On Monday, March 13th, Steve, Gary and I decided to head to San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. (We wanted to also hit the Museum of the Africian Diaspora; but it was closed.)

I wanted to see 2 exhibits. The Calder exhibit and the exhibit on photographs from the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. Both exhibits were good and the earthquake exhibit is worth a visit; just for the picture of the street grid devoid of building taken from a zeppelin out over the bay. I have to find a copy of that for myself. I think my favorite find was a book in the museum that showed a picture from 1906 on the left page and a picture from 2002 on the right, taken from the same location, angle, etc.

After the museum, we crossed the street and wandered the Buena Yerba gardens and I, ofcourse, took some pictures. You can see them below.

I really want to thank Steve and Gary for being fantastic hosts and spending the weekend visiting museums, going to dinner, arguing about cosmic rays and junk DNA, etc. I really appreciate it and it made my time in San Francisco soooooooo much better. Thank you guys!

• Steve and Gary with SFMOMA in the background (it took 2 tries at this shot before Steve was happy with it)
• Steve outside of SFMOMA
• SFMOMA building from across the street
• Gary
• Gary framed by a Calder
• Brian on the stair case at SFMOMA
• Brian on the ground. I am not sure how this happened with me, the hat and the bad in line.(from Gary)
• Brian on the ground. I love the ad in the background (from Gary)

The night before, Gary and Steve convinced me that I needed to see the view of the city from Twin Peaks. It’s just up the hill after all. So on Sunday, March 12th, I had a some free time and headed up there. Gary recommended that I take an umbrella. Cracking some wise-ass comment, I said, “I had a baseball cap and should be fine”.

This really was a day only a die hard Seattle-ite could like. It started drizzling about 1 block from the house. I meandered up from Gary and Steve’s house. On the way I chatted with my parents about my Dad being kicked out a local(to them) bank for verbally abusing the staff (he really needs a hobby now that he is retired). Here is where my problems started. I crossed Market meandered up via Corbett to Gardenside and then to Parkridge. I can now see the microwave towers by the lookout up there, but no road or path. Then I spy a trail (if you want to call it that) that follows a run-off channel. I figure it cannot be worse than just bush-whacking up the hill. I took these 2 pics as I went up the trail. See, it was drizzly, and a few of the townhomes on Parkridge and beyond.

I was pretty damn wet by the time I got to the top(I am still not sure if bush-whacking would have been easier or not). Right below the radar-beach lookout at the top I got this picture of Market Street heading off to downtown.

I got some pretty funny looks as I hooved it up to the lookup out and popped up right in front of everyone’s view. I chuckled and thought, “wooosies” as a group of teenage girls covered their heads and ran for their car when the rain started again. Got a picture of the Golden Gate. Can you see it?

As I was looking for a a better way down, I noticed that I was not actually on Twin Peaks, they were farther southwest. A few more minutes of walking and look there is a real trail with like markers and everything. A hop, skip and a jump later I am on the top of Peak A. I took this picture which I really love and the one at the top of this entry. At this point it had been drizzling for pretty much 20 minutes. I was pretty soaked. I cursed my wise-ass comment and wished I had the umbrella. I turned and looked west and noticed a small clearing. By the time I made it to Peak B it had stopped raining and was sunny. Yippeee! The views just kept getting better (but all the pictures came out crappy). It was pretty nice being in the middle of a major city and having no one up on the peaks with me. For about an hour, I heard no voices and only a few cars went past below me. It was great.

Now here is where this excursion got a little out of control. From Peak B I spied a better trail that seemed to go down in the right direction. It took me down Midcrest Way and then out to Portola (out by O’Shaughnessy). Hmmm, this is probably not good, so I figure I’ll go left. A little more walking and view admiring, and, in all honesty, no really paying attention. I find myself out on Diamond Heights. The view is nice, but not any closer to Steve and Gary’s.

Luckily(as it stopped me from wandering and made me pay attention to where I was) at this point Dylan called me. He wanted to meet in a hour for some drinks. Ok, now I have to get back to the Mission in an hour. Not a problem I think. Oh and by the way, I am actually pretty dry by now. Well there is no easy way down the side of Diamond Heights, in fact there are some condo developments which make it impossible. I back tracked to Portola, down Clipper and on to Grandview Ave.

