favity faves

kerianne coined the term "favity fave" - a playful and more emphatic alternative to favourite

(yes, i am using the british spelling - i lost the accent so quick but i'm holding onto the spelling as long as i can!).

 

i think the phrase works well to describe the week i spent with dani - and keri on the first day and the last - in san fran and around. here are some of my favity fave pictures with some of my very most favity fave people in some of my absolute favity fave places.

photos by dani

 

 

after i picked up dani at the airport, we chased a sunset at ocean beach and then drove across the golden gate bridge to this glorious sight - how about that moonlight on the bay?!

 

on wednesday we met up with kerianne at tahoe and it was gorgeous.

 

 

 

 

bike riding along the truckee river, hanging out on the warm rocks at sand harbor, and watching a delicious sunset made for a perfect day - well worth the 4 hour drive there and back!

 

 

 

dani and i explored the city and found some sweet spots walking through chinatown and north beach, then along fisherman's wharf up to the ferry building.

 

we rented bikes (which, after a bit of flirting, turned out to be free) and met jonathan to ride in critical mass. critical mass is an event that happens monthly in cities all over the country - lots of people come together to flood the roads with bikes and enjoy cruising along all together.

 

 

at least 5000 bikers showed up for this sf critical mass and it was one of the coolest experiences of my life. we completely took over the city, traveling in a huge mass and not stopping at any red lights. tourists lined the streets to take our photos. people showed up on bright pink bikes, on double-decker bikes, on bikes equipped with wicked sound systems; people biked in costumes and a few old men biked butt naked (jonathan helped sensor things by covering our eyes at the right time!); people did wheelies on their bikes for minutes at a time. the best part was the girl with the bubble machine on the back of her bike (you can see the bubbles a little in the picture below) we rode all through the city and then into the sunset over the golden gate bridge with bubbles in the air everywhere. magical!

one random stranger looked over at me while we were biking up a hill overlooking the bridge and exclaimed, loudly, "i love living here!!" i exuberantly hollered back "i love being alive!!" awesome.

 

on saturday morning we were delighted by the produce and creativity at two farmer's markets.

then we went to the dragon boat festival at treasure island. it was a really unique, neat event - the streets full of asian vendors selling asian stuff and some hard-core dragon boat paddlers. we saw a couple races (i wish you could see it better in this picture) - it was so cool!

 

then we went to muir woods with my friend kelsey and gazed up at the astoundingly awesome, magnificent redwoods.

 

on sunday, kerianne pulled up to my house after driving from reno and we got right in and chased the sunset to ocean beach. these pictures don't do the majesty of this sunset justice. it was sublime. and the german tourist taking our picture did pretty awesome at getting this jumping shot on the first try!

 

 

keri and i brushed up on some ballet moves in the waves. i was seriously, seriously happy.

 

 

 

on monday we had breakfast on baker beach, took in the clear view from twin peaks, and headed down to palo alto. we loved the church at stanford, meeting our friend amy for lunch and meandering along the cute streets of downtown pa.

 

 

a fantastic week. i love these people. i love this place.

and like i screamed on my bike at critical mass, i love being alive!