some pictures from California

August 24, 2003 · Comments

I just went through the 85 or so shots I took in California, and selected some semi-interesting ones to post. I’ll put them in an extended entry so (hopefully, if I set the plug-in and XML file correctly) they won’t bog down those that read through an aggregator unless they want to click on the extended link below.

The first day, we spent the afternoon in Laguna Beach where I bought a Rita Asfour print that I fell in love with. Here’s a shot of Dana Point, a beautiful beach near Laguna. This was our introduction to California.

The next day, we went to California Adventure. This is me in front of a fountain near the entrance to the park. Eric and I loved the way the natural light played off the sun sculpture. Every time we passed by it, it looked different.

The back part of the park is called “Paradise Pier” and it is supposed to be like an old amusement park. It is a lot like Rye Playland or Coney Island. I even won some prizes on the midway! This is where the big screaming roller coaster is. Eric said it was one of the best he has ever been on.

The next day we went to the Sony lot with my friend. This the Columbia Pictures building, just inside. Looking over my pictures, I wish I had taken more at the studio but I didn’t want to embarrass the person I was with by looking *too* touristy, although she said she didn’t mind.

We were supposed to see Jeopardy that afternoon, but we cancelled our tickets because we were afraid the taping wouldn’t get done by the time Eric had to give his speech that evening. He posed in front of the studio anyway.

Speak of his speech, it went very well. He presented to the Product Developers & Managers Association of Southern California, at UC Irvine. I took pictures, here’s one:

Wednesday, we hopped a JetBlue flight from Long Beach to Oakland airport. We ended up waiting over an hour for the rental car, and then had that bad experience with the hotel so the first 24 hours in San Francisco weren’t wonderful. But then we moved hotels and did the 49 mile tour and things got a lot better. This was my first time in San Francisco. It really is a beautiful city. I wasn’t prepared for how mild the weather was. It was downright chilly for August.

Here’s Eric posing in front of the Golden Gate bridge:

While on our driving tour, we stopped for lunch at the Beach Chalet restaurant, right alongside the Pacific Ocean. We never would have known about this place if not for the tour. It was a very nice lunch. The restaurant is on the 2nd floor. The main floor is the Golden Gate Park Visitor’s Center featuring wall murals by Lucien Labault. The murals depict San Francisco during the depression era:

Looking over my pictures, I took a lot of San Francisco streets. The hills are amazing. I loved the character of the buildings and the mix of architectural styles and cultures. If I didn’t live here, I think northern California is the only other place in the country I would want to live.

This is a shot of Lombard street, up towards the “crooked” part. We did go down it, but it was at night and Eric’s cousin was driving.

We rode a cable car, which broke down and had to be pushed along to the repair station. I took this while we were waiting for a different car to return us to the Powell Street drop off.

And finally, this is “the rock.” Alcatraz prison. It’s a big tourist thing. We did take a boat tour around the bay, but we didn’t tour the prison. Even if we wanted to, there was a 3 day wait for tickets. This was as close as we got:

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