Fleet Week

Every year over Columbus Day Weekend, San Francisco hosts Fleet Week where locals and tourists can tour navy ships, participate in other activities along the piers and, of course, watch the amazing air show featuring the Blue Angels. The Saturday morning activities begin with the Parade of Ships under the Golden Gate bridge followed by an air show over the bay. Given how much Sam likes airplanes, we decided to make a day of it packing some sandwiches, drinks, and our blanket.

Sam and I decided to try our view of the ships at our favorite vantage point on Conzelman Road at the north end of the Golden Gate. As you can see, the fog made things a little difficult:

If you look really close, you can sort of make out the big ship gliding under the bridge. There was something magical about waiting in the quiet morning for the ships to break through the fog enough for us to make out their shapes. There was only one other family up on the hill with us in this area, so it was fairly quiet except for the fog horns calling to each other across the bay. Really, very peaceful.

Sam brought his trusty binoculars with him which made the viewing much more enjoyable.  It was fairly cool in the morning, but became beautiful, sunny and comfortable by mid day.

The air show started around 12:30pm with a few different jet teams and single fighters demonstrating their amazing abilities. My favorite was the B-2 Bomber. The pilots flew the stealth bomber over from Missouri that morning for the show. Depending on the angle, it could be very difficult to see in the distance. Luckily, it flew right over us so I could get this pic!

One of Sam's favorites was the United Airlines 747. It was amazing to see this huge jet manuevering across the bay. I'm sure the viewers on the other side got a terrific view as it did a low fly-by.

We stayed for the first part of the Blue Angels show, and then decided to try and beat traffic out of the area by leaving early. It was funny to see how many cars had randomly pulled over to watch the Blue Angels, and also slightly annoying since some thought it was a good idea to pull off on the entrance ramp to the highway.

All in all, it was a fantastic way to spend a beautiful Saturday. I think we will make this an annual event- for now :-)

Our New Home

Sam and I have been living out in California now for a little over a year. It has been a difficult transition in some ways- being so far from our wonderful family and friends, but also a true growing experience. I know we will look back at this time someday in the future as a great period in our lives- newly married and on our own in one of the most wonderful cities in the country. I've told Sam about a million times that I want to move back east to be closer to our families after he finishes up school, but since that won't happen for another 4ish years, I'm also determined to enjoy the west coast while we can. So, I've decided to (hopefully) use this blog as a kind of digital scrapbook for all of our exploring.

California is such a different place from our homestate of Georgia. The people, the food, the beautiful landscapes- it feels like another world sometimes. I'm hoping we will get a chance to explore not only the rest of this beautiful state, but also some of it's neighbors.