Golden Gate National Recreation Area

Things are looking up for city residents living around Golden Gate Park, who have been grumbling about the prospect of having to pay to use the Strybing Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. After much pressure from community members, the Recreation and Park Department is moving away from a proposal to charge locals a $5 entrance fee to the arboretum and gardens. The decision, which came Thursday afternoon, will be presented to the Recreation and Park Commission later next month for a final vote, department spokeswoman Lisa Seitz Gruwell said. “It was something we were considering, but we’ve backed away from it,” she said of the ... Read Full Story

The Golden Gate National Recreation Area is huge and spans three counties. These are the thirteen things I love about this area in just Marin County (north of Golden Gate Bridge) and only about 30 minutes from the city. Most of the time, I don’t think of these as part of a national park, but a destination in and of themselves. Bolinas Ridge-a beautiful ridge for hiking or riding that offers views of the shoreline 200 feet below. Fort Baker–beautiful little park for picnics and offers a nice shortcut from the Marina to Fisherman’s Whart Fort Cronkhite-a dog friendly ocean beach, good sand castle ... Read Full Story

— Doug McConnell If you don’t mind being incarcerated for a little while, take a look at our story on the movie history of Alcatraz . Alcatraz gets about a million visitors a year…..and people go there for all kinds of reasons. It’s one of my favorite places in the San Francisco Bay Area. It has an absolutely and literally unique ecosystem, a layered and complex history (the Federal Penitentiary years were only a part of the story) and views to die for (few actually did.) I’m ready to talk about The Rock any time you are. And go to the Golden Gate National ... Read Full Story

I've always had a great fascination for things unexplained, and for very large structures. Bridges, in particular. Maybe it's from my years working in a civil engineering firm, although that particular firm didn't design bridges. I dream about bridges frequently. I lived in a city, Jacksonville, Florida, which had a lot of bridges, several of which I crossed every day to go to and from work. When I first moved there, I was afraid to cross the bridges, but then it became a joy to ride with the windows down over the bridges, especially at night when they are lit up. It made for ... Read Full Story

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