I was only home for three weeks, but it was long enough for my friend Steven to come visit, and that was long enough for me to take him up to San Francisco for the first time, where we met up with my good friend from high school, Laura McDonald. We only had a day in the city, but we managed to get most of the sites in - Pier 39, Embarcadero, Lombard, the Golden Gate bridge, and Stinson Beach. I also dragged him to Berkeley - a bit more of an adventure given he's a Republican from Palm Desert.

We stayed at my brother David's house Wednesday night which gave Steven time to talk to Dave about being a lawyer that night... and time to chase Alexander around Thursday morning...
On the side of a wall on Telegraph... well, it's Berkeley!Of course, the sea lions at Pier 39... this one seems to be a bit of a contortionist!
Pretty much self-explanatory...!
Steven, me, and Laura in front of Alcatraz.
After we went over the Golden Gate we ended up at Stinson Beach. The effect doesn't really translate to picture, but the wind was so strong it was picking up sand and carrying it across... too bad it couldn't carry the three of us down the beach to the rocks at the end!
We ran across the beach to beat the cold and make it to the rocks before the sun set... except that it was so cold we didn't make it all the way to sunset. I did manage to get some nice pictures, though.
Laura helping Steven free the seaweed rope... this is right before he swung it up and tried to hit me with it... no respect for expensive photographic equipment!!
Sunset over Stinson... gorgeous.

The Southern end of Big Sur - Ragged Point - Definitely one of my favorite parts of California. I wanted to drive back down on Highway 1, but we didn't leave early enough on Friday. That'll have to wait for another trip, too.
I like to climb things, this time it's a tree...

We got to Ragged Point just early enough that we'd walked around too long to stay for the sunset, but didn't leave early enough to make it back to the elephant seals before the sunset, so Steven took pictures from the car... while we were driving, which is why you can only sort of see the tree in front.
Joshua and Steven: boys with guitars... well, one of them is a ukulele, but, details...
Just Steven and Joshua... too cute!
After just a few days Lauren's already got Steven under control... and on a leash!

The weekend after I went down to Redlands and LA, but I don't really have any good pictures from that... sorry! Joe has pictures from my birthday, but he has yet to send them to me, so I can't share them with you, either. My friends are taking me out tomorrow night to celebrate tomorrow night, and we're going to Trafalgar Square to take some fun pictures before that, so I should have another update coming. I hope this finds everyone well, and I love hearing from you, even if I'm not always the best at responding!

Take care,
Dominica