The North Bay Full Circle Tour ~ April 07, 2014

Today we head to San Francisco and UCSF for my quarterly appointment with Dr. Price. First stop is San Anselmo to meet up with my old friend Tony Houston. He's loaning us his Tam High (Class of 1963) letterman sweater so Rod can wear it in the Apple Blossom Parade. We are in the Sebastopol Area Senior Center contingent: knew the time would come when we'd qualify! We'll be cruising down Main Street Saturday morning in a 1967 red Camero rag top. Oh baby! 

We head across the Golden Gate and down through the Presidio. Realizing we're going to be way early we decide on a spontaneous visit to the Legion of Honor. Unfortunately it's closed but a stroll around the grounds is a no brainer. It's 72 degrees, sunny, no wind, and not even a ripple on the ocean. The absence of wind in April is a highly unlikely scenario in the Bay Area.

We always take Irving Street to the parking garage at UCSF and every time we must drive past this little brick service station, no doubt abandoned for years. I've fallen in love with it and want to bring it home. The possibilities are endless: workshop, outside kitchen, studio, office, a shady place to sit outside. 

We arrive early and the doc is able to see us at 1:30. This is a routine quarterly pow-wow, update and check up. In late April I'll be awarded 2 points to the MELD score bringing my number up to a 31. In late May I meet with the Viral Hepatitis team at UCSF before starting a 2-3 month regimen of Ribivarin and Sofosbuvir to rid my system of the Hep-C virus and have my quarterly CT Scan to check on my resident hepatic tumors Audrey II and Carmine. 

We're out of the City and ahead of the traffic by 2:30 and decide on the back way home via Tam Valley and Mt. Tamalpais. There is virtually no one in the parking lot at the top so we pretty much have the mountain to ourselves for a quiet walk. It's really hazy, but the views, as always, are breathtaking. 

Trail around the top ~ looking west

Indian Paintbrush

CA Poppies - Looking down toward Bolinas

Douglas Iris

We drop off the west side of the mountain at Bolinas and head up Hwy 1 for home, stopping in Tomales for a bite to eat and a camera stroll. Check out the "saddle bags" on this honey bee. Fortunately he's built like a C-130 and doesn't need a lot of room to take off.

We covered three counties today ~ saw Mt. Tam from San Francisco and San Francisco from Mt. Tam. The world is dressed in spring green and wildflowers. Small waterfalls sing on the wooded roadsides on both sides of the mountain. It's one of those magical days we often share.