The Docks is Bay City's connection to the world.

At least that was true 150 years ago. Now, of course, there's Bay City Airport, Interstate Transport, and Argyle Station. And a highway system that makes travel in and out of Bay City eminently easy and feasible.

Still, The Docks continues to keep Bay City a vital hub of shipping commerce for the U.S. West Coast. Interstate Transport ferries goods in and out, and The Docks allows ships of all sizes to access those goods for delivery to Asia, South America, Oceania, Africa, and beyond.

The Docks consists of a number of wharves and four principal docks. Dock A is the longest and can accommodate the largest cruise ships or cargo vessels. Docks B-D are a third as long but can handle most small to midsize vessels and many larger ships. 

Trucks from Interstate Transport access The Docks by taking Circleview east to Puritan, then north four blocks to Shorefront. Take a right, and The Docks are on the left, running along the shore for twelve blocks.

If goods need to be delivered by rail, Argyle Station abuts Interstate Transport. Cranes regularly offload salt-encrusted shipping containers from Interstate Transport's trucks directly onto rail cars at Argyle Station's rail yard.

The Docks' main draw for shipping is its location in a protected harbor. With the fist of Cassel Dunes to the west extending out into the ocean and the floodlands abutting Harbor Shipyards to the east, even in the worst weather, The Docks remains fully functional and able to load and offload goods 365 days a year.

We first visit The Docks in Book 1 of The Human-Hybrid Project, Shattered by Glass.

Bay City is a regional center for shipping, with in-bound goods arriving at The Docks and traveling by rail across the country. Argyle Station (along with Interstate Transport) provides transportation for those goods.

Argyle Station is the train terminal that services these goods, with tracks coming in from the south and heading back out the same way. The switching station comprises double slipovers for loading and unloading.

Rail traffic to Argyle Station flows north under the First Street viaduct west of Magnolia and continues under the Ninth Street viaduct, also just west of Magnolia. Magnolia ends at Ninth, deadending into Argyle Station and leading directly into the parking garage. Magnolia used to run another four very long city blocks to Circleview, then four more blocks to Shorefront Blvd. When Argyle Station was expanded in the 1970s and again in the 2010s, the tracks and yards consumed Magnolia between Ninth and Circleview. Interstate Transport took the rest of Magnolia between Circleview and Shorefront.

The station and yard now vie for a tie with Corona Tower Mall in size. The mall around Corona Tower amounts to 64 city blocks. Argyle Station surpasses that, but only if you include the rail's right-of-way from Ninth south to First.

Argyle Station's easy access to Bay City via Ninth to Sycamore makes it a popular jumping off spot for travelers to start their visit to historic Bay City. The station also offers lodgings, the Traveler's House for upscale visitors and Budg-O-Friendly for the cash-conscious. Car rentals are through national chains, and popular eateries are The Caboose for steaks, Right Side of the Tracks for casual fare, and Bakon-n-Eggs with a 24-hour breakfast menu.

Train spotting at Argyle Station is a popular pastime for many Bay City residents. Day trips run up and down the coast, and the Bay City commuter line connects to larger cities south and east.

From Corona Tower, to get to Argyle Station, take Sycamore south 6 blocks, go west on Ninth 15 blocks, and a right at Magnolia will deliver you directly into the parking garage.

The trains can be heard from Garik's bedroom in City View Apartments as a low rumble in the middle of the night.

We first discover Argyle Station in Book 1 of The Human-Hybrid Project, Shattered by Glass.

Cassel Bay is cupped by the two pinchers of Cassel Dunes to the southwest and the massive Harbor Shipyards to the east. 

Viewed from the balconies of the Williams Street Apartments or from the terraced yards in Shady Ridge Acres, the Bay is an unending stretch of blue, often dotted with whitecaps in fall, but welcoming as if there is to end to the world when observed from the safety of Bay City.

