THE PRESIDIO OF SAN FRANCISCO, WHERE DID IT GO.

Please forgive me for taking such a long time between post , but I really do have other things going on. Like trying to get a volunteer position at The Golden Gate National Parks as my first volunteer spot which will enable me to volunteer in other parks around the country.

The reason I want to start with the The Golden Gate National Parks is that it use to be an army

base. And I spent a lot of time there...

Back in the late 60' after doing a year in Vietnam I was stationed at Walter Reed General Hospital on the Presidio Army Base right in the middle of one of the most beautiful city's in the world, San Francisco, CA..

After working in surgery, as a surgical scrub technician for about 6 months, I transferred to Letterman Army Institute of Research (L.A.I.R.), where I became a Surgical Research Photographer in Dental Research (pretty impressive huh).

Because I had a family (my wife Cheryl and my son Gary Jr.) the army supplied me with housing
at Fort Barry on the North side of the Golden Gate Bridge.


Above are a few views from the Fort Barry Hills and I have to say it was a wonder place
to be stationed.
Yes, this is the house where we lived and is now housing Park employees.
Back in the 70's the developers very much wanted to get their hands on this property, but the people fought to give it to the National Parks and to the people.
Hard to believe, they actually did the RIGHT THING.
I will let you know how I do with the volunteering. So stay tuned.



Bob and Me





PS...To my brother Jim, get off your butte and go play some golf in some warm weather.

BOBS FIRST BURRITO

On that long ride though Texas I told Bob about my favorite burrito place in San Francisco. Its a little hole in the wall place called El Faro, so as soon as we got to The City (that's what the locals call it, tourist call it Frisco)Bob would not let me go to San Jose to see my sister Ethel until we went to 20th and Folsom Street in the Mission District of San Francisco for an El Faro Super Burrito.
When I first started coming here the burritos were 99 cents and they were huge, now they are 6 bucks but the quality is still there, they are still huge and still the best burrito in San Francisco.
How do I know that, because I'm Gary Burnett Sr. That's how I know that.

I wanted to sit down at a table and eat my burrito while I did a little people watching. But Bob, Mr. Big Shot, said he had a better idea.

OK,OK... even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then.
It was a foggy day but it was beautiful and somehow made that burrito taste even better.

They tell me it is going to rain here in Sunny California for about two weeks. So I am going to stay with my sister and her family for a while and as soon as the rain lets up we'll head in to San Francisco.

Gary Burnett Sr. and BOB









P.S. My Son and his Lovely wife have sent me a very nice note that they miss me, and I really miss them to, and I forgive me daughter-in-law for giving my room to Kim.

I KNEW THERE WAS A REASON I DIDN'T LIKE TEXAS

And now I remember. When I was in the army and stationed at Fort Sam Houston, TX for my medical training. This is what I remember...

Nothing for miles and miles and miles. So let me give you a little tip... If you ever get the chance
to drive from Austin,TX to California on Route 10...DON'T!!!!!!

If they could cut out the Texas part of the drive, it wouldn't be bad, but Texas never ends and this is all you see.

Looks like cotton doesn't it?

Maybe we'd better get a closer look.

Yup, that's cotton.

And of course more and more road.

I have been telling Bob about the best burrito in San Francisco. So that's where we are headed and to visit family in Northern California.

Oh- By the way, for those of you who have been putting comments on my blog. I promise to read and respond when I can. So please feel free to comment.

Love you all,
Bob and Me

A PLAN WOULD BE NICE

Bob and I arriving at my daughters house in Austin, Texas
(I wasn't going to use this photo but Bob thought it showed his good side).

I have talked about doing this road trip for a very long time and you would think I would have made better plans. You know, things like, where to stay, how long to stay,who to stay with and other stuff like that.
Thank God I have great family, who lets me drop in and stay with them as long as I need to. As I get further and further away from my home base in Cleveland, Ohio the more I realize that I should have spent more time on the internet researching the things I plan to do while I am traveling. Instead of sitting on my butte, watching reruns of Walker, Texas Ranger I should have been on the net doing a little research. Hey, that's what life's all about. To live and to learn.
So now I have to work on the fly,and make some arrangements that will put me in one of the National Parks by January. After all, Ethel (you remember her, my mean sister) can't put me up forever.

What I'm trying to say here folks, is "don't be like me", do a little homework. If you do, your family won't have to pay for your mistakes.

That being said, lets move on to a few more photos around Austin and then on to California.

I'm sorry about that, I wanted to get a picture of the State Capital of Texas, but as you can see, someone wants to be in every shot.

That's better.

This is the Frost Building. I don't know why it's well known, but it is.

Austin, Texas skyline form the famous Congress Bridge. Why is it famous you ask? Because at dusk, millions of bats take wing to feed, they say if it were not for the bats, Austin would be over run with insects. People come from all over the world to see this amazing site.

