I had a business trip to California (well, ok, a vacation with occasional business) and so I landed in Santa Ana and picked up my rental car and navigated the highways past a retro McDonald's (a very Southern California thing) and recorded the cost of gas before getting to Stop Look where Mikey Larry and Dave were as I left them when I was there in June. Saul was there to deliver and then Janet arrived and we went home for our cocktail half hour where I had this dirty martini and she had her wine as she showed me the latest photo of Sydney and then we headed out to Senor Campos where chips and salsa were brought, though my friends at foursquare told me I should ask for the green because it was hotter. After studying the menu Larry ordered huevos racheros Janet had a quesadilla and I had a burrito which was truly grande.

Next day, Janet and I headed out for a walk but were rerouted because of fire danger and so stopped at Trader Joe's for buffalo mozzarella balls. After our walk, I was offered the Brother David's to drink but declined because I had to drive to Newport Beach and so this photo sufficed though we did stop at Stop Look for lunch to watch the discussion between Mikey and the deliveryman who was not from Mexico. Next, I cleaned up and drove to Newport Beach where I gave my talk to this welcoming audience and afterwards there were the photos with Cindy Barnard '85 and Chris Looney '95 and then with the students in attendance Katlin Poladian '14, Jessie Holechek '15 and Ryan Poladian '12.

Next day, I got up very early and headed back to the airport where I saw this sad sign at the security checkpoint. How unfortunate!! I picked up a new rental car and after a meeting with John Diekman headed to my room at the Crowne Plaza. After another meeting, I headed out to dinner with Barbara and Jacobo where chips, salsa and guacamole were served as they posed for me.

The next day began with breakfast at the Printer's Ink where Barbara ordered this chocolate croissant Jacobo had this bagel and I had the granola with fruit and yogurt. This was all meant to fortify Jacobo and me for our walk which began after we drove to Pillar Point and went up to the trail from which we caught wonderful views of the Pacific though it wasn't clear if the tide would allow us to return along the beach. After observing the seal warnings we cast our view below and made our way down to the beach where along our walk we saw many signs of erosion often geologically induced which will make this area very different far into the future though the driftwood would undoubtedly be better. I stopped to record what was ahead and then to notice Jacobo navigating his way when we came upon the seals (about whom we had been taught proper behavior previously. After capturing some views down the beach I recorded Jacobo and then we headed off the trail and into Half Moon Bay to M coffee where the old barristas had cleaned up their act and so were replaced by the next generation who served my salad and Jacobo's quesadilla which made Jacobo and me happy.

Next I made my way to the airport where I returned my rental car and Sarah picked me up. We decided to take a walk and stopped at Pier 39 to see the sea lions who though small in number were jockeying for position

as we read the tale of their existence and then moved to a position from which Alcatraz was very clear.

Moving on, we went to the sour dough bakery where I captured this alligator (note the snake in its mouth) as the baker did his thing. Moving along, we passed the In-N-Out burger and this walking advertisement for Ghiradelli chocolate before going to Sarah's wine club where we sampled the wines of the day (Viognier and Petite Sirah were best) and I learned a new expression ("that wine tastes higher than its price") before we were treated to a taste of this excellent wine which did taste its price (about 3 times the prices of the other wines) and befriended Sean the bartender who told us the story of his life in the world of analytical philosophy before taking our picture.

