July 20, 2014

view from top of Mt. Tamalpais


click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

What you're seeing here is the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge getting caught up in a bit of incoming fog. San Quentin Prison is in lower left corner, and that boat is the Golden Gate Ferry on its way to Larkspur Landing.

So, here's the story:  I grew up (((if I EVER grew up))) on the Monterey Peninsula--famous for its own beauty, but Grandma lived in Kentfield here in Marin County. Our family would make frequent trips up the coast to visit. Unfortunately, my dad wasn't much of an explorer so all we seemed to do was to sit around Grandma's house. In these early years all I ever saw of Mount Tamalpais was a nice view of the mountain framed by Grandma's bathroom window.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Looking out that bathroom window I always wondered if it was possible to get to the very tip top of Mount Tamalpais. I would ask, and Grandpa would say there was a road going all the way up, but I knew I would have to wait several years before I had my own freedom to do such a thing. It became my goal--to get to the tip top of Mount Tamalpais, come hell or high-water.

I moved to Marin in the late '60's, and except for a two year stint in the US Army I have been living here ever since. And yes, the mountain is right in my backyard. I realize I am a very lucky guy.


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Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 2       
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 1       

5 comments:

Zoomie said...

In that photo, we are modestly hidden in the clouds.

John @ Beans and I on the Loose said...

I really liked that image yesterday, and still do today. Did grandpa (on your father's side) have an exploring spirit? It seems traits skip every other generation.

AphotoAday said...

Yes ZOOMIE -- I've often marveled at how once the fog enters the Golden Gate it makes a b-line straight towards the Richmond area.

AphotoAday said...

Hi JOHN (SINBAD'S DAD) -- Well, I guess Grandpa did have more of the spirit of exploration, but that was my mother's side of the family, and while my mother was always open to the idea of taking a different route, dad only wanted to go from point A to point B on familiar routes. But yeah, I remember Grandpa taking our family out to China Camp, and we even toured the Terra Linda area just before the area was extensively developed--when it was still nothing but cow pastures. But for all the looking at it, I never got up on Mt. Tamalpais until my late teen years when I started to do some extensive exploring on my own.

Zoomie said...

The fog is thicker over Berkeley and Oakland, as they are a straight shot through the "gate," but I look toward San Rafael to see if it's lighter over there - if it is, we know it will clear in about an hour. :-)

 
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