are you going to san - fran - cisco?

i went back to california last week!  it felt strange, though, because the house remodel made it feel a bit less like home:

i was only in sf for a couple of days but tried out some new restaurants (gracias madre (vegan mexican) and tataki south (sustainable sushi)) saw a few friends -- matt's people at suppenkuche, kat over dim sum, sibo at blue bottle, and drew jimmy benny.

then, matt and i went on an epic road trip:

• motorcycled to the sonoma coast, where we ate delicious crab rolls and looked for whales @ bodega bay.  we stayed at a cute cottage on a farm.  it was fun to make dinner from garden vegetabls, eat cheese made from the goat "willow", and enjoy the fresh eggs.
• to explore the rest of the state, we rented a truck and headed through the sierras!  there were bright pops of yellow & red trees every now and then, and the mountain tops were lightly dusted in snow.  driving along on the eastern side of the sierras, i could understand the impulse of explorers to see what's on the side of the mountains.  i'm glad the sierras are protected by three national parks and numerous wilderness areas, and that kings canyon np is largely inaccessible by road.
• we first headed for saline valley, the northern part of death valley.  after 50 miles of unpaved road, one flat tire, digging the truck out of soft sand, and doubling back numerous times, we found the hot spring!  it's pretty cool :) -- clean and well maintained, with a handful of old hippie nudists.
• then, we checked out the main sites at death valley -- huge sand dunes, hiked around some colorful badlands. 

good times!  six more weeks of school before the first semester is over.  crazy.