Browse Category: outings

PBJ Fun

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On Sunday, we went to Alameda to visit Jimmy and Eleen. We brought the dog along and ventured out to Webster Street where they held their annual Peanut Butter Jam Festival. It was a small street fair with kiddie rides, kettle korn, local crafts, electric car displays, and free blood pressure checks.  It was quite an entertaining morning with Dupree’s old housemates.

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Here’s Jimmy and Eleen supporting their community with their souvenir beer mugs.

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Jes and Koa checking out the electric car.

Afterwards, we picked up our bikes from Jimmy’s house and Jes went for a short bike ride with Ryan and Bang. I didn’t get to witness the disaster but I can just imagine three melters huffin’ and puffin’ across the Golden Gate Bridge and cursing the whole way back to Bang’s apartment. Hm. It sounded like they were all feeling pretty rusty but with a few more rides, they should be ready for a century. Right, guys?!

Later in the evening, the Sokol-Juns came over with ribs and BBQ beans. We got to try out our new dining table and chairs for the first time and it was nice to be seated at a table for dinner again.

Fort FUNston

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We met up with Jen, Kevin, and Kona at Fort Funston today. It’s a really nice beach where dogs are allowed to roam off-leash located just south of San Francisco. We strolled down to the beach and Koa did a really nice job staying close-by and responding to our calls. He was a bit hesitant going down to the beach area but seemed fine once he saw all the dogs and running space. Kona showed off her ball-catching skills while Koa chased her back and forth. He almost got tricked into running into the water but applied the brakes just in time. The hike back up was much trickier but everyone made it and got a short workout too. We’ll definitely return to this place very soon. What fun!

Here are photos from our afternoon.

An Evening at the Ballpark

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Susie scored some free tickets to the Giants vs. Dodgers game so we went last night for some tasty baseball food and a little baseball too. It was a comfortable evening with lots of orange-colored people and a sprinkling of Dodger blue. Apparently there’s a pretty brutal rivalry between the two teams and there was a lot of boo-ing and heckling from the stands. We were hoping to watch a couple fights but only witnessed a guy getting escorted out by the cops. I had a Giants dog and some nachos loaded with jalepenos while Susie got a roast beef sandwich from the Carvery. They have some fancy stuff at this ballpark! I got to see this Barry Bonds guy that reportedly hits a lot of homeruns. Nothing spectacular happened last night but it was fun watching him hit the ball and then have the ball caught immediately by the pitcher in the 8th inning. I can see the appeal of going to a baseball game. It’s like a really big and expensive Happy Hour for San Franciscans…it’s too bad that the Giants are in last place. At least they broke their 11-game home losing streak against the Dodgers last night.

Here are some photos from the game. Thanks for taking us, Susie!!

Nice try, Team Bang.

dsc_8034.jpgLast night we went to Golden Gate Park to watch Bang play in a volleyball tourney. It was fun being spectators and enjoying a foggy evening at the park. I also got to give sports photogging a try and I realized that I need a faster lens. Regardless, Bang has a collection of photos of himself playing volleyball and flying in the air.  Dude, he’s got mad hops!  :)  And of course, I had to throw in a few photos of Koa at the park too.

Nice job, Team Bang. It’s just too bad that you lost.

Hills and Popcorn

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San Francisco has a lot of hills. I went on the Saturday Nike ClubRunSF Training Run and it sure was hilly. I managed to finish about 7 miles today and it felt pretty good. The training runs are pretty cool but it’s really easy to get lost. We went through neighborhoods, a little forest, golf course, and along the shore. It certainly is beautiful and really does keep me occupied.

Last night I went to see my second movie of the year with the Bangs and Sokol-Juns. We went to see Superbad, which was a pretty funny movie. And of course, the two contrarians (Jes and Vyl) decided to go see The Bourne Ultimatum instead, which actually made our movie more enjoyable. I also didn’t realize how expensive everything has gotten! A bottle of water is 3 bucks!! Ryan was nice enough to share his popcorn with me and the guy behind the counter gave me some tap water in a cup. Solid.

No Brakes

imgp0470.jpgOn Tuesday after work, I threw Koa in the car, picked up Jes from work, and we drove to Chrissy Field located just next to the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s a long stretch of grass, sand, and water, which makes for a very picturesque run or windsurf. In fact, it’s so windy there that there was a bunch of people in the water windsurfing and body boarding in full wetsuit attire. Crazy fools.

Anyway, Koa seemed to really enjoy romping on the sand. We actually let him loose from the leash and he darted from one end to the other taking in the wind, sand, and smells. There were plenty of dogs out there – mostly labs who were playing in the water.

We found a strip of land that was surrounded 3/4 of the way around by water. This was the perfect place to take Koa since it would make it much easier to keep him in one place without the fear of him going too far. If you know Koa, you know that he HATES water so it was safe to say he wouldn’t try to make a run for it through the water.

At one point, we were playing a game of chase and as he was running away from me, he got too close to the shore and didn’t realize he was coming up to the water so quickly. Before he could apply the brakes, he fell into this huge drop in the shoreline (underwater), which inevitably gave him a quick dunk in the water. In just a matter of seconds he had disappeared “plunk!” into the water. The look on his face as he came up for air paddling with all his might back to shore was a sight to see. He looked shocked, confused, and frightened all at the same time. I was laughing so hard that I forgot to take a photo of his head bobbing in the water. I think he was pretty much done for the evening once he made it to shore. Not only was he dirty from the sand but now wet and salty. I guess it’s time to send him out for a bath!!