TRAVEL | BRIDGES
We Have a Thing for Bridges
My childhood bridge made an impact on my entire family
I have a thing for bridges. Anytime I see one, I stop and marvel at how difficult the process is to build a bridge from here to there. And, of course, I take a photo.
Scrolling through my photos after searching “bridge”, the results show 1,024. I must have a thing for bridges.
To me, having a bridge in a photo that I take just makes the photo better. It almost makes me want to take a drive to my favorite bridge nearby to get a good shot, the one that I grew up passing over many times.
My childhood bridge. The bridge that connected my emotions from sad to happy.
I only could find two pictures of the Vincent Thomas Bridge that connects Long Beach to San Pedro here in Southern California and yet it is the bridge I have traveled on hundreds of times.
Interestingly enough, I have been at this vantage point many times during my life, but this photo is the only other digital photo that I have. I went for a giant duck. Makes me laugh now.
When I was younger and after my parents divorced, my dad would pick me up every other weekend at my mom’s to come stay with him, per the custody agreement. Every other weekend, I would travel across the Vincent Thomas Bridge and gaze up at the massive green steel structure.
I always wondered, how did they manage to build this? How long did it take them? Back in the 80s and 90s, we couldn’t Google the information but thankfully we can get that information within seconds now.
It turns out that the Vincent Thomas Bridge is 1,500 feet long and took 20 years to plan and build. It was completed in 1963 and is the only suspension bridge in the Los Angeles area.
Every other weekend the bridge told me that I was almost home. I was almost at a safe place where there wouldn’t be any screaming or abuse. It would be a weekend of comfort and love. But, going back home on that bridge was a completely different scenario.
I would feel the doom and gloom as we drove southbound on the Vincent Thomas Bridge. I only liked this bridge when I was going north.
It’s almost like when you are headed on a great vacation, you have the best time, and then you have to head home. It’s always depressing.
But, the joy on my face every time I saw that bridge going northbound instilled my love for bridges throughout my life, especially when I could photograph them.
Even though there was despair on the way back to my mom's, there was hope the other way around. As long as I still had hope, I would survive and be okay.
I would dream of the next weekend when I would see my friend, Vincent T.
Later, in my 20s, my fiance and I would cross the bridge often, to the good side. We would later get married on that side of the bridge.
The Vincent Thomas Bridge reminds me of the Golden Gate Bridge, just a little smaller. When I first saw this iconic bridge in San Francisco, I felt like I had won the bridge lottery. Every time I am in San Francisco, I make it a point to see the bridge from a new angle.
When I first saw the Golden Gate Bridge, I was in college. I went to San Jose State University, which is about an hour south of San Francisco. I wanted to go to college in San Francisco but I didn’t get in, so San Jose was my next best option to be close to the city.
I fell in love with the city during my first visit, especially when I saw the grand red structure that linked San Francisco to Sausalito. If you stand anywhere near Fisherman’s Wharf, you can take in the best view of the Golden Gate.
While the Vincent Thomas Bridge is merely a quarter of a mile, the Golden Gate is over a mile long. It is a sight to be seen. I was shocked to discover that it only took 4 years to build. That also freaked me out after reading that my favorite bridge took 20 years.
When I thought my daughters were old enough for their first vacation on an airplane, we decided to make it somewhere close. It’s an hour or so flight to San Francisco from Orange County and this would be our first time there together.
The flight and the train from the airport happened to be the highlight of their first trip until they saw this grand bridge. They talked about the airplane and the train for the first few days with giddy excitement. The amount of wonder and the love for travel that we instilled in them from that day on is priceless.
It was raining in San Francisco but we set out on foot with our umbrellas and rainboots anyway. I wouldn’t let a little drizzle stop us from taking in the sights.
They couldn’t believe how big it was, even in the fog. Mind you, they had even been on the Vincent Thomas Bridge several times in their lives at 4 and 6. They were still shocked at the massive red beauty.
My views about bridges changed for the better that day. When I saw the hope in their eyes as they marveled at how people could actually build something so amazing, I knew that they would have a thing for bridges, too.
At that point, my daughters and I are now bridge lovers and my husband is the reluctant, leary member. He’s not a fan of heights and neither are his parents. When it would be time for a family gathering at my parent's house across the bridge, they would take the long way around just to escape driving on the bridge.
I guess I can see why but I am not going to live in fear. The structure has been around for many years, is properly maintained and tested, and nothing has ever happened to it. I am not saying that it couldn’t but I’ll take my chances.
We take our chances when we get into a vehicle, a train, a boat, or an airplane. For me, I am thankful that these bridges exist to cut down on time and this one escapes a lot of the traffic in the South Bay of Los Angeles. Plus, they are a treat to look at.
Now that my daughters are older, we have seen many bridges together as a family since that first trip to San Francisco.
All of us want to stop when we see a bridge. For us, they symbolize hope and strength. I need those feelings in my life. My daughters feel the same way.
I think my husband is catching on, a little. He would still rather not take a bridge but once we went to San Francisco again for his 40th birthday and he saw what I had planned to conquer his fears, he was more than happy.
We rented bikes on a surprisingly warm November day leaving from that same area where we saw the Golden Gate with our daughters and rode the bridge over to the cutest little town of Sausalito.
Adorned with matching funny shirts supporting my husband's milestone birthday, we laughed, we felt joy, we marveled at being on the bridge without a car, we stopped and stared some more, and we talked about how fun the bike ride was over lunch.
When we think back about his 40th birthday, we will always remember the bridge. Just like when we went to England a few summers ago, bridges are some of the most memorable parts of the trip.
We even have a local bridge that we frequent to take us to this amazing gem of a park in the concrete jungle of Orange County. It bridges nature with housing and just what we need especially during the Covid times. Those times when we only and thankfully had each other.
My family and I have experienced many bridges on our travels but it is the time together that makes the bridge so memorable. It’s about the journey and the destination on the bridge, it’s about the incredible photos that we share, and the memories that bridges provide.
Now, we all have a thing for bridges.
I have a new thing for a specific bridge = the covered bridge. I will be on the hunt next time I am in Oregon.
How do you feel about bridges?
This is in response to the February challenge at Globetrotters that was put together by our fabulous editor Anne Bonfert: February Monthly Challenge — Bridges
These two stories about bridges are worth a read.