Monthly Archive for October, 2007

Location: Moraga, CA

We drove into the city today for some sightseeing.  The temperature was nice and cool, so we decided to bring Data along.

Our first mission was to find some sort of breakfast.  Since we didn’t get into the city until about 1 p.m., most of the small cafes were either closed or no longer serving breakfast.  We decided to go back to Lori’s Diner, but this time we went to the Ghirardelli Square location near Fisherman’s Wharf.  Unlike the downtown location, the one we went to was no longer serving breakfast, so we settled for grilled cheese and a veggie burger.

After breakfast, we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge to the Marin Headlands.  The road wound up into the hills, where a beautiful view of San Francsico framed by the bridge greeted us.  We spent some time admiring the view from different lookout points before heading back into the city.

Our next stop was Alamo Square, where we spent just a few minutes looking at the juxtaposition between the homes and the downtown skyline.  Although the view was pretty, it was a bit anti-climactic in that there is nothing remarkable about the area except for the view over one small row of homes.

We then made our way to Coit Tower, but since they were charging admission, we decided it wasn’t worth it to climb to the top of the tower.  We were able to drive down the famously curvaceous segment of Lombard Street, though, which was fun.

We drove across town and back to Fort Funston, where Data was able to run and play off-leash for a while before Amanda and her friend, Kristina, met us at the park.  The four of us drove to a mall to try and find Halloween costumes.  The costume store at the mall was flooded with people and had nothing in stock that wasn’t a typical and cheesy type of costume, so we walked away empty-handed.  As we left the mall, we felt a large vibration and the car shook fairly violently.  At first, we thought a B.A.R.T. train may have been running underneath our position, but it turns out there was a large earthquake near San Jose.  This was the first earthquake that either Julia or I had experienced, so it was pretty cool.

We were in the mood for Italian food, so we drove to the North Beach area, which is San Francisco’s “Little Italy.”  We went to a small pizza and pasta restaurant called Tommaso’s.  The food and atmosphere were great, and we all had a good time.

After dinner, we said goodnight to Amanda and Kristina before returning to Lombard Street, where I took a few long-exposure photographs of cars descending the famous curves.

Finally, we made our way back to Moraga, where we have been relaxing with cookies and ice cream.  Neither of us are feeling very well, so we will probably sleep in tomorrow before heading into the city again for dinner and Halloween rowdiness.

Here are some photos from today.  Click “there’s more to this” to see them all.

Cars descending Lombard Street. Continue reading ‘Day 108: Quake’

Location: Moraga, CA

Julia woke up at 11 a.m.  I woke up at 2 p.m., but since I didn’t get to bed until 7 a.m., that was alright with me.  We had originally discussed returning to the city, but it was immediately apparent that we would be staying in today.

When I finally got out of bed, I made French toast, eggs and vegetarian sausage for breakfast, which was delicious (if I do say so myself).  Data, who had been playing with the Nelsons, was contained in the pool area.  When he realized that we were awake, he wanted to come say hi.  After a few minutes of pacing around, he realized that he could hop up on the bench and launch himself over the fence from there.  By jumping the fence, he booked himself a first-class ticket to Crate City.

Julia and I lounged around for much of the afternoon.  We finally got moving around 6 p.m.  We went for a hike up a ridge adjacent to the Nelsons’ property.  The trail was short and uphill.  It began in a wooded area and transitioned to cattle pasture.  We got to the top of the hill just after sunset.  The view of the valley was stunning, but we weren’t able to stay long since it was getting dark and we didn’t have a flashlight.

After returning to the house, we fed Data and went into Lafayette for dinner.  We went to a place called El Charro.  We were disappointed by the food, which was very bland.  After our meal, Julia attempted to pay with her credit card, but their machine was unable to connect to the server, so I walked to 7-Eleven to take out some cash.  While I was gone, of course, the machine began working again.  We did manage to get some free ice cream out of the ordeal, though.