If you want to watch the traffic or maybe catch a nice sunset, one of the best places in Austin to do that is over looking the 360 Bridge where it crosses the Colorado River.

It's been a wonderful time in Austin with my daughter my grandson and Clayton but it's time to move on. We're heading down the road. Bob and I will being traveling along Route 10 from Texas to California.

We'll keep in touch

Bob and Me

MORE ABOUT AUSTIN

I HAVE TO GET THIS POST FINISHED OR I'LL GET ANOTHER CALL FROM MY DAUGHTER-IN-LAW STACY AND HER FRIEND KIM.

I have left Austin but I still have a few things to share with you about my stay there. So please forgive me for not keeping up with the blog in real time. Of course if I did keep up in real time,
blogging would be about all I'd have time for.

Two of the greatest things I liked about Austin... The first, is my daughters great cooking. While I was staying with her, she made one of the best Pound Cakes I ever eaten. And a Peach Cobbler that made you want to slap somebody. I'm not sure where she learned to cook, but I think she picked a lot of it up from Julia Child.

Ok folks, my daughter likes to have a little wine when she cooks and she has been saving the corks over a long period of time or my daughter is a wine-o.Where ever she picked it up from, she still a fantastic cook.

The second, is the legendary Texas BBQ. Now I've had pork ribs, beef ribs and baby back ribs,
but I had never had real Texas BBQ Beef Brisket.

My first experience with Brisket was at Rudy's. They tell me that Rudy's pits are fired with 100
per cent oak wood which burn much slower than the mesquite used by others. All I know for sure, is that it taste great.

My almost son-in law (Clayton) said he would take me to the small town of Lockhart the BBQ Capitol of Texas, where some of the oldest BBQ joints in the country are located.

When you step into Lockhart you truly step back in time about a hundred years. With beautiful tree lined streets, lots of antique shops and world famous barbecue restaurants (Blacks and Smitty's to name a couple).

Right in the center of town is the Caldwell County Courthouse, completed in 1894 and quite a site to see. Ok, I did not have the time to go around and get the history on all the building in Lockhart but if you really want to know, then get off of this blog and google Lockhart, Texas.

Here is a quick look around town...

This has to be one of the first in the country.

I tried some of the other BBQ places, and even though they had a lot more history,

I think Rudy's is still my favorite.

We use to call my youngest grandson "Baby Joey",
Now we just call him "Joey".

As you can see my family are all such posers, That's why I love them.

Well there you go, some photos and some words, I guess that's what a blog is. You can probably tell I'm getting tired so I'll take a break for now and finish this up latter.

Thanks to all for following,
Gary and Bob

AUSTIN, TEXAS - NOW ONE OF MY FAVORITE PLACES

My son Gary Jr. took this shot of Bob and I just before I left Cleveland.
He is not a bad photographer - but he's no Gary Burnett Sr.

I spent a week in Austin, TX with my daughter Stephanie, her long time boyfriend and my grandson Joey. Who by the way, will be in the NFL someday. The three of them went out of
there way to make sure I got the full tour of Austin. Stephanie drove me around the city to
take photos, but since I was only there for a week we could not shoot every thing, but I did get a few good shots.

Even though we were a long distance from the city I still wanted to shoot the State Capitol and part of the Austin skyline. Steph tells me she will take me downtown later for some closer views.

First she wanted to show me the Colorado River, that's right The Colorado River in Texas. If you
ask the locals, they will tell you that theirs was the first. Since I didn't have time to do research I just have to take their word for it. If you find out which came first, please let the rest of us know.

This is one of the homes on the river, my daughter wanted me to tell you it was her house but we
know better, don't we?

From here Stephanie insisted that we go to the Oasis Restaurant, that sits high above Lake Travis to watch the sunset. The Oasis has been featured in national magazines and on television
so I had to see it for myself.

We got there and the place was packed and I was informed that it is a tradition in Austin to go to
the Oasis for a bite to eat and to watch the sun go down. We arrived at the Oasis about an hour before sunset so I found a good spot to set up my tripod and camera. Take a look at some of the shots I took of the view from the giant deck of the Oasis.



While I was snapping these shots the General Manager of the Oasis just happen to be walking by
and actually took the time to stop to talk and give me some of the history behind the sunset watching. So if you do decide to go to Austin, TX and visit the Oasis, make sure you say hello to
Mo Lasater / GM.

While Mo and I talked and waited for the sun to slowly set in the west, and believe me it was worth the wait.


As the sun finally set behind the hills, I was caught off guard when the people on the deck gave the sun a large and spontaneous round of applause. And as if to come back for a curtain call, the the sun really put on a show.




To be honest with you, I think they were applauding GOD, but that's just me.

Well I must turn in for the night, but I will blog you again in a day or two.

Thanks to all,

Gary and Bob

Bob is the white guy.....