A Pittsburgh Christmas

I had a great Xmas this year in Pittsburgh, the city where my parents attended college and where I was born. My aunt Priscilla graciously invited me, my brother, and my dad out to spend the holiday at her house. She has three girls in college, each one as unique as can be. It was great to see them all and catch up on all the goings-on in everyone's lives. Pittsburgh is an interesting town - gritty, rusty, and industrial. Adding to the city's character is a smattering of large gothic cathedrals that utterly dominate the horizon. Below is a picture of Chatham college, which my mother attended; one of the monstrous churches that I believe is called the "Cathedral of Doom"; and the cutest picture of Priscilla's dog Charger amidst grandma's knitting supplies.

I will not include a link to Marc's photo set because he has posted some pictures of me acting like a dog. It was the wine, I swear.

Christmas 2007

This year we were able to stay in Berkeley while family came to us! Marc, my mom, and her husband Don flew out from the east coast for a few days of the northern california experience. The first day they were here we visited aunt Tomi and her family. After a few glasses of Jim's homemade eucalyptus-laced wine (so good!), mum's tarot cards came flying out for readings. We then swung by Genentech, where I had to model my science gear with Scott's help. The day before Christmas we had breakfast with Paula and her two cute kids, who occupied themselves with building fortresses our of sugar cubes and then watching them dissolve in water. A natural affinity for chemistry, those two. We saw a good deal in San Francisco that day: starting with the charismatic sea lions at Fisherman's Wharf, we meandered over to the Mechanical Museum (full of vintage coin-operated carnival machines), went up Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower, then Haight Ashbury, ending at the Beach Chalet restaurant for dinner.

On Christmas day we had fun walking about the neighborhood. We made the short drive to Albany bulb, which used to be a landfill but is now a waterfront dog park dotted with intriguing garbage sculptures (like the wooden man pictured below). For dinner we made ginger flank steak with sake-glazed vegetables, and a yummy double chocolate torte. Sad to say, I think it was the first time I've ever cooked dinner for my mother!

The pictures below are a mix of my favorites from what Marc and Mum sent me. Marc has more pictures posted on Flickr.

Pictures from Christmas 2006

January has been so busy I forgot to post some pictures from our holiday! Marc flew out from Detroit to spend a whole week bumming around the Bay Area. We visited among other things the Haight, Alcatraz, Sutro baths, Point Reyes, and several swanky bars. There's a bar in the Sheraton Palace off of Market that not only has a huge Maxfield Parrish painting, they have a very special cognac on their menu - Louis XIII. Ever since I heard about this thing I've looked for it at every bar. Louis XIII is $100 a pop and supposedly feels like silk upon swallowing. Just what you've always craved - a hunk of silk in your throat. One of the other bars we visited was also in a hotel, though I can't remember the name right now. It had a Polynesian theme - tiki torches and lots of little umbrellas in the drinks. And you really *need* those little umbrellas, because every 20 minutes it rains! There is a small lake in the center of the room, and a band sails out on a raft during the "thunderstorm". Pretty nifty. They didn't have any flaming drinks, however, or drinks served in monkey skulls. That would have been cool.

What you see below includes shots of the recreation yard at Alcatraz and several pictures of Tomales Point (Point Reyes) with and without elk. Marc seemed pretty pleased with that view of the coast - the edge of the continent, no less! Also, Scott's brother Mitch sent us on a treasure hunt, which involved piecing together a map, finding the spot, digging, uncovering a bottle with more maps, and at the end digging up a nice bottle of tequila! That was lots of fun, so I included a couple pics of that.