The Weekend!

We had an enjoyable time this weekend with Lynn visiting. On Saturday we did the driving tour of San Francisco and the surrounding areas. We started out by going up Twin Peaks in San Francisco to catch a very sweet view of the city, and then driving down the street to see the Painted Ladies, a collection of houses near Alamo Square that represent the city's classic Victorian homes. The weather was fairly clear, with patches of fog here and there. After the Painted Ladies, we went down several streets to Lombard, where for the four or fifth time, I drove down it. It was much less busy on a Saturday morning in January that it was last year during the summertime! After Lombard Street, we headed east towards the Presidio, where ILM is now located. This 1430 acre National park contains an assortment of wonderful buildings. You can also live on the Presidio complex! We searched the area for ILM and we found it at the entrance to the Presidio in the Letterman Digital Arts complex. There is a lifesize bronze statue of Yoda which adorns the front of the building, and it's pretty cool.

After the Presidio, we journeyed across the Golden Gate and up into the Marin Headlands, where we encountered fog and a flurry of rain! Such a shame, since the view of the Golden Gate is magnificent from that vantage point. We continued through the Headlands and eventually found our way into Sausalito, which was also slightly fogged and rained in. Since it was so rainy, we didn't stop for a picnic as we had hoped to do, instead driving home over the Richmond bridge and eating our picnic at home. The evening ended nicely with dinner with Kent and Bonnie in the city. We had some excellent sushi in the Castro district.

On Sunday we awoke late in the morning, and after a healthy dose of pancakes prepared by Lisa, we started the drive towards Monterey. The traffic was light, yet busy. The two hour, 140 mile drive was uneventful, and the weather was gorgeous. We stopped in Cannery Row and browsed the stores, and ended up leaving with some nice hot sauces, a poster, and some fudge. The Monterey Bay aquarium is usually a half day affair, and we didn't have the time. At the adult admission price of $21.95, I think it was the right choice to miss this time around. We drove around Monterey for a while, going down the coast along Pacific Grove. Usually I would drive down 17 Mile Drive, but since we had gotten there later than usual, we decided to skip it this time. We did see more of the wonderful coast coming up Highway 1, and saw the sun set around 5pm! Last night ended with a dinner of lamb and artichokes that we picked up from a roadside store.