City Walks SF #42: Glen Canyon

I love Glen Canyon! I know have blogged about this before, but I can't find it in my archives. This time we went here for the actual city walks. I mean really, can you believe these pictures were taken right in the middle of the City?

City Walks SF #47: Bernal Heights

Here's another area of town we had never been to before. Bernal Heights Park was very nice - filled with joggers and dog-walkers, and with great city views. I really enjoyed it. Bernal Heights is also a cute little neighborhood with shops, restaurants, and bakeries. There are so many little streets like this sprinkled throughout the City, right in the middle of residential areas - I love it.

City Walks SF #48: Potrero Hill

This is an interesting residential area with great views of downtown, but it is oh-so-remote from good public transit. We walked by the Anchor Brewery, but they have no tap room here, and tours are so limited you have to take vacation from work to get one.



We also saw the real curviest street in San Francisco. Not as picturesque or as close to other things as it's famous counterpart, Lombard Street.

City Walks SF #49: South Park and the Embarcadero

Ah, we did this walk so long ago that I have forgotten so much. For some reason this walk involved a chain - Gordon Biersch, but since Matt and I so rarely turn down beer, we stopped in anyway.

We also took a short walk along the bay, stopped by AT&t Park and then headed into this strange area called South Park. Situated smack in the middle of an industrial area, this is an oval-shaped green area with a playground, cafes, and commercial spaces for the creative types. Strangely, it's just a block or so from Matt's office and we had never seen it before.

Happy Holidays

Hello blog friends!

Matt and I have been busy moving and also having some great adventures.

In reverse order, because that's how I uploaded the pictures and now I am lazy:

On Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, after being scared out of Yosemite early by snow that the Echo was not good at driving through, we stopped at the Cosumnes River Preserve near Sacramento.



People like to bird here:



These trees were nice enough to shade me from ridiculously high winds that literally blew me around:



We enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner at the Yosemite Lodge food court, where I partook of tofurkey and vegan dressing, along with mashed potatoes, yams, and pie. We also went ice skating that night. On Friday morning we took a phenomenal 10 mile, 3200 foot hike up to Glacier Point. You can see more pictures of this hike on Facebook:



But before we got to Yosemite, we woke up early Thanksgiving morning and ran a 5 mile turkey trot!





Karen and Bernie had been in town for the holiday to see Bernie's family, so we got to enjoy Tyler for a short time:



The weekend before Thanksgiving, we drove down to Ventura for a friend's wedding. On the way home, we enjoyed a sunset along the Pacific Coast Highway.







Also along the PCH, we found seals super close up at Morro Bay:



And also checked out the rock:



And a bit of OHV-free beach near Pismo:



Along with beautiful Monarch butterflies!



Here's me with the groom:



And my husband:



In front of the beautiful view from our hotel room (this is not how I pictured Oxnard):



And two weekends before that we were back in Arizona (sadly for a funeral), but also got to see the nephew:



And of course before that (and still), we were moving into our new apartment with this beautiful backyard garden:



And that was the last month of my life in reverse!

Thank You for All Your Support!

I finished!

This has been an amazing season for me. With all your generous contributions, I raised over $2800 and counting for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! At last night's inspiration dinner, we had a fabulous speaker who is in remission from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (and whose parents both are Hodgkin's lymphoma survivors!). She talked about how sometimes patients need more than just moral support - they actually have real needs. LLS was able to fill those needs for her by providing $1,000 to help with her copayments and other medical bills. She was just out of college and only had a major medical plan because her employer did not offer health benefits. She said to always remember that when you make a donation or raise money, it is not going to a faceless organization. It is actually going to one person, and it is meeting that person's needs. So rest assured that your generous contributions are making a difference in the life of a blood cancer patient.

Around 5,000 TNTers competed in the Nike Women's Marathon today, together raising the equivalent of $500,000 per mile. And you folks made that happen!

Of course, I have gotten something out of this as well. I have met many inspirational cancer survivors, family members, and even patients undergoing treatment. I have gone from running 0 miles to running 13.1 miles! But of course I had my setbacks. Between my sprained ankle at the end of August and my bout with h1n1 at the end of September, my training was less than adequate. I have not run more than 3 miles at once in over six weeks, and I had never run more than 6 miles in my life! Because of my illness I didn't even go to the gym for nearly 2 weeks.

But I finished! And I did it, I think, in approximately 11 minutes per mile, which is just a bit slower than the pace I was hoping for pre-injury and -illness. And while I am exhausted now, it was a fabulous experience! A couple of weeks ago I was not even sure I could finish, and this morning I was not even sure I could run the whole thing. But I did it, thanks to all your support. I did not want to let my donors down!

And I owe special thanks to my wonderful husband who supported me during training, waited on me when I sprained my ankle and while I was sick, and showed up on the race course at 8 miles and at the finish line while still under the weather.

Thank you again for all your support and your generous donations to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

(And just to show that it wasn't all fun and games when I finished the race, I'm even letting you see this picture.)

The Happiest Place on Earth

(Photo taken by Bernie)

I never told you about Disneyland! I will do so now so I can think about happier times before h1n1 visited our little household.

We went to Disneyland for Matt's 30th birthday, because, well, Disneyland is free on your birthday and I have been wanting to go there for years. I feel bad that Matt did this for me, but he is a grown man and I can't stop him. At least he enjoyed spending time with the children!

My favorite rides were Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, the Jungle Cruise, and Tom Sawyer's Pirate Island. The first two are probably obvious - the closest thing to roller coasters and other real amusement park rides. The Jungle Cruise is funny because of all the ridiculous jokes cracked by the guide, and of course it was more funny because Bernie thought it was so hilarious. Some of the content is rather offensive and seems a bit racist though... Tyler also thoroughly enjoyed the ride although he was standing up at the beginning of it (with the assistance of Uncle Matt) and got into a bit of trouble with the guide.

I can't even remember what the island is really called, but I think it has something to do with Tom Sawyer. I enjoyed this because I am basically 5. There are "caves" to explore, things to climb, shade trees, fun bridges, and all sorts of other things to explore. I could have stayed longer, but alas, the real children and their parents had already grown tired of it. Also by that time my ankle was about the size of an orange...

Anyway, yay for Disneyland! We also had fun at the beach and pool with even more friends, and the Dodgers came was a raucous delight.

Now if only the fires hadn't existed and my ankle hadn't been destroyed, the weekend would have been even more fabulous.