Traveling is coffee for the soul.
There are many astonishing and wonderful things in the world, and I like to travel and see them. I am a middle-ageish man and I live in Northeastern Europe. My wife often travels with me, voluntarily. All pictures are taken by me, unless otherwise indicated.
John A. Roebling bridge connects Cincinnati, Ohio and Covington, Kentucky, here pictured from Kentucky side.
A few years ago I attended a conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. Afterwards I had a few days off, and spent an afternoon visiting the neighboring city of Covington, Kentucky, across the river from Cincinnati, easily accessed by crossing a bridge. While I didn't see any particularly memorable sights in Covington, my visit was... unforgettable.
Right after crossing the bridge I met my first Kentuckian. He was apparently homeless and dressed in a full, jolly red and very, very dirty Santa Claus costume, including the hat. The beard seemed to be natural, not part of the costume. It was September, and the temperature was 29C (84F).
Then, I noticed a small clothes shop advertising affordable T-Shirts, and as I needed some I bought a couple. The saleswoman, a lady much younger than myself, addressed me as "Sweetheart". My American friends tell me this is polite and not exceptional, but it surely is not something I've learned to expect in Finland.
At this time I concluded that I needed a beer. Thankfully, I just came across a pub. The bartender not only asked to see my ID (I was in my early 40s at the time), but also offered me a job in the pub. Being a foreign visitor with no work permit in the States, I declined. This was a couple of months before the 2016 US presidential election, and after learning that I came from Finland he burst into a monologue - I would describe it as a fiery sermon - about (mostly) Donald Trump and how he would sell America to Vladimir Putin, if elected. I tipped him generously.
I drank, of course, a local beer: Kertucky Old Fashioned Barrel Ale, recommended!.
San Francisco is known as the focal point of the hippie movement, and I'm told one should wear flowers in the hair there. We didn't, and few residents seem to do so either. The hippies seem to have disappeared. They are not to be found even the symbolic center of the "Summer of Love" in 1967, Haight-Ashbury district, which was not our favourite place in the city. Fortunately, the City by the Bay is full of other interesting places. I've already blogged about some of them.
Golden Gate bridge
The 1300 meter (4200 ft) bridge, completed in 1937, spanning the Golden Gate Strait is probably the best known symbol of San Francisco. It is visible from many places around town - unless there is fog, which may be the second best known symbol of San Francisco. We recommend crossing the bridge by foot, the views of town, Alcatraz and other places are great. Biking the bridge seems to be popular too, but we didn't try that. There are numerous bicycle rental shops in the city, and they also provide maps and route suggestions.
The name Golden Gate refers not only to the bridge but also to the strait the bridge spans. When the bridge was built, the U.S. Navy demanded it should be painted in yellow and black instead of red, for better visibility.
There are telephones on the bridge, with direct access to crisis counseling. There is no doubt this is a good thing, but it is a shivering thought nevertheless.
Mission
Mission is one of the most interesting districts of San Francisco. The name refers to a mission the Spanish founded in 1776, Mission San Francisco de Asís, after which the whole city was named. Today many residents of the district are of Latin American descent. Spanish seems to be at least as widely spoken as English.
Mission is known for its murals.
Thia mural pays tribute to Salvadoran bishop Óscar Romero, who spoke out against poverty and injustice and was murdered while offering mass in 1980.
Mission San Francisco de Asís is also known as Mission Dolores. Its church is the oldest building standing in the city.
Mission is an excellent neighborhood for a meal. Like many others, we recommend the El Farolito on the corner of Mission and 24th, right next to a metro station. We ate there twice, the food was excellent and service speedy and friendly ("what kind of meat for you, bro?") even though the place was unbelievably crowded (which seems to be a permanent state of affairs).
Ferries
The fastest and most practical connection between San Francisco and Oakland, on the Eastern shore of San Francisco bay, is the BART suburban train. However, in good weather we recommend taking the ferry instead. Also Sausalito and Tiburon, to the North of the Golden Gate, are accessible by ferry from San Francisco.
The historical Ferry Building still serves as the ferry terminal ofFrancisco.
We recommend buying lunch and/or ice cream from one of the Ferry Building's many takeout joints and eating on one of the nearby piers (pay attention to seagulls, though).
Bisons were hiding from the heat in shade and I didn't get any proper photos of them.
Street climbing
San Francisco is famous from steep hillside streets.
Yes, steep.
Twin Peaks is not only a TV series, it is also a viewpoint in San Francisco.
