We returned from Florida on Saturday afternoon, to spend another week in California, being with our son, his wife and their pets, and my cousin Dan and his family. We did some sight-seeing in San Francisco, which I have documented elsewhere, and I also had the pleasure of meeting an online photograpy friend for lunch. And I did a lot of cycling with my son in the beautiful hills north of San Francisco and Oakland.
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A portrait of Euclid the Samoyed:
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On Sunday we got together with Dan for a hike with the dogs on a trail at Point Isabel, where one can let the dogs run freely. Moses gives Euclid some instructions at the start of the trail:
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Tiffany, with Euclid and Kona:
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Walking into the fog:
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Social intercourse between dogs and humans:
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Walking uphill. Euclid is overweight but he does not eat too much. Rather, he needs exercise like this:
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After the hike, the dogs were both quite muddy, so we took them to a dog wash adjacent to a pet shop:
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An emergency button to close the door in case a dog escapes from his bath:
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Washing Euclid is a lot more work than washing Kona:
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Drying Kona is also a lot faster than drying Euclid:
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A final check if Euclid is sufficiently dry to enter the car:
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Afterwards, we went for lunch at a place in Berkeley where we could sit outside. We were not the only guests with a dog:
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My son and daughter-in-law posing for an informal portrait:
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Back in Moses’s house, the cats hang out in their cat tree. Jasmine has a nice bushy tail:
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Jasmine looking at me:
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We went for lunch at a modest Mexican restaurant in El Cerrito:
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The restaurant may have been modest but the food was fantastic, like this stuffed pepper:
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My wife is an avid golfer, and our son had done some research and picked a golf course that he thought would be interesting for her to play. It is called Tilden Park Golf Course, and has a very different, hilly, topography than the courses where she plays here in Alicante:
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Tilden is a public course, and the cost to play is not excessive, around $130 for 18 holes, including cart and rental of clubs (albeit not very good ones according to my wife). I played caddie for the first 9 holes. Here, she takes a practice swing:
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Teeing off:
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In flight:
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Back home, Moses gets some love from Jasmine, with Watson looking on:
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The cats at play:
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I had the pleasure of accompanying Moses and Myrela on a visit to the vet for a routine check of the two cats and the dog. Here we are in the waiting room:
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The vet’s assistant takes some basic information while Jasmine assesses the situation:
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Then it is Watson’s turn:
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And then Euclid’s temperature being measured. He takes it all in stride:
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One of the joys of travelling is to meet fellow photo enthusiasts. On the Olympus list there is a gentleman called Moose who is an expert in post-processing. Many times he has reacted to a photo I have posted by proposing a version with his adjustments, and more often than not, his version is superior to mine. He lives in the Bay Area, so we arranged to meet for lunch in Albany, the town just south of El Cerrito. I took the bus to Albany and walked around a bit before meeting Moose. A billboard of the kind one does not see in many other countries:
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More typical Bay Area signs. Many shops and service providers have this type of progressive signs in their windows:
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Finally I walked to the restaurant that Moose had chosen, called 5 Tacos and Beers (in reality they had many more than 5 different beers, to my delight), and shared an excellent lunch and even better conversation with Moose:
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Another hike with Euclid, at Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park in Oakland. We wanted to see the redwoods, and this was a much more accessible option than the famous John Muir Woods where you have to reserve and fight your way through hordes of visitors. Here, the trees were just as impressive:
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We met two nice ladies with a Maine Coon cat. They told us he weighed 20 pounds:
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A much needed drink of water:
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Walking back to the car:
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Afterwards, we were going to Dan’s house for dinner. Before entering, we cleaned Euclid’s paws:
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Dan’s wife Tiffany is a delightful person, and so is their doggie Kona:
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A portrait of Kona:
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A portrait of Ben:
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Sunday was our last day in California, and in the morning we went on yet another hike with the dogs, to a place called The Bulb (officially: Albany Bulb), a former landfill now transformed into a wonderful natural space with lots of outdoor art:
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At one point, Euclid ran away to the beach, and Moses had to retrieve him:
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Posing I:
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Posing II:
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Before driving to the airport for our flight home, we went for lunch at a Korean restaurant in El Cerrito. This is the kind of food we don’t have in Alicante:
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A hot soup is improved with a raw egg:
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More pork bellies for me, tasty and less stinky than the Chinese ones last week:
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Later in the afternoon, we drove to San Francisco airport, returned our rental car and flew to Barcelona. After 11 hours’ flight, we had a 5-hour layover in Barcelona. I tried to pass the time by looking at the other travellers:
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My wife just wanted to nap:
