. I was going to do better ones. But we drove right up into the fog, and now I have pictures of trees 30 feet away that you can barely see. I will have to go back up tomorrow at sunset. And hope I can figure out how to turn off the flash on my new camera.
I always knew you were a flasher…
Only when I am asked politely.
Riot of hues and colors. I love it!
Nature decides to be your set decorator. Priceless.
Drum roll . . . Pictures?
When I return home, there will be pictures aplenty! Fog in all its glory. The Bay Area as seen through eyes of love.
Yay fog!
You just like it because it makes it easier to sneak up on me… but I am not paranoid… am I?
Fog is good for intrigue and espionage but I like it because, like you, I grew up with it. Oh, and it has the added benefit of making my hair curly and nonconformist.
Fog has many surprising fringe benefits… get it… fringe… that was almost a joke! About hair. Sort of.
Would you consider yourself a “foggot”?
I can’t let that other post you did die can I?
No, you can’t, you can’t, but that was a funny one, so I will let it slide.
Good point about taking a kid with you. It’s amazing how they notice the simple things that the rest of us take for granted.
I like the fog effects too. I lived in the country for a few years, and it was magical the way morning fog could make everything seem mysterious and ethereal.
Thank you. We who grew up in the Bay Area tend to know a little about fog.