Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

I can't wait to see you this morning (SURPRISE!)

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Last Mother's Day

Montara Mountain - Pacifica Hike

Saturday afternoon marked the end of our HOT San Francisco weather.  Winds blew in cooler temps and clouds, and Sunday morning we even got rained on while heading to brunch.  The rain was, thankfully, short-lived, and the afternoon brought sunny but much cooler weather with lots of wind.  

I had read about Montara Mountain in Pacifica's McNee Ranch State Park, which rises almost 2000 feet from the beach, and reviews claimed it is a good hike for less-than-clear days.  So after brunch (at Park Tavern in North Beach, btw, which was really good!), we headed south 20 miles to Pacifica. 

Montara Mountain has four different trial heads; we chose Gray Whale Cove State Beach, with easy parking and access from Highway 1 and nice views of the ocean on the hike up to the summit.

We chose a combination of routes, with a longer climb to the summit (the summit's on the far right in the map above), and a descent made shorter by a very steep short-cut.  Our total was 8.2 windy miles--we were nearly blown off the mountain at one point.  (I think that aspect added to the adventure, but W wasn't so convinced.)

The trail we took wound around the bluffs for a couple of miles before turning steep:

This is when the wind really started to pick up, too!

But the views were incredible--I was already thinking of a return trip when the air was a bit more clear and the wind more calm.

Two hours in, we reached the summit, and we could see views North past San Francisco to Marin, South past Half Moon Bay to Pescadero, and East towards the East Bay and airport.  

We couldn't stay on the summit of Montara Mountain for too long or we would have been blown off of it,  so we took a few self-portraits and scrambled down the trail.  

The descent was much faster, partially due to a short-cut in the trail, and we finished with nice lighting over Gray Whale Cove as we got near our car.

We both agree on a calmer day, we would love to do this hike again (and bring friends next time!)

Another cool city adventure...our move to the Bay Area just over 18 months ago was exactly the right move for us!

2012 Photobooks

In mid-February two packages arrived on our doorstep that I had been carefully tracking.  I was so excited for their arrival.

In the packages were these two photo books I had designed in the beginning of 2013. 

Since 2009 I have accumulated the best photos of the year and put together an annual photo album, and I have done the same for large trips we've taken.  Together with our wedding album and a fun trash-the-dress photo book, we have a nice collection of hard copy photography from our 3.5 years of marriage.  

It is satisfying to have the digital photos get used and displayed instead of dropping into the dark abyss of my hard drive never to be seen again.

I've used MyPublisher for all the annual and vacation books, for a consistent look.  They have been a pretty decent company to work with for the most part, though I can see myself switching to another company down the road if I find MP no longer meets my criteria or high expectations for the printing.  But for $45 including shipping, these are a perfect way to capture the memories on paper for now.

As I have mentioned in the past, this is my project at the end of December into January, and once I have designed the books, I wait until a coupon comes around and submit my order.  The right coupon (for free extra pages beyond their standard 20) popped up right before Valentine's Day, so I sent off my order (and received these on Valentine's Day, which made for a fun time to reminisce on our past year.)

Good print quality, good prices (when I use the coupon!), and great memories.  I'm already a little excited to think about what our photo book will look like from our upcoming trip!

Who Would Guess

Who would ever guess I'd ever see this sight looking out on my balcony in San Francisco?!?!

It's hot!
Happy Friday--have a great weekend!

Daybreak at Crissy Field

Happy May!

These photos are from a while back...during a morning training run before my race.  And even though they were taken with my phone, I think they capture a pretty daybreak by the bay.

Have a great Wednesday.