We thought about seeing a movie after dinner, but opted to turn in early instead.  Tomorrow, we are going to go back into the city to do some leisurely sightseeing and look at Halloween costumes.

Here are a few photos from today.  Click “there’s more to this” to see them all.

Cows in the sunset. Continue reading ‘Day 106: Sluggish’

Location: Moraga, CA

What a busy day!

We got up early and took the B.A.R.T. into the city. As we got to the station, we heard our train arriving, so we ran up the stairs to try and catch it. Julia was right behind me, so I jumped on the train and turned around to see Julia safely on board as well. Instead, I had just enough time to smile and wave goodbye as the train pulled out of the station, leaving Julia behind. Turns out, her flip flop had fallen off just as she reached the top of the escalator, delaying her just enough to miss the train. I got off at the next stop and joined her on the following train, where we both had a good laugh about the whole situation.

Our first stop was Cow Palace to pick up our press passes for tonight’s Snoop Dogg concert and tomorrow’s Exotic Erotic Ball. We were only able to pick up credentials for one event at a time, so we were told we would have to return between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. in order to receive our credentials for the concert.

We hadn’t eaten yet, so we set out to find some food. We had originally planned on finding one of the Lori’s Diner locations, but we also wanted to take the 29 bus, which loops around the outside of the city. We got on the bus and our hunger won out over patience, so we got off when it stopped directly in front of an Olive Garden. We had a nice and quick lunch before getting back on the 29 bus, which took us all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge.

While we were riding the bus, Julia and I noticed a man who was carrying a newspaper and a razor blade. He kept looking around nervously, which made us wary, but nothing ever came of it.

We got off at the bridge and spent a few minutes admiring it. We walked down near Fort Point National Historic Site, which provided us with a great view.

We had to hurry back to pick up our Snoop Dogg passes before returning to Moraga to look after the kids, so we jumped on the 28 bus, a more direct route. We picked up our passes and had yet another interesting bus encounter on the way back to the B.A.R.T. station. We waited for the bus with two men and a woman. The woman had very disheveled makeup and was rambling on about all sorts of stuff. She then said that we should go stand somewhere else to wait for the bus. We couldn’t exactly understand what she said, but it sounded like she was saying the two men were going to try to rob us. Knowing that there was another bus stop two blocks away, we opted to walk to that stop and wait. The bus picked up the three people from our original stop and then, as it approached us, we noticed the sign on the front of the bus had changed from the route number and information to “EMERGENCY. PLEASE CALL 911.” Despite the warning, we got on the bus with two other people and everything seemed relatively fine, although we couldn’t help but wonder what was going on. There were also a few people on the bus who looked suspicious, but that’s always the case.

We were late getting back to Moraga, but Wisti’s niece had experience babysitting their kids in the past, so it wasn’t a big deal. Wisti and Brian had already left by the time we got there at 7 p.m. We brought with us two large cheese pizzas from Pennini’s, both of which were quickly and completely devoured. We then sat with the kids for a while while they watched part of a movie and learned about instant messaging on my computer. Then Julia and I told them stories before they went to bed.

Once the kids were asleep, with Wisti’s niece (I am not sure how to spell her name, and I never remember to ask, which is why I never mention her by name) watching over them, we drove into the city for the concert. There was a bit of a commotion when we didn’t have enough money for the toll to enter the city (I have FastLane, but apparently it doesn’t work out with their system), but we arrived just after 10 p.m. and got there at the exact moment Snoop Dogg was preparing to take the stage. We were told that Adam Sandler and Rob Schneider were going to introduce Snoop, but we weren’t in time to find out if that actually happened. The concert was great. The crowd wasn’t as big as I expected, but everyone there was having a good time. Some people came dressed outlandishly (in a mixture of Halloween and sexual themes), but most people were just there for the concert and dressed casually. He didn’t perform for long, only an hour, but he performed a lot of his hits, both new and old. We are both very glad we were able to go. I should also mention that my mom really likes Snoop Dogg (seriously) and wanted me to try to get him to pose with a “hi, mom” sign, but we never had the chance.

