Saturday, July 21, 2012

san francisco

my sweet sister daria rose her friend tanyn bought me an airplane ticket up to san francisco! it was a spontaneous and fun little trip and i had a great time.  we did a lot of fun stuff.  we went camping on the  yuba river, we hung out with good friends and we went to a square dance birthday party.
the yuba river is about 2 hours north of san francisco and is amazing and beautiful! i did not take many photos because i spent most of the time lying around naked on the warm rocks half in and half out of the water, or i was on an inner tube floating down the river or i was eating yummy food under the shade of the big oak trees. it was wonderful and totally relaxing.

packing in

the view from my rock bed

my comfy rock bed

smooth rocks

clear water

the river and i

perfect

inner tubes rock

                                   beautiful

carved out of the mountains

river sculpture

deep waters

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elizabeth and melissa are like sisters to me.  they lived with my family in olympia many years ago and now live in san francisco.  they both visited me in berlin and i have seen them every time i have come back to the states over the years.  they are amazing and wonderful and i love them.  they are twins.  they have a dance studio in san francisco where they hold classes and different events.  we were invited to ben's (melissa's fiance) birthday.  it was a square dance party and it was awesome!  square dancing is really fun. its american traditional folk dances, danced to songs played by fiddle and banjo.  there is a caller who calls out the steps and the directions as everyone dances together. it was a blast!

melissa and elizabeth
                         
daria, snuggles, elizabeth

square dancing

swing dancers

melissa and ben

me

twin space

daria at twin space

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i was able to see my dear new german friends, fabian and sophia again in san francisco! that was great! they spent two nights with us at daria's house and we had a fun time exploring the golden gate park and haight ashbury.  i feel so blessed to have met theses two sweet people.  they are so lovely and special, the kind of people i feel like i have known for ever.  i look forward to seeing them again when i visit germany this winter.

fabian

sophia

friends forever

another dear friend i got to see was my darling ak and meet her adorable little baby girl cloe.  we met in the park for an afternoon visit.  i LOVE these girls!

ak and cloe

nose grab

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the week in san francisco was great.  i loved seeing my sister and friends,  it was a well rounded visit with nature and city and good times even though it was grey and wet in the city.

san francisco street

the conservatory of flowers

the de jung museum 

colorful building on lower haight

lion in the jungle
















Friday, July 20, 2012

tijuana, mexico

i took my grandmother down to tijuana twice to see her dentist.  many people go across the border to get their teeth worked on because the prices are way cheaper and the quality of the work is just as good if not better then what one would get in america from an american dentist.
the first time we went, we drove down to the border, parked the car at the last usa exit and got on a bus that took us over the border to the bus depot where the dentist picked us up in his nice black car.  he drove us to his office, did the work and took us back to the depot where we got back on the bus and drove back across the border to our car.
the second time we went, we accidently missed the last usa exit and drove our car into tijuana which was quite exciting.  luckily the dentist had a fast pass for us to use to get back across the border because it would have taken us up to 4 hours of sitting in the lines of cars waiting to cross the border. with the fast pass it took about 15 minutes. both visits were quite short but very fun and i took some photos to share here.

the border

no man's land

red building

pasaje

stained glass

down an alley

on the corner

revoluzione boulevard

crossing the road

colorful stairwell

pig club

mexican wrestling masks

almost at the dentist

at the dentist

doors and windows

corona truck

pinyata

sunflower delivery


people waiting to cross

more waiting

over there is mexico