Turning 30

The 3 Amigos

After meeting up with Tim and Rameen in San Francisco last weekend, they spent the week in Yosemite while I was back at work on the east coast.  When I got back into town on Thursday night they met me at LAX.  Our plan was to hit up LA on Thursday night, Newport on Friday and San Diego on Sunday.

Thursday night was Venice/Santa Monica and we kept it low key.  Friday I did the usual LA tour - Santa Monica Pier, Venice boardwalk, Hollywood Boulevard, and then we headed to Newport. We hit the peninsula pretty hard and then woke up the next day for some amateur surf lessons.  That afternoon we cruised down the coast and met up with our friend Sara who let us crash at her apartment in the Gas Lamp district.

All in all it was a very busy weekend but I'm glad the guys got to experience good weather and celebrate this milestone with me.

And if you didn't know, 30's the new 20!

Alcatraz Night Tour

Tim and Rameen decided to fly out to California to celebrate my birthday and take a little vacation for themselves.  They flew directly into San Francisco and planned to spend the weekend there with me, then go to Yosemite when I was working, before meeting me in SoCal for my birthday weekend.

We did a lot of things that I've done on previous trips to San Fran, so I won't rehash them here.  The one new thing for me was Alcatraz, and what made it especially cool is that we did it at night.  The night tour costs $35 and leaves from Fisherman's Wharf.

The ferry ride over was very smooth - no need for motion sickness pills if you get easily sick like me.  There are a lot of good photo ops of the city and bridges as the sun goes down.

When you enter they give you an audio tour and it is really good.  They interviewed prison guards and prisoners that were at Alcatraz so that each section of the prison you're walking through has actual stories from the actual people.  After the sun went down it got a little cold, with the shadows and echos increasing the eeriness.  Most touristy sights are one-and-done for me, but I would do this again in a heartbeat.

NCAA Champions!

Bow to the brow!

I wish I could've been there to watch it live but Lindsay and I settled for a restaurant called South in Santa Monica.  There were a surprising number of UK fans there.

Next year's class looks pretty stacked, so let's hope we can repeat!