Presidio bike ride

It was beautiful day today in San Francisco - sunny and 65! :) Summer begins.

We went on a bike ride through the Presidio (large park in old military base) and out to the beach. It was a nice 17-mile ride up MANY hills...but we made it. It's pretty cool to have a beach right in the city. It almost felt like Cannon Beach, with the kites flying. Here are some pics from the day:

Our neighborhood is behind the golden dome in the background...

This is Baker Beach and the houses along the edge of the cliff there is part of the SeaCliff neighborhood - the really rich, really large mansions. Robin Williams lives there. As you can see, they have quite a view. In the other direction, they have a view of the Golden Gate Bridge as well. Not too shabby... I think I read somewhere that part of Baker Beach is nude beach, but we didn't have the experience of experiencing that first hand. Whew!

Views of the Golden Gate bridge from the end of our ride. By that time, we were REALLY excited to be going downhill...

Land's end - the beach in San Francisco.

From the very end of the bike ride - that's Alcatraz in the distance, but not the best shot of it. The golden dome down there is the same one as in the first picture, meaning that we live down there somewhere!

It was a really nice, but really tiring day. We came home and took a nap! Afterwards, walking up the street for dinner, I spotted the members of Gnarls Barkley riding by in a van. Turns out they were playing a concert at Fort Mason, a block and a half from our apartment. Neil is jealous because he didn't see them! Hee hee...

Well, more adventures tomorrow - we are going to see free Shakespeare in the Park.

Trying it out...

Thought I might give this a try as a way to keep in touch and keep everyone involved in what we're doing down here, in addition to traditional ways of keeping in touch!

So, we've been here for almost two weeks now and are finally getting all settled in. The studio actually feels a lot bigger than I thought it would, and we managed to fit all our stuff into it, with the help of a big bike rack on one wall. (Thanks to GM&Co. for the REI card that helped us buy it!)

We joke that we actually have a bedroom, a tv/living room and a library/den - they are all just a foot apart from each other! :) All the windows in the bay window open, which makes it almost feel like we are outside when windows are open. There is always a really nice breeze here. (See pic of view out our window below)

I had my second job interview on Thursday and felt that it went really well. I have a good feeling about getting a job and am so antsy to have something secure in place. I would be enjoying my "vacation" a lot more if I knew I had something solid in the future that would earn me money! Neil started his orientation on Wednesday and has really enjoyed things so far. He's met some nice people already and seems to be excited to start classes and to get painting again.

We've been trying to get out and stay busy and have been doing a LOT of walking and biking. I'm going to be in incredible shape when we come home! The hills are like 45% grade around here... In other news, I have fallen off my bike twice in the last week - two days in a row actually. The first time, I was actually standing in the Safeway parking lot - not even moving... I looked down at my left foot, which was not clipped in to the pedal, and lost my balance towards my right foot, which was clipped in. Neil said it was like watching in slow motion - Noooooooo!!! That one didn't hurt - I just slowly toppled over. It was just very embarrassing. :( The next day, I was riding to Sports Basement (Charlotte - I found it and it is AWESOME!!) and went to turn left and cross the busy street. My glasses cause a "blind spot" and I didn't spot the car until I was about to ride in front of it. So I slammed on my brakes, didn't have a chance to unclip either foot, and bit it pretty hard. This one hurt both my knee and my pride - big time! (See photo of banged-up knee below) So I'm feeling a little gun-shy about riding right now. And of course we have a big bike-ride around the Presidio on the calendar for today! :)

Charlotte, you will be excited to hear that we have also discovered IT'S-IT! The most delicious ice-cream sandwich on the face of the earth. Too bad each sandwhich has more saturated fat in it than I am supposed to have in an entire day. :( We will have to bring some home when we visit. They are amazing!

The fog rolled in last night at dusk, and you could see it creeping down the hill from our windows, the city lights slowly disappearing. It was really beautiful and we felt cozy and warm in our place, watching it. I think we'll like it here... (Don't worry mothers - we will only like it here for two years!)