same sex tulare county

suck it san francisco. you aren't as gay as...tulare county. well, at least, census numbers show that the county with the most same sex families raising children is tulare county.

i admit, i'm surprised by that. then again, it may make sense that families with children aren't living in the city, or even the bay area, where property cost is very high. it also makes sense that people that had kid in heterosexual relationships and then came out would want to keep their children near the other parent as much as possible.

clean graffiti

check out this amazing video of a guy doing some "reverse graffiti" up in san francisco.



i'd love to get some local artists together to do this in fresno.

*thanks laughing squid.

"we grew up"

and by that you mean sold out. well, maybe that's a bit harsh. but, i do find it a bit hypocritical for those that embraced homelessness, drug use, and "freedom" decades ago to now be calling for harsher crackdown on loitering and homelessness in their neighborhood.

now, i don't think that just because you live in a neighborhood you have to put up with grime and crime, endless panhandling and such. but, i'm sure if you heard your dad making this quote, Arthur Evans, you would have called him a fascist or something to that effect. "I used to be a hippie. I wore beads and grew my hair long," he said. "But my generation had something these kids do not: a standard of civilized behavior."

so, when you wore beads, grew your hair long, tuned in, turned on and dropped out, you were civilized about your squatting and drug use? well, good for you. i highly doubt this was actually the case. but, in the case that you always paid rent in haight ashbury during the late 60's, and didn't do anything illegal (like smoke weed) then know that you may have been the only one.

reminds me of another story about the generation gap. always good to see the youth being embraced with open arms.

what a weekend

so, as i mentioned the other day, we were going to a wedding up in san francisco. it was for heather's cousin. those of you who know heather's family, they accept people in close, and so heather's cousin is loosely her cousin. she's the daughter of heather's aunt's previous husband. but, we'd hung out with her when we were in college. really nice girl, from norway. so, we thought that the wedding was mainly for family, friends, etc here. well, they had only had a civil ceremony in norway, and this wedding was for all the family and friends. we knew it was at a norwegian church, but we never figured that it would be in norwegian. the whole ceremony. a few english stuff, but the priest was norwegian (been stateside for 3 years) and the whole deal went down in norwegian. which was cool.


here's heather outside the church


the view from the church


the trinity. i always love taking photos of art in churches.

so, like i was saying earlier, it was a norwegian ceremony. the couple came down the aisle together, and then sat in chairs facing the priest, just like the rest of us. they were at the front, but this was an interesting little touch.



two more pics of the scenery. you can see how close alcatraz was.


the reception was here. it was a really nice place, right on the edge of golden gate park, near haight ashbury.


in their tradition, they stand on a chair and kiss when you click on the glasses.




we got one of the new dollar coins. i don't really care about dollar coins, and generally don't use them. i thought these were pretty cool because the writing (e pluribis unim, etc) are all on the edge of the coin.


we had breakfast with some of the family the next morning. her's heather & her cousin.

we skipped out on going to the moma. got lazy. but, we still headed to the zoo. on the way, we came across beautiful scenery. and, we stumbled upon something i'd seen on california's gold. "that's amazing!"

this was an old water park/public baths/water park dealy. it's no longer there, but you can wander around the where they used to be. frankly, i can't imagine going here and getting in the water because it was freakin cold and windy.









so, we were walking around the ruins, and were on what used to be a wall of sorts. there was a little drop off on both sides (a few feet). fall either way and you're getting wet. anyhow, i was walking in front, and heather was 3-5' behind me. now, the deal we were walking on was about 2' wide. as i walked along, i came to a square hole, about 1.5'x1.5'. I stepped over it, and continued on. i was stepping up onto a higher level when i heard something behind me.

and heather had fallen into this whole. now, she'll admit that she's sorta clumsy, and balance and athleticism haven't been strengths of her life. she just didn't see this whole in the thing we were walking on, and fell right in. and sat there for a bit. i quickly asked if she was alright, and kept asking to make sure. unlike some of you, i didn't just laugh at her (you know who you are, laughing when i fell down some stairs. okay, it was just two stairs and i didn't care.)


she's got a bit of a scrape on her leg. and some bruises. but, she was pretty much alright. and, a few other people also asked if she was alright.



then it was off to the zoo where we met eleanore.


i thought this was a cool shot where you could see some of the zoo set up, as well as the ocean in the background. beautiful day to be wandering around.

as we watched the penguins get fed (no, those aren't happy feet. they are penguins) i saw this fashion statement. this girl had on a short denim skirt, a pullover fleece, flip flops and knit leg warmer/sock things. wha?

heather got cuddly with a big cat & kitten.

we saw a grizzly. i'm shooting this from over a fence, as the grizzly exhibit isn't open yet. but i also got video of the bears playing with each other, chasing about. i also have a video where heather tries to catch a peacock.

so, if you molest a tarantula, it will inflict a painful something. not quite sure what painful thing it will do, as that part of the sentence was left out. but, i understand. i might also do something painful if molested.

ah, meerkats (not timon). i've got video of them play fighting.

after the zoo, we dropped eleanor (does your name have an "e" @ the end?) across from her apartment. we took the detour due to the melted bay bridge, but since i was driving i couldn't see the damage. adam tells me you can if you look quickly. and aren't driving. we then made good time back to fresno, and i met up with nick & adam and played some wii. i'm sure he'll post funny video of that at some point.

plans

so, this weekend we're hoping to do some cool stuff. first, we're going to a wedding in sf. heather's cousin from norway is getting married. well, she already got married over there, but is having a ceremony for family, friends, whoever out here. so, we're doing that on friday.

then, we're staying the night at this hotel. got a good deal through hotwire.com, think it's rated like 4.5 stars out of 5. when we head up that ways we like to stay @ hotels like that. maybe it makes up for all the places we've stayed in vegas.

on saturday, it looks like we'll try and get up sorta early (well, for a saturday) and hit up the sf zoo. we really dig going to zoos, and sf zoo is actually one of our favs.

after the zoo, i think we'll try and hit the moma. they have a picasso show going (one of my favs), and i always love the chance to hit up museums in big cities. fresno actually gets pretty cool art shows sometimes, but usually not quite like sf.

then, we'll head back to fresno. i imagine we'll be home around 8:30 or 9, and we'll be ready to hang out with you all.

deyoung before new years

so, we enjoyed our time with justin in town from seattle. not that we haven't also enjoyed seeing other out of towners (johnsons, widlunds) or other in towners we haven't seen as frequently (portelas, castros, fosters) or the ones we see often (adam, woodys). we finished our whirlwind Xmas week with two road trips. the first was to bakersfield to meet up with the johnsons. we had some super grub, even if we arrived way late. hey, things happen. but it was good to see scott & malisa, as well as emily, although her appearance for us was brief. just a bit between bath & bed. we also got to see our chums the woody w/little georgia, the ogdens (damn, i should know their child's name, i know we got an announcement and other stuff like that. i admit, my bad) and julie. sadly, no dana. but we did see doug. yep, doug is still as tall as he was, although malisa couldn't believe it.

today, we rolled up to sf to see the deyoung museum. nice drive, went up through gilroy & hit up the outlets. got some new golf shoes (great deal, and i purchased my current pair over 6 yrs ago, they're pretty beat). we then hit the city. the museum was really nice. it's brand spankin new, so i think this may explain the large crowds. it's really big, and lots of nice stuff.

after the museum, we went down haight street and found some nice little place for dinner. we walked around a few streets and headed home.

(for some reason, blogger's not wanting me to upload photos right now. i'll try again tomorrow. the post will be a lot more comprehensive with photos & explanations.)