Jane was feeling a bit better today so we decided to go out for the all American breakfast, we had passed this place the other day when we went to the zoo but I forgot that it was closed on a Monday so it was time to jump on the L Travala tram for the 30 ride down to John's Ocean Beach Cafe. This place is just like you see on the TV programmer’s from the fifties, it's not a theme restaurant it’s just never had anything done it for years. When you walk in it's like going back in time they have Formica tables, imitation leather seats and the stools at the counter that spin round. The walls are covered on signed posters of jazz musicians from years gone by and they still have an original duke box that plays records, and it still works. Is a fairly big place inside that must hold around fifty or sixty people but on the morning we went there was only half a dozen or so there. The waitress was really friendly and got us both a couple of drinks, I do like my coffee, and then brought is some menus over. The choice was vast is all I can say, I'd never seen so many items on a menu in my life considering they only open from 7:30 to 3:30. In the end, we both decided to have the scrambled eggs which come with two slices of toast and a pile of pan-fried potato chunks that were perfectly cooked. It took some eating but it was helped down with the free coffee top-ups that just kept on coming, all this for around $20 including the tax and a good tip. Best of all they only take good fashioned cash.
Now it was time for a walk before we both fell asleep in there, it was only a short walk of about 5 minutes to the beach so we headed across the sand dunes that pile up on the pavement's around here and crossed the road to Ocean Beach. Jane couldn't get all the way onto the beach because her sticks would sink into the sand so we sat on the wall of the car that overlooks the beach and spent an hour or so just watching the surfers in the water. The waves are absolutely massive they must be around the 15-foot mark all of the time, it was so good just to sit there and do nothing but relax and watch the people enjoying the beach on a lovely warm and sunny day and the surfers.
With that Jane decided she wanted to head back to the city then on to the hotel as she wasn't feeling too good again now so I went back with her for a bit. After making sure she got back OK there was another place down near where we had just been that I wanted to visit but it was a bit of a walk to it, I caught the N Judah tram to the north end of Ocean Beach which is a couple of miles up from where we were in the morning and started walking north along the sand, to Hell with it I thought, time for a paddle so took my shoes off and walked in the water. It was a very warm day by now, up in the mid 20's at least, so I stuffed my coat in the bag and went in the water; it was very cold to start with on my old feet. I never would have thought before we came here that I would be wearing just a T-shirt and having a paddle on Boxing Day (they don't have Boxing Day here like we do), I was even starting to get a slight tan on my arms now. When you reach the top end of the beach you have to come back up onto the roadway because the cliff face comes right out over the beach and the tide was starting to come in so I dried off and went up to the top of the cliffs via the road, what a fantastic view south you get from here, there is literary miles upon miles of beach stretching into the distance, a truly incredible sight.
At the top of the cliff is Cliff House which is now a fancy restaurant but use to be one of the pump houses for Sutro Baths which was located below it in the cove. The Sutro Baths were a large, privately owned swimming pool complex inbuilt in the late 19th century. The building housing the baths burned down in 1966 and it was abandoned; all that is left is the ruin. On March 14, 1896, the Sutro Baths were opened to the public as the world's largest indoor swimming pool establishment. The baths were built on the sleepy western side of San Francisco by wealthy entrepreneur and former mayor of San Francisco (1894–1896), Adolph Sutro. The vast glass, iron, wood, and reinforced concrete structure was mostly hidden and filled a small beach inlet below the Cliff House, also owned by Adolph Sutro at the time. Both the Cliff House and the former baths site are now a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and operated by the United States National Park Service. A visitor to the baths not only had a choice of seven different swimming pools—one freshwater and six saltwater baths ranging in temperatures—but could also visit a museum displaying Sutro's large and varied personal collection of artifacts from his travels, a concert hall, seating for 8,000, and, at one time, an ice skating rink. During high tides, water would flow directly into the pools from the nearby ocean, recycling the two million US gallons of water in about an hour. During low tides, a powerful turbine water pump, built inside a cave at sea level, could be switched on from a control room and could fill the tanks at a rate of 6,000 US gallons a minute, recycling all the water in five hours. At the Sutro Baths, Sutro also maintained an extensive collection of stuffed and mounted animals, historic artifacts, and artwork, much of which he acquired from the Woodward's Gardens estate sale in 1894. The baths were once serviced by a rail line, the Ferries and Cliff House Railroad, which ran along the cliffs of Lands’ End overlooking the Golden Gate. The route ran from the baths to a terminal at California Street and Central Avenue. The baths struggled for years, mostly due to the very high operating and maintenance costs. Shortly after closing, a fire in 1966 destroyed the building while it was in the process of being demolished. All that remains of the site are concrete walls, blocked off stairs and passageways, and a tunnel with a deep crevice in the middle. Looking down from the top of cliff over what is left of baths and out to sea it must have been an idyllic place to be at any time of the year unfortunately when you get down into the ruins and start to explore them you see just how much rubbish gets dropped here, it’s a real shame to see something like this in such a beautiful location, how hard can it be to take your trash up to road and put it in the bin. After having a look in the cave that housed one of the pumps I discovered it now houses a vagrant and is also full of trash.
Time to head up the very steep pathway onto the tail at the top and followed it along north along towards China Beach the plan being that as it was starting to get late in the afternoon I would get some good photographs of the Golden Gate Bridge from the other side with the sun on it. A mile or so along the top path I come across a brilliant view point a few miles away from the bridge with views over the top end of the bay, the bridge, and across to Marin County hills on the other side in glorious late afternoon sunlight. It was rapidly heading towards sunset now so it was time to head back the way I had come to get some sunset photos over the Pacific and try some time lapse
video as the sun finally set on a perfect afternoon out. By now it was dark but a warm evening and there was still lots of people down there on the beach who had started to light fires on the beach, what a perfect way to spend the evening but I had to keep on moving, it was a two three mile walk back to the tram stop but I got there just as one was about to leave so was back in the city by 6 o'clock.
Now it was time for a couple of swift drinks down the pub before heading back to the hotel to see how Jane was doing and sort out something for our dinner. Jane had started to feel better now after having some sleep in the afternoon but didn't fancy going out to eat so it was time to head to Uncle Vito's Pizza in Powell Street after going for another swift drink on the in Johnny Folwies Pub as it was on the way, it would be rude not to. When I finally got to uncle Vito's there was a very big queue but they were all waiting for seats inside as it was packed but they do takeaway pizza's which is just what I wanted, so I ordered one then did a fast walk back to the hotel before it went cold, turns out it was a bit further than I thought it was to get back but it's all downhill so it was still hot by the time I got back. The pizza was lovely and only cost $13.50, by now it was about 9 o'clock but this had been the best and warmest Boxing Day I've ever had with the spectacular views, warm weather and some good food throughout the day to keep me going. You couldn't ask for any more than that today I think.
