Visiting friends in the Bay Area

2 August (Monday) \r

AS 176 \r

Depart Juneau 6 am with stop in Seattle\r

Arrive San Francisco 12:16pm \r

Hang out in SF/Marin/SJ \r

(My return ticket is for Monday 9 May but this is subject to change! It is leaving SF on AS 591 at 1637, arriving Seattle 1836, leaving Seattle on AS 59 at 2005 and arriving Juneau 2131). \r

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3 August 2004 - Reminisced as I drove north from Sausalito through Marin to Windsor to stay with Johanna. Heaps of fog and cold in the Bay Area but the sun came out as I got further north. Stopped at 346 Corte Madera Avenue to visit the first house in which I lived in SF over thirty years ago....more and bigger trees in the yard! Also stopped at the famous Roxanne's Raw Food place in Larkspur but the restaurant just closed last week and is only doing the take away business....quite a shock since they were doing so well.\r

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4 August 2004 - Johanna and I are enjoying her dog Titan (featured in the Fall 2004 issue of Orvis catalogue page 26) and her new puppy Henzie (labs). Johanna volunteers for CCI (Canine Companions for Independence) and this keeps her quite busy. Drove to Calistoga, Middletown and Cobb Montain today to visit my former home there in Whispering Pines ....should have kept it longer as real estate is skyrocketing in Sonoma and Lake counties. Folks are actually commuting over Mt St Helena to Santa Rosa from Hidden Valley. The Hidden Valley community was developed in 1968 but was very slow in starting....now it is booming with house prices having doubled in the past year.\r

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5 August 2004 - Less fog today so a beautiful one to drive to Point Reyes before the busy weekend. Drove down 101 to Petaluma at 9am hoping to miss traffic but it still existed (as it does around the clock here). A stop at Rouge et Noire for cheese tasting. Then up the coast via Point Reyes Station, Tomales, Marshall, Bodega and then inland via the Salmon River and the towns of Occidental, Camp Meeker, Monte Rio and a peak from the outside into the Bohemian Grove. Returned via Gueneville on the Russian River (this town has really grown). Johanna also has two cats Jasmine and Swanee; Swanee has been ill and at the doctor so she returned home today is doing a bit better. Great evening meal at bistro Ralph in Healdsburg where we enjoyed a plateful of 1000 french fries (very thin and very crisp) in addition to other goodies.\r

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6 August 2004 - A beautiful day in Sonoma County....maybe it is time to just relax by a pool somewhere...but ended up relaxing in the backyard. Then did a bit of shopping in the afternoon at Sonoma Outfitters (for BuzzOff socks to keep away the mosquitoes), the mall in Santa Rosa (where they had an evacuation of the mall), and found great small spectacles in a metal case at Barnes and Noble.\r

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7 August 2004 - Up early for an hour drive to Point Reyes and all day hike (11 miles) up Mt Wittenberg, along the Sky Trail to the Coast and Arch Rock, and back along the Bear Valley Trail (which had no bears). Saw heaps of deer/elk and rabbits. Early morning fog that cleared late morning and no people for the first two hours and then many folks along the flat Bear Valley Trail. Stopped for Baskin Robbins in Petaluma and then wonderful dinner at Johanna's and watched Gaudi Afternoon on Showtime.\r

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8 August - Great walk to Starbucks about a mile down the road and now off again to stay with my old roomie Sallie who now lives in Terra Linda. Enjoyed the hot sun in the afternoon by her pool. Pasta dinner with salad with Sallie and Shelton.\r

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9 August - Shelton was up early to play golf in Windsor and Sallie off early to work. Spent an hour by the pool and then drove across the Richmond Bridge (with heaps of roadworks to improve for earthquake stability and which had a worker accident last week when a man hit his head and fell in the water and died) to Richmond. Staying with Ruth and Fred and had tortellini pasta dinner on Shattuck in Berkeley at Caffe Giovanni's.\r

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10 August - Thick fog here as East Bay gets much of the weather of SF. We had buckwheat pancakes and tofu sausage for brekkie and then headed to sunny Marin for an appointment in Santa Rosa. While Ruth and Fred did business, I walked down Mendocino Avenue and found a Starbucks (mocha grande) and BigLots (Foster Grants readers for $3.99 as backups for the Africa part of my trip). We found petrol prices are going down so filled up for $1.96 per gallon. After returning to Richmond, Ruth and I found ice cream at Baskin Robbins and then headed for the Berkeley Hills via Moeser,Arlington,Marin and Grizzley Peak Drive with great views of the Bay even though the fog was rolling in. Ruth grew up here so brought back memories for her when her family spent time in Tilden Park. Returned to Richmond via San Pablo Dam Road and now she is cooking eggplant parmesan for dinner.\r

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11 August - Crossed the Richmond Bridge for $3 and then slow drive along San Pablo Road via China Basin and then through San Rafael to Fairfax and a left turn to Bolinas and then along Ridgecrest to Mt Tamalpais. Back down to Mill Valley to meet Patricia at Peet's Coffee and then to Book Passage for travel books. Food shopping at Whole Foods in Mill Valley. Joined by Pat's husband John and Siberian husky Tully and cat Punkin and Jim and Linda Kasper for great evening visit.\r

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12 August-Head south across GG Bridge for $5 and slowly through San Francisco via the Marina and Fishermans Wharf and Embarcadero (totally redone since I had last seen it) and 3rd Street to 101 to Annette and Tom's in Palo Alto. Tom cooked a delicious cauliflower pasta for dinner.\r

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13 August - Friday the Thirteenth! Walk to Starbucks at Middlefield and Colorado...early morning fog. Walked the Bay Wetlands and saw heaps of birds and rabbits and ground squirrels but no owls. This evening we went to the Stanford Theatre to see two old films 'Witness for the Prosecution' (Agatha Christie play 1957) and 'Stage Fright' (Alfred Hitchcock 1950) and dinner of big bucket of popcorn.\r

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14 August - Day of errands and dinner at Randi Kutnewsky and Steve Desedare in San Carlos.\r

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15 August - Hike the Foothills Park along Coyote Trail to Panorama Trail to the Interpretive Center.....great views of the south bay. More book shopping at Keppler's in Menlo Park and met a woman (Lynn Bent) that I worked with at IBM in Palo Alto 25 years ago. Delicious Salmon for dinner!\r

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16-17 August - Fly to Paris and train to Montpellier!