Picture Challenge - January 17

My friend Samantha arrives today from California. She is coming in town to participate in Sara's Weekend in Fredericksburg. I have 5 bottles of bubbly chilling in the fridge in honor of Sam's arrival...hopefully that'll last the two nights that she is staying at my place...

Flashback Friday

This is a flashback from two years ago on a great trip up to the wine country with a couple of my favorite people. This trip was first chronicled in the Three Part Banana Slug Chronicles.

I love you guys and look forward to doing another trip some time in the future!!

Flashback Friday

About this time last year, Samantha and I took the Ferry from San Francisco to Sausalito just so that we could go to Horizons Restaurant and sip champagne while watching the boats on the bay. It was a beautiful day and a great trip. These are the things that I do miss about leaving San Francisco.

How Our Minds Work

I've spoken before about how minds think differently and this was evidenced again today while walking with Samantha.

We passed a car that had a bumper sticker that said "War is never the Answer".

I said, "Doesn't that depend on what the question is?"

Sam got to thinking about it and started down a lengthy path about the possibilities of when War would be the answer from a philosophical standpoint. (Sorry, Sam, I sorta stopped listening and drifted off into my own world.)

I had to interrupt her and say, "Yeah, I wasn't thinking of that, I was thinking of questions of this nature:"

• Name the 1969 song by Edwin Starr, which is a blatant anti-Vietnam War protest....
• Name the band that sings Low Rider....
• What 3 letter word is akin to the Old High German word werran meaning to confuse...

So, there are times when "War" is the answer....

(And yes, that would be 2 song references in the soundtrack of my world....)

Walking Across Golden Gate Bridge

I woke up this morning to gray, gloomy skies and I didn't think I was going to go out. However, as the morning progressed the sun started to come out and I pinged Samantha to see if she was still interested in going across the bridge with me. She had never walked across the bridge, even though she is native San Franciscan. I picked her up and headed out to Crissy Field. Once we got there, the day turned out to be beautiful. It was windy but the fog moved out for just the time frame that we were there, so I really think the gods were on my side. We walked out along Crissy Field and stopped at the Warming Hut. We purchased some water and coffee and then headed out. Here are some pictures of our walk over:

First a shot of the bridge from the start of the trail.

Here's a shot as we start to cross.

One of the support thingies.

One of the signs posted on the bridge.

A view of the bridge from the other side.

Once we got to the other side, we had to sit for a little bit and joked that we should call Sam's dad to come pick us up. The funny thing is that at about that time her folks called and when she told them where we were her dad DID ask if we wanted him to come get us. We didn't take him up on the offer. Instead, we hauled our butts up and headed back. Once on back on the city side, we stopped at the gift shop and did the total tourist thing....we bought t-shirts that say we walked the bridge.

I thought I had more pictures of the city from the bridge, but sadly my battery was going on my camera and I couldn't really validate that the pictures were being taken because of the glare. I highly recommend walking across the bridge on a sunny day, it really is a great experience.

Goings On

I know that I haven't been posting much lately, and I really don't have any excuse, other than I don't really have anything specific that I wanted to discuss. Nothing too terribly exciting has been going on in my world, at least not since I came back from the HCBC gathering in So. Cal.

I've had terrible computer problems with my work laptop. They were so bad that it got to the point where my baby had to be replaced and I'll never be able to get back into the flow of how I used to work. They couldn't rebuild it exactly, so I'm having to relearn where all my normal files are since I am used to just going to my short cuts. Today, for some reason, all of my personal folders in my mailbox are gone, and if they can't be recovered I am SCREWED!! I also lost my full version of Acrobat, which has now limited me in some of the things that I used to do. Ah well, that is one of the things that makes work interesting, huh?

This past weekend was a lot of fun, very relaxing, but fun. I walked over to a shopping center on Saturday and then had Samantha and her mom pick me up with Kenya, her dog. The three of us headed out to Crissy Field and had a great picnic of sparkling wine, salami, bread, and fresh mozzarella with tomatoes. We enjoyed the great weather and then took Kenya for a short walk along the beach. Saturday evening Samantha and I walked over to this Mexican restaurant that I've driven past a number of times. I thought it was a sit down place, but it turns out it is an order at the counter and they bring the food out. It was very tasty, but I not the best I've had.

