Berkeley sunset

We went for a walk this afternoon and on the way back happened upon this scene. At first we just saw the light over the bay, which was pretty enough. Then we saw the bridge... it's the Golden Gate, through telephone wires, in the sunset.

Thanksgiving weekend

I guess we survived our first Thanksgiving.. And so, what are the impressions of this day, that magically turns into a four day weekend? It was nice. It's a little bit like a very condensed Christmas, with lots of food and family, but without presents and perhaps as a result - slightly less pressure. (But that could also be cause we didn't actually have to organise anything.) We were picked up in Berkeley and driven to Fremont in the afternoon, and eating begun as soon as we stepped through the door of Kim's aunt's place. Eating then continued, mixed up with introductions to the extended family that had gathered and some drinking. So you drink and eat and talk for a good few hours, and then they bring out the turkey and potatoes etc. and you eat a bit more, and yet a bit more. (I'll have to blame all the eating for not taking that many photos during the evening.)

I'm not entirely sure what traditionally is meant to happen after that, but I'm sure what we experienced isn't entirely part of the tradition. After turkey, but before the pies, we all went out to the garden to watch some of Kim's cousins fire dance! I didn't manage to get any good pictures of this, sadly, but it's basically this, though they were also using some kind of staffs with the ends on fire. One of the cousins got his trousers on fire, and I'm still not entirely sure if it was on purpose or not. It didn't stop him though.

After fire dance we had to have pies (pecan, pumpkin and apple) and more talking until slowly people started leaving.

Friday after Thanksgiving apparently is when Christmas season starts and people swamp the malls. Partly, I guess, cause they don't have to work, and also cause there are massive sales. Saw pictures in the NY Times, and it looked absolutely manic, people going straight from dinner to queue. Ant and I went for a walk in the Berkeley hills instead. Such a clear day that you could see the Golden Gate!

Saturday passed without much happening and then Sunday we went for dim sum in San Francisco and then to the Legion of Honor, an art museum. It's a pretty small museum that can be covered in a couple of hours (not including coffee break), but it's got a sweet little mix of big name paintings, French 18th century castle interiors, and Rodin sculptures. Apparently it has a really pretty park too, but it was raining too much. And I think we were all pretty arted out by the end of it anyway.

Now, new week. Ant's working hard, getting through his last two weeks of term and I'm going to DC on Sunday!

Oh puppies..

I haven't been the best blogger this week. Think I'm just going to blame the lack of exciting outings to make you all jealous of. Instead I've spend most of my time on the internet, looking at things like this! Some of you may think small dogs (if not all dogs) are ridiculous, and small dogs in jumpers even more so. But come on! If you had a small dog, needed to buy it a jumper, and had $100 to spare, how could you not get it a skull and crossbone, Ralph Lauren jumper in 100% cashmere?!

Tomorrow - thanksgiving dinner with the extended Keller family in Fremont. Exciting! I'll report Friday...

Trying to fix...

Hmm, I think I've changed a setting so that you can comment without having to register with blogger.. At least I tried, hopefully it works now.

Oups, extremely boring blog entry, I do realise that. But it's Sunday and I don't have that much to tell, sitting at home eating cookies that Kim's grandma gave us when we were had dinner at her amazing parents' in Palo Alto yesterday. Anthony is away working as a notetaker and I bet he's secretly worrying that I will have finished all the cookies by the time he comes back. I made no promises. They are the best cookies in the world...

For Laura

It's been a while since my last dog-posting, and I know I promised Laura more of them.. so here goes: Dogs playing on Sand Dollar Beach! They were having so much fun. For you Laura, for saying nice things about my blog! I wish you were here in California too, but soon, soon you'll get a break from all your books in cold Edinburgh and we'll come visit you in LA!

I must say I like these better than the ones that get carried around in bags... though the Big Sur weekend did feature some of those too.

Please don't flash the shark...

Bixby bridge

To Rob: I don't think I ever answered if the Golden Gate is as lovely as the Clifton suspension bridge... I still don't really have an answer, "they're just so different". Instead, I have a new favourite. The Bixby bridge, north of Big Sur, built in the 1930s (by prisoners wanting to shorten their sentences, as the rest of Highway 1 I think). Before it was built you had to take a 14 mile detour inland. (That detour is still open, but you need a car that is "comfortable off-road".) Bridges are cool.

