Happy New Year!
Saw the New Year in at a party nearby in North Beach. We went up on the roof to watch the fireworks at midnight, which were spectacular over the skyscrapers of the Financial District. Ended up staying out until 3 a.m. – what were we doing?!
In spite of the late night, I was determined to enjoy New Year’s Day, which was lovely and sunny. Found a hike in my book, bundled Jon in the car and got him to drive me down to Pacifica, a popular surfing spot about 15 miles down the coast. Did a really good hike from there up Mount Montara. It was about 7 miles in total, leading up a valley, on to the summit and down through a pretty eucalyptus forest. Although it was a little hazy, we did enjoy views in every direction. It was easy to pick out the protruding land mass of Point Reyes, the red towers of the Golden Gate peeking up above the city, the pinnacle of Mount Diablo, some 60 miles to the east, floating above the cloud, and the blue expanse of the Pacific to the west.
We had high hopes of going skiing at the weekend, but a big storm was forecast, which scared us off, as road conditions promised to be dreadful. Friday was indeed a very stormy day. Many trees in the city had lost their branches and debris was strewn everywhere. Saturday was also blustery and wet in the morning, but after that things calmed down somewhat. We went to the cinema (Landmark at the Embarcadero, about 25 minutes’ walk away) on Saturday afternoon and saw an excellent Spanish film called The Orphanage, about … well, an orphanage, that is haunted by the ghosts of former residents.
On Sunday we managed to do our jog to the beach at Crissy Fields, which I found really tough, as I hadn’t done it for a long time. I devoted much of the afternoon to planning future weekends. We pretty much have them all mapped out until the end of April now! I also started looking into doing a trip to the Grand Canyon and thinking about a trip to Alaska that I plan to do in the Summer. Before that, we’re off to New York this coming Friday – for business and pleasure! I’m going for training, then taking an extra couple of days, and Jon’s coming with me!
We finished the weekend off at a party of a friend of a friend’s (Gami’s from Italian). It involved a game of post-Christmas White Elephant, which is where you take along a gift (something you have lying around the house and don’t really want), then swap it for another gift that someone has brought along. It’s great fun, as you also get to steal other people’s gifts! Apparently, it’s an American tradition, but definitely one that should be introduced to the UK.
More photos are available on the Fotki site: http://public.fotki.com/EllenHardwick/walks-late-dec--new/ (password: moocow)
In spite of the late night, I was determined to enjoy New Year’s Day, which was lovely and sunny. Found a hike in my book, bundled Jon in the car and got him to drive me down to Pacifica, a popular surfing spot about 15 miles down the coast. Did a really good hike from there up Mount Montara. It was about 7 miles in total, leading up a valley, on to the summit and down through a pretty eucalyptus forest. Although it was a little hazy, we did enjoy views in every direction. It was easy to pick out the protruding land mass of Point Reyes, the red towers of the Golden Gate peeking up above the city, the pinnacle of Mount Diablo, some 60 miles to the east, floating above the cloud, and the blue expanse of the Pacific to the west.
We had high hopes of going skiing at the weekend, but a big storm was forecast, which scared us off, as road conditions promised to be dreadful. Friday was indeed a very stormy day. Many trees in the city had lost their branches and debris was strewn everywhere. Saturday was also blustery and wet in the morning, but after that things calmed down somewhat. We went to the cinema (Landmark at the Embarcadero, about 25 minutes’ walk away) on Saturday afternoon and saw an excellent Spanish film called The Orphanage, about … well, an orphanage, that is haunted by the ghosts of former residents.
On Sunday we managed to do our jog to the beach at Crissy Fields, which I found really tough, as I hadn’t done it for a long time. I devoted much of the afternoon to planning future weekends. We pretty much have them all mapped out until the end of April now! I also started looking into doing a trip to the Grand Canyon and thinking about a trip to Alaska that I plan to do in the Summer. Before that, we’re off to New York this coming Friday – for business and pleasure! I’m going for training, then taking an extra couple of days, and Jon’s coming with me!
We finished the weekend off at a party of a friend of a friend’s (Gami’s from Italian). It involved a game of post-Christmas White Elephant, which is where you take along a gift (something you have lying around the house and don’t really want), then swap it for another gift that someone has brought along. It’s great fun, as you also get to steal other people’s gifts! Apparently, it’s an American tradition, but definitely one that should be introduced to the UK.
More photos are available on the Fotki site: http://public.fotki.com/EllenHardwick/walks-late-dec--new/ (password: moocow)
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