I forgot how nice it is. Sure, driving to the terminal in the morning is no picnic (and it seems that, as the economy "recovers", the roads are getting more crowded again, and the convenient bus that used to take us to Jack London Square has been cancelled), but once you're there... there's a lovely sunrise, people are generally cheerful, and there's all manner of colorful container ships from all over the world to gawk at. (I don't know why, but I always find them interesting.) Somebody points out that one of the tugboats in the harbor is from Maryland, and other one is from Washington D.C. "They're basically floating engines, I hear." As we head out of the Oakland Estuary towards Yerba Buena, Michael points out the nice view of the Golden Gate Bridge to the right of the city.
Coming home is interesting too. Now that it's getting into February, the daylight sticks around longer, and for once, it's not raining, so everything is bathed in a nice orangey glow. All seems normal until we get to Alameda. I hear somebody say, "They're doing a U-turn!" but I don't think much about it until I look out the window and see an enormous container ship which appears to be totally blocking the channel. Luckily, it's wide, but not quite that wide, and our ferry simply slows down and carefully makes its way around it. On the other side, I notice that a tiny-by-comparison tugboat is assisting the process. Its name: The Millenium Falcon.
The ferry itself is worth mentioning. Two of the normal vessels are out of service and being repaired, so they've got a loaner boat in use right now. It's called the Klondike, and as you might guess, it's from Alaska, where it normally serves as a summer tour boat. It's much nicer than our normal boats — nice big windows, lots of tables and comfortable seating, and, best of all, glowing tribal masks decorating the snack bar and a line of can-can girls painted on the hull.
Beat that, BART.
