Oakland Hike

 Gorgeous day for a long hike with my Mom and the dogs

Post-Thanksgiving Family Walking Tour

 We had a participant who had never been to SF before, so I did more research so that I could point out:

• The highest and former highest skyscrapers in SF
• The cool history of the Sentinel Building, now called Zoetrope
• Vesuvio Cafe and the colorful murals of Jack Kerouac alley
• The Jazz Mural
• Original work by British street artist Banksy (though one might argue that "street art" that is so protected isn't really street art).
• Molinari's, one of the last remaining authentic Italian delis
• Old St. Mary's Church, built with bricks that came to SF by ship (like the doorframes in our historic house)
• The old Telephone Exchange, where operators had to know the names and numbers of every resident of Chinatown, plus have an ability to communicate in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English
• Portsmouth Square, where SF got its start and which used to be one block from the bay
• The Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory
• Wavery Place and the Tin How Temple, the oldest Chinese temple in America, founded in 1852.
• The Fairmont, with its walk-through gingerbread house and beautiful festive decorations
• Grace Cathedral (those doors!)
• The Cable Car Museum
• The Wharf
• Various foodstops

Waiting for pizza in North Beach

The above-mentioned "street art" by Banksy

Moving through the alley or murals from North Beach to Chinatown

Chinatown

Nob Hill for a Fabulous Five photo

Our crew (minus Len, who was taking the photo) at Aquatic Park

A gorgeous view of the Fabulous Five; a beautiful city

Roaring Camp Railroad

 A fun afternoon with cousins, especially a four-year-old who is super excited about trains.  He didn't stop talking the whole ride and when the whistle blew to remind us to get back on, his eyes lit up and he began sprinting.  So fun.  The ride through the redwoods was beautiful.  I'd been wanting to do this since the girls were little; glad that we finally did.

Eclipse

 I didn't want to get up, but they did and couldn't see from the house (trees).  So we wandered down the street, me groggy from being woken in the middle of the night, but still pleased to have raised kids who don't want to miss things.  :-)

K's photo:

Service Opportunities

 More service work for G, this time with a group that packs food for overseas relief efforts.  Hard work that is good work.  I think she had fun....

Morning Flight

 

Yosemite Hike. Awesome, Spectacular Day

 We started at Curry Village, went to the Vernal Falls bridge (seeing Illillouette Falls on the day), then to the Ahwahnee, Lower Yosemite Falls, and back... about 12 miles in total.  We also saw three bears!