I only live about 45 minutes to an hour from San Francisco but it really isn't somewhere I visit. However, on facebook a friend of mine who was visiting the bay area from out of town posted pictures of a set of ruins that neither Sazy or I knew existed. Well of course we had to go!!!
Since the honey was off hunting we had all the time in the world to visit. We hopped in the car and drove up...errr... down...no I think it is up to San Francisco. We stopped at a nice Pho place and had a yummy lunch and then headed off to the ruins of the Sutro Baths.
(little wikipedia here)
In March 14, 1896 the Sutro Baths were opened to the public as the world's largest indoor swimming pool establishment. The Baths were built on the sleepy western side of San Francisco by wealthy entrepreneur and former mayor of San Francisco (1894–1896), Adolph Sutro. The vast glass, iron, wood, and reinforced concrete structure was mostly hidden, and filled a small beach inlet below the Cliff House, also owned by Adolph Sutro at the time. Both the Cliff House and the former Baths site are now a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and operated by the United States National Park Service.
A visitor to the Baths not only had a choice of 7 different swimming pools—one fresh water and six salt water baths ranging in temperatures—but could also visit a museum displaying Sutro's large and varied personal collection of artifacts from his travels, a concert hall, seating for 8,000, and, at one time, an ice skating rink. During high tides, water would flow directly into the pools from the nearby ocean, recycling the 2 million US gallons (7,600 m³) of water in about an hour. During low tides, a powerful turbine water pump, built inside a cave at sea level, could be switched on from a control room and could fill the tanks at a rate of 6,000 US gallons a minute (380 L/s), recycling all the water in five hours.
Well now it is a ruins. Since Sazy and I have a fascination with all things old.... we had to go.
In order to get there though we had to walk down an incredibly steep hill. But the view... my God what a beautiful view!
(Trust me on this people... You MUST click the pictures to get the full effect. YOU MUST. Trust me!!! This will be really important in later pictures.)
The first thing I had to do when I finally got down to the ruins was crawl through this little hole and explore.
The only way into this part of the ruins was the little windows cut out of the stone.
After getting out of the ruins, which was a lot harder then getting in by the way, we headed towards a cave we saw in the side of the mountain.
Stepping into that cave was like stepping into air conditioning. It was sweet bliss after being outside in the heat. As we walked further the tone of the cave changed and you could hear booming and crashing. Turns out there was a place directly in the middle where the water rushed in and out.
The other end of the cave ended in a jumble of rocks and crashing surf.
After walking back through the cave we decided it was time to walk across the top of the ruins to the beach.
Except....I had a problem. A huge monster problem.
I totally thought I would be able to walk across since the pathways were about 2 1/2 to 3 feet wide. But I couldn't.
See I am deathly afraid of heights. DEATHLY! I can't even stand on a chair without being scared out of my mind. I am not sure what the hell made me think I would be able to walk across those ruin tops. It might have been the baby stroller. (yup I will wait while you scroll back up and see what the hell I am talking about.)
But the drop off on both sides was anywhere from 4 feet to 9 feet. I literally took three steps and completely stopped dead. My legs started to shake. My body froze up. I was 100% terrified. I looked at Sazy walking along and felt like a complete ass. I couldn't do it.
Sazy was great about it. Didn't tease me at all. Instead we just started walking AROUND the ruins through a marsh. At one point we came across a blue heron that both of us stared at for quite a while wondering if it was real. Only because the damn thing never moved. It seemed like even it's feathers didn't move in the breeze. Finally it moved its head.
When we finally reached the beach it was a relief. I had to go put my dirty black marsh covered feet in the water.
The view of the ruins was beautiful.
We stopped for a while to admire the ocean.
(here is where it gets REALLY important to click on the pictures lol)
We had a tiny giggle over this mans suit. (obviously you need to click)
As we were sitting there we saw this woman who was sunbathing topless. She had the most perfect ass in this little tiny suit. (seriously click this)
A woman and her husband walked by and her husband stared pretty damn hard at the perfect ass as they walked by. She whacked him good on the arm as they walked farther down the beach.
It was at this time that the woman got up to talk on the phone....only it wasn't a woman.
Sazy and I had a pretty good laugh at our mistake.
Then the woman who had smacked her husband got a gander at the fact that the "woman" was actually a man and had a good laugh at herself. The husband looked horrified LMAO!!!
Doesn't this man have the perfect behind? (Seriously click)
Sazy and I had a long ass hike back up to the truck. I think we both were about dead when we reached it.
I still am pissed off at myself that I could not walk on those ruins. It made me feel stupid that my body.. or is it my mind... had more control over myself then I did. It is embarrassing.
Look for part two tomorrow. I need to finish unpacking.
What an amazing place! And seriously amazing pictures!
ReplyDeleteI actually own a print of that first picture of the sutra baths and have it hanging in my living room. Been to the ruins several times! I took my mother there the first time she came to visit. We went up on the observation platform and my mother was looking out at the water for such a long time. It started to drizzle and I told her we had to leave and she said, "But! There's another wave coming!". Later I found out that, at 54, was the first time she had ever seen the ocean.
ReplyDeleteThe second time she came was for christmas. We had brunch at The Cliff House restaurant and I took her back to the look out and told her stay as long as she wanted!
You know with the first picture of the "woman with the perfect ass" my first thought was, "Perfect ass!?! She has an awesome back!... And are we sure that's not a man?"
Great pictures of one of my favorite sites in the city!!
Make that SutrO Baths.
ReplyDeleteSigned,
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