If you ever get a chance to wander this area of San Francisco, I highly recommend hitting Grandview Ave. Well it is a grand view. I got this picture. This type of shot is one of the things I love about this city.

I know this entry is just dragging, but one more story. I get to 22nd and notice another ridge off in the distance and figure I have time. So I wander down 22nd past Douglass, Eureka. This is nice little area. At the intersection of Diamond and 22nd, a women in SUV almost runs be down. No contact but I was forced to use the hood of her car to catapult me out of the way. After profuse apologies(by her) I was on my way again. Up the staircase to Collingwood. Another nice view and some great houses up there. Here is where the gods punished me for no umbrella. It started to rain. Not Seattle, drizzly rain. Real, fill the gutters rain. Only 8 blocks back to Steve and Gary’s, but I was soaked. Gary had a nice, told you so, smirk on his face smirk as he said something like, “holy crap you are wet”.

(almost done): Not only was I wet, but I was pretty late. Had to meet Dylan at 20th and Valencia in 15minutes. I dried some clothes, got changed and ran out of the house to catch a cab. Was only 10 minutes late. It was really great to see Dylan. I miss not having our periodic nights of drinking/socializing since he moved. We had the best bloody marys we have ever had at Laszlo Bar that afternoon. Worth a visit.

All and all a great day in San Francisco and I did take an umbrella out when I went to meet Dylan.

Yesterday, Steve and I went to see the deYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park. I was pretty impressed by the museum, both inside and out. The building itself is impressive. It is made out of copper and I am not sure if I will like it as much after it’s petina starts showing, but for right now I loved the texture and the way it interacted with the light throughout the day.

I was impressed by the displays and I really like the layout of the gallery and open spaces. I was surprised that they used wood as the surface for all staircases, gallery floors and some ceilings.

After the museum, Steve and I walked through the park to Haight street, where we went looking for the Pork Store (which was not there any more) and watched the cultural mish-mash created by street kids, high-end boutiques and peace/love restaurants.

We missed our bus home, so decided to get coffee. I had spied Coffee to the People earlier and could not resist going in (ie my compulsion to try new independent coffee shops no matter my level of caffine-ation). Before we left, Steve and I conversed about a number of topics, but mostly about cosmology. He continued his quest to convince me that his Little Bang theory better explained the state of the universe than the Big Bang Theory. I thought the catatonic woman next to us, was going to jump in during the part about uniform-vs-nonuniform distribution of mass post-bang.

Today I will do alittle wandering. I would like to hike up twin peaks for some pictures and then I have to meet Dylan for a late lunch. Tomorrow Steve, I and maybe Gary will be hitting SF MOMA and Museum of African Diaspora.

Here are a few of the pictures from yesterday. I was not a big fan of the pictures I took yesterday, but they atleast so the highlights.

Steve outside the deYoung
My favorite shot. Out the window on the 2nd floor
Self Portrait 1
Self Portrait 2
Steve at the Stairs
Shadow Installation
deYoung building through the trees
Art shot of the trees
Steve with the deYoung
Steve again
Tea Garden foliage

Yesterday dawned a blue bird day with; warm temps, no wind and lots of fresh snow left over the storm the day before. I decided to tele. It was a breakthrough day for me. I started on the Siberian Express and skied Siberia Bowl. I found some great powder to the right of the lift and mined it for 5 or 6 runs. It took be a little bit, but I really got the hang of skiing steep powder runs.

I spent the rest of the day trying, with various success, to perfect my form. My legs are still sore.

I did take one decent picture of the view from the top. It was a bright day and my little sd450 really could not handle it too well.

I am off the Alpine Meadows again today as they say they got 4-7inches over night. It will be slow day for me.

California has been treating me right. On Friday, I snowboarded at Mammoth with 22 inches of fresh new snow. On Monday, I skied at Heavenly with 6 inches of new snow. On Tues, I snowboarded at Alpine Meadows with 16 inches of new snow (and 6 more fell during the day)

I really liked Mammoth. I managed to stay in the trees, out of the wind and found plenty of powder. The entire upper section of the mountain was closed, so I will have to go back some day and ski in the bowls.

