It's an elk's life

Ended up feeling a bit worse for wear on Saturday, perhaps after having drunk a little too much wine (oops!), so didn’t do a huge amount. Went to “Target”, a chain of huge stores which sells everything, and bought a few things for the apartment, including a rug and a (very cheap) footstool. In the evening we went out for a gorgeous meal at a little place on Fillmore Street, “La Méditerranée”. I chose to go there because they have pledged to make a very generous food donation to the event I’m helping to plan at Shanti. The food was delicious – imagine North African/Greek/Middle Eastern tapas – and not expensive. The rest of the city was celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, though – revellers in green with silly hats and shamrocks were everywhere! I couldn’t believe it – it’s not as if it’s New York, after all.

On Sunday, we headed up to the northern end of Point Reyes. We set out on a hike to Tomales Point, and soon passed a sign warning that mountain lions were “regularly” sighted there – oh, good grief! So I went back for my hiking pole with its sharp end and put some rocks in my pocket! I’m sure people think I’m ridiculous, but these things are the size of leopards and can drag prey up to seven times their own body weight. Anyway, it was a nice walk out towards the point, which is a reserve for Tule elk, large deer-like creatures. We saw quite a few, but only females and babies, so none of them had the characteristic big antlers. The landscape was quite Scottish, and indeed must have struck the early settlers as such, because there is a little community called Inverness there. However, on our return hike back to the car, the only good view we got was of the inside of a cloud! It was really quite weird, hearing the surf crashing below and not being able to see it. We then went to a little state reserve there for another walk and a view of the inlet, which marks the position of the San Andreas fault, but the weather didn’t improve until we got in our car and headed south, where it changed back to glorious sunshine within a few miles. It seems the whole area is made up of micro-climates! That evening we dined in the fascinating village of Bolinas, at a café we had visited for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Delicious food, lovely atmosphere and really cheap. The ladies of the village were out with their “Stop the War” placards – admirable, but a bit like preaching to the converted in super-liberal, hippy Bolinas.

Jon has just booked our trip to Hawaii (hurrah!) – we’re going on 22nd April for a week, so I’ll be there on my birthday. I’d really like to do a helicopter trip, but a helicopter crash there, which killed a man from Oakland (just across the bay) has just been in the news, so now I’m not so sure! We’re also going to sign up for the famous “Bay to Breakers” run. This is a 12K (7.5 mile) run from the eastern side of the city (the “Bay”) across the middle to the ocean (“Breakers”). Apparently people often dress up in seventies gear to run it – not sure why! You do get some serious athletes, though – last year’s top four were all Kenyans who finished in under forty minutes. My time will be at least double that!