Lee Foster (fostertravel.com)

Optimism and Bay Area Innovation

There is an optimistic feeling in the Bay Area of CA that we can solve our major world problems through technological innovation.  That is a dominant feeling as we celebrate Earth Day 2007.  Looking to the immediate past, it is instructive for a traveler to go to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA, and see what innovation has accomplished in the recent past.  Think of all the trees that did NOT need to be cut so that information and insight could be printed on paper and disseminated, as just one simple illustration.  The computer and the Internet can do that much more efficiently, and much of the innovation for these matters occurred in the Bay Area of CA, from Intel to Apple to Google.  Think of all the products that can now be manufactured in relatively miniaturized forms because the computer makes the innards of the machine less mechanical and more digital.  Similarly, the major issues of today and tomorrow, such as energy production and global warming, are now the subject of engaged Bay Area intellectual energy, and in another 50 years there will be a new museum to these accomplishments.  The graduate student, in-the-garage, grassroots innovators, assisted by the venture capitalists, will probably develop a genetically-engineered new plant, possibly at the algal level, that will be immensely more efficient than corn to produce ethanol.  New efficiencies in solar cell technology and manufacturing may create energy-generation systems that would bypass ethanol entirely.  Possibly the air could be scrubbed of its increasing amount of CO2 and global warming reversed.  Green will become the new favorite color, but it will be brainpower, innovation, creativity, and the desire for profit that will be the deciding factors.  Money will be made by the people who can figure out how to solve real problems.  From the current California governor to the man on the street, there is a can-do optimism in the Bay Area of CA that good things will happen, and we will ease ourselves through these rough times, in the new energy/global warming era, just as we did in the transformation that the Bay Area nurtured in the information technology era.      

Washington DC In The Spring

I have taken another look at Washington DC in April and find the city as resilient as ever.  Of course, the cherry blossoms are always a treat in the first days of April.  The major monuments remain as poignant as ever to visit.  I remember watching a family wheel around their grandpa at the World War II Memorial, with a new generation perhaps learning what grandpa's world was like.  I recall seeing a group of kids with a real Native American docent telling them about the first Americans at the American Indian Museum.  I also stumbled across some new things, such as the excellent fish and shellfish market on Maine Avenue, where the local Chesapeake Bay blue crabs can be purchased already cooked.  During the trip I updated my four Washington DC articles (on perennial Washington, on the newer monuments, on the Cherry Blossom time, and on the new branch of Air and Space near Dulles).  I also put up a gallery of new Washington photos.  I look forward to getting back.  Washington is one city that a curious visitor can never exhaust.

Immigration Station To Be Restored on Angel Island, San Francisco Bay

January 2008 is now the target date for opening the first units of the restored Immigration Station on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay.

Often called the "Ellis Island of the West," the Immigration Station on Angel Island was a major place for processing incoming potential residents, primarily from China and Japan, 1910-1940.

The first building to be restored is the Barracks, where hopeful newcomers waited to be processed.

The situation was actually not as welcoming as the reception on Ellis Island in New York.

In fact, Angel island was officially known as the "Guardian of the Western Gate," protecting America from immigrants from Asia.  Fueled by the prejudice of various "exclusion" acts of the 19th century, there was much discrimination against Asians.  Compounding the problems, the Quake and Fire of 1906 destroyed most of the birth records of Chinese in Northern California.   Suddenly, every Asian who was now in California could claim to be a full citizen, and numerous "paper sons" from China sought immigrant status as family relatives and descendants.

Poetry written on the walls of the Barracks has been preserved.  The poetry poignantly describes the long waits before "interrogations" to determine if the "paper son" was to be allowed in.

For more information on Angel Island, click on the Angel Island Company, which is the concessionaire. The Angel Island Immigration Foundation guides the restoration effort.   A ferry can take you from Tiburon out to Angel Island to peruse the efforts.

Segways Introduced on San Francisco's Angel Island

Visitors to the picturesque Angel Island State Park on San Francisco Bay now have a new way to get around--on Segways.

The ingenious gyroscopic personal transport vehicles can now take visitors around the perimeter road, which is a hefty hike on foot.

The Segway tours are all guided, with nine riders to a guide.

Because Angel Island has a level, paved road, it is ideal for Segways.

Other options include walking, bicycling, or taking a narrated tram ride around the perimeter road.  All three earlier modes have their fans.

The Segways are silent and pollute minimally, making them fitting components for the park.

If you are new to Segways, they can be a little unnerving.  Primarily, there is a disbelief that the vehicle can somehow keep you upright.  However, it can.

For more info, contact Angel Island State Park.

You get out to the island via a ferry from Tiburon.  Ferries begin going out in the early morning and the last one returns at 4:30  in the afternoon.  No visitors stay on the island overnight except for a few backpacking campers, who must make reservations in advance.  Campers wake up to the glorious view of dawn over San Francisco and the Golden Gate.

When returning from Angel Island to Tiburon in late afternoon, consider pausing for a drink, dinner, and sunset on the outdoor decks of restaurants near the ferry launch.  Guaymas for Mexican and Servino's for Italian are good choices.  If you want to overnight within walking distance of the ferry, consider The Lodge at Tiburon.   

I plan to update my San Francisco and Marin coverages in the future with more Angel Island content.  Ironically, both jurisdictions claim part of the island, based on how the county lines were drawn long ago.