The Other Side of the Bay

I have been to San Francisco many times over the years. It is one of my favorite cities to visit. (Click to see prior posts #1, #2, #3). I have oodles of pix from my many visits. In fact, below, I am sharing a few pic from a recent business trip that I have not previously published.

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Until this past year, I have not been on the other side of the bay at all. This year that has changed. Part of my work responsibilities have brought me to the East Bay area (Oakland, Contra Costa County, Solano County, Marin County) many times. I still have a few more visits in the upcoming weeks.

Finally, on my last visit, I had a few moments before I had to be at the Oakland airport so I started driving toward the bay after exiting from I-880. I had no idea where I was going. I just kept looking to where I thought the water was and kept making turns. I also began to see shipping trucks come and go. I figured that they were coming from the loading docks so I followed them.

Along the route, I saw one of the largest homeless “cities” I have ever seen. There was every possible piece of unused junk being used by the residents to make a “permanent” home. The city even had porta-potties positioned throughout the area.

This is embarrassing to admit, but for some dumb reason, I did not stop and take pics. It was VERY photogenic. I guess I was so focused on getting to the water that my judgment was impaired. I can assure you that if I get the chance again, I will be taking pix.

As I was getting closer and closer to the water’s edge, the number of shipping trucks increases exponentially. I have never seen that many!

It was looking as though I was going to have to stop at the gates of the Port of Oakland. Then all of a sudden, a very oddly placed park on the water’s edge appeared. It was Middle Harbor Shoreline Park. It was a very tired park and not very well maintained.

After being disappointed with the park and the ability to photograph the bay, I noticed some cars driving on the road that hugged the Middle Harbor shoreline. As I had limited time, I hustled back to my rental car and tried to find that road. Fortunately it was not difficult to find. The road led down to a vista point called Port View Park. The park was basically a parking lot with a path that led to a small dock that extends out into the bay. It can be found to the left of the location marker for Middle Harbor Shoreline Park on the map above.

There was a lot of action on the bay. There were sailboats, tugboats, ferry’s, pelicans and tankers. Below are the pix I took from this location.