squirrels: 1, me: 0

I went out to look at my plants and dun dun dunnnnnnnn... the squirrels destroyed the strawberries. They shredded them - pulled the seedlings out of the planter and tore them apart leaf, by leaf and stem by stem.

squirrels: 1, me: 0

I tried to salvage the bits of plant with roots still attached and shove them back into the planter. Hopefully they'll take. But to prevent any further squirrel shenanigans I built a little cage of chicken wire. It's not secured in any real way, but there are sharp edges so I hope that's a deterrent.

 
Your move, squirrels.

Spring's first planting

lots of accrued comp time + one of the first nice day's of spring = playing hookie to plant some vegetables. This girl knows how to have a good time.

swiss chard, lettuce, and brussel sprouts

brussel sprouts

oregano

strawberries

Road trip coast transition

Now that my California road trip is over and I'm back in the east coast grind I thought it would be fun to put together all of the shots I took of the scenery as I was driving. Which was 100% safe. I'm hoping it will show the transition from beach to lush to redwood, but I guess we'll see in a few minutes!







Drumroll...

OK, so it didn't turn out to be the smooth slideshow I had hoped for, but I was driving so there. Still, really cool trip with really amazing scenery every mile of the way.

Day 9 - San Fransisco, day 3 / Last day of vacation

This morning I bid Diana and her family adieu and checked into my conference hotel in Chinatown. It was really nice to have been able to stay with them but I must admit, I was happy to be able to spread out in my own place and not feel like I was bugging anyone. I think I'm about ready to age out of couch-crashing and into staying in hotels going forward. Let's see how well that holds up when I actually have to pay for it. Anyway.

I started my day wandering around the Chinatown neighborhood and peeking into some shops. I didn't spend too long there, though, because I knew I'd be able to walk around more in the evenings after the conference and I wanted to get in as many different sights as I could.

So off to Lombard street I went! I hopped an old-fashioned trolly (usually like $6) and they didn't bother charging me because the dude running it was training another driver. Sweet deal. Also, another tourist took a stunningly gorgeous picture of me, because she saw I was trying to take a selfie. The punishment fits the crime.

I had never really heard of Lombard street before being told I should really go there, and I'm so glad I did. It's the "curviest street in the word" because it's hella steep. Cars driving down it had to go about 10 mph to stay in control, and there were tons of steps. It's definitely worth a peek if you're in town.

Then I took another old fashioned vehicle, this time a street car (I think?) to the Exploratorium, a science museum that seems geared for kids. Actually, when I got there I was the only non-chaperone adult and I was feelin some typa way about it (read: embarrassed), but it turned out to be awesome anyway. Science!

There were three main parts of the museum, and like a total n00b I spent way too long in the first two parts (physics and light and sound) so I had to gloss over the part that was really most interesting to me (human behavior). But it was still pretty cool anyway. Everything is very hands on and interactive which I think is super cool.

I ate in the cafeteria and then walked over to the dock for my Alcatraz tour. This was the one thing I was most excited about in all of San Fransisco. Of course, while walking it started POURING, but c'est la vie. My pictures came out really crappy, but I have to say, I felt weird taking pictures there at all. The audio guide was really great - very informative and it prevented people from bunching up and causing traffic jams everywhere - but people did seem most eager to take pictures where gruesome things happened, for example in the cell where several people were shot and died. It just seemed very tacky to me. Listen to me - I sound like pearl clutching grandma.

I did think it was very interesting how the museum materials discussed, or really glossed over, the fabled prison escape. They say no one ever successfully escaped the island when it was a prison but you already know I stayed up last night reading about it and watching the MythBusters episode on it. I totally think they could have gotten away. The world may never know.

At the end of the tour they had a really cool art exhibit, which I'm pretty sure displayed art from people in or affected by prison. Really cool stuff. I wish I had taken the tour slightly earlier in the day because they're stern about kicking everyone off near dusk, and that was about when I discovered the part of the island/museum dedicated to the Native American occupation and protest. I really wish I could have spent more time hearing about that, but I'll be sure to next time I'm back.

After we docked back in SF I came back to the hotel, bringing an end to my vacation/road trip. I'm presenting at the conference tomorrow and I really need to get ready. I'm so nervous!!