Sunset over St. Mary's College

Sonoma Hike

After an exciting day watching 49ers vs. Seattle on Sunday, we decided the MLK holiday should be spent outdoors. Gina found a hike that started in the square in Sonoma and would up over the hill overlooking the entire town where we had a picnic lunch. On the way down, Nate and Julie brought out their cameras (as did I) and I think we photo-mapped every leaf, twig and rock on a slow two mile walk back. It seemed to early to return home, so we stopped for one wine tasting at the Larson Family Winery, a winery sporting not only a large outdoor bocce ball and play area, but also labrador retrievers on some of their bottles (eg, Three Lab Cab). 

David Hockney exhibit at the de Young Museum

Parent-only field trip! Gina and I couldn't take any pictures inside the Hockney exhibit at the de Young, but it was one of our favorite shows we've seen at the museum. Apparently it was the largest exhibit of Hockney paintings assembled -- huge panels in each room made it all the more amazing. Rooms of large multi-paneled paintings let to rooms with video displays. My favorite were the nine-tiled big screen TVs on each of the four walls, one wall for each season, showing the same path in various states of motion. One of the final rooms had his Yosemite paintings printed from his iPad drawings.

Bionic Tooth

I told the kids I had a bionic tooth installed yesterday, which I guess is partly true. So far only the screw-in titanium implant is in place -- the full tooth comes later after the bone heals around the base. After everything is complete, I should have a tooth stronger than any normal one, or so I'm told.

First Hike of the Year

Gina found this hike, a 2 mile round loop around the hills and homes of Berkeley. I'm usually skeptical of urban hikes, unless it involves a bakery or restaurant at the end, but this one couldn't have been better in terms of views and voyeuristic peeks into backyard gardens. We did eventually find a lunch spot, bakery and Philz coffee on our way home.

Portland and Ashland