I first visited San Francisco 45 years ago, as late August dissolved into September. I was Midwest-raised, and my mental image of the California coast was sand and sun, surfboards and volleyball. So you can imagine my surprise when I discovered the wild northwest corner of San Francisco known as Lands End. It was just a six-mile bus ride from the skyscrapers of downtown, but it felt like a separate world. Dirt paths twisted and narrowed, ocean waves whumped against high cliffs, wind-blasted trees pointed the way east, and... the fog! Not the bucolic fog of the Midwest -- sleep in and you'll miss it -- but a wall, a Force that waited offshore until suddenly blowing in and obliterating the sun. I was in love.
It took 15 years, but finally San Francisco became my home. Since then, Lands End has seen many changes: widened paths, safer stairs, more signage, more parking, a visitors center. Earth's climate has also changed, which seems to have diminished the fog. Wind and time have thinned the herd of Monterey cypress and pines, leaving gaps in the woods, and enough stumps and snags to constitute a natural sculpture garden.
So yes, change aplenty. But for now, at least, Lands End remains a place of drama and enchantment.
