Hello there. In the middle of my visit to my sister and her husband, they brought up how I was very fond of taking pictures and looking at the scenery. When I told them that I was making blog posts and sharing them with others, they got excited and said they wanted to show me around some of the scenic areas of the bay area. I told them I want a more unique view of things, instead of just the tourist areas, I also want a view from a local's perspective. Being the outdoor type of people, they said to leave it to them.
One of the first areas they took me to was up the mountains to get a gorgeous overall view of the bay area. My camera doesn't do it enough justice, and this looks clearer and closer in real life. In the left, you can see the container cranes in Alameda. In the middle, the unmistakable buildings of San Francisco. In the right, there is the rest of the bay, and if you look closer, the Golden Gate Bridge can also be seen.
I saw some houses on top of the mountains, and I can only imagine how awesome their view is. Waking up everyday to that view will always be a good start to one's day. They told me the price of the houses here are really high because of that as well.
We then headed back down, and decided to eat. For our brunch, we took some takeout from Neptune's and went to eat at the Crab Cove Marine Reserve. This area is like a picnic place with some wooden tables, and has a really nice view of the bay.
The food was good, the surroundings were nice, and the temperature was perfect. There were some people in the water playing with their hydrofoil boards. While the temperature on land is perfect with a mix of cold air and warm sun, I don't think I can swim and have the cold breeze hit me at the same time. I am curious if the water was cold or warm.
After eating, we were supposed to explore the reserve more, and walk along the water. Unfortunately, it was not low tide, and a lot of the walkway was covered with water.
Maybe as a consolation, we saw a group of birds during their feeding time trying to catch some fish, or whatever seafood is available to them.
We then proceeded to go to San Francisco through the Bay Bridge. I took some photos as we were driving on the bridge. They asked me if I wanted to go to a location but I said between the ones I took while on the Ferry, and the ones I just took, I think I have enough photos of the Bay Bridge.
There was also an interesting view of the San Francisco buildings while on the bridge. These might be the closest to eye level that I can see them. It was a pretty cool.
We passed by all the different iconic places in San Francisco, from the insane steep roads, to the trams, we even drove on the famous zigzag road in Lombard Street. I only ever saw it in movies, and it was pretty cool to actually be there. It was insane how many tourists are standing there taking pictures. Some were even standing in the middle of a not so busy road. We had to honk at them to move, and they even had the audacity to get mad at us, when they were the ones blocking the road.
After the short San Francisco tour, we then went to the final stop of our tour, which is the Golden Gate Bridge. I think going here and taking a picture is one of the most common things to do when in San Francisco. This might be their most iconic landmark.
There seemed to be a viewing area that was closer to the water. We went there and it was actually the For Baker Fishing Pier. Looking at the sign, people can actually fish here, and even catch crabs. There are some regulations on it, but that is pretty cool. There were actually a few people with fishing rods and nets, and there was also a family fishing and chilling.
Unfortunately, apart from the awesome view of the Golden Gate Bridge, the view around us were covered with fog/haze. I can see just the silhouette of San Francisco, as well as the small island.
There were some sailboats docked here, so I guess they can also use it for leisurely fishing. With the amount of boats I've seen, I can say that there are a lot of rich people living in the Bay Area.
As we were leaving we saw that the regulation board actually had some info on the other side. There seems to be a lot of fish available in this area, and they actually want to guide people on which ones are healthier to eat.
This is a bonus picture of the first photo when we went to the same location in the afternoon on a different day. Again, my phone picture doesn't do it enought justice, but the effects of the afternoon light with the slight fog/haze was really interesting and gave it a surreal fantasy look.
And with that, our Bay Area tour came to a close. I was actually surprised at how many scenic locations the Bay Area has. My sister told me that there are even more places to visit, but we just ran out of time. There were still a lot of trails in the area, and some other old establishments. It is really nice that they work hard to integrate nature into their surroundings even though they are a major city. Since you can literally catch fish and eat it, it means that the water is not that polluted and is being taken cared of. I wish this can also happen in the Manila Bay of the Philippines.