Link to pictures

A link to pictures of my Spring Break in San Francisco and other places California is below. There is a lot of pictures. You can click on slideshow in the upper left side to view them all. Select "fast" to improve the speed. You can also just click on a thumbnail to avoid looking at them all.

Click Here --> PICTURES

Post-Spring Break Report

First, I have to say that Enterprise Rent-A-Car was awesome. They treated us great, gave us a nice car, and required no effort on our part to do so. Also, of course, as always, Southwest Airlines gets us there and back.

Sarah and I returned Friday night from Oakland, California. We had a great time with our friends in Walnut Creek, Nicki and Steve. They treated us like royalty while inviting us into their home.

Nicki and Steve took us to San Francisco and showed us all the great tourist sights there. We walked across the Golden Gate bridge and took a ferry across the bay. We walked around Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, and sampled Ghirardelli chocolate. We went to Chinatown, ate in Little Italy, and rode a cable car up the steep hills of S.F. I drove down the "the crookedest" [most winding] street in the United States, Lombard Street. We loved our time on the city! Thanks Steve and Nicki!

We also visited my Grandmother in Visalia, CA. It was great to see her. We had a good time there. Poor Sarah did get sick from something. She recovered quickly and we headed to the coast to see my Uncle in Morro Bay.

He welcomed us in his home . We had a great time there. We saw Sea Otters playing in the surf. Then, my Uncle, took us to and Elephant Seal colony north of San Simeon, CA. They were neat to see. We said goodbye to my Uncle and headed north back to the city.

We took crooked and slow highway 1 north toward Monterey. It took us a couple of hours to drive the coastal road. We went through some interesting places, like Big Sur, where ex-hippies move to be away from the big city and sell gas for $3.80 a gallon.

A few hours later we settled into a hotel near the airport to relax before the return flight home.

I will post a link or something to pictures soon.

Spring Break Approaches!!!

It is a little bit difficult to concentrate for 50 minutes straight when the professor drones on about the history of the US Supreme Court. You see, Spring Break starts after classes Friday. Sarah and I have plans to see my Grandmother in Visalia, California. (More about this later)

I spent the last weekend in Lawrence, Kansas, home of the KU Jayhawks. On Sunday morning, March 12, the weather was very active in Eastern Kansas. I awoke at 7:30 am to the sounds of an approaching storm. It is unusual for a strong storm in the morning. The storm started to get more intense. I turned on the TV and it showed a strong storm approaching with warnings that it was growing stronger. The NWS issued a tornado warning at 8 am. The tornado sirens screamed and woke up Sarah and Zoe the cat, who then decided to see about a tornado. We looked out a window to see a lot of swirling clouds and hail. The power went out. Without a computer or TV I got bored, so, I went back to sleep.

Later, we went out and looked at the damage. A lot of the KU campus had damage and school was canceled the next day for clean-up. The National Weather Service says that the damage in Lawrence was not a tornado, it was just wind (a microburst). For more info and pictures go to NWS Topeka, KS.

That evening Zoe the cat and I went home to Nevada, Missouri. I drove through several thunderstorms. At about 9 pm, the tornado sirens went off in Nevada. The storm was 10 miles south of us and not heading into town, but the police drove around town with sirens blaring for 20 minutes. That storm did not cause any problems for my town, but a friend that lives 20 miles east of me did have his house damaged by a tornado.

There were at least 18 tornado touchdowns that were observed in western Missouri on Sunday.
Also, two days before, a tornado in San Diego, CA was reported.

The sky is falling, the sky is falling! - Chicken Little

Anyways, back to my Spring Break plans...

We are going to fly to Oakland, California and visit some friends in Walnut Creek. We are going to go to San Francisco on Saturday and Sunday. We then are going south to visit my Grandmother in Visalia. When we leave her place, we are going to Morro Bay to visit my Uncle Dan. After that, we will go north, look for elephant seals, go to Carmel to Clint Eastwood's restaurant/pub, the Boar's Nest, and onto Monterey. When we have seen enough of the central California coast, we will head back up to Oakland, jump a plane home, and return to our everyday lives.