The Life in My Years

Here in the San Francisco Bay Area we have boats and plenty of them.  That’s because here in the San Francisco Bay Area we have water and plenty of it; bays, marinas, piers, sloughs,  docks, landings, wetlands, the blue Pacific and San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf. There are endless possibilities for photographing boats and ships. So I get myself out of bed early, tell my dog Lexi “time to get up” and we head out to find boats at sunrise.

Hey Lexi its time to wake up!

Here’s a little sampling for Friday Fotos.

South Beach, San Francisco.

South Beach is that area of bay shore in San Francisco that is bordered by the Ferry Building on the north which houses the bustling Farmer’s Market and AT&T Park (Home of the San Francisco Giants baseball team) to the south. The busy bayside promenade is an excellent place to run (all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge if you want), relax in one of the small parks or have a nice meal in one of the many restaurants. If you have a boat and plenty of money you can dock your boat at the South Beach Marina.

South Beach is one of my favorite places to to catch a sunrise. If I’m fortunate to remain  late enough on a Saturday morning I can have a breakfast of house made corn beef hash and eggs at the iconic Red’s Java House. Red’s has a history that goes back to the 1930’s serving hearty grub to longshoremen when San Francisco was a bustling port town. Back then the breakfast special was a cheeseburger and a beer – hey it was noon somewhere – right?  Follow the link to Red’s Java House.

 

Emeryille, California

On the eastern side of San Francisco Bay is Emeryville, the last little city before you hit the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge to San Francisco.

Looking for some dawn photo opportunities I found one particular boat that caught my eye and not so much for the boat as its handle – Endurance.  Seemed appropriate as I’ve been a runner for most of my 65 years and the Emeryville Marina has been a favorite running haunt.

Besides being a nice place to run, the Emeryville Marina is a nice place to spend some quiet time. There are little wooded areas with places to picnic; you can gaze at the San Francisco skyline across the bay; you can try your luck at fishing (though I wouldn’t eat ANYTHING out of that water) or you can just bring your book, read and look up now and then to listen to the sounds of the bay.

 

The Emeryville Marina is also home to a legendary tiki bar, Trader Vic’s started by Vic Bergeron who claimed to be the inventor of the Mai Tai.  If you like bamboo, rataan and tiki heads then this is the place for you.  Sit at the bar and have some pupus and a concoction that will sneak up on you and get you hammered before you realize that you’ve been drinking 3 kinds of rum mixed with tropical juices.

Follow this link to Trader Vic’s site. Trader Vic’s Emeryville.