Slacking

Somehow its been almost 2 months since I last blogged anything. Oops. Right after my last post Josh and I got the flu and felt like crap for almost 2 weeks, and then my dad came to visit for 10 days. Besides that we haven't had much going on.

While my dad was here we went to the California Academy of Sciences. Its such an incredible place from the sustainable design of the building to the exhibits. I had intended to take tons of photos but I was too busy reading and looking around to take many shots. Here are the few I did take ...

This is the Rainforests of the World exhibit. The rain forest is in the middle and then there's a ramp that winds its way upwards around the outside of the plants and trees and as you go upwards you see what the plant life looks like from the rain forest floor to the tops of the trees. There were also displays with snakes / lizards / frogs that would typically be found in a rain forest. It was a really cool exhibit. And so hot and humid. I could have done without that part but I guess they needed to make it realistic :-)



Up at the top there were a ton of birds and butterflies flying around. This is the only photo I snapped inside the exhibit because my lens (and glasses - how embarrassing) were totally fogged up.



They have a pretty big aquarium section and I always find myself drawn to the pretty colors.







I think my favorite exhibit was the one about Climate Change. I work hard to keep my carbon footprint low, we try to eat responsibly (local, sustainable, little meat, etc.), recycle like crazy etc. etc. so I was all over this exhibit.

Josh and I both really liked this quote:



It should be easy to read but just in case it isn't, it says "climate is an angry beast and we are poking at it with sticks."

They had this thing where you could estimate your carbon footprint ...



... not too bad but we could do better!

I thought this was an interesting fact:



There was an area where kids could write their ideas and it was fun to read them.



These were all over and the reason I took a picture is because I liked how the 'trash' is labelled 'landfill.' I think everyone would recycle and compost more if they thought about where their trash landed up.



Just before we left we walked through a small Antarctica exhibit and saw this cute little (stuffed) guy - we decided he was the cutest thing we'd seen all day so I had to snap a pic.



I wish I'd taken more photos - I guess I'll have to go back!


Another day we headed to the beach with my Dad. We'd had so much rain while he was here that we had to take advantage of the one sunny day he had. We were surprised to find what looked like a whale carcass in the sand.



Here's one with my dad in it for scale. He is well over 6 feet tall so you can see how big it is.



When we got home we looked it up and learned that back in October a female blue whale and her male fetus washed up on the beach after the mother was struck by a boat. It sounds like the fetus was aborted in the ocean after the mother died and then they washed up together. The mother wasn't there anymore (probably got washed back out to sea) and all that's left is the baby's rotting carcass. Very, very sad. We found some pictures and video and its just amazing how big the mother was. I'm glad she wasn't there anymore when we went because I probably would have cried.

Okay now I have to post a more cheery photo so this post doesn't end on a depressing note. My dad and I love jigsaw puzzles (much to Josh's disgust) and we did three 1000 piece puzzles while he was here. We worked on them at the dinner table and the dogs desperately wanted to be included so we pulled up a chair for them and they happily sat there and watched. They are weird but incredibly dear.

The beach

As I mentioned before, we packed up the car and headed to the beach on Josh's birthday. The water is far too cold for swimming but we figured Paul should at least dip his toes in the Pacific Ocean. We picked a pretty obscure beach so that it wouldn't be crowded and we could let the dogs off leash for some fun.

My brother developed a bit of an addiction to Chipotle burritos while he was here so he asked me what he had to do to get a free burrito out of me. I told him he had to fully submerge in the freezing water. He quickly agreed and then we told him the coast off San Francisco is a Great White shark breeding ground so he shouldn't go very deep, just in case. If it was me I would have declined the bargain after hearing about the sharks but apparently the lure of the burrito was too much for Paul!


Zeke was not happy that Paul was heading in without him and he got especially upset when Paul went under water. Zoey didnt seem to be concerned at all.


"Get me outta here!"


Here's Paul being dragged into the water by Zeke. It was so funny because he'd run in and then as soon as the waves broke in his face he'd turn around and bolt out with this scared look on his face. Then he'd go back and repeat the cycle. It was hilarious!




Exploring on the rocks.









Zoey didnt like the water quite as much as Zeke. This was her first time at the beach and when we let them off leash she bolted in after Zeke, accidentally went underwater and resurfaced with a horrified look on her face, and then didn't want to go in after that. Poor little thing :-(


Josh found this stinky crab skeleton and of course the dogs wanted to eat it. Dogs are pretty disgusting.













The dogs had the best time and we had so much fun watching them. I probably posted way too many dog photos but I couldn't help myself - I just love those 2 so much!

It was a fun couple of hours at the beach - we should really go more often!

Alcatraz

My brother Paul was just here visiting for 10 days so I will be doing a few posts to share the photos I took while he was here. Its always fun when people come visit because I get to be a tourist in my own town!

Our first outing was to Alcatraz. This was actually my 4th time going, but I hadn't been in 5 years so I didn't mind going again. Its a pretty fun trip: you take a ferry out to the island, walk up a steep hill to the to the cell house (not so fun), follow an audio tour around the prison, and then get the ferry back to San Francisco.



View of San Francisco as we headed out on the ferry.



The Golden Gate bridge gets all the fame but this bridge (the Bay Bridge) is my favorite. Its super long - this is only half of it! - and its a double decker so you use the top deck to drive into the city and the bottom deck to leave. At night it looks so pretty all lit up.



That red and yellow boat was doing speed boat tours around the bay. I guess if you're into speed it would be fun but it looked like a recipe for sea sickness to me.



Approaching Alcatraz. It looks like a boat!



Buildings at the dock.



I loved this old building that we passed on our walk up to the cellhouse.



Another old building we passed.



You enter the cellhouse through the shower room. The thought of showering in front of so many people is so unappealing!



The cells are so small - imagine spending most of your day in that tiny space!







Prisoners!



The view of San Francisco out of a small cloudy window.



Inside the library.



The last menu.



The eerie dining hall!



Another view of San Francisco - its just close enough to be tempting!



View of the cellhouse from the recreation yard. I know it doesn't look like it but you wouldn't believe how windy and cold it was out there. We joked that people were probably intentionally bad so that they didn't earn time out there because it was miserable!





On our way back to San Francisco!