San Francisco Gay Pride Parade - Sunday, June 28, 2015

We decided that given the recent Supreme Court victory for same-sex marriage it would be great to experience the Pride Parade, especially with Jessica.  So we left Sonoma, made it back to the City then took the Muni 38 Rapid to the parade…..Colorful, celebratory and then some.

After the parade we relaxed a little at home before going to Laura & Mark Flessels to have dinner.  Jessica spent Sunday night and Monday with the Flessel's before flying home on Tuesday, June 30, 2015.  It was great to spend some time with Jessica in California.  Don't get to see her as often as we'd like to. 

Satuurday kaykaing journey to Clear Lake

Getting all 3 kayak's on the roof rack of my VW Jetta Sport wagon TDI….. secured with 8 tightening cords was quite challenging.  However, when we finished the kayak's were very well secured. We were fortunate to be able to borrow our friend (Basha's) kayak to add to our 2 so we could all be on the lake together!

Our direction said 1 hour and 18 minutes……it took us a bit longer as I wanted to be as careful as possible with the heavy load.

So we ended up at Clear Lake State Park 

CLEAR LAKE BOATING

CLEAR LAKE PICINING & HIKING

CLEAR LAKE Wikipedia

We spent about 3 hours on the water in just and easy and enjoyable day!  After loading up we stopped to dinner in Healdsburg Bar and Grill, before driving home!

Beth and I have been meaning to visit Clear Lake.  The environs are spectacular - and we wondered why it hasn't developed into a tourist mecca.  First, it's off the beaten path, 45 mintues of windy roads to the nearest straight away.   Next, the lake is a living thing - complete with algae and bacteria - that fills the water with particulates.  Not as alluring as we'd hoped.  But beautiful for kayaking.  

The Best Night Ever - Friday, June 26th, 2015 - Broadway Under the Stars in Jack London State Historical Park

Tonight we saw the Transcendence Theatre Company preform, "Oh What a Night" in Jack London State Historical Park….

Jersey Boys, On a Clear Day, Stevie Wonder, Cheek to Cheek and West Side Story among others where performed in the first act alone….Oh What a Night!

A magical place for a picnic and show - complete with awesome sunset, beautiful mooonlight among ht vineyards.

Photo from the web site hyperlicked above

Thursday, June 25th - World Champion San Francisco Giants game followed by The Book of Mormon

What a day, what a game!  I love week day baseball games!!!!! Always have and always will!

Today's start time was 12:45 pm and it was a glorious day in SF.  And wht a game it was Giants vs. the San Diego Padres, the final score 13 to 8, here is a recap

By Chris Haft and Corey Brock 

SAN FRANCISCO -- Silent with the bats at AT&T Park through much of the season, the San Francisco Giants unleashed an unusual torrent of offense that featured four triples and resulted in a 13-8 victory over the San Diego Padres. San Francisco took two of three from the Padres for its first home series win since a May 19-21 sweep over the Dodgers.

Brandon Belt collected two triples, driving in a first-inning run with the first hit and scoring to ignite a three-run fourth inning after the second. Matt Duffy tripled to help the Giants add a pair of runs in the fifth, and Brandon Crawford tripled home a run in the seventh.

Belt pulled into third base standing up on both hits. "When I sniff a triple, I'm going to turn it on and use those big giraffe strides," he said, referring to his "Baby Giraffe" nickname.

The Giants matched a single-game franchise high for triples in the San Francisco era (since 1958), which they previously reached on Sept. 15, 1960. They also established season highs for runs and hits (19). Before Thursday, the Giants were averaging 3.05 runs per game at home, the lowest output in the Majors.

The Giants needed all the offense they could summon. Trailing, 7-0, after six innings, the Padres roared back against San Francisco starter Chris Heston (8-5) and three relievers to narrow the deficit to 9-8. San Diego's sixth-run eighth inning, highlighted by Matt Kemp's two-run homer, put a scare into the Giants. But they scored four runs in the eighth to cruise to victory. "Obviously we would have liked not to make it interesting, but it was good to counter-punch," second baseman Joe Panik said.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
First things first: Angel Pagan had mustered one extra-base hit in his previous 103 plate appearances when he doubled to open the Giants' first inning. That set the tone for the Giants as they amassed eight extra-base hits, a season-high.

Big comeback: After doing essentially nothing for six innings Thursday, the Padres got two runs in the seventh inning and then six more in the eighth inning on seven hits and one walk. Yangervis Solarte, who entered the game as a pinch-hitter, had two hits in the 8th. "We got back in the game, we fought back and that shows the character of our team," said Kemp.

Taking over: Buster Posey helped sustain the Giants late, collecting all three of his RBIs from the fifth inning on. He hit an RBI single in the fifth inning and a two-run double in the eighth. He has 21 RBIs this month.

After the game Jessica and Beth met Ally and Katherine for an all girls night - to see the Musical "Book of Mormon".    Beth and I had already seen the show in NY and loved it. Jessica waited after the show to get the autograph of one of her favorite actors A. J. Holmes, which she got along with a few others,  maybe Ron Bohmer, or could it have been Stanley Wayne Mathis?  Jessica can you correct me?

Wednesday, June 24, 2015 - Muir Woods and The Exploritorium

Today I took Jessica on a short drive across Golden Gate Bridge on our way to Muir Woods.  We arrived at about 10:30 am and both parking lots were full, this on a Wednesday.  We ended up parking about a mile away on the side of the street.

In any case we had an excellent walk through the tall redwood trees.

Jessica in a "small" redwood

I kept looking for a four leaf clover but never found it!

From here we drove back to San Francisco to meet Beth for lunch at Gott's Roadside restaurant followed by a visit to the Exploratorium.  The Exploratorium is an awesome place to learn and interact with many different ideas and experiences.  Nothing like having visitors to do all those SF things we mean to do and never quite get to. 

The TransAmerica Building

Jessica Stelluto - High School Graduation trip to San Francisco - Tuesday, June 23, 2015

We were fortunate to be able celebrate our niece,  Jessica's, high school graduation by having her visit from Reading, MA. (BOS) for a weeks stay with us.

I picked Jessica up at SFO on Beth's birthday, Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015.  It was lunch time so we went  to La Taqueria  for some traditional Mexican.  The food was good and as always it was quite busy.  Before we started our mural walk and take photo's we stopped at  Precita Murals store. From here we walked around the The Mission District. Below are some of my photo's of the many murals and graffiti panted on the walls of the Mission.

On the way home from the Mission we went to the top of Twin Peaks to enjoy the view and give Jessica an overview of SF in all it's glory. 

View of San Francisco from the parking lot.Our other Stelluto side nieces, Ally and Katherine Flessel drove up to join Jessica, Beth and me to celebrate Beth's birthday!