Finally had a chance to upload my photos to a jump drive. Here they are: pictures from my wandering trip through San Francisco and Yosemite. For most of the trip, I wrestled with food poisoning, but still managed to go exploring. For those of you familiar with the west coast fast food goodness of “In-N-Out Burger” I had a double-double with fries as my first solid meal in a span of four days. A bold move. But it energized me and the greasy goodness of the food inspired me to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge and lose myself in the neighborhood around the Palace of Fine Arts.
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Also, Yosemite was stunning. The hostel we stayed at in the woods gave our group a free pass into their spa. (Yes!). Imagine hiking 10+ miles through the mountains from sunrise to sunset and returning “home” for a relaxing hour in a spa with new friends from all over the world, just simply sipping tea and talking about life.
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- Looking at downtown Denver from a balcony at the Art Museum.
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- Trans-America Pyramid from Chinatown
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- Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady mural outside the Beat Museum.
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- Looking toward downtown through the windows of Coit Tower
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- Looking up at Coit Tower
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- Went to Castro and visited the GLBT History Museum. This is a plaque dedicated to Harvey Milk, the first openly-gay man to be elected to public office in 1978.
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- Looking downtown from a non-touristy pier. :)
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- Still sick, I had the wild idea of walking across the Golden Gate Bridge.
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- It was a longer walk than it seemed. But it was such a beautiful night!
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- I decided to wander in the dark and found myself under the glowing dome of the Palace of Fine Arts. And there were three large barn owls in the pillars looking back at me. Score!
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- The majesty of Yosemite Valley.
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- Yosemite Falls: Highest waterfall in North America. From the top to the base, the water plunges 2,425 feet.
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- Half Dome through the trees. Can’t believe people actually climb up the sheer face of the mountain with little to no harnesses.
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- Looking over the edge of Vernal Falls to a 318 foot drop. There were rainbows from the mist!
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- We climbed up above Vernal Falls, a slippery and narrow rock path on the edge of the cliff. Not dangerous at all… yeah…
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- Standing in Yosemite Valley, surrounded by the towering spirits of El Capitan, Half Dome and Sentinel Dome.
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- Our group climbed up to the t-h-i-n air of Sentinel Dome and looked over the valley. A few of us got in the habit of taking meditative poses. Half-dome is in the background.
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- The Jeffrey Pine on Sentinel Dome that Ansel Adams famously captured in black and white.
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- El Capitan through the needles of a pine.
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- Giant Sequoia in Yosemite. They can grow from 150-300 feet and live for thousands of years. Not your ordinary organism.
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- The trunks of the Sequoias are huge. Good luck hugging these.
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- Glowing fog over the Golden Gate.
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- Oh yes. Wine tasting in Sonoma Valley. So good.
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- Walked along the cliffs on my last day in San Fran. Everything covered in fog.
I will update more about life in Phoenix later this week. But please know that everything is well in the Valley of the Sun. It’s hot (110-118 every day). My casa-mates are great (even if they are girls with cooties, ha!). Work is challenging (many families with heart-wrenching stories and living in very difficult situations). Each day is an adventure (shopping on a budget, meeting new people and former Jesuit Volunteers, connecting with old friends who live in the area). I’m also reading a lot (but that’s not news). Poetry from Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, Sherman Alexie, Rainer Maria Rilke. Also some William Faulkner and theology from Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Some good reading, indeed.
Until next time–
peace!
glenn
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