Day 11 (part 1): Golden Gate

The Golden Gate Bridge walk is a 3.4-mile round trip along a pedestrian and bike path along the edge of the bridge, separated by a railing from the lanes of vehicle traffic.

We spent about a month this summer on a 7,000+ mile road trip across the country, from the Washington, D.C., area to California and back. I began posting privately about the trip while we were gone and have continued since we returned. I have kept the original dates on the posts I began writing earlier. Now that we’re home, I’m updating with photos and making them public. Day 11 was July 13; we had arrived in San Francisco the afternoon before and would be leaving this day, but first we wanted to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Bridge selfie, just before we started across.

On our second and final day in San Francisco, we walked across the Golden Gate Bridge. But first we ate breakfast at an outdoor cafe near the hotel, despite the fact that it looked like it could rain at any minute. Thank goodness we had only a few drops.

We did witness some drama while waiting for our breakfast. A man paced back and forth on the sidewalk, agitated. Twice, he stopped at a nearby table and pounded his fist on it. Suddenly he leaned over and demanded of Bob, “Did you see something?” We, of course, had no idea what he was talking about, and wondered if the man was unstable. As it turned out, he and his family were tourists — from Germany, we think — and their SUV, parked nearby, had been broken into. Apparently some of their belongings had been stolen. I guess his English was not good enough to explain all of this, but we picked it up from watching him interact with his family and the restaurant staff. We saw him call the police, but we finished breakfast and left without knowing how it turned out. For the rest of the trip, Bob was a bit paranoid about leaving our rental car anywhere, even in the smallest, quietest of towns.

But on to the Golden Gate Bridge. We took a cab from our Fisherman’s Wharf hotel to the SF side of the bridge and then trekked across the bridge to Marin County and back. The views, of course, were spectacular, especially after the first hour of so, when the clouds started to clear, the sky became blue, and the city sparkled in the sunlight. The noise and crowds were not as pleasant. According to signs, bike riders were supposed to cross in a special lane on the western side of the bridge, and pedestrians on the eastern side. But the day we went, possibly because of construction, walkers and cyclists were all using the eastern lane, which led to a lot of congestion and near crashes.

And the car traffic on the bridge is LOUD. I wish I had thought to bring earplugs. We nonetheless had a marvelous time!