Path of Least Resistence

I am enjoying my time back here. I usually do.  At first it was the cold weather that hit me, and pretty hard. It's about 20 degrees colder than it has been for me the last 2 weeks. It's just that California cold though that creeps in overnight, as soon as the sun goes down. Next it was the crowded claustrophobia that snuck up on me which usually means that it's time to get out of the city. Yesterday I rode up to Marin hoping to go for a nice hike, but got shut down twice. My first attempt was up Olema ridge, and it was so crowded that I found myself idling in a line of people waiting to amble up a hill. I scrapped it about ten minutes in after I stepped in shit and a cow threatened to charge me. Then I went for a rather difficult trail out by the beach. It's pretty hilly, and about ten miles of it too. I couldn't even find parking, so figured that one was a goner as well. I finally threw in the towel and just sat on the beach for a while.

I forgot how soothing it all is. I used to drive out to the beach just to calm my nerves when I lived up in Marin. The drive itself, with it's long, empty, winding roads that empty out along the most perfect beach that I know of was enough to settle me down. It's a short walk to the water, and by then I'm like a zen cow, not one of them damn ornery cows up the road. I decided that I needed a sauna, hot tub and massage as well just to even things out. After two solid days trapped in airports and two weeks in some pretty hellish places I figured the world owed me one solid rub down. Balance restored. So there.

On the drive back I noticed the full moon, like a big, swollen beast, rising over Oakland. I made it to the hills in the headlands just over the bridge in time to take a few botched pictures of it all. There were several gangs of tripod-wielding, maniac photographers whining about f-stops and such. Yeah, so the moon looks like a big flaming ball, but you just had to be there.


















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The Hills Are Littered With Aggressive Bovine