Bay to Breakers 2011l

San Francisco Bay as seen from the Embarcadero about 6:30 in the morning.

The San Francisco Bay to Breakers is the best running race around because there are so many people that are not there to race.  Of course there are quite a few amateur runners going for time, but there are also all the folks in costumes and the groups of friends who are just there to walk and chat.  Not to mention the folks who are there to drink their way through the race :)

This year was the 100th running of the race and our 6th or 7th.  It turns out that the race you have depends very much on when you start.  If you start early and run, there is not much out of the ordinary.  The later you start the more drinking, costumes, and non-costumes you see.  We've done them all and the later race is more fun :)

The ocean breakers as seen from the end of the race on the Great Highway, late morning.

not travel is good too

Where did I go this past weekend?  I actually did not travel out of town (!), but instead drove all over town visiting comic book stores, picking up free comics!  Free?  Why yes, because the first Saturday in May is always Free Comic Book Day!

And then I stayed home finishing this scarf which I will mail off to my friend (yes, yes, just in time for summer)

Missouri, spring 2011

I took a quick weekend trip to Nixa, Missouri to visit family.  We ate at a bunch of fun places, mainly closer to Springfield.  First was Thai Pepper, a spot that was new to us but turned out to be quite nice.  The vegetables were cooked but crunchy and the sauces were flavorful, but not overwhelming.  And the Thai iced tea was perfect.

Dinner was at the Texas Roadhouse which turns out to be a chain that I'd never been to, but was highly entertaining.  It is a very busy place-the hostess takes you to your table and asks if you want to pick your steak along the way, when you are waiting the girls circle the bar and do a little dance/clap routine, there is a barrel of peanuts and the shells on the floor.  The food was plentiful and decadent.  The barbeque sauce on the pulled pork is sweet sweet sweet.  The baked sweet potato comes with butter and brown sugar...or carmel sauce!  I couldn't quite bring myself to try the carmel sauce, but I imagine you can just skip dessert entirely if you give it a try.

Brunch was at Bric's waffle house and of course ate some waffles-totally satisfying as the waffles are huge.  The best is the home made pie.  If you are too full, get a piece to take home!

This was at the start of the big flooding that the midwest has been having and during the weekend there were flood warnings, but no actual disasters.  There was a LOT of rain.  Having lived in California for the past decade, I've gotten used to rain meaning lots of gray skies, and some water, in little bits here and there.  Even what counts for a lot of rain is usually happening in some other part.  Now this was rain.  So much that the fast version of the windshield wipers can't keep up.  Not really being able to see too far in front.  Lightning and thunder!  Hail!  I actually kind of miss it....