Today we drove from San Francisco to Torrance, where we’ll be staying with my parents for the next week. It was nice to arrive there before dinner so that we could enjoy a Father’s Day meal with the rest of the family who live in Southern California. ♥
We ordered a ton of yummy Hawaiian food from Ono Hawaiian BBQ, opened up some presents, and got to spend some real quality time catching up. Mariko and the kids haven’t seen everyone since 2019 so it was a special day.
Photo info: Apple iPhone 12 mini, 1.55mm, f/2.4, 1/350 sec, ISO25 “Foggy Scene” San Francisco, 2021
This morning I checked off a little bucket list item: running across the Golden Gate Bridge. I woke up before the family and drove alone to the Battery East parking lot (there was only one other car there) for a 6:30 am start. It was chilly and windy, as expected, but I was hoping it would be sunny. Unfortunately I would not see the sun because of the famous San Francisco fog. Oh well, it was more appropriate this way I suppose!
Photo info: Apple iPhone 12 mini, 1.55mm, f/2.4, 1/120 sec, ISO25 “Golden Gate Signage” San Francisco, 2021
The distance is not very far (only a couple miles each way) and the total round-trip run from the parking lot to the lookout parking lot on the Marin side (including picture-taking) took less than an hour. The east side sidewalk is reserved for pedestrians while the west side is bicyclists only. I saw only one other runner on my way across to the Marin side of the bridge, but on the way back I saw maybe 6 runners and 6 walkers. There were many more cyclists, though… I’d estimate about 25 total, including a poor family of tourists who appeared to be dragged out by their father to brave the cold, wet, wind. It didn’t look fun for them. 😉 I smiled as I thought of my family who were sleeping warm and snug in their hotel beds at that moment.
With the run finished, it was time to get down to business and visit a couple college campuses! First on the list was UC Berkeley. Because of COVID-19, the buildings are closed and campus tours have been cancelled but the campus grounds are still open so we walked around the campus and got a good feel for the area. The sun was shining bright, but the temperature was a very nice 76° F / 24° C. The UC Berkeley campus is really cool and the store was open so Koa bought a Cal hat.
Next, we grabbed some lunch at Berkeley Bowl and then headed over to Palo Alto to visit Stanford. Koa really liked the campus and he bought another hat at the store.
Next on today’s agenda was a visit to a friend’s place to pick up some cooking materials for Mariko, and then ramen at Orenchi Beyond. It was delicious! Definitely recommend. And a perfect way to end another long day in the Bay Area. 🍜❤
Flight delays! Today we spent many hours sitting in the airport waiting to get out of Austin to fly to San Francisco via LAX. The mechanical problems with the plane meant that we arrived in San Francisco five hours later than planned, but we made it! (And we were all reimbursed nicely by JetBlue for the inconvenience)
This is the first time since the pandemic started that we traveled by air, and apart from the mandatory masks and social distancing, it felt just like normal. We’ve all been vaccinated so we feel comfortable traveling now. (If someone in my family was unable to get the vaccination, I’d probably not be traveling, though.) The reason for our trip to California is to check out a few universities that Koa is interested in attending, and of course to relax, sight-see a bit, and visit family.
During the flight I watched Nomadland, which is one of the movies I am interested in. I’m actually halfway through the book on which the movie is based, so it was really neat to see the big-screen adaptation. The movie was great! And the book (so far) is also excellent. They really give you a lot to think about.
Our Austin-to-LAX flight was delayed about four hours but we didn’t miss our connection at LAX because it was actually the same plane flying the second leg of our journey, so we just had to deplane, wait for the cleaning crew to do their thing, and then re-board. The LAX-to-SFO flight was less than an hour (yay!), then Mariko picked us up from the airport and we all went to our hotel which is very near to Pier 39.
This morning I woke up at 5 am and right outside my tent was the Milky Way. It was awesome! I got out my Fujifilm X-E4 with 18-55 mm lens, put it on the Ultrapod and took a few shots. There were only a few clouds in the sky so the shots looked pretty good, and I even captured a few shooting stars. In fact, with the 30-second exposure, almost every shot had at least one shooting star in it. It was so cool!
