A few weeks ago, San Francisco former Mayor and currently San Francisco Chronicle columnist Willie Brown wrote in his column that when he checked which government organizations were closed as a result of the partial shutdown, he could not find one. The reason was probably that he does not have a dog and even if he had one, he did not take him for a walk to Fort Funston. When we arrived there on January 1st, we came upon a very long line of cars parked along the freeway. At first I was surprised, thinking that the parking lot was full. What turned out, the park was closed. Fortunately for us, someone pulled out and I was able to squeeze in my car. We have been going there for many years, even when we didn’t have dogs. It is one of the parks where dogs can be off the leash, and Max loves it, and the park is a beautiful spot overlooking the ocean in San Francisco.
You can walk on the paved road or down at the beach (if you do not mind the steep stairs). It is also a favorite spot for hand gliders, and a great place to not only photograph dogs, though I have one image from there in my book, “42 Encounters with Dog Lovers”. Close to the parking lot there is a path to the observation deck, and I noticed a sign describing the park’s history there. Online I found out that in 1901, scarcely any living American was unfamiliar with who Frederick Funston was. In 1906, he did much to keep law and order in San Francisco and to provide relief to sufferers of the great earthquake. Mr. Funston, who was born in 1865 in New Carlisle, OH and died in 1917 in San Antonio, TX, was a Major General in the United States Army. He was nicknamed Fighting Fred Funston, and fought in the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War. He received the Medal of Honor and was buried in the San Francisco National Cemetery.
Now you know, but why should you care? This can be said about anyone or anything. Why should we care about issues which led to closing the park and the money the U.S. Government spent in the past on building the Fort to protect our country during the two World Wars? Dogs do not care. Why should they? Somehow they know that we, the human being, just pick up their poop. And as soon as other humans will resolve their political issues, the park will be open again and will be cleaned.
P.S. These four images I wanted to share with you are my take of the park. The only dog I included is a photo of Max, since this image is a reminder of the cover of my book
“42 Encounters with Dog Lovers”, which you can buy on Amazon.com and Encounterspublishing.com.
Please do not forget to enjoy and share it with a friend.
