Today, we drove into San Francisco so that I could run the Golden Gate Bridge. I’ve been wanting to do it for awhile, and Catalina was supportive of letting me do it.
On the drive there, we noted we were passing close to the wavy part of Lombard Street; and there was no traffic on a weekday. So we took a slight detour and drove down it. Then we turned around the block and did it again. Third time though was the best as there wasn’t a slow car in front of us.
Once we got to the west side of the Presidio, we found a free parking spot on the side of the coastal road. Lovely view from there.
Then we split up. She went off to walk along beaches and cliff sides while I did my run.
I had planned to run on the ocean side of the bridge going out, but after trying to navigate the many paths in the area, I discovered that the west side was closed; I think for maintenance. So I had to do the Bay side for both the out and the back.
I will admit, I was slow. It wasn’t because I was a bad runner, but because I was taking pictures all the time. It was a nice sunny day, if a bit windy, and there are scenes that you don’t want to forget. I even got pictures of me touching the main cable supporting everything.
At the far (north) side, I did a bit of running, mostly up to Hendrik Point. That is where you can get the most scenic pictures of the bridge. And it was a good day to be there with the conditions.
On the way back I was more focused. I already had the pictures so I could concentrate of trying to pass slow bicyclists. I even got kudos from some of them for passing them. Of course they passed me when it started going downhill.
After that, I found my wife and walked along the beach with her. Following dinner, we decided to take the long way home and drove across the Golden Gate Bridge again. Then we stopped off at various scenic places, because I had properly scouted them a few hours before. Best part of being a runner tourist is doing research for the other travelers.

Today we did a day hike to Mount Diablo. I found a trail that looked nice and we decided to go do it. Unfortunately, I approached it with a very Canadian attitude: I’m in California, and I’m Canadian therefore I won’t get cold. Shorts and t-shirt for me!
I started having doubts with my approach when the ranger at the park gate was commenting how cold and windy it was at the top. Still, I wasn’t going to back down.
When we got to the trailhead, the temperature was around 9°C, and there was a cloud floating across the parking lot. And I will admit that I should have brought a jacket along, but I was okay for the most part as long as I kept my hands in my pocket. But there was one pass where the wind was whipping by and clouds were making it difficult to see.
After that pass, we started going down and the clouds went away. It was a pleasant temperature for the rest of the hike. Even after we started going up again, the weather was lovely.
There was only one other person we encountered on the trail (a senior doing a different eight hour hike.) The flora was different from what I was used to (tree trunks that were red), but there were a lot of wildflowers; probably due to the atmospheric rivers from winter. Beautiful views all around. I get to say I saw the Sierra Nevadas.
Towards the end, we were near the summit, so we went off the planned trail to go to the very top. There is a museum there, but they did a good thing. The museum is AROUND the summit, but not actually on it. So you can go inside and stand on the actual rock that is the top.
Written 2023-5-11 11:05

Another day of work; I had such a nice experience I decided to go again.
I did get to say “Bless you” to the only other person in the cubicle room when he sneezed. I was somewhat known for that back in Vancouver. However, I did not enjoy that the person continued to sneeze and was sniffling and blowing his nose a lot too. I started wearing a mask while I was at my desk.
In the evening, I did a different run. There is a large park next to town that leads all the way to Mount Diablo. I wasn’t going that far, but it was a nice change from continuing to get CityStrides streets. (After three days, I’ve covered 3.4% of town and am currently at 13th place for coverage of Walnut Creek.)
This was a slow run as it was more hilly than the city streets. I went to Mini-rock city, which sounds more impressive than it actually is. It was just some rocks jutting out of the ground, one weathered more interestingly than most.
Written 2023-5-11 10:51

It is Monday, and I decided to go to work. I could have worked from home, but there is an office in San Ramon, which is about half an hour away. I haven’t really worked in an office since March 2020 (except for my final day in Vancouver back in September 2021) so it was a nice experience.
The office is in a beautiful business park. Lakes and trees all around. The place was mostly empty so I got to pick any cubicle I wanted; I got a lovely window view overlooking the lake. The biggest external monitor I’ve ever seen was at every desk. There is also free pop, and not much competition for the free fruit.
My biggest issue was that I haven’t figured out my breakfasts here yet. So I was getting very hungry early on. A lot of fruit went missing before noon. But I got a $9 stipend from the receptionist to use at the food court of the building. (A lot of different companies were in the buildings in the area.) There were only two restaurants though (and a small pre-packaged meal place that I ignored) so I went with the one with the longest line. I wasn’t that daring, so I just got a gourmet burger. It was very nice; I’ve been craving a good burger for awhile.
After that, the day went along smoother, and I had a nice drive home, with just a bit of a traffic jam. (I believe they are endemic to California.)
I did an evening run after dinner. I am quickly discovering just how hilly this place is. Houston is completely flat. Each day I run here, I cover more elevation than I would in an entire month back in Texas.
Written 2023-5-11 10:46

