Ke Iki Twirling

Ann has the special ability to make Liz fall down at will - she uses her multicolor eyes and super humor powers, and Liz cannot withstand.......

We actually had people come through and bring wood so that we could have a fire while twirling. Good fun.

After the party, we stayed up at Billy's place and had a beach-day bbq up there. I spent the afternoon whacking down trees with a machete and a cane-blade. Damn it's fun to cut down bananna trees with one hack! My hands and forearms were sore for days........

Bay-to-Breakers "Race"

We "raced" to the breakers from the bay. Frisco-style. Wake up at 7am, get super drunk, then walk 7 miles while still drinking, through down-town to the edge of the city, dressed up in something ridiculous. It was a blast. Lots of naked men, ho'd out women, creative pun-suits, salmon swimming upstream, party "floats", Elvii, angels, etc. We...... were naval oranges.

Sailing Race

Bri had Liz and I help out on a sailing race in the Bay. It was fun to work on the sail boat - I was "tailing and grinding" while Liz was a "packer and rail-meat". Basically, I helped with the lines and Liz packed sails and then was movable-weight. Good fun. Only 2 boats of our class showed up, so it was just a one-on-one. The opponent, Minstral, was the best in the bay and beat the crap out of us, but with an interesting near-collision on the way. Good times.

On our way home, we spent the morning out at Hetch Hetchy, the "2nd Yosemite" just north of the popular area. It's a valley, just like Yosemite, that was dammed to get San Fransisco it's water. It was huge. We stayed on the dam for a while and then hiked a bit of the one trail that goes along the north side of the resovior.

Yosemite with Liz

Liz and I drove up to Glacier Point and hiked Sentinel Dome and Taft point. From up there, you really understand the size and scale of the valley. I still have a hard time imagining 1000's of feet of ice blanketing the place....

North Dome Hike

The weather was great, and I got really excited to see the high-country. Every time I've gone recently, the high roads were closed so this time we had to go. Liz was very brave and decided to do a 9 mile hike with me out to North Dome. It was actually pretty cruisy - not much elevation gain. The view was pretty amazing. Liz fell asleep on the rock. For those of you who know Liz's sleeping habits, that should be *very* impressive.

Driving to Yosemite

Liz and I took the day to drive to Yosemite. I was shocked to find out that every campsite in the valley was completely full. We had to stay near the north entrance, at Hodgdon. It was actually perfect placement anyways. We wanted to do the high country and have quiet nights. The valley was a cluster. We set up camp, went into the valley, walked by the falls and caught a sunset in the meadow. Good stuff.

Crazy Flower

I saw this crazy flower on the side of the trail - it was awesome. Really really colorful, strangely shaped, and tubular (from Brian). Liz pointed, Brian sniffed, I imaged. That about sums it up.

Point.
Sniff.
Click.

Point Reyes

We got up, packed up camp, and drove to Point Reyes. There was this really cool town on the way with a good fireplace for breakfast. We did a 3-mile hike out to the coast camp (back-country) which had pit-toilets and water. It's not truely back-country, but it was half-way, and at a really nice site. The walk out was totally flat too. Easy. It got soooo cold at night. We all were in bed (and asleep) by 8 or so. Bri says this was the most rustic camping he's done yet. He's got all this flash new camping gear so it was good to get him using it.... I would say this is Liz's first time doing 3 miles to a site (save outward bound, which killed her and left deep emotional scars). Bri and I carried everything so Liz's shoulder would get pissed off. I think we're a lot closer to erasing Liz's entrenched hatred of backcountry camping (and exercise).

Flower. Duh.
Liz n Bri hiking to the coast camp
The beaches at the coast camp.
Flower again.
Brian in a tree.....

Mt. Tamalpais

Our first day in San Fran, we drove out to Mt. Tamalpais to do a little hike (Matt Davis) and camp in the park. I was amazed at how quickly we got out of the city. As soon as you drive across Golden Gate, the trees fill in....

Brian has an awesome place. He's made it. On his own, out in Frisco, payin the bills. My little brother is finally...... a man! hahaha.

Brian, confused about a trunk that shouldn't look like it does....

Meadow. The way it should be.

Brian, playing in the field.
Brian likes fences.
The grass on the hills was amazing in the wind. If only I could afford a video camera. Maybe next year.

Flying Everywhere

I have to say that crossing 3 oceans (atlantic, pacific, pacific) in 3 days sucks. It's painful. I flew from Zurich to Chicago, slept, then flew to Honolulu, only to pack up the next morning and fly back to San Francisco. Damn that was a lot of flying..... I think the only notable thing was that I got a ton of work done on the airplanes. And I could barely hold a conversation with Sean the night I was back......

The Planet Earth series by the BBC is totally worth every penny. I had the DVD's waiting for me in Honolulu. They made the flight back to San Fran go very very quickly. Especially the thunderstorm timelapses and the high-speed shots of flying sharks.

My Weekend.... and Week

Here's how I've spent most of my time in Zurich:

Jeff, Sveta, & Dominic pondering equations on Sunday.
A break for coffee and cake in the hangout-room.
Some of the equations.... just for fun. It's not that bad - they talk about how light interacts with atoms.

More of the same Mon and Tues, then I'm on my way home Wed.