We performed our morning ritual "sitting on the trip." Its a tradition my family practices that basically insures you never leave in a rush. Before any long journey its tradition to take a seat with all your bags packed and pause for some quick meditation.
The weather warmed up pretty quickly once we got out of the shade of the redwoods.
The suburbs north of San Francisco were gorgeous and littered with fellow cyclists. I remembered what Ryan had mentioned about feeling more bad ass as a touring cyclist with all your gear, but I felt more like a tourist when Tim and I got lost in the confusing labyrinth of streets. One guy was nice enough to stop and give us directions.
Gorgeous.
OOOHH We're so excited!!!
The city across the bay. This is one of the myriad tourists on rented bikes.
Once on the Golden Gate we ran into Will and Terry again! Like I said, they were thrilled to see us because of our supposed increased speed.
This was the one and only day I wore my sleeveless jersey.
Obligatory Bike glamor shot.
We asked a lady to take a pic, and she quipped, "You need to put on some sunscreen young man. I'm going to be your surrogate Jewish mother and tell you to protect those arms."
Oh the site of that hill in the background was certainly daunting.
Of course we had to walk our bikes up the monster.
The corner outside of our hotel. San Francisco was definitely an unbelievably gorgeous city.
Chinatown, with the added bonus of a 80's Honda Civic hatchback, my first car.
I should have listened to my surrogate Jewish mother... Check out the sliver of white where the sunscreen on my forearm was enough to make it up my arm. Hilarious.
The next day we went to Golden Gate Park and to the California Academy of Sciences museum (where else would we go?)
This is actually some other museum in the park.
That's the CAS museum.
Man it's like we're right back in Goochland!
Seriously, no one questioned the design of this statue for workers? Oh lefties..
The CAS museum was actually pretty lame. A lot of brainwashing exhibits on global warming, and their aquarium looked like a backwater compared to the one at Newport. There were some highlights though, including the living roof, and pictures of galaxies. Plus the evolution exhibit was really cool too.
The back of the alt weekly. hehehe. There was a "wellness co-op" outside of our hotel (as well as a rub and tug joint) and it smelled delicious.
We walked around the Castro and down Haight, mainly looking for places to chill and drink beer.
I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it:
"Busy, busy, busy! The fog could be late to get in someone’s face somewhere!"
And if you guys care, here's my new pad. Its a studio apartment, but there are built in shelves separating the living area (above) and bedroom and kitchen.
The kitchen with a built in shelf.
Closet in the bedroom on the back of the kitchen shelf.
My bed for the night.
Bathroom.
Fermentation room!!!!! Seriously this is one of the major reasons I got this place (aside from it being the only one available the dates I wanted it).
The unit is the one covered in ivy. There's a main house with a tutoring center for learning disabled kids in the front, and a fenced in backyard courtyard kind of thing in the back. My unit is in a four unit building shared by other grad students. Pretty ideal i think.
I even get a rose bush outside my house too.
