Fort McDowell, Angel Island, California, U.S.A.

One of the reason that Angel Island is a state park these days is that it once was the American west coast counterpart to New York's Ellis Island. This is where Asian immigrants would have been held and processed for entry onto the American mainland. Fort McDowell is part of that story, and it is not an entirely happy one. That was discovered only when I watched a Californian State Parks DVD after returning home.

My motivation for going to Angel Island was less about historical exploration and learning than it was about getting out into wilder surroundings. That point was reinforced by the presence of multitude of lizards scurrying everywhere and the streaming of banks of low cloud down some of the slopes. Nature was what drew me here instead of learning about some of the inhuman things that humanity can do.