Erin and Adrian Go to the Golden Gate Bridge
It was a sunny afternoon in Menlo Park. Sunny and hot. Sunny, hot, and boring.
A short drive away were smiles and interest.
There were three signs in two languages and two alphabets.
And warm as it was in Menlo Park it was as cold as a snowball in Hell (which, if you’ll see, if it is anything that might still be recognized as a snowball must still be cold enough, despite the Fires, to be snow) at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge. We had expected, predicted, and prepared for such frigidity, but we are only human after all and all of our jackets and sweatshirts and sweaters were small comfort when we realized that we had forgotten to provide a solid blanket for Adrian. We froze from the inside out owing to our icy hearts. To leave a baby without a blanket. The nerve!
A beach towel was scrounged in the car (because despite living in Northern California within driving distance of only cold California beaches we nonetheless always seem to have a beach towel in the trunk) and Adrian was bundled against the coldness of the air and the coldness of our care.
And he looked cute.
We approached the bridge and marveled at the view it afforded of Alcatraz island in the middle of the bay.
We gazed at the spectacle of engineering, the suspensions and struts, the giant bolts and humongous concrete slabs spanning the Golden Gate.
Emily pointed out various sights, sharks, surfs, and ships surely slipping stealthily sunward. Erin wondered if her head could fit between the posts.
We wondered at the wisdom of providing signage to deter only those jumpers who were interested in leaping from the bridge to their certain life. Because the information regarding consequences listed on this sign might instead be construed as an advertisement of desired outcomes to the less optimistic leaper.
Likewise the ominous “No U-Turn” sign posted on the bridge: it struck us as bafflingly morbid.
Nonetheless, the Golden Gate Bridge is a wondrous, marvelous place of wonders to marvel at. For instance, the view of San Francisco is unparalleled.
Adrian concurs.
And the family photo we took standing on top of a giant elephant flying an emerald-green dirigible was truly magnificent. A keeper.
Despite the “No U-Turn” sign we defiantly returned to the car and went home. A sunny, hot, boring day in Menlo Park cured by our foggy, cold, and impossibly interesting day at the Golden Gate Bridge.
17 comments
This made me laugh. That’s the kind of luck I’d have visiting a place like that. Nice view. I think.
Reply
Adrian is adorable…keep the dadventures (familyventures?) coming!
Reply
[...] the original post: Erin and Adrian Go to the Golden Gate Bridge — Backpacking Dad September 28th, 2009 at 6:29 [...]
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by BackCountryEdge and George Longturn. George Longturn said: Erin and Adrian Go to the Golden Gate Bridge — Backpacking Dad: by Backpacking Dad. It was a sunny afternoon in.. http://tinyurl.com/yd7c29k [...]
It looks like you had a great time despite the cold. I live in California and will be adding Menlo Park to my family outing list.
Reply
LOL! OMG. That’s too funny. But I didn’t see much of the elephant in the last picture because of the Pteranodon that flew past. Oh well. Keep those awesome pictures coming! =)
Reply
Curiously the crisis sign doesn’t include a phone number. I mean, you’re talking about suicidal people here. I’m not sure many of them will read the demand to call for help and subsequently track down a phone book!
Reply
The sign about jumping? Seems like it would encourage the act…if one can be certain of the outcome, certain one won’t simply be mangled and left crippled for life…well…why not?? I think it should tell prospective leapers that they’ll wind up with broken limbs, shattered bodies, minds intact to enjoy the rest of their years a twisted wreck pitied by all who see them and without the means to finish the job.
I could be slightly morbid and wrong in the head, though.
We don’t have views nearly as magnificent here in redneck Central…I am currently staring at the ruin of a spider’s web, hung between two tree tops and rent by the wind and rain of yesterday’s storms. Whee. Trade ya…
Shade and Sweetwater,
K (who forgot a blanket for the Evil Genius so many times, she lost count)
Reply
Really!… no phone number to call the crisis line!!
That aside, I am sorry that it was so so foggy that day! I am from Sacramento and have seen the bridge under beautiful clouds and on days like this one! It really is an awesome bridge… used to go that way to SF and to SC instead of using the Bay Bridge!
Great pics of a beautiful family – thanks for sharing
Reply
oh I would be terrified to walk across that, I have a hard enough time walking on a walking bridge across the St.John River.
Reply
Apparently we weren’t smart enough to go to San Francisco for some fog-watching. We decided to stay home in the insufferable heat in the South Bay. Did I mention that my son hates the heat? Fun times.. fun times. Btw, you have the most adorable kids. They certainly take after your wife.
Reply
The pictures are wonderful even with the fog. Love the signs.
Your daughter is beautiful.
Reply
LOVE those pictures! I have some simlar ones from our outing to the GG Bridge one hot June day.
It’s true, what Mark Twain said, “the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco”.
Reply
The Golden Gate bridge is freezing, I rode my bike over it a couple of years ago when I was visiting America and saw them painting it, apparently they paint it every week?
Reply
Dude, that’s crazy! I was there that day. I drove over the golden gate as a part of my first stay-at-home-dad vacation and one-man-convention. The crazy thing was, I played golf over in Mill Valley with my brother-in-law, and the weather was 90 degrees and sunny. San Francisco is a vortex.
Reply
ur kid is pretty darn cute!
Reply
Looks like you had a great time!
Reply
Leave a Comment