It would appear on close inspection that although the calendar says fall the weather in Northern California around the first week of November is downright summery. It happened twice in a row. Last year this time it was equally beautiful - I know because we were here. And so on in the past few.
It was quite the Twain's Quip (About the Coldest Winter) altering weekend this one!
This Saturday was 72 degrees in the City by the Bay and the skies were a perfect azure. Since the remainder of the family is out of town traveling I decided to satiate my hiking bug by suiting up and traversing some trails I had in mind to trample.
So I started out on the northern tip of the San Francisco peninsula and hiked along its north - NW edge up and down (both in distance and elevation). After coming up from the beaches of Crissy Field (named after a WWI Major and the fact that it was an airfield in the day) I hiked up the hills to reach the 75 year anniversary celebrating Golden Gate Bridge.
It was fun to see the new artefacts being sold in the Bridge House to tourists from all over the world. The steps leading up to the Viewing Gallery showcase the Welcome sign in 20 odd languages from the world.
Deciding to follow the tourists (by becoming one in spirit) I completed a walk across the 4,200 feet span taking pictures galore.
Waved to double deckers passing by with gawking foreigners (much like what we would have looked like in Paris atop an open air double deck affair).
Its amazing how few people from the local neighborhoods actually take time to visit what is in their backyard but will shell out thousands to see someone else's coast.
Like many top tier coastal cities SF is beautiful on a day like yesterday - mild, breezy and the Sun on Full with few wisps of clouds dotting the Marin Headlands to the north. After that bridge crossing it was time for some nutrition that came in the form of some Vietnamese Pho (soup) that I happened on as I walked into Golden Gate park and out the other end.
I am hoping to shed some weight and light on my physical attributes but with the gusto that follows (at the lunch table) the back breaking journey I think the best takeaway may be the memories and pictures.
Here is another essay on the subject of first names. As in birth names. Or names provided to an offspring at birth. While the developed world tends to shy away from the exotic like Refrigerator or Coca Cola for their new production there is a plethora of Jims and Johns and Bobs or Robs. Speaking of which I do not think there is a categoric decision point at the time of birth if a child will be hereafter called as Bob. I mean have not yet met a toddler called Bob or Rob for that matter. At some point though the parental instinct to mouth out multiple syllables runs out and they switch from calling the crawler Robert to simply Robbie to Rob. Now speaking of - it is strange that the name sounds like something you would not want Rob to do - i.e. Rob anyone. Then why call someone that? After all Rob Peter to Pay Paul is not exactly a maxim to live a young life? Is it? Perhaps Peter or Paul might want to have a say in it? Then there is this matter of going to the John. Why degrad...
Without the traffic, many of our cities would actually look great! I missed out on SF, during my round-the-US yatras. Oh, well, I did go to Yellowstone!
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