Alcatraz

We had to do the tour of Alcatraz! Alcatraz is an old prison located on a small island out in the middle of San Francisco Bay.

I don't remember what was going on here, but Kate does not look very impressed.

Here's a few pics of Kate and I inside the prison cell block.

This is me chilling in solitary confinement.

Here you can see the Golden Gate bridge in the background. It's foggy, as usual.

They say the worst thing about being imprisoned on Alcatraz island is that you can see the free world so nearby. Apparently you can even hear people out at the bars laughing on Saturday night. So close, yet so far...

Hiking in Fairfield

My cousin Margaux lives in Fairfield, California. I went to visit her one weekend. While I was there, I wanted to do a bit of hiking and explore the very unique countryside.

Fairfield is only half an hour from foggy, humid San Francisco, yet it is like a desert. There are very few trees, and the large rolling hills are covered with dry waist-high brush.

BART

The San Francisco Bay Area has two light-rail systems that are both fairly similar to the Go Train. One of these systems is called BART. Here I am with Kate taking the BART train across (er... under) San Francisco Bay to go to Oakland.

After taking those pictures, I noticed there was some guy snoozing in the seat behind us with his mouth wide open. He was snoring too. I was quite tempted to drop a penny in his mouth just to see what happens!

Civic Center

Our apartment was right next to Civic Center, which is the large public square in front of City Hall. Here are a couple pics that I took after we visited the farmer's market one sunny day.

Here is a funny sign in front of the fenced-in playground in front of City Hall.

Bay to Breakers Race

The Bay to Breakers Race happens once every summer in San Francisco. It's a running race that starts in the city and ends somewhere on the other side of the peninsula on the Pacific coast. There are a small number of serious runners who take part, but for the most part it's just tens of thousands of drunken college students.

The tradition is for people to show up to the race dressed up in a crazy costume and armed with lots of beer and liquor. Here are some pictures of the debauchery as it passed by my house. If I had known it was going to be such fun I would have taken part!

There were tens of thousands of drunk people. It was less of a race and more of a spontaneous parade.

This year there was an effort to crack down on the drinking and prevent people from bringing huge floats. Eventually, the crackdown was abandoned though. Here are some people protesting the crackdown on fun.

The floats were hilarious. There isn't any way to have motor-powered floats, so they're all human-powered. This float had about a dozen ropes attached to the front, which were being pulled by some runners.

There was some construction going on at a building adjacent to the race route. Here are some drunken people dancing to loud music on the scaffolding.

Here's some naked old dudes.

Moving In Soon

I will be moving in to my new apartment in downtown San Francisco either today after work or tomorrow morning. I'll be sure to post some pictures really soon!

First Commute

I will be living in downtown San Francisco this summer in an apartment with Kate. Google is in Mountain View, which is about an hour's drive away. Therefore, I must commute.

Commuting to Google is easy and comfortable, thanks to the Google shuttles. There are pickup stops all around the San Francisco Bay Area, including in downtown.

The coolest part of the Google shuttles is that they have Wifi access. In fact, I'm writing this blog post from the shuttle, on my way to my first day of work!

Looks like we're arriving, see ya later!

The Big Sur

After staying the night in Carmel, California, we drove a little further south along the Pacific coast to go see the Big Sur. The Big Sur is the section of coastline with a winding highway precariously perched on the cliff face. This section of highway has been used as a setting for many Hollywood car chases.

Here is a photo that I took of the highway. Behind the sign you can see the highway snaking back and forth. You can also see the highway winding back and forth in the far distance.

Driving this highway even at a slow pace was sometimes quite scary. In some spots there is a sheer drop hundreds of feet down to the Pacific ocean right next to the roadway, without any guardrails.  Here's me standing too close to the edge.  Don't jump!  

Here's a view of a secluded beach far below.

There is a famous arch bridge in Big Sur, called Bixby Creek Bridge. It's quite a feat of engineering. Someone is going to dig this thing up in four thousand years and wonder how we managed to build such a thing.

The coast is inhabited by many different sorts of birds, including our friends the seagulls. I snapped this picture of two of them in flight.

A couple more pics of the coastline.

Pacific Coast

I just got back to San Francisco after a two-day journey down the Pacific coast with mom and Mike. We started yesterday in San Mateo, and traveled south along highway 1, which hugs the coast. Our first stop was Pigeon Point, which has a lighthouse and some grass.

The coast is covered in grasses and flowers, and there are almost no trees.

A couple miles further south, we came across a beach where several dozen people were kite surfing. It was a very windy day, and some of the kite surfers were getting big air.

Then I had some fresh cherries for lunch.

Most of the coast that we saw was rocky cliffs and hills covered in short grasses and bushes.

We arrived in Carmel, California after an afternoon of driving. We had dinner at a restaurant owned by Clint Eastwood. Some old guy was trying to pick up my mom. The old guy was not Clint Eastwood, so he did not succeed.

Windows XP Hill

Here's a picture that I took from the car in the Napa Valley. Look familiar?

I took the picture because I thought it looked just like the hill from the default wallpaper in Windows XP.

I did a bit more research about the default wallpaper from Windows XP. The image is called Bliss and it turns out that it was also taken in the Napa valley! In fact, Bliss was shot only six miles from the very spot where I took my photo. What a coincidence!

Napa Valley (Wine Country)

Today we took a drive through the Napa Valley, in the heart of wine country. This is the region that is responsible for the California wines that are enjoyed around the world. Here's some pics from the winery.

After wandering around the winery a little bit, mom and I snuck out into the vineyard itself to get a closer look at the grapes.

These are wee grapes. They're not fully grown yet.

Here is a yummy cake from the deli at the winery. I must have this cake.