On Saturday, I went looking for something really, really local to document, because the family was tired of sitting in traffic, after our earlier sojourn into the city. For those of you non-Northern Californians, there is only one city, and it is San Francisco.
An aside about traffic: WTF, 880 corridor? If I wanted Los Angeles levels of traffic, I would move to Los Angeles.
Anywho, we decided on the Middle Harbor Shoreline Park, in Oakland, California, because it was close to the shipyard that I had intended to photograph, and the weather was nice.
People give Oakland a hard time, but it has a lot of loveliness, even around its massive, industrial shipyard.
The park offers some beautiful views of the city’s skyline:
Also, wildlife!
I will be honest, I hadn’t anticipated wildlife. I was using a camera that doesn’t exactly specialize in action shots. Canada geese don’t move very fast, but it appears they move a little too fast for the Fuji. Next time, the Nikon will come with.
The park also boasts a nifty viewing center, to give you a better vantage on the ships entering and exiting the Port of Oakland.
As you can see, the geese also favor the observatory.
I bet this building is pretty at night, when the lights are on. Alas, it’s getting light later, and the child turns into a pumpkin way before the sun does at this time of year, so we couldn’t stick around for the show.
The view from the viewing center isn’t too shabby:
All in all, this little local attraction was much more engaging than I had expected. Shame on me, because again, Oakland’s a hidden gem, and I should know better. One of these days, I’ll go take pictures of some of Oakland’s fantastic deco architecture. Stay tuned, sports fans.
And that’s a wrap!
–R.