So So Lido

The sun came out almost as soon as we crossed the bridge.

We were joined in Sausalito by seemingly a zillion bicyclists. I know this place has a heck of a reputation for beauty, but on a Sarurday morning, it was just another tourist town. 

We went to an interesting place - a model of the watershed that empties into the SF area bays created by the Army Corp of Engineers back in the 1950s. The photo doesn't really show the size of this thing, with  all it's bays and sloughs and even piers and bridges, as the thing takes up several acres. 

It is now obsolete, as computer modeling does a much better job, but it was unique and Mark got a kick out of the giant slide rule with explanation of what it was. Yes, I made him pose.

With time to kill before our lunch date, we also visited a place where a tall ship is being built. The workers were very friendly and let us come up top. 

Our first time in Sausalito was 1979. The train from Dever actually ends in Oakland, and a former coworker of our had recently moved to SF for a job and was living across the bridge. She most generously picked us up in Oakland very late at night and unfolded her sofa for us. We awoke to the most astounding view of San Fransisco.

So here we are, 36 years later, meeting a different friend from the way back. Ira Lawson was my classmate and then a house mate back in undergrad, and is now living in Marin County after having recently outrun the Grim Reaper.

 

There is something special about old friends. I can't explain it but you know it, too. 

Sausalito. Yet another town with $800 baby strollers and pony tailed women in Lululemon. It's beautiful and so far out of reach. Back across the bridge to something I recognize, like The Mission.