Jill's Journal: Just on the “other” side of the Golden Gate Bridge lies a wilderness of sorts. It’s protected land, part of the Golden Gate National Recreational Area, and the crown jewel has to be the Marin Headlands. The beautiful hills overlook the Pacific Ocean, the Golden Gate Bridge, and San Francisco itself. It’s the perfect spot for miles and miles of hiking and picnics. (And wind, lots and lots of strong wind. In fact, the wind can get so strong through all the ridges and valleys it can reach hurricane force during winter storms – yikes!)
Here’s a view of Rodeo Beach. The sand on the beach fades into a lovely lagoon on the other side (hidden here by a hill).
There’s a ton of historic military fortifications throughout the Headlands. This one, Battery Mendell, was built in 1905 and once housed the biggest guns in America. Two cannons could hit vessels eight miles out at sea.
The picturesque former chapel at Fort Barry is now the Marin Headlands Visitor Center.
The girls and I had one main goal of the day after school and that was to visit the Marine Mammal Center, located in the Headlands. Here’s Victoria getting cozy with a sea otter statue and wishing she could make friends with a real one. Alas, the 65 patients today were mostly elephant seals, with several harbor seals and a handful of sea lions.
About 20 hospital pools just like this are at the center, which is the largest marine mammal hospital by volume in the world. They rescue between 600-800 animals a year from the California coastline. It’s mostly different varieties of seals which have been injured in some way (trapped in fishing nets or trash left by careless humans, attacked by sharks, etc.) or malnourished pups separated from their mothers. The hospital operates if necessary, nurses them back to health, and releases them back to the wild. It’s been featured by Mike Rowe on “Dirty Jobs” and is really a neat place. The girls truly enjoyed it. Erika, my science-minded child, even got to watch part of an elephant seal necropsy (the younger two are not ready for such things, so I kept them occupied around the corner). She was completely fascinated, yet another of many indications that a medical career just may be in her future.
3 comments:
The hospital sounds really great! I always thought about going into a Marine Biology type career and Vet was at the top of my list for years. I bet Liz would like that too.
p.s. Liz's fav show is America's Funny Home Videos. I told her you all were in CA right now, and she got all excited, and said, I hope they get to go on the show!!!
Jill, that picture of Victoria is absolutely adorable!!
The beach with the lagoon is a favorite evening place for me. It is the perfect place to watch a sunset, sit by a bonfire, and cook s'mores. Occasionally you will see the large (Huge really) cargo ships cruise by.
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