Angel Island

I’ve been so lucky with the weather during my trip to San Francisco! Indian summer is in full swing here, and there’s only been one really rainy, gray day. Unfortunately, this means that all the clothes I packed aren’t exactly what I need, but I will never complain about the weather being too nice! 

This past weekend another beautiful day was forecast. So I decided to get out of the city for a while, which it turns out, was exactly what I needed after my week in the loud, smelly, dirty city!

 

I set my alarm and headed out to walk down to Pier 41. I cut through Chinatown, which was just starting to get going for the day. Lots of produce vendors were unloading their trucks and filling up their stores with fresh veggies. 

 

 

Down at the Pier, it was early enough that there were barely any tourists around. I had a little bit of time to kill after I bought my ferry ticket, so I walked over to see the sea lions. I love those guys!

 

   

 

 

And then it was time to catch my ferry to Angel Island! The ferry just left the city a couple times in the morning, and then returned from the island a couple times in the afternoon. So I really really wanted to make sure I got one of the ferries coming back! There were lots of families getting on the ferry with campaign equipment, so I figured at the very worst, I could try to become friends with these people and share a tent overnight. =D

 

 

The ferry ride was absolutely beautiful!

 

Goodbye, San Francisco!

   

Goodbye, Bay Bridge!

Hello Alcatraz!

Hello Angel Island!

 

I wasn’t sure what to expect on the island, but I learned some things before I even got off the ferry! Angel Island was used extensively as a detention center for immigrants, particularly during the period with Chinese immigrations were outlawed in the US. It was also used as a deployment center for troops during the World Wars, so it has a lot of history. For Chinese immigrants it’s not necessarily a happy history, so there was a tour group on the boat that was doing a “sojourn” to trace their ancestors journey to America. They had music and a ceremony on the boat, and then I saw them around the island visiting the different areas that were meaningful to them. 

 

Once I got the island, I set off on the perimeter loop. It’s a 6 mile path around the island, and there were beautiful views the entire way!

 

 

 

 

There were also quite a few historic buildings from the island’s previous lives. 

 

A church from the days of soldiers on the island

An old housing building from the immigration detention days

 

And I saw some island deer, which I wasn’t expecting. I think I was more startled by them than they were by me. 

 

 

It was just a beautiful day, and it was wonderful to get out of the city! Oh, and just to make it clear, I caught my ferry and was not stranded on the island for the night!