Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)'s photos

On a tree next to where I stopped to take the adjacent picture, a poster noting that I was in the “Peachtree Ranch private lands wildlife management area.” The area in the adjacent picture is apparently a private wildlife management area managed in cooperation with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. I could find no mention of this specific area, but here’s a short statement taken from the state’s PLM (Private Lands Wildlife Habitat Enhancement and Management Area) document: “The PLM Program's intent is to protect and improve wildlife habitat by encouraging landholders to manage their property for the benefit of fish and wildlife. The program offers landholders incentives to utilize wildlife for recreational purposes on their property…...In return for the opportunity to generate income from quality recreation, the landholder must prepare a biologically sound wildlife management plan and complete specific wildlife habitat improvements on the PLM property.”

At Bayfront Park, a Westin egret (I’m kidding (about Westin)). The N/S runways for SFO are behind me, the E/W are off the right side of the picture.

Almost a traffic jam – there’s actually three Alaska airlines planes in this picture. Between the two you can see there is a third pointed straight in and thus barely visible.

I originally wasn’t going to use this because I was too far away to get a clear picture, but then I realized that it included two cargo planes of the Russian company, Volga-Dnepr Airlines. The company, based in Russia, specializes in moving very heavy and bulky cargoes using the pictured Russian-built Antonov An-124 Ruslans. U.S. government agencies are among the organizations that contract to Volga-Dneper for use of the An-124. Sources: An-124: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-124_Ruslan Volga-Dnepr Airlines: airline.volga-dnepr.com/en

Fairly quiet with quite a few empty gates – only one Southwest and two Delta flights at the gates at 9AM on a Friday morning. Taken from Bayfront Park.

ANA (All Nippon Airways) flight touching down at SFO; taken from Bayfront Park.

ANA (All Nippon Airways) flight coming into SFO; taken from Bayfront Park.

Always an interesting stop for me, and since I had to get a ‘to go’ breakfast from McDonald’s, a necessary stop to have a place to eat. Bayfront Park is on landfill that’s primarily occupied by hotels that serve SFO (San Francisco International Airport). The park has some interesting trails through swampy areas, and provides an excellent view of SFO (and birds).

Not a great picture, I had to take it from the car while (luckily) stopped in traffic. A poster on Harrison St., a major route for getting on the expressway headed out of downtown. “I saved his a**.” An actual Trump statement about protecting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from being charged with the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Source: www.businessinsider.com/trump-woodward-i-saved-his-ass-mbs-khashoggi-rage-2020-9?op=1

Another shot from The Embarcadero at Broadway, looking north towards Fisherman's Wharf area. At this point traffic usually starts backing up due to getting nearer the major tourist attractions up there, but not today. As with the adjacent picture the Google Street View (linked below) of April, 2016, shows much heavier pedestrian and vehicle traffic: goo.gl/maps/bncqHdT4FWzkVQH36

At this point I’m on The Embarcadero at Broadway in an area of the older piers that have been converted to small shops, offices, restaurants, and bars. It’s not unusual for the auto traffic to be light on this side of The Embarcadero, but what’s missing is the sidewalks full of pedestrians. The Google Street View linked below, taken April of 2016, shows quite well what this section of street typically looks like: goo.gl/maps/dbozq5VhCBC5bXxe8

On the southwestern edge of downtown San Francisco at mid-day in mid-October. I had heard tales of downtown SF being dead due to the pandemic, but at this point I wasn’t quite seeing it. Traffic seemed fairly light, almost about what you used to would have seen on a Saturday, but not exceptionally light. On this edge of downtown, though, one is in a mixed use area that isn’t dominated by office buildings. When I got further in, near the Salesforce tower (the tower in this picture), the sidewalks were much emptier than one would usually see – unfortunately, there was no easy place to stop to even get a picture through the windshield (like this one). But see the next couple of pictures from along the Embarcadero

Not a great picture, I had to take it from the car while (luckily) stopped in traffic. A poster on Harrison St., a major route for getting on the expressway headed out of downtown. “I saved his a**.” An actual Trump statement about protecting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from being charged with the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Source: www.businessinsider.com/trump-woodward-i-saved-his-ass-mbs-khashoggi-rage-2020-9?op=1

Another shot from The Embarcadero at Broadway, looking north towards Fisherman's Wharf area. At this point traffic usually starts backing up due to getting nearer the major tourist attractions up there, but not today. As with the adjacent picture the Google Street View (linked below) of April, 2016, shows much heavier pedestrian and vehicle traffic: goo.gl/maps/bncqHdT4FWzkVQH36

At this point I’m on The Embarcadero at Broadway in an area of the older piers that have been converted to small shops, offices, restaurants, and bars. It’s not unusual for the auto traffic to be light on this side of The Embarcadero, but what’s missing is the sidewalks full of pedestrians. The Google Street View linked below, taken April of 2016, shows quite well what this section of street typically looks like: goo.gl/maps/dbozq5VhCBC5bXxe8

On the southwestern edge of downtown San Francisco at mid-day in mid-October. I had heard tales of downtown SF being dead due to the pandemic, but at this point I wasn’t quite seeing it. Traffic seemed fairly light, almost about what you used to would have seen on a Saturday, but not exceptionally light. On this edge of downtown, though, one is in a mixed use area that isn’t dominated by office buildings. When I got further in, near the Salesforce tower (the tower in this picture), the sidewalks were much emptier than one would usually see – unfortunately, there was no easy place to stop to even get a picture through the windshield (like this one). But see the next couple of pictures from along the Embarcadero

A series of four photos documenting the redevelopment/urbanization of one intersection (Market/Sanchez/15th) in the Castro; each photo contains a link to a Google Street View of the area prior to the new construction. This building is also on a piece of land that was once a gas station – and a more successful (longer lasting) station than the one across the street (the previous picture). Linked below are three Google Street View pictures from January, 2011. The first link, labeled Market and 15th, is closest to being similar to this view. The second and third try to capture the changes of the entire intersection with a broader view looking down Market towards downtown and then up towards the Castro. Market & 15th : goo.gl/maps/SYcuJEZHAKyNA6Ug7 Towards downtown: goo.gl/maps/v5GPKZ3oSQjgQaY29 Towards Castro: goo.gl/maps/FKsLGchb7Y255rHCA

A series of four photos documenting the redevelopment/urbanization of one intersection (Market/Sanchez/15th) in the Castro; each photo contains a link to a Google Street View of the area prior to the new construction. This building is on a piece of land that was ‘iffy’ for most of the time I lived in SF. For a number of years there was a gas station here, but that gas station closed and was demolished, leaving the lot empty and a spot often used for selling Christmas trees. While this might be considered to be a positive improvement over the previous use, its overall mass ends up dominating the remaining historic structures nearby. The link below, again Google Street View from July, 2009, may be from when the lot was being prepared for the construction of the new building that is this picture. I vaguely recall stories that building on this lot was difficult because of problems associated with the gas station that had been here. goo.gl/maps/2Z1ahVBSdLTty2iL6