Photo info: Apple iPhone 12 mini, 1.55mm, f/2.4, 1/1000 sec, ISO25 “Sunrise” Big Bend, 2021
Soon, the sun made its way into the day, and after a sunrise photo and some coffee, it was time to hit the trail. We hiked Laguna Meadows Trail all the way down to the Chisos Basin, seeing one large bear along the way. It was digging a hole near the trail so we had to scoot past pretty quickly, bear-spray at the ready. Very exciting!
At the end of the hike, I splurged on a Topo Chico and mango ice cream bar before we hit the road. After a couple of hours we arrived at Fort Stockton and had lunch at Pepito’s, where I had a huge burger. It was a good way to satisfy my hiker hunger!
Photo info: Apple iPhone 12 mini, 1.55mm, f/2.4, 1/1250 sec, ISO25 “Refreshments” Big Bend, 2021
Here are a few more photos and the Strava track from the last day of our Big Bend trip. Enjoy!
Photo info: Apple iPhone 12 mini, 1.55mm, f/2.4, 1/480 sec, ISO25 “Switchback” Big Bend, 2021Photo info: Apple iPhone 12 mini, 1.55mm, f/2.4, 1/950 sec, ISO25 “Laguna Meadows Trail” Big Bend, 2021Photo info: Apple iPhone 12 mini, 1.55mm, f/2.4, 1/5300 sec, ISO25 “Casa Grande” Big Bend, 2021Photo info: Apple iPhone 12 mini, 4.2mm, f/1.6, 1/60 sec, ISO500 “Pepito’s Burger” Fort Stockton, 2021Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 18mm, f/2.8, 20 sec, ISO3200 “Triple Shooting Stars” Big Bend, 2021
Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 27.7mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec, ISO320 “Hiking to Boot Canyon” Big Bend, 2021
After a strenuous hike yesterday, we were looking forward to an easier day on the trail. But first, we had an early morning visit from some deer as we broke down our campsite and had a quick breakfast. Then we hit the trail and hiked to Boot Springs to see if there was any water flowing from the pipe (there wasn’t).
After a short rest at the cabin, we headed up to the North Rim where we enjoyed the awesome views, eventually making our way to the South Rim 3 campsite, where we’d spend the night. SR3 is an excellent site, with a great view of Mule Ears and Santa Elena Canyon in the distance. It was so cool to watch the changing light on the landscape below.
Here are a few snapshots from today’s hike and campsite, a time-lapse I recorded during our dinner, and also the Strava track:
Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 55mm, f/5, 1/30 sec, ISO3200 “Morning Visit” Big Bend, 2021Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 18mm, f/6.4, 1/200 sec, ISO320 “Fading Light” Big Bend, 2021Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 18mm, f/5.6, 1/4000 sec, ISO320 “Sun Through Clouds” Big Bend, 2021Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 55mm, f/5.6, 1/1400 sec, ISO320 “Distant Canyon” Big Bend, 2021Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 18mm, f/5.6, 1/2700 sec, ISO320 “South Rim View” Big Bend, 2021Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 18mm, f/5.6, 1/1600 sec, ISO160 “Clouds Over Mexico” Big Bend, 2021Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 55mm, f/4, 1/1700 sec, ISO160 “Prickly Pear Bloom” Big Bend, 2021Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 18mm, f/6.4, 1/1250 sec, ISO320 “South Rim View” Big Bend, 2021Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 18mm, f/6.4, 1/1250 sec, ISO320 “Shadows Down Below” Big Bend, 2021Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 18mm, f/5.6, 1/950 sec, ISO320 “Fire Damage” Big Bend, 2021Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 18mm, f/5.6, 1/950 sec, ISO320 “Fire Damage” Big Bend, 2021Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 30.2mm, f/6.4, 1/1600 sec, ISO320 “Casa Grande” Big Bend, 2021Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 18mm, f/5, 1/30 sec, ISO200 “Morning Sun” Big Bend, 2021
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