Vistor's Views

My friend Jeralyn came to visit me for a weekend in Nov. We had GREAT weather for our city tour day. We walked fisherman's warf, took a boat cruise of the bay (and under the bridge), walked the thousand steps (or at least is seemed like it) to Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill, and walked through North Beach for tea tasting in China town. (Pictoral narrative below).
The next day was very foggy and chilly for our drive up the coast on Highway 1 to Point Reyes National Seashore park. During our foggy coastal adventure, we walked down and up stairs the equals a 30 story building that lead to the Point Reyes Lighthouse which sits on the foggiest and windiest point in North America.

View of Embaradero and the Bay Bridge from the stairs to Coit Tower/Telegraph Hill

Container ship in the heading to port (view from Telegraph Hill)

Coit Tower - a monument to fire fighters

Ghiradelli Square near Fisherman's Warf

Chinatown Lanterns

Tea for Two Please

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! I trust you all had a wonderful time with family and/or friends. I stayed in CA this year. My brother Sam has a good friend who is a chef and owns a cooking school in the Gourmet Ghetto in Berkeley. He cooked up an excellent gourmet Thanksgiving dinner for 21 people who came together at my brother's house. YUM.

Dog Day Out

Virtual tour guide, Brody, wants to show you around:

Berkeley Pier
Golden Gate Bridge from Crissy Field BeachPalace of Fine Arts

Oakland Boardwalk/Marshland

First Snow

I've heard great things about Tahoe in the summer - so Brandon took me for a weekend trip to celebrate my birthday hoping to catch the tail end of summer. We arrived and so did fall at the exact same time. It rained all night Friday leaving the mountain tops white - the first snow- and us a little chilly in the 45 degree weather. So movies, football, driving the lake and gambling filled our time there. Sunday was a nice day however and we were able to do a little nature walk and go to the Konkee Salmon Festival to learn about and watch the salmon swimming up river to spawn.

So Tahoe is a for sure next summer!

101 South

Labor Day weekend and no real plans so we head down the 101/Pacific Coast Highway. It is a beautiful drive through hills, valleys and along the coast. Our first photo op is a random gathering of large sculptures of extinct animals. We continue to wind our way toward the coast - happening upon the Bolinas Light House (not working) but neat none the less then onward to Santa Cruz. After purusing the shops and filling up on fish tacos (a must have in Santa Cruz) we headed to the board walk/beach which has been rated America's best entertainment park (think Coney Island/"Big"). Traffic/parking was beyond insane so we headed 10 min. south to the quaint town of Capitola. The town was a buzz as it was not only Labor Day weekend but the start of the Begonia Festival. They make big Begonia floats on the river and have a juding contest After soaking up some sun on the beach and waling around town we called it a day and headed home.

The Love Boat!

San Francisco is a port of call for many cruise lines and being my office is on the Bay and near all the ports/docks it isn't uncommon to see cruise ships. Walking to work today it was hard to miss a gargantuan cruise ship seemly parked at the end the street. This boat is larger than any building around.. and now the horn blows. Too bad I am working and not setting sail.


Picture below taken a while ago from the Bay Bridge of bay and a cruise ship (this is a small one).

Labor Day Fun

Hope all had a great Labor Day weekend! So it is the "close" of the summer in a way for some but just the beginning for us in SF. If you plan to visit SF do so in Sept. and Oct, our summer. Labor Day weekend was a kick off to summer for sure, good weather and good times. After a lovely breakfast with Catherine Q and b-friend visiting from Dallas, we ferried over to Sausalito for the Sausalito Arts Festival - it was fabulous dahlings. Sunday we hit the Pacific Coast Highway and headed south to Santa Cruz, after cruising the downtown shops and loading up on fish tacos we attempted the beach/board walk (Santa Cruz boardwalk is rated tops for amusement parks- old school rides and all) but the traffic & parking was beyond nuts so we drove 10 min south to the cute town of Capitola. Capitola was a buzz as it was the first day of the Begonia Festival. We found a spot on the beach and soaked up the sun, walked around town then headed to Berkeley for the rest of the weekend to hang out with Brody. Definately a mini-vacation.

Summer Party

Know what is grand about living here? The fact that our office summer party was at a winery. Cross the Golden Gate, drive through Marin and you will find yourself in the wine country- perhaps on a sunny patio with a nice lunch, great wine, bocce ball and beautiful gardens. At least that is what part of my day was last Friday.

Winter Beach Day

July and some of August is winter in San Francisco - what does winter (in July of all months) mean? Foggy, breezy and chilly. Sometimes foggy during the AM but even at 6 pm there can be a low hanging fog in downtown and by chilly I mean lows in the 50's and highs in the 60's (particularly in SF proper). But this winter hasn't been that bad- we've had some really good days.

