San Fran w E & G!

This blog is about 2 weeks late - but better late than never. The images are just a sampling of the 10 quadzillion I took while there... enjoy a less-abridged summary here.

After my incredible 2 week adventure working in Yosemite, I traveled to San Fran to hang out with Eric and Gretta. As luck would have it, Gretta managed to make her way to San Fran from Arkansas just in time for my visit! And given they hadn't seen in each in WEEKS, they still took the time to hang out and show me their new home... thanks guys, you're awesome.


Evening one, we drank ice cold MARGARITAS - on the rocks. I was exhausted from field work followed by a 4 hour drive to San Fran. It was 114 or so in Merced - 105 in the Valley... yet I needed a fleece for the foggy haze that was San Fran. Talk about diverse climate - San Fran summers are chilly.

Iphone GEEK!

Day one: After a short tour of the amazing house that Eric was watching over, we made our way out to Muir Woods. The road to the site was steep and twisty and beckoned for a road ride. Eric made his best attempts to turn Gretta's little sedan into a NASCAR rig. it was kinda scary. :) We let him have his fun. Muir woods houses one of the last incredible stands of Redwoods. While the trees themselves were quite impressive... the crowds of people and the stick-up-the-ass, grumpy Park Service employees put a slight damper on the trip. We made the best of it - found some side trails ... and had fun!

Top of "non-ocean view" trail. (They eliminated the ocean next to Cali while i was there)
Iphone obsessed? Naaah...

yes another hawk. i love them. deal.

Eric likes to climb trees. Crack climb up - ass slide down. awesome. :)

How to compose a picture by E Roman. If only I had such an eye for shape and form in nature.

They weren't posing or anything. Ok, so I did take a lot of pictures of them. I couldn't help it - they're such a CUTE COUPLE and cherished friends. Love you both! We capped of the day with some down time with pep, and then a movie outside in the park... margaritas and good conversation and debate made for a lovely evening.

The next day we got up and got coffee (and a scone) in Fairfax. There were large groups of roadies everywhere leaving for their Saturday morning rides in the hills. We hung out in a local park, drank coffee, checked out a local bike shop... then onward we went to check out the city.

Golden gate - enveloped with fog. beautiful!

brrr - can you feel the chill? It was windy and the fog left mist in the air.

Left: Iphone - AGAIN! Always time for Iphone.
Right: Ms Gretta in front of lombard street!

An actual diego rivera mural at the art institute. Beautiful! What a place to go to school!
We checked out the outside of their new digs on Folsom. Ate lunch in China Town (and picked up some incredible fresh fruit which i enjoyed on my LONG ASS TRIP HOME) and explored a bit more of the city.

Back in San Anselmo, we picked up Pep and went for a little hike in an amazing landscape surrounded by the bay and rolling chaparral.

The pictures don't full capture the intense shade and shadow that characterizes this rugged, rolling landscape.

More lakes... and characteristic Scrub Oak... had to do a little research on the veg in this area! Certainly wasn't the Yosemite Valley veg!

More water and plentiful rock.

awww - pep!

The sun began to set beyond the fog making for a beautiful horizon sihlouette.

And home we went... stopping on the way to get real SLURPEES (because 7-11 exists in Cali) to flavor our tequilla for the evening.

The pictures say it all. Eric and Gretta add so much to each other lives. I felt fortunate to experience this time with them given they only recently left State College! They are adjusting well to their new surroundings and finding their way through a new and incredible life - together. I only wish I had more time to spend with them. You guys are AWESOME and I miss you both. Thanks for a great visit!

necessities... and wildlife survey for the week

minimum requirements dictate much of what we do in life. for instance, minimum RAM and CPU power determines what software you can run and how much data you can process. minimum calorie intake dictates how far you pedal before you bonk.

while bicycles are much simpler animals... well inanimate objects... there are some requirements for riding...

such as PEDALS. yes, GDOGG showed up yesterday partially pedaled... (is that a word?) first he had just one then two... he tried and tried but alas, when you try to put the left pedal on the right crank and vice versa... not only are they a bitch to get on... but also your pedals slowly start to sob and try to jump ship... as your ascend bear meadows.

needless to say, his ride was cut short... quite short. Mine on the other hand was lovely and not long enough... then again no ride is ever long enough. i was in the zone and relaxed to the point i had no idea how hard my body actually worked. greenlee was my last climb and it flew by. GREENLEE! I am SORE today but never felt it on the ride yesterday. aahhh. the zone.

