Vacation Day 1

Today was loooong. But it was outstanding from beginning to end. The day began by taking an early train to San Francisco...nooo, it started with me putting my bike together at 6 am. Fortunately, it traveled fine and was easy to get together. Once in San Franciso, Russ (my host) and I rode around the eastern portion of SF next to the water, he pointed out all of the cool things to see and it was a nice, leisurely ride.



This is Russ with a dirigible (helium-filled) in the background. It made news, we were lucky to see this vessel flying overhead. The ride took us past the fine arts place (get name) and over the Golden Gate Bridge. There was a great climb on the other side with a vista at the top. The descent down the other side was quite steep--I could smell my brakes burning. We ended up in Sasalito, but not a lot of time to enjoy it.

I really liked the vibe there, and the fruit smoothie from the local ice cream store. The ferry boat ride back to SF was fun, I *heart* ferry boat rides. We got back with time to spare before catching the train home. I had 15 minutes to shower up before Lana picked me up to go to an outdoor concert that was held as a benefit for the Bridge School (Neil Young has connections to it). Lana, Aaron and their random assortment of friends (from college, work, friends of friends), it was a fun group.
Lana is a good friend from CA, but she lived in CO for a couple of years, during which we logged thousands of miles together (sitting next to me in the above pic).

The lineup of bands was wonderful. The first few were ho-hum, but then Death Cab for Cutie came on and the night air was alive with awesome sound.
Everyone agreed that Sarah McLachlan was the performance of the evening.

This was a first for me, being on a lawn during a concert. It was a good thing we were on grass, too. I was so tired from the day (still somewhat tired from the trip out), I laid down, shut my eyes and was in that happy place that involved hearing the music vividly, but being so relaxed there was only a tiny line between being awake and asleep. It felt like summer. A light jacket was almost sufficient for staying warm. Amazing. Got home at 11:45 and had the most restful sleep that I've had in a long, long time.