Trip to SFO Golden Gate Bridge
Destination Golden Gate Bridge.
Saturday the 15th was a busy day. I think I slept alongside the laptop, and when I got up music was still playing. That day, did some local trips. Been to the furniture super bazaar - IKEA. Thats a Swedish store, and that name too is Swedish, I guess.
SFO plan got deferred to the next day, due to want of time on Saturday..
Kir had some touch up work to be done in office. Hence the trip starting point was his office. And the official start time : 12.26PM (proof given below)
First to a filling station to top up fuel, and to do a car wash. I heard him murmuring on the rising fuel prices.. But I opted to keep quiet rather than spitting out stupid lines like " This time, I'll pay for the gas ". At times I like my low-profile-ness a lot :-D
The car wash is too hi-fi! Sit in the car and drive thru the car wash area, and at the other end of the tunnel, you have a clean glowing color coming out! Awesome. It takes hardly 2 minutes, but it takes 6 dollars :-)
Then comes the 51 odd miles stretch to GG Bridge. Out here, people are familiar only with miles. If you say 82.0765 km, they will stare dumb at you. (Seeing this magic number, are you doing the same?!!).
Kiron was behind the wheels. And I was the navigator, trying to read out strange names that are have no vowels in the second part of it (Marina Blvd, 19 Av and the likes). Kiron went mad, listening to my directions. But he was kind enough not to kick me out on to the highway :D
Closer to the destination, there was heavy traffic. And a lot of signals. In the end, we reached the Golden Gate Bridge toll gate by 1.55 PM. Northbound trip is free! No toll. So as long as you are going to make a tent and stay on the other side of the bridge its a free trip. But if u wanna go back home, and sleep cozy, then you need to shell out 5 $ , for a return trip thru the bridge.
When the bridge was right in front of me, 3 thoughts ran into my mind:
1. Wowwwwwwwwwwww
followed by...
2. Voila, its not golden! Gimme back my money!
3. And where the heck is the Gate ?! Dont tell me that the 'toll gate' is the gate !
A little study revealed the fact behind the name of the bridge. If you wanna know go find it for yourself :) I found this page very simple and informative..
Drive over the bridge was such a feel. The bridge is 6 lanes. With ample space on both sides for pedestrians. The lanes are adjustable. Read somewhere that in the peak hours when south bound traffic is more, the lanes will be 4 south, and 2 north. Its not a hi-fi automated adjustment, but manual one :-)
We parked the car at the 'Vista Point'. Not a perfect view point for the bridge, but its a nice place to get a view of the bay and the yachts in the bay, and the long view of the city - peeping sharp into the bay.
After a round of left-right photography, we decided to have the feel of walking on the bridge. The driving lanes were crowded and so were the pedestrians lanes. Most of them tourists, some jogging, some walking 'just for a horror' and a few cycling. Walking gives the real picture of the enormosity of the bridge. It has got two huge towers, on which the entire bridge is supported. From the base of the tower, u can have a feel of the size. And the stretch between towers is also a lil too much. Walking over it to and fro will definitely burn some useless calorie from the body..
Had some snack at the other end of the bridge. That was Kir's lunch. I had a brunch, not much ago. I too joined him for company. While eating we saw some gathering not far from there. There was a man floored, and cops all around him. Lotza a police cars too. Dint go any close to it. I dint hav any proof of identification with me. No passport nothing. Big risk :)
Roamed around the places on the south end of the bridge, and started the walk back. After a few minutes of walk, when I saw the pillar, I thought 'thank God, we have reached'. Thats when Kir asked me to turn back to check for the other pillar. It wasnt there !! It disappeared ?? Or.. err.. well.. is this the first pillar in the stretch? Yes it is ! :-S
sigh.. its gonna be a long day !
Back at Vista point, we decided to go to Pier39 and find out what it is all about. And by sunset, we thought of returning to the GG bridge to take a nice lit up snap.
Pier39 was close by. Around 10 mins thru the traffic. Its just one of the piers, with a serial number attached to it, and is developed into a tourist/commercial spot.
Lotsa shops, hotels, seafood, carnival like atmosphere, live band, live performances etc... A colorful place.
Sun had set by the time we came out of pier39. Kir fetched his tripod from the car, and did some pro shoots.
Back to GG bridge by around 7.45.
Played around with the exposure time, and got some stump images !
Left the place by 10PM.
Home by 11PM. Tried controlling my sleep, sitting beside the driver. But slept off the last 5 or 10 miles :-P
Some interesing pics:
1. Technical Spec!
2. Oh Mommy Look at That !!
3. Woman at work !
4. Bay Bridge. View from Pier39 foot overbridge
5. Bus Bay in the eve
6. Bus Bay by night
7. Kir with tripod
8. Boats at the pier
Saturday the 15th was a busy day. I think I slept alongside the laptop, and when I got up music was still playing. That day, did some local trips. Been to the furniture super bazaar - IKEA. Thats a Swedish store, and that name too is Swedish, I guess.
SFO plan got deferred to the next day, due to want of time on Saturday..
