The End

The blogging has ended since my move to Dallas, Texas.
Not that the culture shock of moving here doesn't provide some material, but there is nothing like San Francisco. So I will hold on the the memories of living in my favorite city in the U.S. and the hope that I will return for frequent visits and, fingers crossed, live in CA once again.

Presido

The Presidio in San Francisco has been an army base for over 200 years for the Spanish, Mexican and U.S. armies. The reaches of this vast Presido include a forest, beach, airfield, old barracks and buildings and a national cemetery. It is now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation area. Brody and I took long hike here are some things we saw:

National cemetery

Tree spire made from fallen trees

End of the airfield/Crissy Field looking out to Alcatraz
A "magazine" that held ammunition
GG Bridge
Old HQ building
Inspiration Point

Brody

Pimp My BART

One never quite knows what you will come across in this town, especially in and around public transit stations. Coming up on the long escalator of the (surly) Civic Center BART station, I came face to face with a real life pimp - you know one that harkens back to the 70's. He was looking sharp from the hat perched just right to the plaid jacket, shiny shoes and cane - the whole package. It was a site. (I did not however see one of his ladies. I have however seen them on the corners in the Tenderloin ((close to this certain BART station)) and that was a first and hopefully a last - NOT pretty.)

The Mom

I wanna give a shout out to my mom - she came to visit me a couple weeks ago. We spent a day in the city, going to Coit tower and then a few HOURS in China town. The only time I do those two activities are when visitors come. But I did pick up a couple cute purses (no, not knock-offs). Then we took two days to cruise south on the 1 spending the night in Pacific Grove (cute town inbetween Monterrey and Carmel). We went to the beach and the oldest continuously working light house, cruised 17 mile drives (saw deer on the beah), stopped at the Peach Beach golf shop, spent time in Monterrey and walked the Carmel beach.
Mom has the pictures - she is still learning how to download and email. But see past post for pictures of 17 mile drive.

Coasting with Lana

In March, I met Lana in Santa Barbara. We went to a wedding reception on the beach (chili as it was), and spent a couple days seeing the sites. It was unfortunately overcast and a little chili but still fun. SB is a great town! Big beaches, one of the largest missions in California and cute boutiques. It seems only the well off get to live there. After a couple days in SB we drove up the coast stopping in a couple cute towns, did a tastings at couple vineyards in Paso Robles, stopped for a tour of Hearst Castle and made our way along the windy Highway 1 to stay the night in Big Sur. The next day we did a quick hike in Big Sur, zippy tour of Carmel and Monterrey stopping for a seafood lunch and on to SF. A great trip and definately a good one for anyone who has never bene to CA before and has a couple days to spend sight seeing along the coast!
(Lana has the pictures..hint to Lana to send them to me)

Redwood National Forest

Brandon and I took a weekend to visit the Redwood National Forest. It is about a 5 hr drive north. The drive itself was beautiful; all the mountains were green since the rainy season was just ending. The are quite a few redwood forests in Northern California but we wanted to see the official one. Redwoods are the tallest trees in the world - 30 plus stories tall - and the largest living organisms on earth. They are known as "the giants". It was so neat walking among them - wind whispering through the branches, fog hanging close to offer moisture - and ferns that are 5 feet tall.

Just outside of the park is a tiny town named Orick that was seemingly populated by a goat, a sheep and lots of "wood artistry". Cue music from Deliverance. Oh and lots of elk - the biggest elk I've ever seen.

Laid off Life

I am really not doing a good job at keeping this thing loaded with new posts. However, there is lots to add. First and foremost, I was laid off at the end of Feb. No job and still too busy to blog? Well, yes in fact! But now life has settle a bit so here come the postings.

First, a glance of what laid off life in Nor Cal looks like (in ski season anyway). April 1, a friend and I hit the slopes for a mid-week ski season. It was great- fresh snow and only a few people to share the mountain with. We went to Alpine Meadows - apparently it is the home of the Jamaican Ski Team. I didn't see anyone from the ski team.