Sunday, Samantha, Kenya, and I went for another walk. This time it was up and down some of the big San Francisco hills in the neighborhood. While we were only out for about 45 minutes to an hour, it felt like a much longer walk. I came home and ended up just hanging out around my place. I watched the Super Bowl, but wasn't really impressed with what I watch it for...the commercials. The game, on the other hand, was actually pretty exciting, even though I wasn't really interested in either of the teams winning.

That was about the weekend for me.

I Have Been Tagged

I was tagged by the Queen B. I've been a little swamped, so I don't know who has or hasn't been tagged yet, but if you haven't here are the instructions: 

On your computer, under your pictures folder, in the 4th folder, upload the 4th picture. 

Here is mine: 

This is a log under a fence at Muir Woods when I went there with the Queen and Samantha in search of the elusive Banana Slug. 

Saturday Was A Good Day

Samantha decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather that we are having in the city and take a trip down to the Ferry Building and then shuttle over to Sausalito for a drink on the water. We were going to go to Tiburon as well, but it turns out that there isn't a ferry that goes to both places (different companies) so we are already planning on doing that trip next month. 

We left the Mission District around 11:30 on BART (the subway in San Francisco) and arrived at the Embarcadero about 11:50. We walked to the Ferry building where they were holding their weekend Farmer's Market. Inside the Ferry Building there are a number of permanent shops, but outside a lot of the area farms come into town and peddle their wonderful fresh foods. Here is a picture of the inside of the Ferry Building: 

We bought our tickets and had some time to kill before the ferry left so we wandered around the market. Across the street are a number of arts and craft vendors. There were some very pretty jewelry pieces and pictures. We also tasted some of the samples that the shops had available, yummy fruits and jams and olive oils. However, it was soon time to board the ferry so Sam and I headed to the dock. 

Once on the ferry, she and I sat on the upper deck and enjoyed the sun. Here are a couple of shots from the ferry: 

Bay Bridge Off The Boat

Boats Out On The Bay

Samantha and I on The Boat 

We landed in Sausalito and walked around a bit finally ended up at Horizons restaurant and had a nice drink and an appetizer while over looking the water. 

Samantha and I then headed back over to San Francisco. More Pictures: 

Golden Gate Bridge

Port of San Francisco

After the trip to Sausalito, Samantha and I headed back to her place where we had a fire in her fire pit: 

For dinner Samantha and Rick, her gentleman friend, took me to an Ethiopian restaurant, Cafe Colucci, where I had the opportunity to try a whole new cuisine. While some parts of the meal I enjoyed a great deal (the chicken, shrimp, and I think I would have liked the lamb except it was too spicy for me, I liked the Buticha and Salata), other parts, like the bread stuff that is used to eat with (there is no flatware), I really didn't like. 

Afterwards, we headed home, they dropped me off, and I basked in the great day that I had. 

Circus Bella at Dolores Park

Yesterday Samantha and I walked up to Dolores Park because there was an Independent Arts festival and our friend, Abby, was performing along with her circus, Circus Bella. The performance was fabulous and I am so going to sign up soon to learn how to do the flying trapeze. here are some pictures, I didn't get a really good one of Abby on the trapeze, but this will give you all an idea. 

Abby On the Trapeze

David Hunt on the Slack wire

Bronker Lee as the Human Beatbox

Big Blue Bunny Enjoying the Show

The Whole Troupe at the Finale

Dolores Park was beautiful. The weather was perfect and I even got a little color on my shoulders and chest. 

Oh yeah, we also saw a wacky, naked guy dressed in only a sign protesting the war: 

There is NO PLACE like San Francisco!!

Thursday - Camping Day One

NOTE: Times are not exact and the initial plan was leave Jill's by like noon so that we could get to the camp site while there is lots of light, get the tents set up and cook dinner, and relax. 

8:30 AM, Samantha is scheduled to pick me up on the corner with all of my gear. About this time she pings me to let me know that she has to deal with the movement of cars since there is street cleaning to contend with in the city and she, nor her folks, want to deal with the ticket. 

9:00 AM, Samantha picks me up with her truck loaded with all her camping gear and we head down to San Jose to hook up with Jill and help her get the rest of the camping gear, the boat, and head out on the road. 

10:00 AM, Samantha and I get to San Jose but Jill is finishing up getting the boat in ship shape, so we stop at Walgreen's to pick up some additional last minute things, like aloe vera for the sunburn I know I will get, Chapstick for Sam, Oreo Cakesters because I'm hungry for something bad for me, allergy medicine since we both woke up with allergy attacks and know that it will just get worse as we head into the woods. 

10:30 AM, Samantha and I stop at Starbucks so Sam can get a coffee fix. 

