Author Archives: Eric

Moving from Downtown San Francisco to Jack London Square in Oakland

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As we mentioned in an earlier post, we docked Kosmos at South Beach Harbor Marina. We loved being in the heart of downtown. We could walk to many great restaurants and attractions. The marina entrance was steps from public transit that could easily and quickly take us anywhere beyond walking distance. The city was exciting and full of life, a fun place to be in general.

However, we didn’t love the marina. We were on an end tie, and it was a long walk to the boat from the gate — we estimate a full quarter mile. One of our friends commented that at night the dock was eerie — that it looked like the hallway from “The Shining.”

Our slip was exposed to the bay and very rocky — so much so that Christi Continue reading →

CA Academy of Sciences and Japanese Tea Garden, San Fran, CA

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Another fun thing that Christi did one day while Eric was at work was to go to the California Academy of Sciences and Japanese Tea Garden, both located in Golden Gate Park (the park is located close to the northwest tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, not far from the Golden Gate Bridge). Christi and her friend Kim took public transit from the ballpark over to the park, enjoying the pretty views along the way. San Francisco is visually an attractive city.

The California Academy of Sciences is actually several museums all rolled into one facility. The ticket to get in was $30, which is pretty expensive for a museum, but once inside, she saw why it was so much. There is a lot to do there, and a lot of staff on hand to answer questions and offer help.

Upon arrival, Christi and Kim made a beeline for the world’s largest all digital Planetarium to catch the show “Life: A Cosmic Story” narrated by Jodie Foster. It was a surprisingly interesting history of the universe, illustrating how microbiology and astronomy are inter-connected in the great scale of the universe. (In a weird coincidence, the night before, Christi watched the movie “Contact” for the first time. “Contact” stars Jodie Foster, who played an astronomer who found life on another galaxy.)

In the middle of the museum building is a 90 foot diameter (27.5 meter) glass dome that houses a tropical forest. A walkway circles the interior of the dome, climbing higher and higher, allowing people to look at the various plants and animals along the way. We didn’t see many animals at the bottom, but near the top we saw a couple birds and a few butterflies.

Kim loved it. Christi though the concept was cool, but Continue reading →

Angel Island, San Francisco Bay

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We thought that while we were in San Francisco we would spend tons of time playing tourist and sightseeing, but we really didn’t. We have a lot of friends and family that live up there, so most of our free time was devoted to eating out at fabulous restaurants with beloved people we rarely get to see.

One of the fun tourist activities we did was to take Kosmos overnight to Angel Island State Park, located about a mile south of Tiburon, near the Golden Gate Bridge. We chose an unusually clear and warm day to go over there. Here is a shot of our nephew and his girlfriend on the bow of Kosmos with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.

Here is Kosmos moored in Ayala Cove, on the north side of the island. The moorings were different than any others we’ve seen before and were difficult to tie onto. Fortunately, the Continue reading →

San Francisco’s Embarcadero

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Since returning from our circumnavigation in 2009, we’ve started several threads that we haven’t finished. One of Christi’s New Year’s Resolutions is to get better about finishing blog threads. So to start the year off right, we are going to finish up our San Francisco thread from a few months back.

To recap: on Wednesday, October 31, 2011, we set out from our home port in San Diego on our way to San Francisco, where we planned to spend a couple months. We broke the trip up north into two legs: the first was 24 hours at sea, stopping in Ventura. The plan was to wait in Ventura for a good weather window around Point Conception. Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait long. After only 24 hours in Ventura, we were back at sea. Leg two took two days, and we arrived in San Francisco Bay on Sunday, September 4.

We docked at South Beach Harbor Marina, located right next door to the AT&T ballpark in the heart of downtown San Francisco. We picked that location because Eric could walk to work (his company also has an office in San Francisco, which he worked out of). Here is a shot of Eric in front of the ballpark and one at the back of the ballpark.

Monday, September 5 was Labor Day, so Eric had the day off work. We took a walk along the embarcadero to the famous Ferry Terminal Building. Here are some sights along the way:

This is Pier 38 right next to the marina. Along the waterfront, there are several more of these Pier buildings that all look similar.

The view of San Francisco Bay and the Bay Bridge from just past Pier 38

Continue reading →

Contest to Win Our Books and a Coupon for Discounts on Book Purchases

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World Footprints Media, who did a radio interview with us a few months ago, is currently running a “I LOVE To Travel” Photo Contest. Prizes include a copy of our books. For more information on how to submit photos, check out their contest page.

Also, if you are interested in buying our books, Lulu is currently offering a buy one book, get a second one for 50% off coupon. At the check out screen, simply enter the coupon code SECONDHALF305. Coupon expires January 15, 2012.