san francisco - wednesday a.m.

Let's try again for the Golden Gate Bridge. 

That's what we said after breakfast Wednesday morning. After all, we're in San Francisco. We've rented bikes. You can't rent bikes in San Francisco and not ride across the Golden Gate Bridge.

And so we made our way back down to the Bay Trail, which even at this rather early hour, was busy with cyclists and pedestrians. 

It's not easy to ride to the Golden Gate Bridge on a warm and sunny July morning.

There are the slow-moving crowds -- tour groups on bikes, couples on bikes, families on bikes...

 

There are the Trail Blockers -- people who stop smack-dab in the middle of the trail because they want to take photos or because they need to discuss their plans or just because they can.

 

And then there's Obama. Yes, I mean President Barack Obama, who just happened to be in San Francisco at the same time we were, and who just happened to be heading to a luncheon fundraiser at a private home at the same time we were heading for the Golden Gate Bridge.

We had to stop, but this was something worth stopping for -- the full motorcade, with motorcycles and fire trucks and sirens and multiple limos, followed by VTOL aircraft taking off in front of the bridge. Sadly, I am not a videographer, and while I thought I was filming the whole thing, apparently I was holding up my camera and watching the procession on the LED screen. I did get one lone photo:

After this excitement was over, the Park Rangers opened the trail and we rode onward and upward. Once again, I was ridiculously pleased to be the first to reach the top of the hill. 

This time we followed the right people and found the entrance to the bridge without any difficulty. But, if we'd thought the trail down by the shore was busy, we had to find another word to describe the multi-use path on the bridge. Very busy just doesn't cut it.

When we came here last time, about 12 years ago, it was October. We were not alone on the bridge by any means. There were some other tourists. But it was nothing compared to now. The path was so packed with people, we both agreed that we didn't even want to walk across, let alone try to ride a bike. 

Proving that you can indeed rent bikes in San Francisco and not ride across the Golden Gate bridge, we turned around and headed back down.

Being big fans of Alfred Hitchcock movies, we had to visit this spot from "Vertigo" -- the place where Kim Novak jumps into the water, to be rescued by a bedazzled Jimmy Stewart.

 And one more shot of the bike path and Hubby forging a trail through the crowd.