We drove back to Moraga, making a stop at McDonald’s in Lafayette for some ice cream. We are now relaxing and trying to get to bed as soon as possible since tomorrow will be another big day. We are going to the Exotic Erotic Expo in the early afternoon, followed by some more sightseeing before the Exotic Erotic Ball from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., which will surely be a surreal experience.

Here are photos from today! Click “there’s more to this” to see them all.

Snoop Dogg. Continue reading ‘Day 104: Snoop Dogg’

Location: Moraga, CA

First, I just want to note that I am unable to upload any photos to SmugMug from here, so I will have to do a mass-upload later.

We left Data behind again today, which is fine with him since he gets to play around outside with Kelsey all day while we’re gone.  We went directly to the B.A.R.T. station and took the train to Powell Street.  From there, we used our seven-day Muni passports to take the trolley a few blocks north to Sears Fine Food, a restaurant recommended to us by Wisti.  Julia had an omelet and I had the 18 Swedish pancakes.  The food was great and reasonably priced.

We hopped back on the trolley and took it to Lombard Street, a strange, winding road.  I would like to go back after dark one of these days and take a long-exposure photograph of the street with headlights twisting down.

From Lombard Street, we walked north and back to Fisherman’s Wharf.  Since it was earlier, we had time to walk up and down the waterfront.  We stopped to see the sea lions lounging around at Pier 39, where we also bought donuts from Trish’s Mini Donuts.  There is a Trish’s Mini Donuts trailer that operates every year at The Big E back home, but I didn’t know there was another location.  We also spent a few minutes watching the World Famous Bushman, a guy who hides behind a bush and scares people as they walk by.

My Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 lens had been giving me trouble for the last few days (which may have helped fuel my interest in the sketchy camera stores yesterday).  Today, my lens broke completely.  It decided to stop focusing entirely.  I’m guessing a grain of sand found its way into the focusing mechanism.  Although that lens was my least favorite out of my collection by far, it also happens to be essential, especially in cities.  With that lens broken (but still under extended warranty), I made a decision.  I bought the Canon 24mm f/2.8 lens from the sketchy guy.  I confirmed that the warranty was valid in the United States and that the serial number on the warranty matched that of the lens.  I am going to submit the broken lens for service and then sell it off.  Aside from the mechanical issues it is currently having, the lens is in pristine condition, so I should be able to easily make back the cost of the new lens.  Although I no longer have a convenient zoom that covers the wide-to-telephoto range, I have lenses that cover 24mm, 50mm, and 70+mm, so it would only be a matter of swapping one lens for another, which doesn’t bother me.  Additionally, the optical quality of the Canon lenses are far beyond that of the Sigma lenses, in my opinion (the one exception being the Sigma 14mm f/2.8 that I have and love).

We hopped on the F Market & Wharves rail car, which brought us back downtown to Powell Street.  While we were on the car, we talked to some very nice people who were visiting from the San Diego area (just in time, all things considered).  I would say they were a mother, daughter and baby granddaughter, but I don’t know/remember for sure.  The older woman had grown up in Springfield, MA, making her the second person in the last few days from that area.  It’s always interesting to run into people who actually know what you’re talking about when you tell them where you live.  We also spent the ride using my phone to try to find recommendations for good Mexican food.

We settled on a place called Tia Margarita.  It was a good distance from downtown, but we were hoping to take full advantage of the Muni system anyway.  We walked a few blocks and hopped on the 2 bus, which took us almost all the way there.  We sat in an area where we were “lucky” enough to see the Boston Red Sox destroy the Colorado Rockies in the first game of the World Series.  I was really hoping the Rockies would win, not only because their story is so great, but because Red Sox fans are the most annoying people on the planet.  Sadly, however, I knew they would have no shot.  I’d go into it more, but this isn’t a sports blog, and I find sports blogs to be annoying anyway.

