I’m glad I saw SF back in the 80s....I mean it’s was still weird back then but nothing close to the current freak show
The federally managed GGNRA area is still as gorgeous as ever.
I was stationed at Mare Island for Nuclear Training starting in 1976. Every day off I was down in San Francisco and the surrounding area exploring. My roommate had worked at Lockheed Sunnyvale before going in the Navy. His girlfriend knew many people and I can remember going to China town and eating as guests of the restaurant owners Even decades later those times brings a smile to my face.
I visited SF a few times after those years on long weekends but it wasn't until an RV trip in 2016 to SF that I realized that SF truly sucked. I do not have any plans to ever return. Another somewhat related memory was my roommate dumped his girlfriend after we moved to Idaho Falls for nuclear prototype training. I thought at the time and have never forgotten I should have started a fling with her as she would probably have been very willing to be at the dock as the submarine pulled in after patrol! It would have made my navy time so much more exciting. Ditto Admiral Stansfield Turner's daughter who was also available during my SF time as her boyfriend flunked out of NPS and she would come by our apartment to chill after work. Just a few dates with her and meeting her father also could have changed EVERYTHING about my Navy career.
If only I knew then what I know now...