Kir had some touch up work to be done in office. Hence the trip starting point was his office. And the official start time : 12.26PM (proof given below)
First to a filling station to top up fuel, and to do a car wash. I heard him murmuring on the rising fuel prices.. But I opted to keep quiet rather than spitting out stupid lines like " This time, I'll pay for the gas ". At times I like my low-profile-ness a lot :-D
The car wash is too hi-fi! Sit in the car and drive thru the car wash area, and at the other end of the tunnel, you have a clean glowing color coming out! Awesome. It takes hardly 2 minutes, but it takes 6 dollars :-)
Then comes the 51 odd miles stretch to GG Bridge. Out here, people are familiar only with miles. If you say 82.0765 km, they will stare dumb at you. (Seeing this magic number, are you doing the same?!!).
Kiron was behind the wheels. And I was the navigator, trying to read out strange names that are have no vowels in the second part of it (Marina Blvd, 19 Av and the likes). Kiron went mad, listening to my directions. But he was kind enough not to kick me out on to the highway :D
Closer to the destination, there was heavy traffic. And a lot of signals. In the end, we reached the Golden Gate Bridge toll gate by 1.55 PM. Northbound trip is free! No toll. So as long as you are going to make a tent and stay on the other side of the bridge its a free trip. But if u wanna go back home, and sleep cozy, then you need to shell out 5 $ , for a return trip thru the bridge.
When the bridge was right in front of me, 3 thoughts ran into my mind:
1. Wowwwwwwwwwwww
followed by...
2. Voila, its not golden! Gimme back my money!
3. And where the heck is the Gate ?! Dont tell me that the 'toll gate' is the gate !
A little study revealed the fact behind the name of the bridge. If you wanna know go find it for yourself :) I found this page very simple and informative..
Drive over the bridge was such a feel. The bridge is 6 lanes. With ample space on both sides for pedestrians. The lanes are adjustable. Read somewhere that in the peak hours when south bound traffic is more, the lanes will be 4 south, and 2 north. Its not a hi-fi automated adjustment, but manual one :-)
We parked the car at the 'Vista Point'. Not a perfect view point for the bridge, but its a nice place to get a view of the bay and the yachts in the bay, and the long view of the city - peeping sharp into the bay.
After a round of left-right photography, we decided to have the feel of walking on the bridge. The driving lanes were crowded and so were the pedestrians lanes. Most of them tourists, some jogging, some walking 'just for a horror' and a few cycling. Walking gives the real picture of the enormosity of the bridge. It has got two huge towers, on which the entire bridge is supported. From the base of the tower, u can have a feel of the size. And the stretch between towers is also a lil too much. Walking over it to and fro will definitely burn some useless calorie from the body..
Had some snack at the other end of the bridge. That was Kir's lunch. I had a brunch, not much ago. I too joined him for company. While eating we saw some gathering not far from there. There was a man floored, and cops all around him. Lotza a police cars too. Dint go any close to it. I dint hav any proof of identification with me. No passport nothing. Big risk :)
Roamed around the places on the south end of the bridge, and started the walk back. After a few minutes of walk, when I saw the pillar, I thought 'thank God, we have reached'. Thats when Kir asked me to turn back to check for the other pillar. It wasnt there !! It disappeared ?? Or.. err.. well.. is this the first pillar in the stretch? Yes it is ! :-S
sigh.. its gonna be a long day !
Back at Vista point, we decided to go to Pier39 and find out what it is all about. And by sunset, we thought of returning to the GG bridge to take a nice lit up snap.
Pier39 was close by. Around 10 mins thru the traffic. Its just one of the piers, with a serial number attached to it, and is developed into a tourist/commercial spot.
Lotsa shops, hotels, seafood, carnival like atmosphere, live band, live performances etc... A colorful place.
Sun had set by the time we came out of pier39. Kir fetched his tripod from the car, and did some pro shoots.
Back to GG bridge by around 7.45.
Played around with the exposure time, and got some stump images !
Left the place by 10PM.
Home by 11PM. Tried controlling my sleep, sitting beside the driver. But slept off the last 5 or 10 miles :-P
Some interesing pics:
1. Technical Spec!
2. Oh Mommy Look at That !!
3. Woman at work !
4. Bay Bridge. View from Pier39 foot overbridge
5. Bus Bay in the eve
6. Bus Bay by night
7. Kir with tripod
8. Boats at the pier
posted by Rat at 8:28 AM
4 Comments:
nice pics and a nice read!!! and am happy that u hv bounced back pretty well after a long time of "for-the-sake-of-it" posts :)
ithoru gombliment aano atho mukhathu nokki theri bilichathaano ? :-S
Anyways nandri :)
BTW, blogmala maathaavinte peril valla shapadhavum eduthittondo - blogoolla ennu ?
Heheh...gombli for this post and a "contructive criticism" for the other recent posts ;-)
Hmm..njan theerumaanichu ..njan ini blogooooollllaaaa..
yeah..just one post remiaining...Formal Good Bye post! :(
ellaaam ningalde kaaranam!
uyyoo..
nirthalle..
nammade already chotu blogger community il oru active blogger raaji vechaal kaaryangal avathaalathil aavum. athondu theerumaanam onnu kaaryamaayi puna:parishodhikkanam!
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