Farewell, My Beloved City!

As cheezy as this song is, deep down inside we know it's true even though native San Franciscans such as myself refuse to admit it...

Portrait of a Depressed Man

In about 24 hours, we will be leaving sunny California for the grey skies of the UK. One person in particular is not too happy about this...



A few days ago, one of his mates from work sends him a text which made him even more depressed:

I want you to open Maddy's door and take a deep breath and hold it, exhale slowly and savour the feeling. You may not know it yet, but that is the taste of freedom, equality, tolerance and above all...acceptance.

So here's a parting thought: when you get back to work for a permanent day shift, do evening courses and get the hell out of Northern Ireland!

I think we're going to have "the talk" very soon. And I think this is the final talk where a final decision is made.

Our Last Jaunt to The City (For Awhile Anyway)

This is the second to last day of our holiday. We wanted to take advantage of the gorgeous weather in the city. We took the ferry and soaked in the scenery. I couldn't help getting teary eyed when I saw the Golden Gate Bridge and the city skyline for the last time.

Ferry Building and Farmer's Market...









Alamo Square and The Painted Ladies...



Golden Gate Park...

Conservatory of Flowers

The Concourse

At the California Academy of Sciences we saw...


the Planetarium, the largest digital planetarium in the world

The rainforest and butterfly exhibit

Claude, the albino alligator

The Living rooftop

The Haight...





Cuban Fusion Tapas at Cha Cha Cha

Sutro Heights...







Sutro Baths...






The Cliff House...




Ocean Beach...









Watching the sunset, an end to a brilliant day

Random Wacky Weirdness

What in the heck? Craig had the brilliant idea to walk around the neighborhood in the middle of a heatwave. Not even a half block away from my house we saw a field of goats! Hundreds of them just chillin' in the sun. We looked at them. Looked at each other. Rubbed our eyes and looked again. Yes, they were goats.

Either that or it must be heat stroke.

Heatwave

It has been a scorching few days. It climbed up to 90 yesterday. I swear you can fry an egg on the sidewalk. Last night was fun, both of us were tossing and turning, it was 11PM and the heat didn't let up. We didn't get to sleep around 4am. I'm so exhausted.

There's a heat advisory warming out. I'm going to safely assume that we aren't going anywhere today. It's just way too hot! Maybe while lazybones is asleep here, I'm going to Target and buy a watergun! *snicker*

Another Reason Why I'm Marrying an Irishman

They do stuff like wash your car. Hehe. It was a scorching day today and I felt like doing fuck all. What better reason to wash the car outdoors and bask in the sunshine. It's going to be even hotter tomorrow, maybe climb up to 90!

Driving Through Wine Country (Long Post)

The weather was a gorgeous 75 degrees yesterday so we took a drive through Napa Valley, the Provence of California. The endless acres of vineyards with the valley as a backdrop against a pristine blue sky was absolutely stunning! Another reminder of how beautiful my hometown is, definitely one of the reasons why I will miss this place when I leave.

Our first stop was St. Helena...










Napa Valley Wine Train

Cute little houses along Main Street

The Culinary Institute of America, Greystone, the Harvard of culinary schools...









Vintage wine presses

Lecture theater

School supplies...





Uniform...





Our way back, we took a detour on a beautiful backcountry road which also happens to be the same road that the Zodiac murdered two people in 1968, to this day he still has not been caught. Skeery!

Lake Herman

If it weren't for the blue skies and sunshine, I could have sworn this was Norn Iron!

California Poppy surrounded by Blue Lupin. The California Poppy is the state flower and it is against the law to pick, dig up, or destroy. The California Poppy is also where The Golden Gate Bridge got it's name from. Before there was ever a bridge, the area where you sail into the bay was dubbed "the Golden Gate" by john fremont because the poppys were in full bloom and covering the hills on either side of what is now called the Marin headlands and the Presidio.

Grassy knoll dancing in the breeze



A video clip of our drive leaving wine country...