Cassel Bay has a history of seafaring disasters. Before Bay City was established, a primitive trading port filled the bowl nestled into the Stanwick Hills. It wasn't unusual for ships to run aground along the shifting sandbars around Cassel Dunes. A wooden lighthouse on the sandy shoals went up in the 1840s, but wooden things catch fire, and the Cassel Bay Light truly illuminated the waves during one stormy night. By then, however, the channels in the bay were better marked, and the pressing need for a manned lighthouse on the Dunes had passed.

Today, there is no sign of where Cassel Bay Light once stood, but the ships it protected during its lifetime were the leading edge of the shipping hub Bay City is today.

Follow Shorefront west to reach Cassel Dunes, a beautiful windswept fist that punches into the waters of the Pacific. Camp, picnic, or bring your windsurfing gear. Just be sure to pack out what you bring in, as there is no permanent infrastructure on the sand. Cassel Dunes is a protected sanctuary for people, birds, and turtles and is left as undisturbed as possible for an area also used by the thousands of people who call Bay City home.

While Bay City's waterfront is a working one, and there are no pleasure marinas within Bay City's jurisdiction, sailboats are a common sight in the Bay. With buoys marking the safe channels and plenty of diving spots, visitors from up and down the West Coast put Cassel Bay on their traveling itineraries, both sailing and land-based. Pleasure craft are invited to use Docks B-D to access the charms of Bay City, but this is a working harbor, so call ahead. There are moorings between Dock D and Harbor Shipyards for those with a tender for getting to shore.

Just one thing. Whatever you do, however you like to play, whenever you are on Cassel Bay, leave it like you found it, cleaner if you can. If you do, you will be welcomed to return anytime you can.

We first visit Cassel Bay when Garik Shayk and Marisa Bruni spend part of a day at The Docks in Book 1 of The Human-Hybrid Project, Shattered by Glass.

Williams Street Apartments trends high on places to live in Bay City.

The complex consists of four buildings that run for nine blocks in brick, stone, and wood, fronted in decorative windows and recessed balconies that provide individuality within buildings that ramble for nearly three blocks at a gallop. The majority of the project (Buildings A-C) is between Shorefront Blvd. on the north and Williams Street on the south. Plymouth and Columbus streets bracket the sprawling buildings west and east, and two streets cut through from Williams to Shorefront, Pinta and Welton. At Williams and Shell Street, a fourth building (Building D) faces southwest and covers one block from Shorefront to Pawnee.

Parking is underneath the buildings and disguised by stone walls, wooden fencing, and landscaping.

Affordability is relative, but to be near Bay City's waterfront, Williams Street Apartments is as close to affordable as you get. Location, location, location. Waldorf's Department Store, a premier shopping destination in Bay City, is four blocks south. Interstate Transport and Argyle Station are a handful of blocks southwest. East a quarter mile is Harbor Shipyards. And of course, across Shorefront is The Docks, historical home to the heart of Bay City's lifeblood and soul.

Who wouldn't choose Williams Street Apartments as home? 

No apartments open directly to Shorefront. Follow Williams east to Shell and south one block to Pawnee to access Sycamore Ave., which takes you anywhere you want in Bay City, including Corona Tower, a short ten-block drive along Sycamore. Another ten blocks south on Sycamore, take Ninth east to Central Park and The Martial Arts Center. From Ninth, south on Industrial gives easy access to Bay City Medical and Bay City Industrial Park.

Just west of Williams Street Apartments along Shorefront Blvd. is Cassel Dunes, the fist of land that thrusts into the Pacific to guard the bay against winter storms. Buildings A-C have unobstructed views of the Dunes from the Shorefront side, and Building D has limited views. The best views from Building D are from the upper floors. The lower floors in Building D are the most affordable with their lack of open views.

Visit Williams Street Apartments, Your Residence on the Water for a Month or a Lifetime. Welcome Home.

We first learn of Williams Street Apartments in Book 1 of The Human-Hybrid Project, Shattered by Glass.