Once More With Feeling: A Visit To Presidio

Click photos to enlarge*

Husband and I drove here from our hotel in Broadway, had an impromptu picnic (we bought Chinese food in Chinatown- haha), brought our portable stove, picnic basket, plates, spoon, water and voila- we were eating at the park while enjoying the spring breeze from this haven! Some people were fishing but they said the day was slow to catch fish; some were jogging or just walking and by late afternoon, we saw people sailing by the ocean. Where we were, we could see the Golden Gate Bridge slightly covered with dark clouds. Here are some photos of our wondrous time at park also known to be the country's former military base.


(sail boat photo by JLP; all others taken by moi)


Presidio History

The often fog-shrouded Presidio of San Francisco has a long and extensive cultural history spanning back thousands of years, to when it was the home to native people known as the Ohlone. The Spanish arrived in 1776 to establish the northernmost outpost of their empire in western North America. The Presidio was under Mexican rule for 24 years before the U.S. Army took control of it in 1846. Over 148 years, the army transformed the Presidio grounds from mostly empty windswept dunes and scrub to a verdant, preeminent military post. During that period, a major Army hospital, a pioneering airfield and an extensive coastal defense system were built here. In 1994, the Presidio became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and in 1998 the Presidio Trust took over management of most of the Presidio's buildings and grounds. History continues to be made at the Presidio as the Trust turns it into the only monetarily self-sustaining national park site in the country.