We went over to San Francisco again, and this time, I took 225 pictures…

Posted on December 30, 2016 by pouringmyartout

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Don’t worry, I will try to whittle that down a bit… and there are ones with people in them that don’t want to be on the blog… and some won’t come out as well as I hoped they would… oh, and I took a bunch more ‘artsy’ photos, because people seemed to like that post I did with those, and I can get through them fairly quickly.

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This time we took BART to the other side of the bay. See, we like to mix it up. Over three days of touristy madness, we took three different bridges and the Bay Area Rapid Transit to get to the city.

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Mollie’s boyfriend was less than impressed by the public transit system.

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This time, we rode in… and on… a cable car, instead of just taking pictures of them.

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And some other stuff happened… because… San Francisco… and beer…

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No, don’t ask where the rest of his hook went…  what happens in Frisco stays in Frisco.

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But now, we are all very sleepy, and I just want to go to bed.

 

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Oh deer, we are going to San Francisco again…

Posted on December 30, 2016 by pouringmyartout

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Yup, we are going over to the city again, for another hard day of touristing… so I can see stuff I have seen a million times, and then show you pictures, so you can see them too, if you haven’t already.

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So I leave you with these photos of some deer in front of my mom’s house that I took yesterday.

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China Town dreams…

Posted on December 29, 2016 by pouringmyartout

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We did make it over to China Town in San Francisco yesterday.

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We were running out of time… and sunlight… so we didn’t stay long. I don’t have any pictures of my favorite stuff, like the butcher shops and herbal medicine stores…

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But trust me, you can get anything in China Town. I may be wrong, but I think this is still the largest Chinese community in the United States.

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I have always loved China Town. It has the ambiance, the smells, the tastes.

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And it has… ummmm… oddly satanic Santa kites.

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And, of course, it has boba!

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It is just fun.

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And where else are you going to see a life-sized replica of a terracotta warrior standing on a second floor awning?

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Let alone one wearing a Santa hat… and we saw an older gentleman playing Christmas carols on one of those ancient Chinese violins. I thought it would be rude to take a photo.

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Until next time, old friend.

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And now, a bunch of artsy photographs of San Francisco… because I’m artsy… and I was in San Francisco…

Posted on December 29, 2016 by pouringmyartout

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A tall building.

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A window.

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The inside of a tall building.

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A few tall buildings.

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Creepy figures… on a building.

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A cluster of tall buildings.

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A tall tree.

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Some flowers.

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Reflections on the inside of a car window.

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Parts of a bridge from a moving car.

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More parts of the same bridge from the same moving car.

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Window dressing.

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Window undressing.

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Colors under glass.

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A tall tree inside a tall building.

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Ice.

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The red tree.

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Into the light.

I took that last one from China Town… we will get to that… and I like the way the Transamerica building is lit up by the setting sun while I stood in the shadows.

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Yay, we aren’t going to San Francisco today! That means I can catch up on yesterday’s pictures of San Francisco…

Posted on December 29, 2016 by pouringmyartout

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This may be the best ‘Christmas time in San Francisco’ photo I ever took.

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Yesterday, we took the Oakland Bay bridge to the city.

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You know, just to mix things up.

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I always stop to take a few photos of the little art gallery full of Dr. Seuss stuff.

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Oh yeah.

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It just cracks me up.

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Not all the cable cars were dressed up for Christmas. I think the drivers have to do it themselves.

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We caught up with the fancy one, and I got a picture of Dashawn on it… he is looking at my daughter, Mollie, his girlfriend, running to catch up. But I can’t show the pictures of both of them… so… But he is part of the reason we are going to the city so much. Because he has never been to the Bay Area before, and it is fun to show new people old things.

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Okay, I got stuff to do… that doesn’t involve San Francisco, for a change. More SF pics later. I want to catch up… because we will probably be going back tomorrow.

 

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Sunset over San Francisco…

Posted on December 29, 2016 by pouringmyartout

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Just a few quick photos of the sunset the other night…

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I never get tired of watching the colors change.

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I love the way they play with the water of the bay.

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It was one of those nights when even the ugly parts of Oakland look beautiful.

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And San Francisco looks almost magical.

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I am saving a few of these to do some artsy stuff with when I get home… and we do need to move on to yesterday’s adventures in the city…

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But that is kind of pretty, isn’t it?

