Pouring My Art Out

Well, I am all caught up, but three days behind… by which I mean we finally finished all those pesky rose and sunset and San Francisco posts, and I can start telling you about my big driving adventure around the Bay Area… which actually happened the day before yesterday. This picture is the only one that I will post out of order. That is because my adventure involved me driving many miles and across three big bridges. The Golden Gate Bridge just happens to be the most photogenic of the three, and you have to have a good picture to start a post. Sorry, Oakland Bay Bridge and Richmond/San Rafael Bay Bridge. No insult intended.

Here is a handy little map to help you get some idea of where I went, in case you are not familiar with the Bay Area. I made a huge loop, although, technically, it was more tear drop-shaped. I left the yellow lines of the three bridges mostly uncovered. I started to make the red line of my travels squiggly where the roads were very twisty, but I realized that almost all the stuff above the Golden Gate would have ended up being like that.

I was really just trying to meet up with Big Johnny and his kid, William, who happens to be my godson, somewhere near San Francisco, where they live. But I had time to kill and a desire to see parts of the Bay Area that I haven’t seen in years. Here is the Richmond San Rafael Bridge. As you can see, it is not as eye-catching as the Golden Gate Bridge.

I know, I said I was going to do these in order, and I skipped way ahead, ten hours into the future, to show another picture of the Oakland Bay Bridge, from Treasure Island, where I ended up as I was almost back to my Mom’s house at the end of my adventure. Yes, Treasure Island is where I took all those other sunset photos, but the sun was setting again, so I pulled over. And now we have seen all three bridges, and we can move on.

Back onto the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge. Yes, I know, I was taking picture while driving, and you shouldn’t do that. But I was a paid, trained, professional driver for five years. And I don’t look through the view finder. I just point the camera and click the button. Then I crop the picture or delete it. There you can see San Francisco in the distance, way over to my left, because I was North of it.

And there is a lovely view of San Quentin, a maximum security federal prison. Looming behind it is Mount Tamalpais, on top of which I would end up later in the day, thanks to some road construction on Highway One, and one of the unscheduled detours I made.

Just twenty minutes later, I was driving through country that looked like this. Yes, just miles from San Francisco, you feel like you are nowhere near any big city at all.

I was surrounded by redwood trees.

You can park by the road, take a few steps, and be in the middle of the wilderness, metaphorically speaking.

How cool is that?

Not only are there adorable little towns, but there are farms and ranches right beside the road.

And if you are lucky, and good with animals, you can make some friends.

Okay, see you soon.