I did not really like Heavenly. I thought it was way over priced for the caliber of it’s terrain. It felt like I spent 1/2 of the day on lifts. I have to admit that it looks like it could be a fun place on powder day. The trees on upper portion of the california side looked amazing (but the chair to the top of the mountain was closed for most of the day). There were a number of annoyances with the mountain but the top ones were 1) No clocks anywhere on the mountain (so I almost go stuck on the wrong side of the mountain). 2) Lots of flats because of poorly placed lifts. 3) the only way from the California side to the Nevada side is a lift that is closed whenever there is high wind.

I really liked Alpine Meadows. It is big. Has very steep terrain and I got fresh face shots till my last run. All and all I loved it and if I lived here, it would be the mountain I skied at. I will probably be skiing Squaw tomorrow and then either Homewood or Norstar on thurs. Hopefully I will remember to take my camera for atleast one of those days.

Yesterday I drove from Lone Pine, Ca (near Death Valley) up to Tahoe. There was a big storm coming in and I wanted to beat it here. I had decided to ski at Kirkwood today, so when looking for a hotel I wanted something close so I did not have to contend with snow covered roads in the morning. Well, go take a look. Just try and find lodging (that does not cost +$150 a night) on the same side of Kit Carson Pass as Kirkwood. The closest is in Jackson, CA which is far away.

My map (Rand McNally), which I am increasingly unhappy with, said there was town called Kit Carson just 5 miles from Kirkwood. Nope…. Does not exist as far as I could tell. In addition, it does not have the town of Kirkwood (where the resort is located, but does exist)on it. I think

So after much driving around, I finally just went to South Lake Tahoe. I found a nice dive-y hotel called the Pine Cone Forest Motel. $45/night. Oddly I was the only person in the motel. There were 2 benefits about this motel. 1) Out of the way on the 89 towards Emerald Bay and thus quiet. 2) The Burger Lounge. A great burger joint which serves your beer in a red plastic cup. Nothing better.

I am off to Heavenly in a few minutes. Heard I could buy discount tickets at Albertsons on the Heavenly website. Well you cannot buy them anywhere near Lake Tahoe, only outside of the valley. Do you see that highlighted anywhere on this page. Oh well!

middle of the road in death valley

It was a tough decision for which picture to use above. Check out the mascot playing in Death Valley. And another. Did I choose correctly?

I have always wanted to go to Death Valley. Come on, with a name like Death Valley, I had to see it once, preferrably in the winter. I studied the map and talked to Garrett to find out what I should do. In other words I had a plan and on March 4th I attempted to execute it.

I leave Lone Pine around 8am and head into the park. I was either going to head the Raceway or possibly to “the lowest place in the U.S.”. But right from the start my plan is in trouble. As I am driving down RT190, I notice a turn off for Darwin Falls. And then I notice a pipe running along the side of the canyon. Hmmm that means there must be a spring that feeds these falls. My interest is peaked.

It is maybe 1 mile till I reach the first falls. Here is where Garrett would have been proud. I keep eyeing the area above the falls. There has to be something up there. I start looking around for a trail. There is none, but I do notice that there may be a way up the cliff on the left side of the canyon. Some scrambling, some rock climbing and some wrong choices and I am up above the first falls. Some more scrambling along the canyon wall and I find the 2nd falls. Again, I look above the falls and think, “there must be something up there”. So a little more scrambling and I find the third falls. Underneath the third falls there is a nice waist deep pool. I stripped down and take a dip. I spend the next hour or so lounging in the sun reading what the guidebook had to say about Death Valley and Lake Tahoe. It was fantastic. On the way out, I run into another guy hiking in. He tells me that there is another falls and finally the spring above the pool I stopped at. Damn!