Highway 1 and Big Sur

I don't think it's ever been more difficult to select five photos of weekend highlights... We started early on Saturday morning, left Berkeley, crossed the Bay bridge, passed San Francisco and hit Highway 1 after about an hour. Hwy 1 is a super scenic highway following the coast and our plan was to drive it down to Big Sur (about 180 miles), stopping along the way.

Our first stop (apart from a very short one on a windy beach just as we hit the Highway) was Santa Cruz where we had an amazing breakfast and finally bought a colander and a pepper mill. I think we spent almost two hours there before continuing down to the next stop - Monterey. We didn't actually see that much of Monterey itself, though what we saw on our way in and out looked nice. Our goal was instead the Aquarium. It's been a long time since i spent several hours in an environment where a clear majority of the people are tinier than myself, but with the fish, the sharks, the penguins, the sea otters, jelly fish, turtles and even a white shark, it was definitely worth it.

The original plan had been to spend the afternoon in Carmel-by-the-sea, just south of Monterey, but by the time we got out of the aquarium it was already mid afternoon and we still had plenty of miles to go so we decided to save Carmel for the Sunday and instead get down to Big Sur. We reached Big Sur as the sun started setting and the light, mountains and the sea were just fantastic. And just before it got completely dark (and "perilous" to drive according to the guide book) we arrived at Lucia Lodge, by the Lucia Mountains, where we were spending the night.

We got up pretty early on Sunday morning, having breakfast and enjoying the view from the lodge (see photo with Ant) and decided we wanted to get down to a beach. There were suggestions given in the guide book, but a lady in Lucia had a look at Anthony, said he looked like a "cool guy" and told us to go to Sand Dollar Beach, a bit further south instead. Though we didn't manage to find any of the jade that the beach is famous for, Sand dollar beach was really, really beautiful (photo with rocks sticking out into the water) and I'm so glad we went there.

After spending some time by the water it was time to turn back north. We stopped at the Henry Miller memorial library (if I ever have a memorial, I want one like that) and then Carmel. Carmel is nice, but you can't get away from feeling like you're being an extra on "the OC". You have "the dads" hanging out in their expensive suits, flicking through maganizes of million dollar homes in Pebble Beach and "the mums" in Cartier jewellery carrying around their miniature dogs and kids not yet old enough to drive their own SUVs. Carmel even has its own Tiffany's...

A walk, lunch, and a cup of coffee later we were on the road again, this time aiming for the 101 to San Jose and then the 880 back to Berkeley after an amazing weekend. The only major mishaps were me leaving my jacket at home (yes, stupid) and the slightly annoying two-hour (at least) traffic jam on the 101. But so in total, not bad at all. The "20 % chance of precipitation" never materialised, instead I'm now sitting at home in Berkeley and it's been pouring down all day. But that's ok.

Irony...

We had Chinese last night. The little note in my fortune cookie said "There is no substitute for hard work". Oh the irony... What do they want? An account of the past three months of my life? Haha.

I'm sorry Anna...

...but how can I not post pictures from Tahoe? We came back last night after what felt like two days on a different planet. Tahoe is stunningly beautiful. Pretty cold, but still without snow.

After sleeping in and having a huge breakfast on Saturday, we spent the day first looking for boulders and then finally bouldering. (Climbers should not attempt to be map makers..) When the sun set we went back home, had amazing hot showers and then cooked dinner and sat around in white bathrobes for a while before going down to the club house for "libations".. (It somehow feels like i've been borrowing someone else's life for a weekend.)

Sunday became a lazy day, with some reading by the fire, a couple of episodes of "6 feet under" and an attempt to walk along the lake. This proved to be rather difficult as it's all private property, so we ended up sitting on "our" pier, just enjoying the views. Before packing up to go back home, we had a bath in the hot tub. An experience which for some (NOT me) included jumping in the lake before running back to the hot tub...

I obviously have so many more photos than these, but I guess they will have to wait till Christmas..