Hardly Strictly Bluegrass and the Presidio.
Pulled as she was about joining me, Kaye stayed at home and worked, on this very hot day, in the mid-90’s, while I went into the city to Golden Gate Park, to see the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival.
It really was a hot day, in the mid-high 90’s, although manageable and sort of nice, and with the traffic it took quite a while to get into and across the city, so I didn’t get to the park until maybe 12:20, instead of 11 am as I initially expected, so parking was harder… and getting progressively further away. I parked about ¾ mile away, down by Geary, from where the walk to the park wasn’t too bad (except for later returning to the car, and having to walk up, and not down, those San Francisco hills).
Living up to its name, the festival really was hardly strictly bluegrass. In the couple of hours I spent there, I really didn’t hear any bluegrass at all, across multiple stages. But the music was good, and the crowds enjoyed it and the ambiance.
The festival is free and a yearly event. There is an expectation of 750,000 people there over the three day festival. It was definitely well organized, including crowd and pedestrian control, and had the sound, look, and “feel” of music festivals dating back to the 60’s. Getting in and around was easy, including getting between the different sound stages, with different acts playing. When I got there, the crowd was a good size, but not so thick. But I did get there a little on the early side, and by the time I left, the crowd in each of the different stages and across the whole festival was pretty dense. People were having a good time, though, and although the weather was hit people seemed unfazed. A lot of popsicles were getting sold.
It was a good day for a music festival, although cooler would have been better still, and the day had a great feel to it. I left around 3:45, although would have liked to have heard Emmy Lou Harris, but she was wasn’t on until 5:45 and I didn’t want to stick around that long.
I spent most of my time at one of the stages, but also later walked around to the different stages to see what was playing at each of them, and also just to drink it in. It was really lovely to be there, and I was glad I was lucky enough to be here this weekend. As I walked back to my car, there was a constant stream of people going the other way, walking to the festival from parking spots further and further away.
I headed then to the Presidio, which is a really beautiful and well-maintained, and expensive, part of the city. Kaye lived in the Presidio when she first moved to San Francisco, in 2009. I’ve been struck in the past by by some of the beauty of San Francisco, both in its natural landscapes and its cityscapes, and was reminded of that again today. The other day, when I went to the fish and chip shop on Polk, I was struck by how run down the city looked, at least in that part of the city, but today, I saw some of the grace of the city, in its geography, architecture, and landscapes.
The Presidio is just lovely. I went into the pretty new Presidio Tunnel Tops park, opened in 2022, which is a beautiful area of the park overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco Bay. I actually went there just to take a look at the Walt Disney Family Museum (how could I resist?), and it turns out it’s in this lovely national park. Of course, the beautiful weather helped. and it turns out it’s in this lovely national park. Of course, the beautiful weather helped.
The museum, which is the museum run by the family and not affiliated with the Walt Disney company (or something like that), is very nice, and gets more interesting in its design as you get further into it. It’s tastefully done, interesting, and well designed and laid out. It’s essentially the story of Walt and family as he moved the company from its beginning, shaping and re-shaping the animated films world, to feature length animated films, to live action nature and fiction, to eventually real life, in the form of Disney Land. Actually, just what you’d expect. Nice museum, good visit.
After the museum, I walked and stuck around Tunnel Tops, which is a really lovely park, with the Presidio National Park, which houses a National Cemetery, easily seen in its extremely orderly way, while driving through the park.
The relatively small Tunnel Tops park is really nicely done, with great views, play areas, and some good walks also, and very family friendly. Lots of food trucks in the parking area, with the ice cream trucks most welcome in today’s weather.
I sat for a while in one of the comfortable adirondack seats facing the views along one of the walking paths, looking out at the Bay and the golden Gate Bridge, spanning where the Pacific meets the Bay, and took a nap in the lovely warm sun. Nice. Then, back to Kaye. I thought about returning to the festival to see Emmy Lou, but by now she’d already started and I guessed the parking would be even more difficult.
