An Appointment in San Francisco

On Thursday the Geek had an appointment with the German Consulate General in San Francisco. We decided to make a day trip of it.

We left early because you never know how traffic is on 101 - it can be a smooth ride, but it can also be a never ending traffic jam. We were lucky and arrived 90 minutes before his appointment at the bay. Not eager to hang out in front of the consulate, we took the last exit before the Bridge and drove down to Fort Baker. I had always wanted to go here to the water front because it offers you another great view of the Bridge. Since it was a rather gloomy day - typical Golden Gate summer weather - my photos of the bridge are quite gray - but I can't help myself still thinking they are so characteristic of this area.

I probably mentioned several times on this blog how much I love the Golden Gate Bridge. After all these years and the many times I crossed this bridge I still get goose bumps. No wonder it is such a tourist attraction, albeit a very cold and windy one.

We walked along the waterfront and onto the old pier. I liked the look of the weathered dock pilings.

Then it was time to get into the city. We were done with the appointment at noon and were debating how to spend the rest of the day. Originally we had thought walking out to Land's End Lookout, but changed our minds and drove back North across the Bridge and onto the Marin Headlands. I had read about the coastal trail from Rodeo Beach to Tennessee Point and we both thought this was the day we're going to hike the trail.

The day was still overcast when we arrived. Immediately after we had arrived we saw the first of flocks and flocks of Brown Pelicans. They're common here along the coast and I never tire of watching them. (Since we were going to the consulate, I hadn't brought my good camera. These photos are all taken with my phone.)

There were so many! I think we saw 200 to 300 Brown Pelicans that day.

They seem to prefer flying in flocks and they are completely silent. Look at that graceful gliding flight!

They kept us company for our entire hike. First we climbed up a steep incline to the cliffs and then more or less moderately on top of the cliffs with beautiful views across the ocean - despite the gloominess of the day. In some places the trail was fenced off because the ocean had taken a part of the land (or the wind, who knows). In others we saw beautiful flowers and plants.

Sticky monkey-flower

Fennel

The trail was well kept and soon we could see Tennessee Point.

It looks closer than it actually was, but eventually we were almost there. The trail led through a small cypress grove that gave way to a stunning view.

California sure has some dramatic coastline.

We turned to the left and there it was - the Tennessee Point labyrinth!

All the way I wasn't sure whether we would see it. I had read that it had been destroyed, but obviously it has been restored and I was very happy about it. It gave a nice touch to the barren flat top.

It is a rather small labyrinth and it took less than two minutes to walk to its center. It was a bit too windy to do it in a meditative way. The Brown Pelicans were always with us.

Eventually it was time to walk back to the parking lot at the beach and drive home. We stopped at a Turkish restaurant in a neighboring town for a very late lunch/early dinner - the Geek had a Döner wrap and I chose the Köfte kebap wrap. I remember having delicious Köfte in Turkey and these weren't bad either.

It was a wonderful excursion!

I'm linking to Rain's Thursday Art Date.

Sunday Gratitude

This has been a very short week, a week with my main gratitude happening towards the end of it.
Here goes:

1.
We had our citizenship interview on Friday in San Francisco. We had applied for US citizenship in September, had our biometrics appointment last fall and received the invitation to the interview at the beginning of January. We were quite excited about it, but the closer we approached the date the more nervous I became as well. There honestly was no reason for it. Thanks to a very nice immigration officer who made me feel relaxed the interview was over way faster than I had thought. I didn't blank out during the test portion (which was my main concern) which is the second part of the interview and after that I was free to go. The Geek had his interview at the same time (with a different officer of course) and he also passed. It will take a few weeks until we will be scheduled for the oath ceremony in Oakland.

2.
Since we know that morning commute to the city is pretty heavy we left early and thus avoided any traffic congestion. We were at the Golden Gate Bridge shortly before sunrise. We had time and stopped to watch the sun rise over a foggy San Francisco - in the photo above you can just see the top of the Transamerica Pyramid and if you know the city you will also recognize Coit Tower if you look hard. It was such a beautiful morning and a hopeful sign for the day.

3.
The weather was lovely that day and we decided to enjoy it after our interviews. We drove up Conzelman Road to the Marin Headlands. This is one of my favorite roads in the area. It offers great views of the Golden Gate Bridge, especially in the evening when the setting sun throws a golden glow on the bridge at it shines in a warm red-orange tone. No such luck this day since it was way too early, but we didn't care. It was beautiful anyway.

4.
Yesterday Kaefer took the SAT at our local Junior College. She wants to go to university after she will have graduated from high school in spring 2016. She knows that she needs to pass several tests for that, which means that this spring will be loaded with AP exams and perhaps even subject tests. It's a bit crazy, but she knew before that Junior year is the hardest year in high school. So we were quite grateful that she had the opportunity to take the SAT already in January, and of course she hopes that she did well enough. Some of her friends had decided on this date as well, and they could encourage each other while they were waiting in line.

5.
While Kaefer took her test, the Geek and I decided to take a short hike in our State Part. I used to hike there pretty often, but I haven't been there even once last year. It was gorgeous to be back again. We hiked the Rough Go Trail (in the photo above) up to the ridge and then back again (since we were running out of time). I had almost forgotten how beautiful it is here! We saw some deer who weren't afraid of us and passed us rather closely. Every time I see them I'm thankful for the wildlife we have here.

6.
Although we didn't have much rain in January, the hills in our county are green and juicy - the cows are definitely happy cows around this time! I took this picture out of the driving car while going along the highway on our way back from the city. I just love the hills, the meadows and the solitary trees - this is so typical for my county. Only most of the year the hills are brown and not green.

7.
I haven't really baked very much since the beginning of the year. A few breads, but nothing major and I didn't try anything new. Except I'm still trying to improve my baking rolls capacity. In Germany we eat a lot of rolls, they are freshly baked every day and usually you can get them early in the morning in the bakeries (starting at 6:00 am). These rolls are very different from the dinner rolls you can get here. I haven't found anything here that really compares to them, that's why I still haven't given up baking them myself. Every time I get closer to our German rolls, but so far I haven't made one that is "it". Last week's batch, though, came pretty close - another item on my gratitude list.

That's it for today. Now it's your turn - what are you grateful for this Sunday?

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A good way to express your gratitude is to write in your journal.

Journals in different sizes are available at my Etsy store,

some of them featuring my artwork as a print.

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