Catherine and Karen Visit California

This week, my friends Catherine and Karen came to visit.  It was great seeing them again.  I've come to realize there are in life a few people you can completely be yourself with, and Catherine and Karen are two of mine.

On their first full day I thought we should take advantage of the warm weather and visit Half Moon Bay.

Since it was Half Moon Bay it was in the 50s and Catherine and Karen froze but I think they had fun.






On the way back, we stopped at a glass art shop in the back of a winery and Karen did the demo to make a glass pumpkin.


























We tried to visit the tidepools at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve but it was too high a tide to see anything.  Since low tide was at 1 am that wasn't going to ever happen, so instead we climbed to the top of the bluff and took pictures of the interesting trees and scenery.

















The next day I took Catherine and Karen on a driving tour of SF.  It was mostly the 49 Mile Drive but we made detours to see the painted ladies at Alamo Square (aka "the Full House houses") and the Victorian on Broderick that was used for the Full House exteriors.


























We also walked up and down Lombard, which let us take lots of pictures and (the main point) meant I didn't have to drive down the curviest street in the world (or US, or city, or whatever Lombard is known for).







Near the end of the drive, we rounded the corner and I uttered a large understatement that  Catherine and Karen mocked for the rest of the trip: "Well, there's something."











Yes, turns out the Palace of Fine Arts really is something. With the palisades and the lake it was very beautiful.  I attribute my complete ignorance of its existence to locals' apathy.











Catherine and Karen tried to get a shot of Catherine holding one of the egg things.
















With moderate success.










The last thing we saw on the tour was the Sutros Bath ruins.  Here are Catherine and Karen looking out to the Pacific.












The next day we headed over the Golden Gate to see the Bay Model and Muir Woods.

We tried to take pictures at the northern side of the Golden Gate bridge but it was too windy.  My hair got remarkable mileage, though.








Muir Woods was calm and shady beneath the redwoods.  We walked on an easy trail and played "spot the hipster" and "guess the ethnicity of these children".

































On their last day we could have gone to Santa Cruz but instead decided to hang around home.  Mostly we lazed around, watched TV, and ate things, but we also went to Smart and Final because Catherine hadn't been to a restaurant supply store before, and went for a walk on the Bay Trail.  Because we're all engineers we detoured off the trail to see if a large structure across the street was the capture plant for the landfill's methane, but we couldn't tell.

What better way to end a trip than watching the sunset over the Bay?