We decided to take Kirby to the beach and check out some of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. There is so much to see and it is so close to home, but I have never taken time to explore it.

We had some good advice from a friend who works in San Francisco and started at Ocean Beach.

After the 105+ days we’ve had at home, the overcast windy beach was a welcome change.

We chose the beach at Fort Funston for our second stopping point. Dan and Kirby are sitting on an old gun mount.

I was surprised at the old military structures that have fallen from eroded cliffs and are left in place. Usually I expect to see signs–either informational and educational signs (because this is part of the National Recreation Area) or warnings. But there is none of that–just remnants of what used to be there.

The hike up from the beach.

After a couple of hours at the beaches we drove to a parking lot between the Golden Gate entrance and Fort Point. We followed the trail that took us down to the Bay and to Fort Point.

The Fort itself is just under the bridge, but of course there was no bridge there when it was built in the 1850s.

That’s a huge cargo ship sailing to the Pacific.

I am fascinated by the history here and amazed that I’ve lived most of my life nearby (and was born in SF) and knew nothing about any of this.

According to the info on the NPS site a special arch was designed so that the bridge could be built without destroying Fort Point.

We climbed the spiral staircase to access the second and third floors.

Some of the rooms are open with historical displays.

The spiral staircase goes all the way to the top of the fort. It interesting to be right under the Golden Gate Bridge. It was also extremely windy and cold. (I thought about how we looked as grandparents supervising a child wearing shorts and flipflops.)

There was originally a lighthouse in use, but after the bridge was built it was no longer necessary.

View of the bridge on the way home. This was the first time since we’d been in San Francisco that the towers weren’t shrouded in fog.