it was overall a great birthday. starting with waking up to up beat texts on my phone... to being surprised with flowers at work (so beautiful - THANKS!)... to almost having company for a cross ride. some phone calls and cards... to a last of the day chat with ms gretta about life, riding milanos across trails and general crashing into random inanimate objects :)

so the count for this week in the woods includes

• lotsa hawks - a few different kinds
• flocks of turkeys - they are OUT in numbers!
• ground hogs (yawn) ... i swear there's one thats down with NASCAR... he always comes out as i am climbing or descending on north meadows. i'm embarrassed to say he generally wins on the climbs but in my defense, he's got a lighter rig and a much much lower center of gravity. yea, that must be it.
  
• a big ass rattlesnake (that i ever so gracefully almost slid into due to my excitement).
  
• deer - prancing - i still can't get over the elegance of white tails vs the ones out west
  
• turkey vultures - atleast 5 or 6 ginormous (humorously outsized for you lay folk... your welcome for the translation) on greenlee eating a dead porcupine (they stalked me from the trees afraid i would devour their hard-earned feast) - like i eat meat guys - come on (does porcupine constitute red meat?)!
• an ENORMOUS flock of unidentified black birds in scotia... there was nothing humorously outsized about this folks. i've never seen so many in the woods, together. My ascent up the trail off of the main fire road through scotia was marked by literally, hundreds of of these guys flying up into the canopy as i progressed. imagine "the wave" in bird form... it was like an episode from a steven king movie or maybe xfiles... unbelievable
• one wreck. it was a graceful wreck tho. yup.
  
• and last but not least one guy on a pedal-less bike.. it's ok buddy - next time! i know that your breed is rare :)

what a week!

prediction

without looking at the weather - i have a prediction.
it will rain tomorrow...
why? if you don't remember - here's a reminder

yes, we planned this a few days ago... a celebration of sorts.
and lo and behold forecast says....

rain.

outside

The outdoors inspire many for different reasons.
Some flock to the "wilderness" to escape.
People... noise... stresses of every day life.

Some seek the calm aesthetic beauty.
Some seek the shade.
Some seek the bears, snakes, lizards and birds that add movement and song to the otherwise serene calm of the forest.

I've found that the more time you spend outside - in the woods and elsewhere, the more you come to appreciate its complexity. Movement throughout allows you to explore a wealth of diverse microhabitats and climates... vegetation following shade and sun, animals seeking plants seeking nutrients and of course light ... when you sit and observe you begin to realize that the forest is a complex script - a movie of sorts that, if read correctly has a fairly clearly defined past, present and future. The story is there - waiting to be recognized - waiting to be discovered and waiting to be told...

invasive thistle (bridalveil meadow)- beautiful in it's own right... until you have to walk through it en masse in chacos in the field (BAD THISTLE)

River banks, along the merced river...

The longer you rest, the more you see. Like a Swainson's hawk, proudly holding fresh kill . (sorry george).. or sitting and digesting it's last meal (Tuolumne Meadow) ...

George (RIP buddy)

(introducing...the loudest - and most morbidly obese - rodent EVER)... and one of many bucks who enjoy posing for the camera...



walking through forest gaps into meadows that first appear to be a mass of green grass... upon closer inspection, they're packed with unique and often unidentified species... all different colors and forms... given a harsh and dramatic environment, adapted to blossom and seed at the most opportune time.

species being pollinated by other species, cross pollination and subtle climatic change over time slowly modifying gene pools... resulting in new species... species feeding other species ... perpetuating a cycle that's fragile yet enduring of the most natural yet catastrophic forces and tests of time...

Water- Fire - Ice - Wind...



walls of solid granite carved away and polished to a shimmer by forces we can't even begin to comprehend... the story is there - waiting to be told...

we explore "out there" in different ways. we walk, run, ride... bikes, horses, mules... we climb, descend, repel, glide... sometimes we forget how intricate and yet powerful this seemingly endless outdoor playground really is... before and after work, i'm in the woods more days than not - riding or hiking - exploring and observing... i remind myself to stop and listen, look, smell, hear... the mystery of what is revealed to me through my senses unfolds...

its complexity is overwhelming - and beautiful ... begin to read the subtle details - and realize how little you really know. and how much more there is to learn.