Sunday, March 7, 2010

Mitch in California 26-28 Feb 2010 – Part 2

There is apparently a heater built into the air conditioner in my hotel room and I did not suss out how to use it so I was a  bit cool Friday (and Saturday) night in the room.  But it was no cooler than our house in Bellevue so I felt fine.

Saturday morning was clear, cool, bright, sunshine and I jogged before breakfast.

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The pool looked very inviting in the bright sunshine.

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Breakfast at the Tri-Valley Inn Pleasanton consisted of coffee, corn flakes, orange juice, milk. . .

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Toast, muffins, donuts, and margarine.  Kumar was cheerful and helpful.

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Robert topped by after my jog and first breakfast and we went to “Zorn’s” for second breakfast.  I bought Robert his favorites and I had eggs with hashbrowns.

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The birthday boy gets treated to breakfast at Zorn’s.

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Mitch in front of Zorn’s: Pleasanton’s original family restaurant.

Robert dropped me in front of the BART stop and I pumped about $10 into a ticket.  I accidentally left my laptop in Robert’s car so my pack was lighter but I could not blog.

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The machines are fast, simple, and efficient.

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The BART station was empty on a Saturday morning.

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Changing trains at Merit for the Fremont line.

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Eventually I arrived in Fremont.

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. . . at the foothills of Mission Peak, with

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. . . green fields, parks, and Lake Elisabeth in the middle of town.

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I approached the lake trail from the library.

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a squirrel

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Lake Elisabeth

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The lighting was very high-contrast and the sun was warm.

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There were very few Canadian Geese because Fremont hires doggies to chase them away.

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Willow tree along the lake

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Walk in the park

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I finally arrived at the Fullers’ house and was greeted by Jon, Bryneth, and one of their three cats.

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Jon looks very well

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Ian is 6’7” tall now and is destined to grow to 7’ tall.  Bryneth is also tall but not nearly as big as Jon.

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Here is the biggest (fattest) and the shyest of the three cats.

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. . . And here is their third cat.

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I had a delicious lunch at the Fullers and caught up on what everyone is doing.  Debbie is getting produce from “Full Belly Farms” and it tastes great!

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Arnold picked me up from the Fullers’ house and we drove to Berkeley.

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Berkeley is such a great tourist town.

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If you set off a nuclear bomb in Berkeley you will be fined by the city.

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The people who live in Berkeley are so wonderful.  It is always very entertaining and fun to walk or drive through the city.

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Eventually the GPS navigated us to the Lawrence Hall of science and we had a great time touring inside.  The DNA molecule outside did not have as many kids crawling on it as I expected.

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They have converted some of the 1960’s sound-proof phone booths to cell phone booths (no phone inside).

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Others still have a phone in them but I don’t know if they work.

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It was a “contrasty” day; the golden gate and bay bridges are offset against the bright sky.

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Golden Gate

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Berkeley Mastodon fossil.

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Largest lizard I have seen live up close for many years.

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The nano-tech exhibit was for very young children.

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I am one billion, seven hundred fifty-two million, six hundred thousand nanometers tall.

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Amelia and Mitch

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We played variations of Nim and Kalah.

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We built really cool buildings with the wood slats.

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Eventually the museum closed and the de Leons drove me to Simeon’s house on their way to the gymnastics competition in Petaluma.

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Simeon lives in a tiny little room in a nice apartment. He seems well-adjusted, contented, in good health.

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He has a tiny little desk and keeps his books under his bed because the room is so small.

Eventually I BART’d home (changed trains in Oakland) and went to sleep.  It was a very long, wonderful day.  Robert brought my laptop back to my room but I was too tired to do email.

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