California Comeback

Monday, November 25, 2013

Lagunitas Brewery

There are a surprisingly large number of breweries in Northern California, and we've enjoyed visiting a number of them whenever possible. Lagunitas, at less than an hour away, was calling our name. A few weeks ago we made up an excuse for a visit.

A hike in nearby Novato gave us an excuse, and 5 miles later, we walked into the Lagunitas outdoor patio.

We ordered a few samplers and got to try a variety of their beers. It was a fun and relaxing afternoon!

Next time we'll plan ahead and attend a tour.

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Mount Burdell Hike

A few weekends back we were looking for a good hiking trail North towards Petaluma so that we could make a visit to the Lagunitas Brewery in the afternoon.

A quick search brought up Mount Burdell in Novato, and we hit the road. It is pretty terrain up there. The paths weren't marked perfectly, and so our hike was a bit more uphill than we had anticipated, but it was a great workout.

The blue skies were beautiful.

Aside from plenty of hawks and buzzards, the only other wildlife we came across was this guy!

Not dangerous. Gave me goosebumps nevertheless.

Beautiful day!

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

City at Low Light

I recently received a new camera lens for my birthday (!), and I have been studying up to learn the tricks to take awesome photos at low light.

In the mean time, these photos below are all with my phone--pardon the grain. They were taken on morning runs and evening walks, when the city is sparkling at low light. These are my favorite times of day.

On the way TO the grocery store:

And on the way FROM the grocery store:

Thursday, October 31, 2013

SF Halloween

For the past two years, I have shared San Francisco's elaborate Halloween decorations (here and here)--people go all out! There even seems to be a contest in my office building where offices decorate their suite doors.

Enjoy!