The chips and salsa were very good, which was encouraging, but our dinners were very average.  We left the restaurant and walked a block to the nearest bus stop, where we caught the 1 bus back downtown.  We hopped on the B.A.R.T. at the Embarcadero Station, which brought us back to the car.  We made a quick stop at Safeway to pick up ingredients for French toast before heading back to Wisti and Brian’s, where Data was thrilled to see us.

I can’t speak for Julia, but I love San Francisco.  I had never been here before, while Julia had been here twice.  I still feel as though there is a lot for us to do and see, but this is a great city.  There are too many homeless people begging, but that’s not surprising in this type of climate.  I still think Toronto was better, but it’s close.

Julia and I have been trying to figure out what we are going to do for the next few days.  Tomorrow, we are going to make dinner for the Nelsons, so we may stay in this area and go for a hike with Data.  Friday evening, we (and by “we,” I mean “Julia”) may be babysitting while the Nelsons go out, but that’s up in the air.  There is a Snoop Dogg concert at the Exotic Erotic Ball, which takes place Friday and Saturday, so that could be an extremely unusual experience, but I wouldn’t want to go unless I could secure photo passes.  There’s also the issue of what to do for Halloween.  Finally, we are trying to put together a list of other general things to do in the city.  The next few days will be busy, but a lot of fun.

Here are photos from today.  Click “there’s more to this” to see them all.

The World Famous Bushman scaring some people. Continue reading ‘Day 102: Taking Photos Again’

Location: Moraga, CA

We overslept a bit this morning, so we didn’t have time to take Data for a hike.  Instead, we threw tennis balls for him and Kelsey and let them swim in the pool.  We left him to run around outside in the fenced-in back yard, while we set out for the day.

Wisti recommended Terzetto Cuisine in Moraga for breakfast.  We decided that we were more in the mood for lunch, but that wasn’t a problem because the food was good.  We were surprised at one point to see Shane and Corey waving to us.  It turned out that Wisti had stopped at the deli next door for lunch after picking Shane up from school.  They strode right into the restaurant to say hi to us before disappearing again.

We didn’t want to be bothered with driving into the city every day, so we parked at the Orinda Bay Area Rapid Transit (B.A.R.T.) station and caught a train into the city.

We got off at Powell Street, which is just a few blocks from Union Square.  The weather was beautiful, although a little hotter than we would have liked.  We were a little shocked by the heat considering how cold and wet it had been in the Pacific Northwest.

We spent some time walking through the shopping areas.  Julia hates my sandals (which have certainly seen better days), so we went to the Adidas store to look at new models.  They had two models I liked, but apparently all of them were sent off to outlet stores, so I wasn’t even able to try them on.  We walked up to Union Square and then down Market Street.  We bought seven-day passes for the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) and used them to ride the trolley to Fisherman’s Wharf.

As we walked, I made a few stops at the type of sketchy electronics retailers that can only exist in big cities.  One of them was selling a Canon 40D (two generations newer than my 20D) for only $800.  Another was selling a Canon 24mm f/2.8 lens for $150.  Although those are (suspiciously) great deals, I obviously cannot be purchasing that kind of stuff right now.

We met with two of Julia’s friends from home, Erica and Lauryn, for dinner at Cioppino’s.  I had met Erica before and Lauryn is her sister.  We had a great dinner and followed it up with ice cream from Ben & Jerry’s.  Both Erica and Lauryn are very nice and have just recently moved to San Francisco from Connecticut.

We are now back in Moraga, relaxing before bed.  We hope to be awake early tomorrow so we can hike with Data before spending the day in the city again.

I didn’t take many photos today.  I’m only going to post one.  For some reason, I haven’t been motivated to shoot since arriving in San Francisco.  I think it’s the heat.  I will be sure to take more photos tomorrow.

The inside of a large mall near Union Square.