Baseball - En Route and Arrival - Part 2

Isn't that a great picture of Rebecca? I love her blue eyes. She's wearing my treasured autographed Giants hat.

The strange looking things are windmills. Miles of them about halfway between here and the city. It's a perfect spot for a windfarm; on the Altamont pass between Tracy and Livermore. Took us about five tries. It's hard to take a picture from a moving bus and it's not the most scenic trip down Hwy 99. It gets more interesting on the last leg.

I wanted to get a picture going across the Bay Bridge from Oakland to San Francisco. Beautiful clear day. The Golden Gate bridge (the orange one) was visible and the water was full of sailboats. Rebecca made it across just fine. She actually had a little more trouble coming back on the lower deck. The idea of all those cars above us bothered her. (It bothers me a little too). She asked about earthquakes just as we reached the place on the bridge that collapsed in October 1989. I told her we'd talk about earthquakes later. She wanted to know if a large enough quake could hurt the bridge and I said it would take a very large quake. I didn't mention that Loma Prieta was a very large quake. I imagine most of you have seen the photos that were taken back then. No, the whole bridge didn't fall - just one small section. I can still feel the rough place in the pavement where they fixed it. Spooky to those of us who were around then.

Anyway, I was too busy pointing out different things to the girls, including the tall building nicknamed "tweezer towers" where I used to work, Coit Tower, Alcatraz, and the "pointy" building.

The large building is Pier 48 across a small lift bridge from the ball park. Not as fancy as our famous Pier 39 but much more authentic. I had to convince the girls the bridge wouldn't lift while we were walking across it. The even numbered Piers (up to 80) are south or Market Street; the odd numbered piers (including Pier 39 with its seals) are north. The girls haven't seen that one yet.

Fans can stand on the bridge and watch the game for free. With a radio, they can hear it as well and the crowd can be heard without the radio.

The park is downtown and on the water. Home runs, called splash hits, go into McCovey Cove and all manner of craft are in the water waiting to scoop them up. They even have water dogs trained for it and it's not unusual to see people in scuba gear. I wish I could have taken some pictures but it's a long walk from where we were sitting to the other side of the ball park and then up to the top seats.