Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Kings Canyon N.P.

Went to Kings Canyon National Park last weekend with some friends to do some hiking. It rained for just about the whole weekend, which was unusual for this time of the year. And at the higher altitude, there was snow.
先週末友達とハイキングしにキングズキャニオン国立公園へ行った。今ごろの天気にしては異常に雨が降った。週末中だった。山の上に雪があった。
 

Labels:

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Car free kayak trip

We have a heat wave coming through right now, with high temperatures over 90 degrees in SF. When this happens, they often announce that the day will be a spare the air day, where they want you to not drive and take other steps to keep pollution down. So I did my part by going kayaking without driving to the water with my boat.

I am lucky to live reasonably close to the water, where I can kayak. But, we have little storage space where we live, so I keep the kayaks down near the bike shop. We are going away this weekend for some kayaking and camping, and with the expected spare the air days where it would be better not to drive, I decided to get the boats yesterday and store them on the roof of the car.

But the heat is also when I would want to be on the water, so I went for a paddle anyway. I loaded the boat up on the kayak cart I have, placed my gear in to the cockpit, and walked the 8 blocks from where I was parked to the water. I am sure a few people did double takes, as seeing someone towing a 15 foot long kayak down the sidewalk isn't something that one sees often.

I did a quick lap around Alcatraz, and then poked around the various wharfs. Out at Alcatraz, it appears the cormorants can not read the sign telling them to stay off the island, as quite a few have set up house there.

There has been a lot of talk recently about not scaring nesting sea birds, so I did my part and gave them space. But, annoyingly, a sailboat went by right after me and spooked most of the birds.

Also did my good deed for the day by picking up various pieces of floating trash, like plastic bags and foam. Some folks on a docked sailboat at Pier 39 and some fisherman at Fisherman's Wharf were both nice enough to allow me to leave the garbage with them to be disposed of (so I didn't have to carry it all with me).

Tomorrow is also supposed to be hot, and if I can free up some time, I may go for another paddle.

Labels:

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Who is it? だれですか?

A friend sent me this photo - quite interesting. Who do you think it is? Click here to see the result.
友達がEメールした写真だ。面白い。だれだろうか? ここでクリックして、本当のを見る。

Labels:

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Recent sighting

About 2 weeks ago I was biking across the Golden Gate Bridge and saw something interesting. Happened to have a camera with me...
約2週間前に自転車でゴールデンゲートブリッジを渡りつつ、面白いものを見た。デジカメをたまたま手元にあった。

Labels: ,

Friday, May 02, 2008

Short walk for peace

I went for a bike ride today. Had 2 goals - to get a long ride in (was on a scale at my doctor's last week, and decided I could use to lose a few lbs.) and to see if I could see any migrating gray whales (I looked, but they hid). So I biked to Stinson Beach and back.
今日Stinson Beachへ自転車に乗った。体重のために運動しなければならないと思う。そして今鯨は北方へ移動するので、見たかった(でもあいにく見なかった)。

While I was stopped and watching for whales, a guy walked up to me pushing a cart. He stopped and chatted for a while. Seems he is walking from Mexico to Canada to "build bridges of understanding, love, and compassion with non-violence, global peace, and unity at the core." If you want to follow his travels, he has a Blog at http://peacesteps.net/.
鯨を探す間に人は歩いて来て、話した。大義名分の下でメキシコからカナダへ行っている。すごい!http://peacesteps.net/

Before this, I did see a turkey with her brood on the side of a road in Mill Valley. Wasn't sure how defensive she would be when I biked past her (I've known geese to attack), but she let me pass.
前にMill Valleyに野生のシチメンチョウとシチメンチョウの子を見た。

Labels: ,