Dreaming of California

---

My first flight, on a plane bound for Los Angeles, California USA. Bleedin' hell that was a long and boring 14 hours, at least i slept some of the time. Finally landed in Los Angeles approximately 3 hours before i left date/time wise and drove up highway 1 (scenic coastal route) to the San Francisco Bay Area. Jetlag made me pull over and sleep about halfway to my destination. I began my Californian sunburn there since i was spontaneously tired where there was no shade and had to pull over immediately.

Once i got to Berkeley i absent mindedly tried to find Leticia and Jonathan's place without asking for directions and promptly got lost, one of my favourite things to do. Almost everytime i get lost i find something i haven't seen before that i really like. This time i found Grizzly Bear road or somesuch high in the hills of Tilden Park above Berkeley with magnificent views and greenery all around.

Stayed with the very wonderful Jon and Tish those first 2 nights high in the hills in Berkeley behind western USA's largest wooden structure. We talked of their plans for the next few years and about travelling a lot and Jonathan showed me his SLR camera with a zoom lens and began convincing me of its usefulness in photographing wildlife, expensive seeds he was planting in my head. They had moved from their flat downstairs into the main part of their house, this meant that they had brought out a lot of their stuff which had previously been in storage. Truly amazing to see their decorating since they have travelled quite extensively and Tish is quite the interior designer me thinks!

On sunday went to meet some other friends in San Francisco but got there a little too early so i went to Golden Gate Park in the west of the city to walk around and kill some time. As usual in the summer in the city it is foggy, extra layers are always necessary to keep warm. There is a saying "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco", which applies extremely well to this city. After a while i got too cold and headed out of the worst of the fog in the west and back to SOMA to meet my friends. When i got there it was still too early and i went to lay down in the car for a while since my jetlag was catching up on me again around 7pm. Woke around 11pm!! Figured i'd missed my friends and had to find a hotel to sleep in since it was a bit late to be knocking on doors asking for a bed.

The next day i sort of "moved into" my old house in the Lower Haight with Kat and Richard who are very kind to receive me there. It was very good being back there since they are both good friends which i have been through a lot with.

---

Photos

View from Randall Hill
On a clear day normally from here you are looking across downtown to the Bay Bridge.