Visit from Nora!

Recently we had the great pleasure of having Nora out to visit.  She is my oldest niece, 15 years.  She is very smart and it was a great opportunity to get to know her more and have some good trail banter on our couple of hikes.  We talked about nature, and culture, trading historical knowledge, and generally musing about the world.

On her first day here I was excited to take her to Skyline Park here in Napa, a special place for our family.  It was a beautiful sunny clear day.

                                          

We climbed around the ancient giant fig tree:

Mt. Tamalpais on the horizon in the center:

A late-blooming Brodiaea:

We came across a California King Snake, unfortunately crushed on the trail... perhaps by a mountain bike?  And later at the top of Sugarloaf Peak I spotted this rattlesnake tail poking out from a pile of rocks:

When Catalin, the wine intern from Italy, was here and he saw the oak tree in the next picture, he ran up to it, probably hugged it, and hopped up into its limbs and I took his picture there.  I wanted to compare the two shots, but can't seem to find the photograph right now.  I'm sure it will turn up before long and I can do a side-by-side...

I love the way the oak tree skeletons look among the rolling hills... We're fortunate to have such deep blue skies lately.  Let's hope fire season is merciful this year.  

On her second day here, we made the pilgrimage down to the Monterey Bay Aquarium with my Mom and Mark.  This was my 3rd visit in one month, but I still got lost trying to find the cuttlefish!

A couple random aquarium snapshots:

Later in the week we had a fun Fourth of July barbecue at my mom's house.  Three of Mark's four sons made it, including Mark's only grandchild, Kenzo and also Mark's 97 year old mother.  We enjoyed ribs, corn, mashed potatoes, and a rollicking game of Scattergories in the backyard.

On Nora's last day in California we took a hike out to Angel Island in the middle of the San Francisco Bay.  There is a 15 minute ferry boat that shuttles you over.  

The island had some outstanding views in every direction as we circled on the fire road.

First the Golden Gate Bridge...

And then the Bay Bridge and San Francisco (right):

Alcatraz Island in front of San Francisco:

Abandoned building on hillside of Angel Island:

A noticed a number of these butterflies along the trail.  Buckeyes, I believe?  And also this species of buckwheat growing along the island's dry slopes.  I believe butterflies tend to like buckwheat as a food source...

Such a tranquil place in the center of a bustling hub of human activity.

A brochure for the park said that deer and raccoons are excellent swimmers and could cross over to the island that way.  We found this very impressive.  On our ferry ride we saw a dolphin.  Could you imagine a dolphin and a deer swimming together?

It was a fun day in a really amazing place that I look forward to visiting again sometime.  After the hike, we got some Italian food in Sausalito, and then went into the city to see a very interesting "immersive" Van Gogh art exhibit which was set up in the old Fillmore West building that used to host all the early 60's rock groups.  

It was wonderful having you out Nora, thanks for making the trip!