San Francisco and Golden Gate Park

I am invited to work at the 2012 MPICT Conference hosted by City College of San Francisco. Many of my colleagues are there and we always have a good time together. The rows and rows of Victorian buildings built just after the 1906 Earthquake and fire, which devastated the city, make San Francisco a great time capsule.
After the conference Peter joins me for an extra night in the city. We have a marvelous dinner at Amber Indian restaurant just off Mission and then walk around Union Square.

High end stores surround Union Square

Holiday ice skating rink

Palm trees w twinkle lights for your heart in SF

 The next day we head out for the Natural History Museum in Golden Gate Park.

Segway tour of Golden Looks like fun - maybe next time

Peter @ entrance Natural History Museum

and inside the mail lobby

We immediately go all the way to the top of the building to see the famous roof which is hilly and covered with soil and native plants. Unfortunately, they don't have special roof tours on Saturdays. Darn.

Roof has all kinds of collectors, skylights, and instruments on it

Once back inside we decide to check out the tropical forest bio-sphere. You enter through a double door vestibule that seals in the heat and humidity. Whew - it's hot and sticky in there, just like a real jungle.

A long spiral ramp leads up through the different zones

You can see fish swimming in the water and people walking below

At the lower levels, we see fish and bottom dwellers. Many of the creatures are similar to others in Hawaii and California, but oh so much bigger.

Red piranas

Wow - that's a BIG gecko

Orb spiders the size of a man's hand

After awhile, the ramp leads to the tops of the trees

Ramp at tree tops

Round skylights

where there are all kinds of butterflies flitting about.

BIG butterflies

smaller ones landing on tree tops

and even on the top of cameras.

The butterflies are so friendly, as soon as we step off the elevator down and out of the bio-sphere, a friendly butterfly catcher is there to capture in hitchikers.

Butterfly catcher ready to fetch escapees

From there you enter a tunnel through the bottom of the lake at the bottom of the bio-sphere and then to even more aquariums.

Peter and a friend sitting in water tunnel

I could watch these jellies all day

Beautiful angel fish

Many families come to visit and there's lots of things for kids to do.

A tide pool touch tank

Brunch time in the main tank as a diver feeds the fishies

After winding our way through the aquarium, we end up in another lobby with a large pool, home to a white alligator. These are extremely rare as they simply can't survive in the wild.  This one has found a cushy place in the aquarium exhibit.
After spending a few hours in the museum, we head home along the ocean and stop for a late lunch in Half Moon Bay.

Sunny sparkling January day

Lunch at a Japanese restaurant

I point out Jeff Clarke riding a 2 story monster wave @ nearby Maverick's

We are treated to another lovely sunset at home.

Whoa - did I capture a UFO with my camera?

2012 Arrives

The last sunset of 2011 is a good one.

We are off to celebrate New Year's Eve at a neighborhood potluck party. My main contribution is a Southern traditional soup made with black-eyed peas:

My family (especially my mother's side) came from the south (think of a less grand "Gone with the Wind") where they had lost just about everything after the Civil War. When the northern troops swept across the south towards the end of the Civil War, they lived off the land taking food from the local farms and plantations. Since the union troops didn't know what black-eyed peas were, they left them behind. Consequently, all that was left to eat were black-eyed peas.

These days, the first meal of the New Year is usually celebrated with a very simple meal of black-eyed peas as a sign of good luck, for if you start the year eating your worst meal, the only place you have to go the rest of the year is up.

May we all have no where to go but up in 2012.