11:00 AM, Samantha and I get back to Jill's house and wait for Jill. While there we come across the Costco list that Jill has planned and added a few things. 

11:15 AM, Jill arrives and we all jump in Samantha's truck and head off to Costco. While at Costco, we purchase meat, water, soda, crackers, beer, champagne, orange juice, tequila, rum, buns, sausages, eggs, and a big ol' cart of other stuff. We loaded up the truck and headed back to Jill's. 

12:45 PM, Jill and I start loading up her truck with all the camp gear while Samantha ran to the grocery store to pick up a couple of final items like tomatoes, potatoes, and some other perishables that we would need for the trip. 

1:45 PM, Samantha makes it back with the groceries, but missed getting ice for the coolers, so headed for a final run to the store to get that last final requirement. 

2:30 PM, we throw the last of them items into the trucks, climb in and head out. We are only four and a half hours behind schedule. 

3:30 PM, Jill calls Samantha and tells her that we forgot to pack the portable gas grill that we will use to cook dinner on. Should we turn back and get it or power on forward? We opted to power on forward and Samantha called Richard to get in touch with Heidi, who was coming up on Friday afternoon and could swing past Jill's house on the way out to pick up the grill. Whew, crisis averted. 

4:45 PM, we have been following the directions that were printed off from Google maps and find ourselves lost circling around a women's prison. 

5:00 PM, we are back on track and heading into the foothills. Samantha has taken the lead and we feel we are making good time along this remote winding road. 

5:15 PM, Jill is no longer behind us. Hmmm, let's pull over and give her some time to catch up. 

5:25 PM, strange lady pulls up next to us and asks if we have a friend towing a boat? If so, she is a couple of miles back pulled over on the side of the road with only fumes left in the truck and is in need of gas. 

5:30 PM, Samantha and I turn around and go back to Jill, determine to go get gas and bring it back so that Jill will have enough gas to get to gas station to fill up. 

6:15 PM, Jill's truck is gassed back up. Samantha asked the locals for directions to Bass Lake and the Wishon Campsite, so we are back on track and heading to our campsite. 

7:00 PM, we arrive at the boat ramp and unhitch the boat, then head off to claim our site. 

7:30 PM, we arrive at our site. The one that we really wanted had already been claimed so we took the double site next to it and started to unload. Mind you, it was starting to get dark, surprise, surprise. Our site had a great view of the lake, but there was no completely flat area and there is a serious slope from where the trucks are parked to where we were going to set things up, but we manage. We set up the "kitchen" area, which contains three tables, including the bar. By this time it is almost pitch black and we realize that we have also forgotten to bring any lights, aside from a wimpy cheap flashlight that I picked up at Target and another little lantern that Samantha had. Jill and Samantha decide that we will only set up Jill's Taj Ma-Tent and the three of us will all stay in there for the night. The only problem would be that the tent was set up on a slope, but more about that later. The air mattresses are blown up and Jill whips out the 300 thread count sheets and comforters and make up the two beds. 

8:30 PM, we realize that we are all hungry and even though Samantha is already into her whole "one with nature" mode and keeps trying to point out how beautiful the stars and the moon look, all I can say is my blood sugar has crashed, but bowl of cereal at 5 in the morning and my Oreo Cakesters at noon are long gone and I can't appreciate nature when I'm feeling grumpy." (FYI, don't cross Andrea when she is grumpy and hungry.) So we all pile into Jill's truck and head off to find food. As it turns out, we had to drive quite a ways to locate a restaurant that was actually open but we found one eventually. 

10:00 PM, we get back to camp and sit around and look at the beautiful stars. I can now adequately appreciate them now that I have some food in my belly. 

10:15 PM, we all decide that it is time to turn in. We look around and think that everything is battened down and we crawl into our beds. 

Midnight, I hear scratching outside, but am too concerned to get up and see what it is. 

1:30 AM, Samantha gets up to go to the bathroom. She comes back in to the tent and announces that there are raccoons out there and asks if we put all food away. I have a brief mind flash that we perhaps didn't get the hot dog buns put away. She and I determine that neither of us want to face off against a rabid pack of raccoons. 

Lessons learned from day one.... 1. Go to Costco before the day you plan to leave. 2. Keep a map in the car. 3. Fill up your gas tank before you leave. 4. Get to the camp site before dark. 5. Always enjoy yourself. 

Come back for Friday - Camping Day Two. That's when the REAL party gets started!!