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Is that why they call it the Golden Gate???

Posted on December 29, 2016 by pouringmyartout

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Okay, we are finally at the end of the day… the day before yesterday, I mean… if you are following along with the saga. A bunch of us went up the hill to the elementary school to do some stuff. On the way home, we were discussing how the Golden Gate got its name. Was it the golden sunsets? Or something about the gold rush? We could have Googled it, but sometimes, arguing is funner.

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There it is, the school where I learned all about how bad I was at being in school.

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We were trying to beat the falling darkness. After our adventures walking on the Golden Gate bridge, we had Christmas toys to play with!

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We did have a nice view  from up there.

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But what we needed was the huge blacktop…

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I did keep running over and taking pictures of the sunset as the colors changed… you know I love sunsets…

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But, as I said, we had toys. Here is my sweet new ride.

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My wife got all the boys… (remember, there are at least 14 people living at my mom’s house right now)…  little remote control cars. So we had some races. We were driving them around the house, but that got dangerous.

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Ooooh… that’s a pretty one.

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Why is my daughter’s fiance trying to control my mind?

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Oh man, he got an airplane. Oh, and Jason… that’s him with the plane… and Jessica, are gone now. They left yesterday, after more San Francisco adventures… that I will post about today… unless we are busy… going to San Francisco again… sigh…

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And, of course, I still have like ten more pictures of this sunset…

 

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Bye bye, Golden Gate…

Posted on December 28, 2016 by pouringmyartout

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Wait, the title of the post is misleading. We aren’t leaving yet…

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Although Big Johnny, Eva, and Willie did leave today, ironically to go to San Diego to see John’s mom. Remember, he as a childhood friend of my wife’s. I just meant that these are the last pictures I took yesterday when we walked on the Golden Gate bridge.

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I know, it seems weird to show photos of Mollie’s boyfriend without her in them. I take lots of both of them. My wife just doesn’t like Mollie… or herself… to appear on the blog. I am falling behind now. We just got back from another day in San Francisco, and I haven’t finished yesterday’s photos. In fact, I am thinking of skipping tomorrow’s trip to Fisherman’s wharf and other places to catch up… not only on the blog, but on my sleep… and finishing the newest novel.

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But while I am… figuratively… in the middle of the bridge… if you look straight across the bay, you can see the Berkeley hills… under the red arrow… where I take all the cool sunset pictures and where we visited the science museum.

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And if I use the zoom lens, you can practically see my mom’s house.

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Tomorrow, I will have to do a couple of posts to finish up this day… which was yesterday… if you see what I mean… and I will be a day behind.

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A gratuitous picture of a winter rose I spotted near the bridge.

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Good picture of Big Johnny… he really is a very sweet man.

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So, bye for now, San Francisco… we will get to you tomorrow…  which was really today… but I won’t post about it until tomorrow… if you follow my drift… or should I go to Fisherman’s Wharf so you can see pictures of that, and get further behind?

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This is confusing for me… I am a Scottish Lord, not a Time Lord…

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No, seriously, I am a Scottish Lord… I did a post about it once.

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The bridge… now with less words and more me!!!

Posted on December 28, 2016 by pouringmyartout

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Selfie time!

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Gratuitous artsy bridge shot!

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Stop photobombing my selfies!

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The city!

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Seriously… you are getting on my nerves…

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I’m just trying to find the bridge… (bonus score if you know what band wrote the song those lyrics are in)…

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I finally ditched my daughter’s boyfriend!

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Zoom shot of cormorants on a bridge footing… or is that an abutment?

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Big Johnny!

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If you are going to walk on the Golden Gate bridge, do it with style!!!

Posted on December 28, 2016 by pouringmyartout

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Our godson, Willie, knows what I’m talkin’ about…

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It was a beautiful day for a stroll yesterday.

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Alcatraz!

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Did you know there is a civil war-era fort under the bridge? It was put there… well before the bridge was… to protect the bay from rebel raiders. It is called Fort Point.

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Getting closer!

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I told Dashawn to make a ‘I’ve never been to San Francisco before, and I am so excited’ face… good job…

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I do love that zoom lens.

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I do like to go for the artsy shots.

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It is a pretty nice bridge.

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I told myself to put on a ‘I grew up here, so I can just look cool’ face for this selfie… good job, me!

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