Saturday we intended to take an excursion and so we began the day with some of Sarah's home made bread which Ed enjoyed as we surveyed the skies (and, of course, the French flag) and wondered what the weather would be like when we crossed the Golden Gate bridge heading north though Thomas didn't seem to care as Sarah ate her bread and we made our way to the bridge stopping for gas on the other side before coming to the visitor's center where this volunteer ranger gave us excellent advice and so we went to see science on the sphere but before the show we admired Sir Francis Drake's Golden Hind and studied the map so we would have our plan in mind as the earth came into view. Science on the sphere was fascinating as the guide used her Wii remote to explore various data sets beginning with changing migratory patterns of turtles showing us seals and their migrations and then after some views of our sun with its mini-eruptions on the sphere including a dark one that represents far in the future gave us a sense of the scale of the sun compared to the planets. We then looked at CO2 generation at different times of year on different parts of the globe beginning with January, 2004 and moving on to May, 2004. Next, we watched day begin in various places and then some impacts of CO2 followed by views of shrinking ice areas of the globe and measuring the impact of a 1 meter rise in the water levels (from melting ice) and then a 6 meter rise (which wipes out Florida among other areas) We returned to impacts before looking at the facebook map of who is friends with who based on geography. After wishing the elephant seal well we headed for the earthquake trail which truly was a shrine to earth's power as we observed the San Andreas fault and wondered about the girl and her dog (about whom more later), there was geology, and even a slug on the ground followed by a lesson in plate tectonics with a version for kids as we saw the anatomy of an earthquake with the kids' explanation and then the story of the infamous fence that moved 16 feet in the 1906 earthquake though this led to a discussion about how what we were seeing was unlikely to have survived for the past 100 years, earthquake or not though we were sure that the story of the impact on the land was correct as we noted the markers showing the path. The kids among us (and who isn't) saw the impact of the 1906 earthquake which was more pleasant than the version made for adults. Next we read about the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and finally though the train had jumped its track, we were relieved to see the girl and her dog back in our midst. The exhibit explained where modern seismology came from but no one mentioned the major moss hanging from the trees though we did appreciate some unique theories about where earthquakes arise which also had a children's version. After being told how to prepare for the risk we were given guidance as to whether there was a risk.

All of this built up our appetite and so we headed to the pine cone diner in Point Reyes Center which had been recommended as the best restaurant in town (of course, it was the only one!) and studied the menu with both breakfast and lunch available at this time. I had a diet coke and Ed's omelette looked very much like mine though the insides were different. Sarah's soup and sandwich came a bit later and somehow avoided camera view. Next we walked across the street to the Cowgirl Creamery where we saw crazy broccoli Romanesco along with recently made cheese and then we drove on to the trail leading to the lighthouse and after looking below and recording the hours of operation we took a last picture of the sea before observing the trees along the path (and also along the edge of the cliff) which seemed to indicate the wind direction quite clearly before we came to this exhibit about the cistern which though impressive could not compete with the Istanbul cistern. Eventually, we came to the lighthouse visitor center where we saw a version of the lens used in the lighthouse and on exiting we saw a California gray whale skull and rocks that supported many small forms of life as we caught our first glimpse of the lighthouse below and the staircase that led there. We began the walk and began our counts of the number of steps as others made their way up and we were soon at the lighthouse where it was quite windy because of the exposure and so we went inside to see the lens and the mechanism (not unlike a grandfather clock) that drove the lens consisting of many panes each of which had to be cleaned by hand especially when there was no light but rather a flame. It was disappointing to go below where we saw the modern equivalent and heard the constant ringing of the fog horn Ed posed on the lighthouse and then we read the history of the Fresnel lens and looked down at the sea below. When it was time to start back up, we noticed the the steps were numbered making our counting (which hadn't been correct) irrelevant though the numbers at first suggested a daunting path up and so we paused before taking on the task with rock formations to our side offering a distraction from the "left foot up, right foot up" cadence as we proudly made the top and wondered what it would be like to live here and then made our way back past the leaning trees to the car and the path to the other vista which went past many cows (which may explain the Creamery) in the rain and once at the vista, we decided to stay in the car and record the windshield wipers in front of a foggy view of the ocean (artistic some would say). Back to civilization (such as it was) we stopped at the best place in Inverness, the Busy Bee Bakery where there were pastries and carrot cake as our food was assembled and Ed and Sarah seemed to enjoy being out of the rain as did I though we didn't quite get the motif of the place which was perhaps best explained by the road sign in this piece of art. Returning to our journey, we went past the place where the road had collapsed and eventually we ended up back in PH5 where we found Andrew Ferguson '08. After an attempt to go to Mission Chinese which was packed, we made our way to Gracias Madre where Ed and I had the Enchiladas con Mole I had a mojito Sarah and Ed had beers and the waiter took these pictures of our gathering. After dinner and ice cream which somehow went unrecorded, I was dropped off at my unspectacular hotel room to sleep near the airport for my early morning flight.