Dark Side
San Francisco is no paradise. Every big city, and many small ones, have their problems. On the streets of San Francisco live an alarming number of homeless people, many of them clearly with severe substance abuse problems. The homeless are more numerous, or at least more visible, than in New York, London or Berlin, for example. One of the first San Franciscans we met was smoking pot in a park at 8 AM, having a lively conversation with someone visible only to him.
The slums of the underprivileged and the city's most prestigious properties are sometimes right next to each other. An example of this is the beautiful park in front of the City Hall, with pathways clean enough to serve a meal on. The grim, depressing district of Tenderloin literally begins one block away from the park. There the overfilled, unemptied trashcans spill their contents on the streets, the homeless are sleeping under bus top benches and a repulsive smell of urine hovers over everything. I have not witnessed such a steep contrast in wealth anywhere in the so-called Western World. The closest comparison that I can think of is Tbilisi.
Oakland, across the Bay and a 10-minute train ride away from San Francisco, is statistically the violent crime capital of California and one of the most dangerous cities in United States. However, there's statistically no reason to get hysterical. We stayed in the infamous West Oakland for a week, and not once did we feel threatened in any way.
East of the Grand Canyon's Northern Rim the landscape changes rapidly. A Nordic like pine forest soon transforms to a hot desert, where strange sandstone formations rise over otherwise flat landscape. Less than two hours' drive from the Canyon is Navajo Bridge, the first bridge over the Colorado River east of Hoover Dam. The first bridge was built in 1929: before that, the river could only be crossed by a ferry, known as Lee's Ferry. Today there are not one but two bridges, the original one and the new bridge, built in 1995. Cars cross over the new bridge, the old one is used by pedestrians. Here the Colorado River is the border of Navajo Nation.
The New Navajo Bridge, picture taken from the old one.
A short distance northeast from the bridge, by route 89, lies Horseshoe Bend. This is one of the many natural phenomena in Arizona that are hard to believe in, even after seeing it with one's on eyes. The Colorado River makes a 270-degree turn around a sandstone rock. It's definitely worth stopping, if driving past. There's a parking lot by the route 89, and about half a mile walk to the bend itself from there. It's not a great distance, but feels much longer at least in the heat of June, climbing over a steep hill in soft red sand. By the way, most of Navajo lands seems to consist of that fine sand, and after your visit you will find it absolutely everywhere, including but not limited to your shoes, clothes and luggage weeks after returning home.
A fish-eye lens view of the Horseshoe bend. With conventional lenses I could not get a full view. I suffer from vertigo and there was absolutely no chance to get closer to the edge of the cliff..
A lizard runs away from the photographer in red sand.
Some twenty more minutes drive from Horseshoe Bend is yet another astonishing place, whose existence seems to go against reason and laws of nature, namely Antelope Canyon. Actually there are two of them, Upper and Lower Antelope Canyons. We visited the upper one. The lower one looks quite similar, if the pictures I've seen are to be believed. Both are administered by Navajo Nation parks. They can only be visited on a guided tour, and prices are a bit steep: the two of us paid almost 100 dollars.
Entrance to the Upper Antelope Canyon.
It was well worth the price, though, as the Canyon is very impressive. Not surprisingly, it is also very popular, and I have to say that it was a bit too crowded. With fewer visitors - a lot fewer - it would have been far more enjoyable. Of course, it's rather hypocritical for me to complain about it, as I was a part of the crowd. I strongly recommend timing your visit outside of holiday season, to a weekday and early morning, if at all possible.
The crowded Canyon.
Anyway, the light and shadow was an incredible sight.
Sandstone formations seemed surreal.
They say the light in the canyon is very different in the morning than in the evening - makes sense. Our visit was in early afternoon.
Our guide Shanderee Laughter demonstrating how the sandstone formations and Antelope Canyon came to be.
There's a far less pleasant landscape within sight of the Antelope Canyon, an enormous coal plant, the Navajo Generating Station. The plant and Kayenta coal mine are economically vital to Navajo Nation, providing money and jobs to a region suffering from high unemployment. On the other hand, the plant is the third largest source of carbon dioxide emissions in all of United States. The mines have caused, and continue to cause, serious environmental damage. Many think that the wealth and problems generated by the coal business are not distributed in a just and equal way.
The gigantic chimneys of Navajo Generating Station.
Below, a document about the Navajo coal business.
We visited Horseshoe Bend & Antelope Canyon on June 14th 2015
