"I said, I feel alright, like the morning, I am Golden."

"I said, 'I feel alright,' like the morning, I am Golden. And I can't stop the wonders from happening around me. I said, 'I feel alright,' like the morning, I am Golden and I can't stop the wonders from happening around me. Yeah, Yeah. Like my mama said..." These pictures of our first visit to the Golden Gate Bridge remind me of a song by a Chicago band called, Hello Dave. I found an mp3. This quicktime file is a bit twangier than the "roots rock" version I own but the sentiment is there. If you let the song play a minute or two you will get to the culmination I had in my head.

The day we went to the Golden Gate Bridge was anything but golden from a weather perspective. But in our hearts, we were "Golden." I knew there was a place you could park on the Marin side of the bridge. I knew exactly where it was in relation to the bridge but not how to get there from Marin. We didn't want to cross the bridge because there is a $5 toll to go into the city and we weren't planning to go into the city, just wanted to check out the bridge.

So we used our map and drove through the fog in circles on these tiny park roads in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, trying to find this parking spot by the bridge. Once, when we could tell we were going the wrong way, we turned around and all of a sudden out my window, I saw an animal just sitting in the field or pasture we were passing. I pointed it out to Cam who thought it was a cat. According to the map, we were very close to Bobcat trail so I think we saw a bobcat. We were out there quite early, having awoken rested with lots of momentum. I'm looking forward to going back there another early morning just to explore the park. After turning around, we came to an on-ramp and decided just to cross the bridge in the car so we could come back and park.

While at home, the skies had been clear when we left, the fog by the bridge was so thick you could not see the top of it. It was also a bit cold and misty, but that didn't dampen our spirits. We enjoyed walking all the way across the bridge and back. Cam found out later that it was more than a 3 mile round-trip hike.
I like bridges. I enjoyed walking across the Brooklyn Bridge when I visited NYC. I like heights and water and connecting so I guess the fact that I like walking across bridges isn't that odd. (Less odd than the time I climbed a water tower in high school but I digress.) The Golden Gate Bridge is definitely one of my favorite bridges and walking across it holds special meaning for me. My Dad and I walked across it when I was 15 or 16. (He pointed out that that was almost half my life ago.) And when Sam and I were in California five years ago, we walked out to the first peak together. Traversing the bridge with Cam is a memory I will treasure, as well.