The past two Saturdays have been clear even at the beach and warmish - while Sundays turn overcast and chilly. Taking advantage of the nice weather the last two Saturdays, me, Brody, Anna and Foster have hit Ft. Funston Beach. Ft. because in the old days is was a Fort but there aren't noticable remains of a fort. Anyway, while people are welcome, it is a dog beach. Brody and Foster have so much fun wading through the waves, finding drift wood and playing ball on the beach. And I got a suntan.

So while all my friends in Texas were melting in the 106 degree heat this past Saturday we were enjoying a day at the sunny beach.

San Francisco Twins

Believe it or not, there is a Wikipedia page on the fine ladies below- the San Francisco Twins -Marian and Vivian Brown. The twins are famous locally and have been in movies and commercials throughout the years. I was fortunate to interact with them personally when I went to a Nob Hill restaurant where, I am told, they dine every Tuesday and Thursday at the same table in the front window. They are very talkative and a new friend will quickly learn their life story. And yes, they do dress a like - everyday.

Concert Cameo

Sunday night I went to a GREAT concert- "Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeshi & The Soul Stew Revivial"- and Carlos Santana made a cameo appearance. Very cool! I heard Santana lives in the area. Do yourself a big favor and go see Trucks and Tedeshi (but no promises on who might show up for an on stage jam session).

Any Given (Sunny) Sunday

Any sunny Sunday (and most likely Saturday) if you go to Dolores Park in the Misson neighborhood (home of hipsters, youngsters, musicians and cheaper housing) it will be a major hipster scene. People hanging out on blankets, BBQing, playing frisbee, etc.

A few Sunday's ago we went for a friend's birthday party. We were sitting our blanket in a nice sunny spot and all of a sudden a band started playing right in front of us (see first picture). A random sort- I wish I could remember their name-something like Brass Reformation - they were something like a downsized high school band. Within a few minutes our wide open space filled with a crowd, some dancing. They played for a while and as they played a gang on bicycles comes riding up - low and behold they were a music group too! The Bicycle Music Festival hit the "stage" after the other band. They powered the mics, amps by riding bikes.

Just another day in the park.

Bay to Breakers

The annual Bay to Breakers run is basically halloween in May. Pretty much anything goes- even naked old men (why is it always the gross old guys?). The fun run starts at the bay, winds through the city into Golden Gate park and ending near Ocean Beach. I didn't participate but did head to the park for a little bit to see what there was to see.

Anniversary/ Golden Gate Bridge

Yesterday evening I realized that it was my one-year anniversary of moving to San Francisco. WOW. Doesn't seem like a year already, that is for sure.

So in (blog) celebration of my first anniversary of being a San Francisan, here are some pictures I've taken of the famous Golden Gate Bridge.

(Many more postings to catch up on/to come.)

Tip

Throughout the years I've heard those not from San Francisco call it Frisco and I've always cringed, knowing the people SF hate that. Well, here is the official word of caution from the SFGate's Visitors Guide. Consider yourself enlightened.

It used to be that if you referred to the City (the preferred term for San Francisco) as Frisco, it signalled you as an ignorant rube. In the last few years, though, there's been a small and quiet revolution underfoot to liberate it as a term of endearment. However, saying "Frisco" when referring to San Francisco has not yet achieved mainstream status, so a good bit of advice is this: don't use "Frisco"...

Olympic Torch (Protests)

Today the city of San Franciso joined the ranks of London and Paris as host cities to the Olympic Torch. If you have been at all watching the news, people have come out in droves to protest the lack human rights in China and specifically China's involvement in Tibet. On Monday, the SF protests began with 3 people scaling the Golden Gate Bridge to unfurl Free Tibet signs. Thousands were expected today along the reported Torch route. The route was to go along the Embarcadero (along the bay waterfront) from AT&T Park up to Fisherman's Warf and back to downtown for a closing ceremony. My office is on Embarcadero so I went out to see what there was to see. Unfortunately, due to the protests the route of the torch run was changed at the last minute but I did see the protestors and suppporters.

City Walks - City Views

High above the Sunset District of SF lays Grandview Park. It is a 820 foot hill representing what use to be an outcrop of the sand dunes that filled the area. With hundreds of years of erosion and the fact the Sunset neighborhood cuts off the hill's source of ocean sand, the underlying chert rock is being exposed. Franciscan chert rock formations which formed the hill when it was part of the ocean floor are estimated to be 140 million years old. The park offers great views of the Pacific Ocean, downtown, the Golden Gate Bridge & Marin headlands. Leading up into the park is a gorgeous mosaic tiled stairway created as a neighborhood project.