It is late June 2008 and I just got my first bay swim of the year completed. I love swimming in the bay! My day was made by 11:00 am, after I got out of the water.
The first swim of the year is a strange thing. The water was cold. My cap is not right. The sleeves on my wet suit need to be adjusted. The legs need adjusting. I should not have lifted weights yesterday. The list just goes on and on. It is amazing how many ways the brain tells you to quit. I did not quit. I went straight out of the comforting confines of aquatic park to the bay. The park is a nice calm cove with few boats and some people around. The bay is choppy, fast, imposing and fun. I was the lone swimmer in the choppy bay. It seems there were few experienced swimmers out today. The groups of swimmers stayed close to the shore the whole time I was out.
The National Park Service maintains the parks along the San Francisco water front. They used to do a fine job. Today the area was filthy. There was so much trash flowing from the waste bins that it was blowing into the water. I noticed the park service still uses the prime real estate along the water front but they don't maintain it any more. The two restrooms at the park are closed and the trash is embarrassing. Tourist come from all over the world to see the views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. I don't think they expect to stand in trash up to their ankles to experience the view.
Sunday in the City!
Today is Sunday November 11, 2007. Teddy and I took a trip to the water
front to visit the book store and get some lunch and had a perfect day.
We found some good books for Teddy. He is reading the two Warriors of
the wild series' right now. We followed our book store visit with a
trip to Boudins
bakery and lunch shop. We both had clam chowder in a bread bowl. Boston
has better chowder but San Francisco has bread bowls to make up for it.
We ate outside in a perfect setting. It was about 70 degrees f or 20
degrees c for you canadians, and very sunny. Nice weather like that is
very rare in San Fran. Summers get a lot of fog
and winters get rain. It is always mild but rarely excellent.
Yosemite
Yosemite National Forest is one of the good things coming from the Federal Government.
The whole park is designed to maximize preservation and access. It is a very difficult maintain the balance but they are doing the best they can. They have hybred buses on the valley floor to carry tourist around to the most popular destinations. It is a great idea. It frees the roads from traffic and there are no parking issues at the trail heads. The trail heads look much better without gigantic parking lots leading up to the trails.
No Yosemite page yet but the photos can be found here
The Cherry Blossom Festival is one of many events held every weekend but it is my favorite. I love to see the unmatched elagance that should be slow and regal followed by a group of taiko drums with limitless energy. The taiko drums are so much fun to watch. Here is a link to the SF taiko page with a youtube link. It is not as good as being there but you get the idea.
American River Trail
The weather in Sacramento is nice
year round but it gets really hot
inthe afternoon during the summer months.
Alameda, California
Barn
The barn is a picture from Lake Tahoe. I really like the way the colors match the lake and surrounding area.
Fall in Alameda
Fall in Alameda is a wonderful time of year. Last Sunday, I went out for a jog along the waterfront with Teddy riding along his bike. It was about 55-60 degrees out on a crystal clear morning with a low tide. Low tide is a bit odd in Alameda because the mud flats are not as pretty to look at but there is a lot more wild life to see. When we crossed the foot bridge, we witnessed a duck fishing for breakfast. It is quite a site watching a duck chase after fish in the morning.