Wednesday Activity

WEDNESDAY ACTIVITY - May 28, 2008.
Today’s activity, for the Quail Creek residents, was a trip to San Francisco. Only five of us signed up for the trip. The excuse some had for not going was “I’ve been there before”. Such a response gives you a clue as to why they require “Assisted Living”. I have been there before, too - beaucoup times - too many to count - and yet I never tire of the beautiful city and it’s watery surrounding. I commuted from Vallejo to San Francisco for 13 and a half years via Greyhound bus. Yet, I never tired of the beauty and excitement of The City. I even looked forward to weekend visits. I would have liked to have lived on the Embarcadero, from where I could have walked to work. When I first started commuting in September 1969, the in- bound trip took about 30 minutes. The return-evening commute took about 45 minutes. When I retired on February 1, 1983, those times had doubled.
Tony drove our 20 passenger mini-bus, and Kelli our Activities Director, also escorted us . The bus is very luxurious - built on a Ford 350 chassis. A half hour uneventful ride to the Ferry building in Vallejo. A short wait, after we got our tickets ($12.50 round-trip for our Senior excursion rate, before we boarded.
The Baylink ferry backed out of it’s berth at - 10:05 - five minutes behind schedule. It is a cloudy-breezy day - about 55 degrees. We are cruising slowly on a Southern heading. The boat is restricted to 5 knots, to reduce the wash against the fragile easterly shoreline - containing many expensive homes. We clear the channel at 10:20, and the Captain pours the coal to the two large marine engines, and we hydroplane along at about 30 knots. This boat is one of the original ferries, and is about 20 years old. The newer ferries cruise along at about 35 knots and cut off about 10 minutes from the one way time.
The eastern portion of Mare Island is quiet. It is hard to believe that as many as 60,000 people worked at the Yard at peak employment during WWII. They built one battleship - the USS California. They built many submarines - many of them nuclear powered. One doesn’t realize how large the Island is (4500 acres) until they cruise along side. The former Sperry flour mill appears off to our left. It has been closed for a few years now. The property has been sold. The plans are to convert it into “pricey” housing.
We clear the channel at 10:20, and head out into the Bay for San Francisco. I can see the two Carrquinez bridges off the port side. Lots of kids om the ride. Either school’s out or “field trips”. Nothing like a lot of cell phones, ringing at the same time, as they text message back and forth.
It is a smooth ride as we cruise along - sitting only a few feet above the water line. I can see Mt. Tamalpaias straightt ahead. It is off to the starboard at 10:45. A short time later, we are passing beneath the Richmond-San Rafael bridge. The Larkspur Ferry is passing to our right - returning from the san Francisco Ferry Building. It is 10:55 and we are abreast of Angel Island. This is a resort spot today. On the Island are the remains of the old Immigration facility that was used to process primarily Chinese men, who were entering the U.S. to work on building the Western railroads.
Now, I can see the long- Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge at eleven o’clock, and the beautiful burnt- orange Golden Gate suspension bridge at two oclock. The famous San Francisco skyline is straight ahead. We tie up at the Ferry building - on time - at 11:05. We are there for about 10 minutes to off-load passengers, and to pick up new passengers headed back to Vallejo. Then, a 10 minute ride up to Pier 41, where we got off.
We walked South to the next pier #39. We awalked the length of the pier to the end, and had a nice lunch at Dumpa-Gumpa’s. Afterwards, we cheched out the beaucoup seals - lying, sparring, sleeping and barking! This attraction drew the most visitors. Some of us needed an ice cream
“fix”, so we stopped at Dreyer’s and got a cone. I never dreamed that I would live long enough to see a single dip cone priced at $3.50! Let alone - pay that much for one. During the Depression, I bought many larger scoops for 5 cents. If I felt wealthy and hungry, I would buy a triple-dipper (three different flavors) for 10 cents! While licking my cone fast, (because it was melting), a strange economic reality popped into my head! A gallon of regular gas is $3.50, and an ice cream cone is $3.50, which to choose? It depends on many factors.
By the time we walked back to Pier 41, it was time to line up to board our 3:10 departure - ferry. I rode back in the same front seating area, to get a good view of the opposite side of the Bay on the return trip.

Near the end of our return ride, I can see the Refinery of the California and Hawaiian Sugar Company, nestled below the Eastern span of the Carquinez bridge, off to our right. I spent seven years at the Refinery before transferring to the C and H Corporate office in San Francisco, where I spent another 14 years.

We arrived back at Quail Creek around 5:15 - tired but fulfilled.