“Up North: A Very Short Travelogue”

“Up North: A Very Short Travelogue”

A recent adventure traveling from Southern to Northern California…SoCal to NoCal, and back again,  reveals gems of landscape, cuisine, and most compellingly, relationship.

On the road…Highway 5 offers up vistas. You know you are on a journey. Traveling. Journeying. Voyaging. In movement.

Our heaven away from home…in Larkspur, CA…in Marin County. Right on the (canal) water. The peacefulness of this water…and its feathered inhabitants.

Morning time with flying friends….a view from the end of the pier…enlarged.

Looks like a silvery moon, but this is the reflection of the bright morning sun, cloud and sky…in the water. The flow, shine and shimmer of water brings peace to the soul.  I won’t soon forget this.

Bustling Clement Street in San Francisco’s Richmond District yields up delightful and delicious Asian eateries…like Burma Superstar , which offers the exotic and stimulating tea leaf salad.

Dancing in with the Keith Haring sculpture,  in Golden Gate Park, on the grounds of the De Young Museum.

The decorative painter’s favorite, the “gilded” room in the Palace of the Legion of Honor Museum, in San Francisco’s Lincoln Park.

The beautiful walk up the hill to the Legion, overlooking the Bay near Land’s End, is an old stomping ground, and doesn’t disappoint.

The walk holds floral pops of color amidst brush and bramble.

After a magnificent six days, including two of driving, we arrived back safe and sound to Santa Monica, in time for yet another magnificent sunset.

The sky changes colors moment by moment…

The fading panorama of sunset colors and dark clouds are set off dramatically bu street lights which set nearby palm trees aglow. This is Southern California, after all.

California, place of dreams, traffic, light, fire and stars. North or  South, you shower us with your magic. Best of all is the work we are privileged to do here, and the people and relationships that make it all worthwhile. Thank you!

Oak-town Wonderland

Oak-town Wonderland

I  recently had occasion to traverse the San Francisco Bay east-ways,  travel over the two spans of the East Bay Bridge, and take a little foray into “Oak-town”, or our fair city across the Bay,  Oakland, Ca.
Often maligned, perhaps not enough appreciated, Oakland is a diverse, multifaceted place,  encompassing its own wonders,  not the least of which is warmer weather.

Even though I live in one of the most beautiful places in the world, and I know it, and I APPRECIATE it, sometimes it is just good for the soul to take a foray into a different world.

Here in the Bay Area, that is very easy to do. I am fortunate in that my work takes me North, South, East, and as West as you can get without hitting water.  In fact, many of my job sites take me across water, over hills, under freeways, and around town. It’s big fun.  I especially love it when I am afforded the opportunity to get a fresh new view of a place, a site, a town, or, a lake.

Oakland's Water Jewel: Lake Merritt

I had a meeting planned at Oakland’s Kaiser Hospital, right on the shores of Lake Merritt,  with a fun associate, and a new contact, already setting the stage for an energy boost!

On this beautiful day, the water glittered, and sky scraping buildings of the City of Oakland curved away from its banks, as the lake itself, framed by its walking path, seemed to curve towards me in a gesture of welcome. “Take a moment”,  it seemed to say. “Take a breath, take a moment, enjoy the sun, the air, my water,  and the ‘Three Sisters sculpture in the park  across the way.”

"Three Sisters" hang out...

Being one of three sisters, the sculpture rang resonant, humorous, timeless, forever.  Who was who…I wondered.

Forever Three Sisters

And then…all too soon, it was time to go back.  Back to the other fair city across the Bay, traversing  the two span bridge yet again, westward this time.  Back to the other body of water I am privileged to dwell near…mother to the Bay, and great big sister to Lake Merritt, the blue Pacific.  It tends to be a little colder there!

Indians on the Beach

It was time to get back to work, back to the rest of my work for the day.  But I left, vitalized , energized, and inspired  by the warmth, community, vitality, and connection, that is Oakland.  It wasn’t just a glimpse into another world, it was a moment in time in a world that is mine, too.  A world that is there for all of us to visit, support, participate in, and enjoy.

Oh- those aren’t “real” Indians on Ocean Beach.  But that’s another story…ah, I mean, post!

Here’s wishing you discovery, happy adventures, inspiration and energy, wherever you go, and whatever you do, today, and every day. If you have an adventure or a discovery that was right around the corner, or across the Bay, please share it here. We’d love to hear about it!

Happy Trails!