San Francisco To Tiburon

My friend Katy was in town so we revisited a favorite bike ride of ours, from San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge to Tiburon and back on the ferry.


This lucky guy was waiting for his turn in the three person elevator to the top of the south tower. Apparently: (A) It is possible to get a tour if you know someone...and are willing to wait two years for one of about four tours per year. (B) There are elevators inside the towers. (C) Robert will try his darndest to talk his way up an elevator for a tour.

The hand painted sign on the inside of the door says:
bridge towers footage
746 - height
500 - sidewalk to top
246 - sidewalk to bottom
4,200 - tower to tower
1 mile 8 tenth - length of bridge
2 miles - south parking lot to north parking lot


south tower


north tower


The San Francisco Bay
random facts:
400 square miles - surface area
14 feet - average depth
360 feet - depth at the Golden Gate
67,000,000 tons - annual cargo passing through the Golden Gate
1/3 - amount the bay has shrunk over the last 150 years
1/4 - original wetland, riparian, and tidal mudflat habitat remaining
40% - California’s land mass drained by the bay-delta watershed
<50% - fresh water flow coming into the bay compared to 1930


Photographic proof that Katy can ride no hands.


Another beautiful day in the Bay Area.
(l-r) Katy, Laura and Helen

note: All photos in this post taken with my GOPRO Wrist HERO camera mentioned in the previous post.

Cataract Falls

Cataract Falls is a series of approximately nine separate waterfalls on Cataract Creek in Marin County. These two pictures are only a small part of two of them.

Half-Marathon

Today I ran my first half-marathon. I ran cross-country in high school but runs were generally only three or four miles. What I loved most about it was the trail runs and have done trail running off an on since then, but never more than a five mile run and never very consistently. The longest runs I ever did were Bay To Breakers while still in high school and The Mud Run in 2002. But now I might be hooked on this long(er) distance run business. Or at least half-marathons for now. I'm not entirely sure about the full marathon thing...yet.


Andy and Alex get in a little pre-run stretch.


"Let's do this!"


The view sure was nice.


The winner's stand - we only stood and posed, our new friend Guillaume actually won the half-marathon. Guillaume also wins favorite quote of the day with: "Hello? Yes...I win!" - The first thing he said, using a cell phone he borrowed from Andy, to the person who's couch he is staying on, in San Francisco, while on vacation in the states, from France.





Today's run was part of The North Face Endurance Challenge 2008. I've worked at The North Face in Palo Alto for two years now as Visual Merchandiser. Getting free trail-running shoes every six months and hanging cool posters of ultra long distance athletes every month left me little choice but to sign up for this event. And how could I resist The North Face paying my entrance fee with free shwag included. The categories were 10k, half-marathon, 50k and 50mile. I figured half-marathon was my best bet for challenging yet realistic. Knowing that this event was organized by The North Face I should have figured on it being a little more challenging than just a regular half-marathon.


See that last little tiny blip of uphill at the very end? That was the hardest part of the run! I was mentally prepared for the three big uphills and did great on all the downhills - then all but checked out for the tiny little stretch to the finish!

Oakland Temple

Oakland California Temple

My Neighborhood

The fall season is upon us here in the bay area.


Even if parts of it still look like spring.


I live on a dead end street.


In a tin shack.


With a secret inner sanctuary.


Near a train station.


And secret passages.


California Avenue Train Station


People here like expensive cars.


That look sporty.


And go really fast.


But run on batteries instead of gas.

Blue Angels

I don’t remember the first time I saw the Blue Angels air show but I’m pretty sure it contributed to my boyhood fantasy to fly fighter jets the same way Star Wars contributed to my boyhood fantasy to fly star fighters. Nowadays when I watch the Blue Angels (or Star Wars) ...I still have that same boyhood fantasy. Or more likely, I just refuse to grow up.

Seeing as I refuse to grow up, I brought along one of my toys to fleet week and took some pictures:



A few Blue Angels facts:

•Formed on April 24, 1946 by the Chief of Naval Operations, Chester W. Nimitz, to keep up public interest in naval aviation after World War II.
•One of the first models I built as a kid was the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz.
•The Blue Angels have flown nine different demonstration aircraft.
•My favorite aircraft is the McDonnell F-4J Phantom II flown by the Blue Angels from 1969 to 1974
•In 1949 the Blue Angels sported a bright yellow paint scheme with blue markings.
•My favorite color is blue.

Treasure Island

Wednesday in SF

Self Portrait


Post industrial landscape or modern art?


The deYoung Museum

Eagle Peak & Aquarian Valley

Having just finished up graduate business school at Stanford, Dave had free time on his hands. I happened to have the day off work. So we decided to to traipse around skyline and look for rocks to play on.

4th Of July Adventure!

Eight of us and gear loaded up in two trusty Hondas to head up to Big Basin State Park for a weekend backpacking adventure. Only one Honda made it to the top of Highway 9. Four of us spied a large group of more than 30 kids and a few adults starting down the skyline to the sea trail. We contemplated whether we would beat them to Big Basin or not as we headed back to rescue the other Honda, broken down just two turns shy of the summit, pulled off the main road on a private driveway. A private driveway that happened to belong to a very friendly and generous middle-eastern man in the most luxurious and extravagant Mercedes-Benz I have have ever seen. Part of me wanted to accept his offer for help just to have the chance to ride in his leather seated, exotic wood dash, V8 kompressor, big burgundy Benz! But alas we decided to limp the sick Honda back down the hill to Saratoga. Several hours later, after shuttling a replacement Honda from Palo Alto, we all made it to Big Basin. Soon after starting down the trail we passed the kids we saw earlier, already returning from Berry Creek Falls.


cool down after 11 miles


hotties with camp towels

Bouldering At Castle Rock State Park

My buddy Ian was in town for his sister's wedding but we managed to get some bouldering in at Castle Rock State Park.

Henry Coe State Park

Typical courting scenario of most species:
male shows off mad skills, female not impressed


Dave shows off mad skills with a watermelon eating speed record
disclaimer: no females were harmed (or impressed) in the filming of this event


Rodrigo and Annie in the narrows


Dave, Lemar and California poppies


Annie A.