SanFrantastic!

Two weekends ago, we jumped on a plane for a few days in San Francisco – Karen’s first four-day break since April. Youch! We landed on a cloudy Thursday and took a stroll through Chinatown to Coit Tower. Then a superb modern Indian dinner at Amber – yum!

Friday we rented bikes and just rolled the city. First up, breakfast at Eddie’s Dinner – Karen’s local greasy spoon. Mmmm, yellow food.

Then out to Golden Gate, up the De Joung tower and out to the beach to paddle in glorious sunshine, while watching pro surfers bob around. The Legion of Honour was another great stop, though hilly.

Back in town, we met up the sparkly Jeanne, over from London for a conference. We had a brief rooftop drink at a hotel without a rooftop bar (long story), then over to the Tonga room for the full tiki experience – drinks with umbrellas, cheesy music and a thunderstorm with real rain on the hour. Dinner at Absinthe with Ral, Scott and pal rounded off a great day.

Saturday was our big outing, up and over the Golden Gate to Mount Tamalpais. Stunning scenery from the ridge – although it wasn’t hot!

Back to SF again and I took a quick tour around the MOMA while Jeanne and Karen chatted and shopped. In the evening, tasty Peruvian fare at the highly recommendable La Mar on the Embarcadero, followed by dancing at the incredible Starlight Room on top of the Sir Francis Drake hotel. No bowls here!

After all that excitement, a relaxed Sunday in Portola Valley with aunt Ann and uncle Bruce, Bruce and Nicole, Julie and Tim and their charming 10-month twins, Drew (in blue) and Carson.

It’s Movember!

And you know what that means – crazy pictures of me with ridiculous facial hair. It’s all in a good cause, prostate cancer, so if you’d like to sponsor me, head over to my Movember page and dig deep. Thanks!

http://mobro.co/meharris

Day trip to Charlotte, NC

Yes, that’s right, I headed right across the country for a day trip to North Carolina, on a Sunday Times story to try to gain access to Apple’s famous but ultra-secret new data centre in Maiden.

I can’t say too much until the story runs in mid-November, but suffice to say that it was a fun day with a great snapper, Bob Leverone, who kept me amused as we drove all around in search of technology – and a story.

And if a picture paints 1000 words….

A quiet October…

Not too much to report this month. Karen was working hard on the Kindle Fire project, I was getting back into paid stuff for The Sunday Times and we continued to (slowly) get the house into shape for the arrival of kids – adoption does take its own sweet time…

In the meantime, we babysat for Anna and Dash (Alison and Hart’s kids) one weekend, which was quite a giggle – although it made me realise just how knackered we’ll be when our one(s) arrive.

We also took a fantastic walk on Green Mountain just outside Bremerton (who knew?), seeing snakes, salamanders and great clouds of huckleberries.

But as it typical for this time of year – not much of a view…

More Kitsap, more colour, mostly grey

Just two quick pics from the Kitsap Colour Classic, this year with Doug as Bill was feeling under the weather. And don’t be fooled by this picture – there was weather aplenty, with us catching a nasty squall from the Hood Canal Bridge into Poulsbo.

Doug had the crazy idea to ride up to Edmonds on the mainland too, thus turning a 42-mile jaunt into a 70-odd bone breaker. Worth it for the moment we blasted down into Edmonds, past the ferry ticket office, past the cops, past the ferry workers and straight onto the boat. Then the rope comes down behind us and we set sail moments later – sweet!

Autumn leaves falling

With the departure of the Brits for the summer, it was almost time to bid farewell to someone else – Trika headed out for her new life in Rotterdam at the end of September. Before she left, though, a massive moving sale on 1st Avenue…

Great fun unloading all Trika’s crazy beautiful stuff on her friends, neighbours, passers-by and a few semi-pro yard sale dealers. No takers for the $25,000 Corvette, mind, even with our Buy One, Get A Vintage Barstool Half Price offer.

Here’s the lady herself all packed and ready to go the airport. Good luck lady – we love you and are going to miss you tonnes!!!

Brits ‘n’ Bumbershoot

The next morning, we drove over to Roslyn – where ‘Alaskan’ ‘comedy’ show Northern Exposure was shot in the 80s and 90s. A lovely spot for rummage sales, seeing V8 chainsaws and acquiring some snazzy $1 trucker hats.

Then back to Seattle, for a weekend of local stuff. Of course, we had to show them the delights of an afternoon sail on Ulithi.

And the dubiously minty goodness of the gum wall at Pike Place…

On the Monday, we headed over to Bumbershoot for honk…

… corn dogs…

… and of course the monorail!