We came to the Bay Area a few days before the earliest chance of our surrogate delivering so that we could have a chance to do some touristing. That was represented on Sunday by us going into downtown San Francisco to sightsee. I also had a plan to abandon Catalina at one point and try to run across the Golden Gate Bridge, so I was dressed for a run.
We took the train into the edge of town and walked along the waterfront. It was nice, although a little windy. There was a man selling “fresh” oysters right on the street. I am allergic to shellfish so I have an excuse not to partake, but I did encourage Catalina to try; she did not.
Things got interesting when we got to Pier 39. It is an amusement park style area with lots to see. However, out first target there was to check out the floating docks that have been taken over by sea lions. They came in all sizes, and most seemed content to just lie around in the sun, or bark at each other when one tried to get a better position on top of another. There were a few doing play fighting in the farther areas; we heard it was in preparation for when mating season does come around.
The other thing we did at Pier 39 was check out the mirror maze. Back in 1986, there was a Scientific American article about a new mirror maze where the mirrors were all at 60° from each other, instead of right angles. It made the maze actually confusing because you could not tell how far hallways were; at a right angle you can tell where there is a wall if you can see yourself. I thought this was the maze from that article, but afterwards I saw an actual map and realized that it was very different from the one I remembered. (1986 maze was square-shaped; this one was a long rectangle.)
The maze was a lot of fun and we went through it several times, backwards and forwards. Eventually I figured out to just look for a landmark, go to it, and then look down the “hallways” until you see a different, new, landmark and make your way there, always looking for the image that looks closest. Eventually you get to the end.
At times, due to the reflections, you can see yourselves from the back, some distance away.
Afterwards, a lot of the real world became confusing. I distrusted anything I saw because I kept expecting there to be a mirror somewhere.
After that I was supposed to go for a run (I wanted to cross Golden Gate Bridge) but it was windy, and we were running out of time before a planned meeting with a coworker for dinner. So I just stayed with the wife and we continued wandering about. Fisherman’s Wharf was very touristy. Really everything was touristy, with a lot of sugar being peddled.
I did get to run up and down Lombard Street a couple of times. Unfortunately they don’t allow pedestrians on the curvy part, and you have to take the sidewalks/stairs instead. That is probably much safer because most of the drivers were taking selfies while they were on the road. And there were a lot of drivers; there was a literal traffic jam of cars trying to go down it.
If you decide to do Lombard Street, do it in the morning, the sunlight will be better than in the afternoon.
Written 2023-5-11 10:38

We have a baby coming. The surrogate is in the San Francisco area, so we need to be there before she delivers; and for at least two weeks after, because babies need to be at least that old to fly. So we are going to have to be in the area for three weeks.

On Saturday we flew out. It was not easy. We checked a car seat and a suitcase; and there was certain juggling to try and get it so that we didn’t have to pay for either. We travelled as if we were doing an international flight: we arrived two hours early. We had hoped we would be able to get things done quickly enough that we could relax in the United Lounge that we had passes for. But by the time everything was done and we got through security, we only had about half an hour before boarding. Considering the United Lounge costs $60 without passes, it didn’t seem worth it to use the passes for such a short time. Hopefully we can on the way back.

We started asking people who were there with babies how they did it. It gave us good advice, so we have a better idea of what to do when we are coming back.

When we checked in 24 hours in advance, we picked a window and an aisle seat with the hope that no one would come between us. Unfortunately someone did, although they spent most of the flight sleeping. When we were about to deplane I asked him how long before the flight he had purchased the ticket. And that opened up an interesting story. He got his ticket 20 minutes before the flight. He had missed his previous flight because he was late and running to his gate; apparently the TSA does not like people running in airports. They stopped him and put him in handcuffs. For the record, this was a white man, although he was a music producer with longish hair and a goatee, so I’m not sure how much profiling was involved. I can’t believe that running isn’t allowed in airports though; romantic comedies thrive on that trope.

On landing and after we got our luggage, we picked up our rental car. The rental company put the fear of god in us: crime is rampant in the city and you should expect anything you leave in your car to get stolen. We then drove to our AirBnb. The place seems suitable for our needs; it is only five minutes from the hospital.

But there is no rest for the weary. We immediately went out shopping so that we could have supplies for our time here. This was followed by a run just as the sun was setting. I think there might have been some nice views with all the hills I ran, but it was getting to dark to appreciate them.

Written 2023-5-9 23:30