Life :: San Francisco

I left my heart...

Second part of the trip involved a blitz visit to San Francisco - We spent a total of 2.25 days there, in which we packed in as much as we could... I took a similar number of photos in that time, that I did with 5-6 days in Hawaii.

We arrived after midnight, and wandered around looking for food... making for an even later night... but we were up early to take in the day! We scheduled a bus tour later in the day, and spent the morning walking around China-town.

China-town

 Our bus tour took us to all the main places - past the Science Museum, the Painted Ladies, the Rainbow district, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Coit Tower, lookouts over the city, past the entrance to China-town, looking at Lombard Street, Pier 39, etc.

Painted Ladies and downtown San Francisco

From the army base side looking up at the Golden Gate Bridge. It was at this point that some other people on the tour let me borrow their camera lens... this beast was a 400-700mm or so... And boy, I could zoom right in on a rivet at the top of the bridge from the parking lot here... It was amazing... and I want one.

Golden Gate Bridge

 

 From the other side of the bridge, in the hills, looking down towards the Golden Gate Park and Army Base

From the other side of the bridge

The next day we hopped the boat to visit Alcatraz - one of the main places I HAD to vist... there was no turning back, or not getting on that boat I tell you - I made sure everyone knew the time, and that we would be there plenty early!

And I could have spent all day there taking photos...

Something about old broken down buildings really intrigues me... One of the old houses at Alcatraz

Looking down at some gardens at Alcatraz

Looking up from the docks at Alcatraz

 In honour of our last full day of vacation, dad took us out for a true seafood dinner at Pier 39!

Pier 39

 And we finished the day taking in the light show on the Bay Bridge (which actually wasn't that impressive. Haha). It was simple white lights in succession, only visible from one side of the bridge, that was put up to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the opening of the bridge. The amount that everyone talked about it, I would have thought it to be a little more exciting...

Light show on the Bay Bridge

Life :: Hawaii

Being done school, finally means having a summer of fun. For me, this meant going on vacation with my parents - hey! they paid, how could I say no!? This year, our vacation was done in two parts - 5 days in Hawaii, followed by 2.5 in San Francisco...

We stayed on the big island - settled ourselves in Kona, and travelled. I loved it - they hated it... It wasn't very commercial, and was almost run down - the main street of Kona had fabulous shops, and tons of quaint little restaurants, however, as soon as you ventured off the main trail (ie as far as the next store behind in the little strip mall), everything was closed, boarded up, and eerie. I hate commercial and super touristy, so it didn't bother me at all...

Black Sand beach - lava rock portion

The first day we went on a 'round the island' tour... 12 hours of being stuck on a bus... It definitely wasn't the best day, but gave us some good bearings and other things we wanted to see.



Lava Tube walk

 Day Two was heading to the far side of the island to go rafting down an aqueduct...

Floatin' along...

 

Loved this place...

On the way back, we found another lava tube that dad and I explored...

Day Three, we headed over to the far side of the island - back to the lush rainforesty side - and dad and I did the one thing I wanted to do...  ZIPLINING!!



Main street of Kona looking out at the ocean

Dad being a kid at heart

Sunset on the beach

Day Four we snorkeled! The activity dad wanted to do (although neither mom nor I could say no...)

Captain Cooks Monument

Who wouldn't want to snorkel in that water!

The last day was spent kicking around Kona - visiting some beaches, driving around, hitting up some markets, etc.

Friend I found at the market...

Lava tubes ending in the ocean - gaping holes that suck water from all around...

Wouldn't want to walk that trail like the kings did...

 

Air Force One?

General photos I love...

 

 

Life :: Lac Le Jeune Drive

Theres one thing Christine and I always try to do when we're together. No matter if it's home, or elsewhere, we always pull out our cameras (or at least one of us does), and take photos of wherever we decide. Normally that involves a trip for tea, a drive, and then photos of whatever we see. Sometimes you can add in playing with camera settings and lighting, falling into a snow bank, or tresspassing... but those last ones we're not gonna talk about (and didn't happen on this trip...)

Not exactly what you expect to find on a dead tree...

 The day wasn't supposed to be great - we were expecting some rain, and wind... but when we got up above the city, everything seemed to clear up on us...

And we managed to find the small ray of sunshine.

Some nice redheads watching us...

It may be the end of March, but of course theres still snow at Lac Le Jeune.



... some at least.

Upon driving back into town, it began raining and the wind picked up - not much, but it was nice to know we dodged it a little...

Pets :: Pioneer Park Walk With the Girls

It's not very often you get a group of girls and their dogs (or not) together... but when you do, it's always fun. This sunny Easter weekend, we opted to meet up at the local dog-friendly beach, and go for a walk around. It was a prime time to meet little Mei, and enjoy some quality time of friends together outside of class and work.

Blue running along the beach to find his friends

Two things Scrappy Doo loves - water and tennis balls. :)

Blue and Rosie running through the river

Handsome Scrappy Doo...

Rosie and Blue playing in the sand.

Life :: Sofia's 3rd Birthday

Where else do you take a 3 year old on her birthday but to the most magical place ever?!
Okay... so maybe we couldn't afford that... and what fun would that be without your friends... and I may be slightly biased (but more on that later)...

But we did take her to her favorite place ever! A birthday at the local Wildlife Park, with her very own encounter, and a nice quiet day to see the animals...

Kylie, Sofia, Cara, and Leo

Leo the long eared owl

Princess Birthday!!

Can't go that far and not ride the train...

My favorite... I LOVE Barred Owls!

For a March day, it was cold, and cloudy. It made for good animal viewing, but no one wanted to be out in the blustery weather for long... thus, we kept our visit short and to the front half of the park...

Life :: Sledding

In our program, there's a small chance that you can actually have any sort of social life/job. It doesn't matter who you're with, or when it is, but chances are, there is probably some assignment, project, or quiz that you should be working on instead. Thus, in between crazy weeks of something due each week, we opted to take time for ourselves. This could be seeing my horse, going out for dinner with your classmates, the odd chance you hit the bar, a movie, or just generally enjoying eachothers company outside of the stresses of school.

Today, that meant going sledding together!

The gang, post sledding - pre coffee. :)