California time

We flew from NYC to California to spend some time with Kip, yay!  It was John's first time in Mountain View, so we got an excellent tour of Google.

The Streetview car and map marker outside Kip's new office:

Trying out the climbing wall:

Fun at the Computer History Museum!

A self-driving car (uncertain whether someone was driving it at the time or not):

The remaining photos are from a run we did at Big Basin park - love the big trees and beautiful woods.

And the fun trail:

A bit of a view of the Pacific Ocean:

Wonderful waterfalls:

John and I both saw some large slugs - John's picture includes an apple core to give a sense of scale:

John made it down to the ocean - nice running, John!

We also did a couple trail races with Kip and saw more pretty places (up in the hills and around the north end of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge).  Then we spent 4 hours running around (and up and down!) to a bunch of little parks around the city in an urban orienteering event called Go Wild!  It was great fun and we had even more awesome views.  What a neat area to run around in!

Addendum: A photo John took during the Go Wild! event, me and Kip (both in blue) running down the hill, with the city of San Francisco in the distance:

Thank you Kip for hosting us and finding fun events for us to do!

NYC with Lindy - part 2

Another couple fun days in New York!

Wandering around Central Park - my favorite statue (Balto the sled dog):

Hans Christian Andersen:

A really nice photo of Alice and Lindy:

Across the lawn looking south toward the city:

Turtles!

They are setting up the stage for a summer of Shakespeare:

Bow Bridge after walking through The Rambles for the first time (I like it!):

Serene morning music:

It seemed like a good time to finally rent a boat:

Lindy showing us how it's done:

Another view of the skyline:

More turtles!

An afternoon at the Natural History Museum:

Closer-up encounter with Teddy:

See #3:

Lincoln Center, wandering through after watching a showing of the movie "Imagine" about John Lennon:

Not your normal college student version of ramen noodles - but still very good  :)

We went to Flushing Meadows to check out the various sights and museums, starting with the NY Hall of Science (which was interesting even though it was overrun with super-excitable school kids).  How to play Plinko (for that day when I get on The Price Is Right):

A quieter spot nearby:

Lindy's "life imitates art" pose - good one!

One of the World's Fair locations - it's the 50th and 75th anniversary of two NYC World's Fairs:

A time capsule - to be opened in 5000 years!?

We were enchanted with a tour of Louis Armstrong's house - totally worth a visit if you are ever in the area.

Duck!

Lindy wanted to see the show called "Once" and it was an excellent pick.  Fun music, actors playing instruments onstage, all around delightful.

I think we wore John out:

It was a bit of a whirlwind tour, but we always enjoy a few days in the Big Apple!

NYC with Lindy - part 1

Next phase of our "across-the-country travel" = taking the train down to New York City!  We met up with our niece Lindy and got to show her around the city for a few days.  She had seen the "normal" tourist places, so we focused on places tourists were less likely to visit.

For starters, the tram to Roosevelt Island:

Baby geese, how cute!

This appears to be a feral cat colony.  The sign caught my attention - "Please do not annoy, torment, bother, heckle, molest, harass, disquiet, plague, beset, bullyrag, nettle, tantalize, or ruffle the animals"

Sadly, we were too early to get in to see the big head of Franklin (D. Roosevelt), and we were hungry for Ess-a-Bagel, and we had a full agenda, so we headed back amid the gorgeous flowering trees:

John came across this "classic" in a window:

After breakfast we visited Ripley's Believe It or Not - lots of interesting and funny and unexpected items.  The World Trade Center complex built out of matches, for example:

Magic tricks:

A ship made from jade:

Heads in storage - wait, that one is moving!

We've come to help with the Godzilla problem:

Our niece's restaurant:

At MoMA, where we found a flower to send to our moms for Mother's Day:

I'm on the map:

There is a collection of old computer-related things at MoMA, including something familiar to me from previous jobs:

A quick look through the permanent collection - I found a painting that I like a lot for some reason:

We love NY!  :)

Wandering around NYU, we came across a statue of Mr. LaGuardia:

View of downtown and the new World Trade Center building, from the Brooklyn Bridge:

It was way crowded on the bridge, not an optimal time to experience it but it helped me appreciate that we were doing mostly non-tourist things otherwise:

Happy Mother's Day!

Little Italy for supper = yum!

A couple views of the Highline Trail:

Love the artwork along here:

Except we're not sure what this is:

One final stop for the day - M&M's World!