Friday Farm Fun- Trip to the City

Last week we went to San Francisco on a vacation.  With there always being something that needs tending when you have animals, we can usually get away the easiest during October. When my sister-in-law called and invited us to meet her and her husband in San Francisco to watch the Seahawks(hubby and brother-in-laws favorite football team) and the 49ers(sister-in-laws favorite team) play we decided it would be a good vacation.

Traffic- yuck!

All but one cow has calved, the irrigating is done for the year, and we haven't started feeding yet, so it was the perfect time to hit the road. Only hubby can't go anywhere without making it a business trip. He set up to take a look at a swather he'd read about in the Capital Press.

We left early Tuesday morning(5am) and arrived in time to call and invite some friends in the Klamath area to have  breakfast with us.  Then we swung west and found the small area of Gazelle CA and checked out the swather. It was older than the model number indicated. We hurried on down to Santa Rosa and had dinner with my aunt and cousin and her family.

Crookedest street- Lombard

Spent the night and then got caught in traffic between Santa Rosa and San Francisco. I was flinching and swaying away from the cars coming at us from all directions and truly thankful my hubby was driving. We only slowed for a short distance with no major traffic jams. We found the hotel in SF and told them we'd be back late because we had to pick up the in-laws from the airport at 9:30.  Then we took the coast highway down to Santa Cruz where we met an author friend of mine, Barb Cool Lee and her mother. We ate lunch and my hubby and her mom had to listen to "shop" writer talk for two hours while Barb and I caught up and compared notes on the industry.

We left Santa Cruz and headed up to San Jose where we were to meet another cousin for dinner. We were early and hubby had to use a restroom. My eagle eye spotted a Barnes and Noble book store. Hubby didn't know what he was in for! I spent an hour and a half perusing the shelves and coming out with two discounted books on handguns, one book of Indian photographs, and two mysteries with Native American elements. Oh and chocolate!

I called my cousin and we met at a brewery for dinner then went to their house until we needed to head to pick up the in-laws. only right as we were leaving the sister-in-law texted they would be an hour late.  We went to the SF airport and people watched until their flight came in.

Our arrival at the hotel was even later than we'd expected. The nice young woman who ran the hotel stayed up waiting for us to arrive because we'd let her know we'd be late. Only there wasn't a parking spot in the small parking area of the hotel left. She instructed my husband where he could park for free but to watch out for the streets that would be cleaned in the morning. We fell into bed after midnight.

The next morning hubby had a bad feeling and went to check on the car. Sure enough, a ticket was on the windshield. He'd parked on the wrong side of the road. He parked the car in the hotel parking, and we didn't take the car out again until we left on Saturday.

Walking across the Golden Gate Bridge

Thursday we walked down to Fisherman's wharf and learned the best way to get to Candlestick Park without using our car. We called a taxi and asked how much it would cost. it was reasonable so we climbed in and went on a sightseeing tour as he dodged the traffic going to Candlestick Park. We arrived two hours before the game. The other three were excited and sat in the hot sun waiting while I remained in the shade in the walkway watching people. The game started and I couldn't believe the nasty remarks by the 49er fans to my husband and brother-in-law who were wearing Seahawks hats and shirts. There's nothing wrong with some fun ribbing but they were talking trash and acting like they wanted to provoke a fight. I also was sandwiched between my husband and a wide bodied man I'd never met. I don't like my bubble invaded and it was a long three hours!

Candlestick Park before the game

After the game we went to wait in the taxi line, which was longer than the football field and no sign of any taxis. Brother-in-law went searching for alternative transportation and shoved us on an already overloaded bus.Hubby was holding onto the bars at the front of the aisle holding all the standing people into the aisle so the driver could see hsi side mirror. I couldn't take much more of having my bubble invaded and the first time the bus stopped I bailed off. Hubby and in-laws were saying, "We don't want off yet." I said, "I'm walking." I couldn't take it any more. So they all got off and we walked 3.5 miles back to the hotel stopping along the way for a late Italian dinner.

Fort Point

While I enjoyed walking across the Golden Gate Bridge and seeing Fort Point, I couldn't wait to head back home and get away from all the congestion. In fact on the way back we took a detour that meandered us through some country we've never seen before and was less congested.

I like visiting the city but I need my space!

Wednesday Western- The Western Civil War Stronghold

The courtyard and tiers of Fort Point

During my vacation last week, I visited Fort Point located under the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge. While I found everything about the fort fascinating, the fact that stuck in my head was the fact it was considered a stronghold during the Civil War.

Officer's quarters

The building of Fort Point began in 1853 by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It was situated to defend the maximum amount of harbor space with one artillery tier as close to the water as possible to use the cannon balls ricocheting across the water. Ninety foot of cliff was blasted down to fifteen feet above sea level. The walls were seven feet thick.  A multi-tiered casement allowed for heavy gun power.

Many unemployed miners were among the 200 men who worked for eight years to construct the fort. The first cannon was mounted in 1861. Col. Albert Sidney Johnston, commander of the Department of the Pacific ordered the first troops to the fort, then resigned his commission, joined the Confederate Army and was killed at the Battle of Shiloh in 1862.

Enlisted men's quarters

During the Civil War artillery-men stood guard. There were as many as 500 men from the U.S. Artillery, the 9th U.S. Infantry and the 8th California Volunteer Infantry garrisoned at the fort. Being so far from the actual war the soldiers spent their days in drills, artillery practice, inspections, sentry duty, and maintenance chores.Enlisted men bunked 24 to a casemate on the third tier; officers had single or double quarters on tier two.

The round bases held the cannons

The fort never saw battle. The Confederate raider CSS Shenandoah planned to attack San Francisco, but while in route August of 1865  learned the war was over.

The other information I found interesting dealt with the way the harbor was protected. There were five cannons strategically placed about the harbor. If a ship made it through the first two situated at Fort Point and Lime Point directly across from one another, there were three more; Angle Island, Alcatraz, and Point San Jose situated in a way to take down any intruders.

The solid rock circular stairway 

On October 16, 1970 a bill was signed by President Richard Nixon to make Fort Point a National Historic Site. It is a well preserved piece of our history.

Being a person who is always interested in how people lived and the day to day necessities, I looked for the privies which were said to be on all levels. I decided they were there the rooms directly behind the stairways on either end of the fort. They were rooms with no windows and the doorway was boarded up. Only a small corridor from either side of the stairway gave access to the room.