Know where you are going and "when" to get back!

I went over to San Francisco after work to pick up "Ocean Beach" Jeff and go for a Wednesday evening run. He was going to show me part of the course for the upcoming, first-ever Ocean Beach 50k.
It looks like it's going to be a great course. Out-and-back along Ocean Beach, up some stairs and over to the coastal trail to the Golden Gate Bridge, over to the Marin Headlands, loop around and go back to the beginning. Really great. During the run, I suggested that maybe there would be a 100k option (you know, because why not?!) Well, that will have to be reconsidered because of a little incident.
Did you know that the pedestrian part of the Golden Gate Bridge closes at 9pm? NO? Neither did we! We got over the bridge and Jeff asked if I would like to see the first mile of the Headlands portion. Of course I said yes! We ran underneath the bridge up to the trail. Went a little over a mile up the hill to the hurricane-force winds that blow the fog over the top of the hills. WOW! On our way up, we encounter an animal of some sort and a big spider that tried to own the trail.
It was beautiful and very dark! We flew back down the hill (as fast as one can go with a flashlight in the dark) and back under the bridge. Just as we reached the stairs to go back up the other side, a loud buzzing sound went off. We both jumped and I looked up and yelled, "The gate is closing! The gate is closing!"
We got to the entrance and sure enough, the gate had automatically closed. There was no way to get through. CRAP! There was a sign that said to push the big red button. I did and a voice came over the loudspeaker. "The bridge closes at 9pm, it will open at 5am tomorrow." Jeff and I looked at each other. "We are not spending the night up here." We looked up to where the voice came from and said we need to get back across!
The voice came back and said to pick up the phone if we had more questions. I picked up the phone. The voice told me that the bridge was closed. I pleaded, "Please, we need to get back across, my car is on the other side!" He asked why I didn't see the sign that said it closed at 9pm. Playing dumb (and I didn't see the sign the first time) "I'm from Oakland, I didn't know!"
He told me that he would send someone over to pick us up and drop us off on the other side.
Oh, thank God!
A cop pulled up and we got into the back seat. Only if I had my camera. I couldn't help but laugh at ourselves for getting a ride in the back of a cop car, across the Golden Gate Bridge. The cop was really nice about the whole deal. Actually, he did a lot of talking. A lot of talking. I think he was pretty bored out there and was happy for the chance to talk to someone.
We finally got back to Jeff's house completing our 3 hour adventure. What a run!
Of course the fun didn't stop there for me. I missed a traffic break by about 1 minute on I-80 getting onto the Bay Bridge. There was road construction and they had everyone get off the freeway at Fourth Street, take city streets to Essex/First St. to get back on.
Finally by midnight, I had dinner and was in bed.

I can't wait for the next run! :)