So I'm now trying to catch up on my blog. On New Year's Day I went up to Chinese Baptist Church in Oakland - missed the service, but was able to catch up with a bunch of people and have lunch with Christina and Buddy. The next day, I drove to Walnut Creek and spent the afternoon and evening catching up with Libby and family.
The next day I headed out early for Tahoe - I was able to get a few laps in at Sierra, and caught up with Julianne, too!
Later in the afternoon, I joined Rick ice skating on Lily Lake again, this time with hockey sticks and a puck. It was rather entertaining (at least for anyone who might've seen me!) as it was my first time ever touching a hockey stick!
I stayed with Lisa again and cooked her a big lasagna for dinner and to last her for several days for lunch.
The next day I got together with Tiffany - we went for a walk from Beacon through the Tallac Historic site to Kiva Beach. It was gorgeous, just sad that it was so dry in early January. The water was higher than I remember seeing it, and she was showing me how much higher it had been all summer long.
The sunset that night was beautiful, this is the view from Lisa's back deck:
I drove back to the Bay Area, straight to San Francisco. There I met my mother at CalTrain, then Shannon and Paul shortly after. I hadn't seen Shannon since 2006, and hadn't had a chance to meet Paul even though they've been in San Francisco for a couple years now. We had a nice dinner with them before heading back to the South Bay.
My last day in California, my parents and I made a trip out to Half Moon Bay - I realized that I've possibly never been there before! We walked through the quaint downtown, then met up with Tiffany and enjoyed clam chowder and french bread in El Granada. A stroll along the beach finished off the afternoon, passing some of the surfers and media gathered for the paddle-out that inaugurates the Maverick's Surf competition window - we happened to visit on the day that begins the three-month period the contest can happen in 2012.
The next day I flew back to Atlanta, thankfully with uneventful flights, they didn't even make me gate-check my bag!
