California's Tri-City

I have been to the top of Berkeley. And I have seen friends from Oberlin I haven't seen in a long time! Starting with a sneak-paparazzi attack on Katie Mellman, it was nice hanging out with her and getting to know just how awesome and changing her life is! From New Zealand months to dolphin and turtle intuitive eyesight, I am constantly jawdropping and laughing. At least for all my travels now I have her anti-advice off going up when in doubt!
Down the list of people we go, to a swinging birthday party for Sarah Rizik-Baer, where we met the likes of Louisa LeMauviel (I owe you a late night drive!), Naomi, B-Lowe, Quentin Jones, and so on! It's nice to see that the greater San Francisco area can house so many great people! I hope they take advantage of that! I sure hope I did, in the measly but wonderful three days I had to roam here! I actually grew to like the windy sun days in SF where you are frequently unzipping and zipping your outer layer to adjust your comfort level! Here's a shot of people having fun. Don't let their listening faces fool you! They're having a blast! Cuba is probably reciting Jay-Z's lines with insight and some good cooking flavor!In later news, twas a special prize I was awarded by the mayor of funtown to greet and escourt my sister and her fiance from the Oakland Airport as they made a life-changing move to Berkeley, CA. Berkeley has a lot going for it and doesn't seem to slip under the shadow of SF, at least in my view. In fact, quite the contrary! San Francisco ofttimes will be shadowed by the Berkeley sunlight that doesn't make it through San Fran's impervious cloud system! Why, even tonight, on the fourth of July, the cloud systems were doing what they could to shadow fireworks! But the clouds don't get these two down. O contrare! This was the first thing we saw as we snapped a picture from the car window of these two wildcats! Wish them luck in their triathlons!
To compare, apparently we stayed happy the entire visit because here is the last thing the camera saw of us together:One of the highlights of tonight - July 4, 2008 - was seeing my cousin, Christopher. He looks like my brother! It was great to catch up and reconnect after what? Five years? More? That's too long! Maybe he'll just have to visit us in Copper-land, Chile! By maybe, of course I mean indubitably. Really, it was nice to seem him on two good feet, broadening himself bit by bit!
It's been three days in Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco, California. We've walked a lot. Hills: dirt hills, under construction hills, sidewalk hills, meandering hills, up hills, down hills. You name it! Although, I do love hills if not for the great benefit of a view at the top. That's part of the joy of climbing anything, really. It makes the effort worthwhile. Here's a lovely picture of Alisa hiking in the bleach-blonde hills that I adore, if I do say so myself! And I do!
We have repacked our car, purchased Crepe mix in hopes of having a luxury camping breakfast experience as long as some local stores will allow us to buy eggs in pairs, relaxed, tried and thus far failed to fix a clogged shower drain, made a killer, radical, superb trail mix, if I do say so myself. Some people love cooking. I enjoy cooking but I really enjoy making a great trail mix, too. It's quick, fun, and lasts a long time! Maybe I will take friends' advice and sell it as some point!

In the meantime, though, I look forward to a mix of trails in JTree at 4pm tomorrow, where I'll meet my long lost Maine School of Science and Mathematics (MSSM) buddy, Kevin Wilcox. He's busting out the big guns to meet us there for a few days off from work, on for fun!

I just hope the temperature in Joshua Tree National Park will be much less than the record high of 119 and much closer to 79 degrees Fahrenheit. Either way, for the pure enjoyment of Shawn Larson, the head routesetter and hefty biker at Stone Gardens, I will bring an egg for the sole purpose of cracking it open on a rock to see if it will fry in the sun. And there will be a picture of it.

So stay tuned!

-Your Day 5? Landescaper, N8