Sutro Heights

Went to Sutro Heights and various nearby attractions today with my husband and baby. The idea of extreme local-ness does not fit there; the whole area definitely feels like "elsewhere," not like "here." Situated on the northwestern edge of the city, and perched high above Ocean Beach and the Cliff House, Sutro Heights imparts an enchanted feeling and, at the same time, a desolate one. Adolph Sutro certainly made a statement out there, with his huge bathhouse, his mansion, his railway--but now it's all ruins, all beautifully reclaimed by the rocks and the wind, the seabirds and the ocean waves. The best part of that whole area for me, however, is not Sutro Heights (as starkly beautiful as that locale is, it just doesn't have much in the way of places to walk) but the trail called Land's End, where, on a weekday morning when it's relatively free of tourists, one can really get away from city life, and just commune with the elements.