Saturday in San Fran...Golden Gate

Do you suppose the shoes are code for something?
Alcatraz

I loved the pattern these wind tools made.



Which did you see first? The ladies or the pillars?
A cool 1941 Pontiac in the parking lot at the beach.

Yep, it's confirmed...I'm in California. No Palm Trees in Seattle (not to mention the Golden Gate Bridge)
Gettin down and dirty to get the shot.
The wind was so intense when I was taking this photo I was clutching my camera with white knuckles while looking straight up. Talk about vertigo!

I was about done shooting the bridge walking across it when I looked back and saw the sun creating this cool halo effect. Had to shoot it.

Did you ever wonder what the underside of the Golden Gate Bridge looks like? Now you know!
This dude was having some serious fun in the high wind.
Whew! A seriously long walk today took me from Russian Hill to Golden Gate and back. Me very tired. I don't remember the last time my feet hurt this much!

Today's Pics from San Francisco

A day off today inspired a very long walk that took me through China Town where I saw live frogs being decapitated (sorry, no photo's allowed..yuck!), turtles awaiting the next slaughter, fish flopping on counters, live chickens, guinea fowl, quail, a pig sliced down the middle and much, much more...mmmmm makes me hungry just thinking about it :)

From there I went through the Financial District, near the Bay Bridge, back up the water and all over the place. It's great exercise and there are so many super cool things to look at. I wonder what tomorrows adventure will bring!

A long exposure shot from my apartment window late at night.
I love the cool houses here
I had breakfast at Curly's this morning and it was fabulous!

A beautiful Church
A detail shot of the church
My wandering led me to China Town in San Francisco
A quick snack in Chinatown
Dried Octopus...yummy!
Daffy, Daisy and Donald RIP

Another cool alley in China town
Fish Head or GeoDuck anyone?
This was one of the smaller shops where I was allowed to snap a quick photograph
I am loving all the super cool memorabilia at the San Francisco Hard Rock Cafe!
Detail shot of a guitar owned by Lenny Kravitz

Tonight in San Francisco

It is hot in San Fran today! Over 90 I heard and I felt it. Twice I walked down to Pier 39 and back. The way there is not a problem, the way back is pretty much straight uphill. I'm going to drop at least two pant sizes by the time I'm done here for sure!

So I got back in the evening and was ready to flop down and chill out when I looked out my bedroom window to see the amazing sky highlighting the Golden Gate Bridge. That pic is shot from my room!

Well, that got the photo bug biting so I loaded up the tripod, the pocket wizards and hiked the 20 feet from the apartment to Lombard street to do some long exposures. I'm pretty happy with the result. What do you think?

What a view!

I've been spoiled by early morning beauty for some time now. For the past 14 years or so I have awoken to one of the most beautiful sites in the world...my bride Lea.

This morning I couldn't sleep very well so I got up in time to check out the sunrise. This is the view I had of the Bay Bridge. It's not as pretty as the love of my life but it isn't too shabby.

Back to school

The title of this post really applies to my life right now.

To warm up for the education I'm about to undertake I accepted an invitation from my oldest daughters 2nd grade teacher to speak at her class. The class had been studying animals of the Savanna and so I shared some photo's from Africa as well as some stories. The kids were a great audience.

Great Wolf Lodge

The Hayward clan had been overdue for a family vacation. I've had a little bit of time off recently so Lea and I discussed it and decided to surprise the girls with a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge just south of Olympia, WA in a town called Grand Mound.

We didn't tell them where we were going, only that we were going someplace fun. They had a million guesses ranging from McDonald's to their final and most definite guess...rollerskating in Hawaii. That would have been fun too, but the girls love to swim so Great Wolf it was.

First of all, let me say this. I have never felt more self confident about my physique in my life! Over the years my metabolism may have slipped a bit and my middle could be described more as a belly than a stomach so it isn't often I wander around with my shirt off in public unless I'm intentionally trying to scare people. Not the case here baby! I looked like the Governator compared to most of these guys :) For example, I saw a man with nipples over one inch long! I won't mention the woman that stopped shaving her legs when she reached the top of her knees...yowza!

The good news is that you can carry cocktails around throughout the entire hotel and pool area so we all started to look better as the day went on! :)

The truth was, we still don't know who had more fun. The girls or the grownups. Lea and I both felt like kids again! We were splashing, shouting, running, sliding, dunking and just having an all out great time from start to finish!

We paid for one nights stay which gives you unlimited access to the pools and slides from open until close the day you check in and the day you check out. Because only guests of the hotel can use the area it isn't overcrowded so you never have to wait more than 5 minutes for a popular slide and often there was no wait at all!

We can't wait to go back! Heck, I probably won't even shave my back next time.





Check this place out!
The room offered Mom and Dad a bit of privacy by stuffing the kids in their own "wolf den" equipped with bunk beds and their own flat screen tv!
She never stopped screaming the entire way down every slide she went on :)
All sorts of fun activities like this for the kids.
This was our favorite slide. We must have gone down it 40 times!
Lea is the only woman I know that can go down a waterslide and not get her hair wet :)
Savannah loved the slides!
Every couple of minutes a giant bucket of water dumps over and soaks anyone beneath.