Ok, so it is now around 1pm as I leave the trailhead. I get to Stovepipe Wells and see a sign for Mosaic Canyon. I figure what the hell, it will be a short little canyon (as the parking lot is filled with lots of cars and in National parks no one travels more than .5 miles from their car). I scan the sign at the trailhead explaining the hike and notice “1/4th of a mile”….. I should have read alittle closer. Since I believe it is only a 1/4th of a mile, I do not change and just grab some water and my camera(this means I am hiking in a tshirt and gap jeans). So I start hiking in. The beginning of the canyon is pretty impressive. And I keep hiking and hiking and hiking in. 2 miles later I come to wall of rock. I figure, “oh well, I will have to head back”. But as I turn around I notice a trail that climbs straight up one of the walls of the canyon. So I look at it and debate. Climb to see what lies above or head back and do see something else in the Valley. Again Garrett would be proud, as the desire to see what is above the rock wall wins out. I climb up the wall to the ridge line. The canyon just keeps going and going. I only go in another 1/2 mile or so. Here (and here)are a few pictures looking down the canyon towards Death Valley. On the way back, I follow a small footpath that ran along the ridge line down into the a 2nd canyon to the north. So I can offically call this a loop trip

So this little escapade takes me another 3 hours and now it is after 4pm. There is no way I will be hitting either the Raceway or “lowest point” as they are +50 miles away Oh well, will have to do it next time.

I took some other interesting photos during the hiking and while driving around.

View from the mouth of the Canyon
New format of self portrait. Taken on the center line of RT 190 in Death Valley
New format of self portrait. Taken at my personal summit inside the canyon
Route 190 in Death Valley
Exposed rock formations on a scale I have never seen
cactus 1
cactus 2
Runner Up for Journal Picture 1
Paramint Range

Mt Whitney.... who knows what is up with the horse

I spent 3 nights in Lone Pine(March 2-4). It is a nice enough small town in the hot arid valley between the eastern Sierras and Death Valley/Inyo Mountains.

The thing I found most amazing about this area is the immense wall of mountains that lie what feels like a mile to the west. I mean Mt Whitney is 14,494ft tall. Lone Pine is at an elevation of ~4000ft. That means mountains rise 10000+ ft in less than 20 miles. Pictures cannot capture the scale of this area. Part of me wants to come back, sit on top of one of the craggy peaks and see how much of the US I can see. It must feel like one wrong step and you would fall all the way to Main Street up there.

Oh and don’t ask about the horse, I have no idea. I think they sold 2nd hand clothes in the building. It must be left over from a previous owner.

As I was driving away from Phoenix this morning I had that familiar feeling of leaving people that I do not want to be apart from. I have gotten this before, usually when I travel back east.

I went to Phoenix to visit my good friends, Bryan and David and my ex, Fred. Yeah there is no skiing down here(especially this year), but it has been nearly I year since I saw David and Bryan. They have a standing brunch date with their group of friends on Sunday (Feb 26th). The entire group meets for coffee and then brunch. I snapped a bunch of other pics during brunch(Mike, Bryan and David, Joe, Bryan and David and Brian and Bryan).

I managed to get a cold before arriving so I spent the rest of the stay popping vitamins, sudafed and dayquil. I spent Monday and Tues getting caught up on things. Got my laundry done and everything re-packed. Caught up on email and sent out a bunch of postcards (although I did not get the car cleaned and damn it needs it). Fred invited me over for Dinner on Monday night and it was good to see that he is doing so well.

On Wednesday night, Bryan and David took me out for my Christmas Gift dinner. The took me out for nice french meal at Sophies. As you have been hearing me bitch out, the weather in Phoenix has been alittle hot for my taste, but it did mean we could dine outside on March 1st??? The food was great, but David’s sauce on Tues night was better than the sauce on my dish at Sophies

David left me a message this morning. Among the complaining about computer problems at work, he said, “…I wish that you lived closer so we could do this all the time….”.I do wish I lived closer too.

Yes it was 86 deg(F) here in Phoenix both yesterday and on Sunday. 86 freaking degrees!!!! I cannot believe it. I spent Sunday afternoon getting a suntan on the patio. (I had to get out of the sun as I was getting burned at one point)

I will be leaving here for California on Thurs. I was thinking of skipping Mammoth and just spending the time at Death Valley or just heading directly to Tahoe, but then I saw the forecast. They had 27 inches of snow yesterday. Forecast to have 15-20 more on Thurs-Friday. I changed my mind. I am going to Mammoth. I just may stay there for the weekend. So much for Death Valley or Yosemite!!