On Labor Day Kevin and I took nina for a hike at the Sibley Volcanic Regional Perserve up in the Berkeley hills… Its a really cool and kind of quick hike but had plenty of room for nina to run around and romp… And amazing views of the area on the drive up and along the hike… On the way back we stopped at treasure island since i’ve actually never been there in my 16 years in the bay area (crazy huh?)

I’m only gonna be here about 15 minutes more before we go meet Drew and Adrian for Brunch and then head down to the castro street fair… But I just had to share first..

Enjoy!

June (you’ll need your time travel machine to attend some of these, whoops!)
Union Street Art Festival June 4 & 5
Haight Ashbury Street Fair June 12
Stern Grove Music Festival June 19 – August 21
Juneteenth Festival June 11
North Beach Festival June 18 & 19
Gay Pride Weekend June 25 & 26

July
Fillmore Street Jazz July 2 & 3
4th of July on the Waterfront (Pier 39)
Summerfest July 12 – 31
Books by the Bay July 23
Theater Festival July 24
Dore “Up Your Alley” Fair July 31
North Beach Jazz July 27 – 31
Midsummer Mozart July 14 – 24

August
Aloha Festival Aug. 6 & 7
Nihonmachi Street Fair Aug. 13 & 14

September
Shakespeare Festival Sept. 3 – 24
A la Carte, a la Park – Labor Day weekend
Autumn Moon Festival Sept. 17 & 18
Fringe Festival Sept. 7 – 18

Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival (usually the 2nd weekend of September)
Opera in the Park Sept. 11
Viva Las Americas Sept. 17
Polk Street Festival (no date as of press time)
Blues Festival Sept. 24
Folsom Street Fair Sept. 25

October
Reggae in the Park
Strictly Bluegrass Festival Oct. 1 & 2
Castro Street Fair Oct. 2
Fleet Week Oct. 8-9
Italian Heritage Parade Oct. 9
Oktoberfest Oct. 13 – 16
Clement Street Festival Oct. 8 & 9
Bernal Fiesta on the Hill Oct. 17
International Poster Fair Oct. 28 – 30

However my FAVORITE part of the evening was standing in the atrium of the lobby and looking that the long strands of lights hanging probably 10 floors from the ceiling… SO DAMN COOl.. And you HAVE TO TRY THIS: Stand right under the lights so they’re all around you and then spin around. The people all around thought I was INSANE but it was SO COOL.

Have fun!: )

Few words of warning though. First – NO ALCOHOL.. We learned this the hard way – ranger found us hangin out by the campfire drinkin and made us pour EVERYTHING out.. Felt like I was in the dorms again.. it SUCKED.. (Especially pouring the bottle full bottle of Gin and Jack out. ugg..)

Second.. There are Rattlesnakes up there. They generally keep to themselves and steer clear of people – but Kevin managed to stumble into one on a hike. Bent down to tie his shoe looked up to see a rattler coiled and rattling 6 feet in front of him. And pop quiz – when you see such a thing do you a) stop and slowly back away quietly without making sudden moves or do you b) scream like a girl, turn and run, throwing sticks as you do, and fall and skin your knee. I’ll let you all guess which one is the correct answer and which one kevin chose!

Anyway.. Worth checking out… If ya wanna see the pictures here they are:

Mt. Diablo Camping

So the recommendation for today involves a walk from the Castro up to the Randall Museum. This afternoon kevin and I walked up from our house to Courtney’s where we grabbed a couple of their handmade sandwiches, salads, and fresh squeezed juice. Courtney’s has to be one of the best kept secrets in the city – its a small privately run place where they squeeze their own juices from carrots, oranges, cherries, grapefruits, and all sorts of other things. They also make their own sandwiches, chips, salads and other stuff..

From there we went on a slow walk up Roosevelt street toward Corona Heights Park above the Randall Museum. Along the way we looked at the houses and the view. When we got to the park we hiked up to the top of the hill where the rocks are that overlooks the city. The views from there are AMAZING – you can see all the way from the Golden Gate Park Panhandle to Daly City. We parked ourselves up on a rock and ate our lunch and watched the view.

After we ate we hiked down to the Museum to check that out. The Museum is really a kids museum but I enjoyed it. They had lots of animals to check out – snakes, owls, turles, rabbits, frogs.. you name it.. The museum also had activities and lots of other stuff for kids..

At any rate.. made for a nice afternoon and something I’d never done … Worth checking out..