Settling Into The Bay Area

 

I'm moving north and made it to the San Francisco area. The majority of the campgrounds that are available are aways from downtown San Francisco which is where most of the sights I want to see are located. Depending on traffic, it is about a forty minute to over an hour drive into town. Speaking of traffic, I evidently have been out in the boonies for a while – I am finding myself overwhelmed by the amount of traffic in the area. I have found that SF drivers are very polite, merging into traffic is a breeze. Driving down the road – not so much. People are just way too much in a hurry.

I'm staying at Dumbarton Quarry On The Bay – a little south of Oakland. It is a new campground and it is situated right next to the Coyote Hills Regional Park. I arrived thinking this will be a great spot to walk Miko which it is. That is, if you love to be vertically challenged.

Coyote Hills

The View from the top of the hills.  This is at the lower part of the bay where they would extract salt from the ocean.  Just a few years ago, this area was very stagnant and smelly.  There has been a great effort to revitalize the area and allow the tide to flow and ebb like it used to.

Many places in the world have love locks where lovers add a padlock to symbolize their unbreakable love. This was at the end of a road, at a gate.  Fremont California's attempt at a love lock chain?

I visited two National Park Service sites on the first day. The first was up in Oakland and was all about Rosie The Riveter. This site was located on the old Kaiser Shipyard where, during WWII, they built the most cargo ships that were put into service. Rosie was a tribute to all the woman who went to work to support the US war effort. One woman's quote which I found interesting (and I paraphrase): This is the first time in my life I got to wear slacks.

John Muir is considered the Father of National Parks. I always thought Teddy Roosevelt had that title, but no, John Muir is the person who convinced Teddy to defend the America's natural wonders. I also always thought John Muir was this nature loving wild man. Nature-loving, yes but “His letters, essays, and books describing his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada, have been read by millions. His activism helped to preserve the Yosemite Valley and Sequoia National Park, and his example has served as an inspiration for the preservation of many other wilderness areas. The Sierra Club, which he founded, is a prominent American Conservation organization.” Wikipedia

Muir made a lot of money farming fruits and vegetables.  This was his house.

This is the room where he did his writing.  He called it his 'scribble room'

I have an app on my phone called Plane Finder.  It shows me details about planes that are flying overhead.  Several nights, between nine and ten o'clock, there was a plane flying super low over the campsite - many times.  I went outside and looked at it.  Most planes fly with red, green and white lights on.  This plane only had red lights.  It was an Air Force plane that I'm thinking was practicing night flying.  His altitude was only 300 feet.  As I said, super low and LOUD.  

The airport he was flying out of is the blue marker at the bottom of the picture. 
My campsite is the blue dot at the top of the picture.