Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Hi Family and Happy Father's Day!

This week I've been to San Diego, New York City and even made a brief stop in Memphis to get a sick passenger off our airplane.   I was only in California for a few days to celebrate a friend's birthday, but it was enough to further confirm that if there were Democrats in San Diego and a way to live without a car, I would move there immediately.  

Here is a view from breakfast on Saturday in Del Mar near where I was staying. 

And since this is a family that appreciates food, here is a view of breakfast.

I spent most of the week in bed with a post vacation cold, but I ventured out today to celebrate Father's Day at the ball park.  It seems fitting, Bob Schilling was at a baseball game today too.   I had 8th row seats behind the visitors dugout with some girlfriends (Robyn and I pictured below).  It was 80 degrees, sunny and not at all humid, a perfect day for a game. 

I'll talk to you all soon.

Love,

Betsy

Gather No Moss

Hello familia!

Hope that this finds everyone well!

After dusting off the last of the sand from my feet, and lamenting my return to "reality", I realized...that Seth and I just had to get back to the business of having more fun. It's a tough life, but someones gotta do it.

We celebrated our 4th Anniversary by hitting some of the old haunts in North Beach...where all of our adventures began.

Saturday, we hit the Giants/Mets game at PacBell Park. It was TOO hot? Is that possible in San Francisco? We had small groups of folks peppered through-out the park, so cruised to different seats in the stadium throughout, and kept ourselves cool with some frosty beverages.

Sunday, was one of my favorite SF traditions...Bay to Breakers! If one were so inclined, one could be athletic and actually run the race (they do offically give out numbers and people do run the 7 mile stretch from the Bay Bridge to the Pacific Ocean...crazy people, that is)....OR you can join the unregistered Back of the Pack! (these are my people). We take off from the starting gate just about when the 1st runners are smelling the salt air and most people in the back have already cracked their first beer (at 8am...hey, it's noon somewhere). Costumes STRONGLY encouraged/mandatory in some circles, and the crazier your posse or float, the better.

Some of my personal favorites:

The crew from Top Gun...

...and the posse of bacon...

...and I really wish I had a picture of the salmon. Every year they start at the ocean, and work their way backwards...really awesome costumes and they get a lot of love. Our crew, a little less "organized" then some of the others, but we managed to include sombreros and disco balls. That's gotta be something right?

All in all, a great weekend to ease us back into reality after the beach. Now, we start preparing for another short East Coast trip to see friends and Phish, a band we've seen dozens of times, and always seem to be anxiously waiting for the next show.

Lots of love from the West Side!

Red Letter Day

Today is a day we can all be glad that Ed will be able to get his Official America the Beautiful National Parks Pass Senior Pass. We're traveling to Fort McHenry to pick it up for ten bucks, and go to Bertha's for Mussel's. Wanted you to be able to join us remotely. Have a glass of wine or beer today and think about all of those National Parks we can take four of us into for free. Yes!

It's Cherry Blossom Time!

Hi Family!

I know most of you have been to see the Cherry Blossoms here in DC at some point in your life, but it's still worth a blog post I think. Last year, this was one of the first weekends I really went out to explore DC and went to watch the Smithsonian's kite festival.

This is my favorite picture from that day. Sure, it's a sad kite that appears to have lost it's owner, and there's probably some kid crying about it. But look at those colors :)

This year, I set out with my friend Meghan to take some pictures of the Cherry Blossoms for her soon to arrive new daughter's nursery. We were quickly reminded that this weekend is the kick off of tourist season in DC. I like tourists, I am a tourist, I help tourists when they're lost, but I can't stand stupid tourists. People who are doctors and lawyers at home, come here and can't recognize the Washington Monument, stand in front of the White House looking for Pennsylvania Avenue, and can't imagine that DC police have better things to do than arrest the rude hot dog vendor that they're convinced is a terrorist. It's really amazing to watch, and makes me proud that I come from a family of professional "good tourists".

So here is this year's favorite Cherry Blossom picture. It doesn't get more American than the White House, the American Flag and the Cherry Blossoms. See you all in less than a month!!!!

Getting Ready

60 degrees in B-More today. Maybe we'll be in the 70's at OBX. Yes!!!!! Ed and I have been trying to get in shape before hitting the beach. Here's Ed doing a workout now...

It's a big challenge getting ready for all of the eating and drinking that go on at the OBX, but we think we've worked our way up to it. This stickie bun courtesy of Beilers Bakery at the Reading Terminal Market in good old Philadelphia, PA.

Just 'Cause

Hi gang!

No new crazy news to report out here...been plugging along with the machine these days. My company went through another round of lay-offs on Friday. As the news trickles in every several weeks or so, I just keep chugging along. I'll keep it rockin' 'til my day comes, I suppose (cross your fingers...that day doesn't come SOON!).

On the fun side (because we know that there's WAY more of that as always), saw a really amazing show last night...John Zorn at Yoshi's, a Jazz Club in the Fillmore District of SF. He's based in NYC, but has a 6 night residency here in SF this week. Each night is a different group. Last night we saw him with a set of musicians under the name of Bar Kokhba. They were totally amazing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCUcNJo2NZM&feature=related

Today, we're relaxing at the house until we make our way over to Dolores Park for a little Oysterfest that our friends are hosting. We usually head up to Point Reyes, but with the weather a little unpredictable these days, we decided to keep it close to home if the weather should turn. A shot from last year's Oysterfest...

Otherwise, getting ready to rock OBX! Our plane tickets are purchased, vacation time locked in at work, and I'm already sitting at the swim up bar in my mind. Really looking forward to seeing everyone and spending some time together. Til' then...OX.

Crabs and Vegas and Tattoos Oh My!

Hello folks,
I was just thinking about you guys... Its a lovely sunny day here in San Francisco, one sunny day surrounded by rain falling on every other day in the 7-day forecast. better enjoy it now! I've been back from the gold coast now for a couple months, and they've been nothing short of wild and crazy.

I've been pretty busy playing tour guide to one friend and a welcome wagon to another, both girls i met in my class in Costa Rica. We did a little sight seeing, ate and drank everything in sight, including crabs at fishermans wharf and got fake tattoos. I find myself sounding just like Heather when i moved here, telling Kate (her name is kate too) hang out in that part of town, this is the best place to eat Chinese, best place to buy socks, best taco tuesday... its fun to have a new friend in town to show off all your favorite stuff

Just after my return from Costa Rica my friends Matty, Luned and Brett decided it was time we all visited Las Vegas. So off we went on a unplanned, haphazard trip one day after work in a broken down car full of sleeping bags and pillows. It was a cool 9 hour drive to the city of neon lights and all night fun.

Arriving at 4 am, we couldn't check into our hotel untill 11 that day, so we headed to the New York New York casino for some early morning gambeling with our breakfast of beers and nachos. For those of you who know of my good luck with slot machines can just hold on to your seats. It took me about 20 minutes to find the right slot machine with a 25 cent sticker and cherries on the spinny wheels. JACKPOT, well kinda! I won $378.75 with just one quarter. It sure was a hoot going back to the bar with that ticket and setting it down in front of matt and luned. Yeah Buddy! We visited the Stratosphere to see the Vegas strip from the sky, played carnival games at Circus Circus where I found a Zoltar Machine and knocked a rubber chicken into a rotatin pot of water and of course visited all the casinos for video poker, black jack and more slots.

That is all the news i have for now. I'll see you all in May at the Outer Banks, family vacation style! Can't wait to see everyone, eat Thanksgiving, bask in the sunshine, dip into the pool and swim up to the bar where there should be a margarita waiting for me already. Make that a mango margarita!