If You're Goooooing to Saaaan Fraaaanciscoooo, Be Sure to Wear...a Coat

The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco. -Mark Twain

We went to San Francisco last weekend for Garret's graduation from Stanford. It was my second trip, the first one being during the winter, and this time, the weather was exactly the same: COLD. Outside of the city and away from the bay, however, it warmed up and we had some nice visits to Napa Valley, Palo Alto, and the Pacific coastline.


Napa Valley






















Garret's a horse lover.






















Robert Mondavi vineyards

















St. Sattui winery had this amazing deli, where we bought an incredible amount of cheese for our pre-graduation picnic the next day.

















This geyser erupts hourly.






















Kevin makes friends with a fainting goat at the geyser park. These goats are supposed to "faint"--or fall over, I guess--when you make a loud noise! Horrifying! Luckily, these didn't. They did try to eat Kevin's shoe, though.


Graduation Day

















Garret gets hooded for earning his Ph.D. in Biochemisty.

















The proud Tripod with its two auxilary members: Nick, Kevin, Garret, me, and Ray


Alcatraz Tour

















The Alcatraz tour was really interesting. This is the island, seen from the ferry. That central building is the main cell block.






















Cell block at Alcatraz


San Francisco

















San Francisco streetcar

















Lombard St., also known as the "crookedest street in the world"

















Kevin, who is seen here experiencing the single most uncomfortable moment of his life, and I found these two "nuns" on a street corner. They were pretty fancy!

















Ray and I found an interesting little museum full of old fairground machines like this one. Shake Uncle Sam's hand, and you just may learn something very new and interesting about yourself. (Click on the image to enlarge if you can't see the joke here.)






















I think Nick, seen here wearing my sunglasses, found out something "very new and interesting" about himself, if you know what I mean.

















The famous Painted Ladies houses at Alamo Square

















Public pier on the bay, with Bay Bridge in the background

















Ray on the coast on our last day, when Garret took us for a drive