Bay Area, California 11-15 June 2007

On Monday, June 11, we loaded everything back in our trusty Corolla and started south on I-5 toward the San Francisco Bay Area. Stein had gotten a mysterious but very painful cramp in his leg, which prevented him from joining Jessica and Magriet on their walk the night before. Our economy car, while getting terrific gas mileage, was not conducive to stretching one's legs. We almost had to postpone our trip a little longer because Stein's cramp still hadn't gone away but had actually gotten worse the day we left Portland. Thanks to the wondrous healing powers of beer and NSAIDs, we managed to get the pain under control and recommence our journey southward.

As we left Redding, California, I started to get nervous, wondering what it would be like to be in the Bay Area again after my 5 year absence. I moved to Berkeley in August 1999 as a Ph.D. student, and dropped out July 2002 after 3 hard years of just not being happy. So my memories of the Bay Area are bittersweet, and facing them again this close brought butterflies to my stomach. Fortunately, my seaworthy 2nd in command was there to hold my hand and remind me that everything was just fine :-) I was excited because I would finally get to show Stein all the places in the Bay Area that I had visited or that had become meaningful to me during the three years I lived there.

Our first stop was at the house of my friend Sasha Shafikhani, who was a Ph.D. student at Berkeley while I was there, but is currently a postdoc at UCSF. He and his wife Beatrice and their two sons Sasan and Nima invited us to stay in their guest house, which was amply furnished for weary travelers like us. Sasha treated us to homemade Persian food (yum!), and the following day we went to the gourmet ghetto (North Berkeley) for breakfast at the Cheese Board. Many thanks to Sasha and his family for opening their doors to us!

From there we went to my dear friend Eva's house in the Berkeley Hills. Stein and I spent an amazing week at Eva's chalet in Switzerland last summer, and this was the first time Eva would get to meet Stein after hearing so much about him for the last year and a half. Eva and I met in Steve Lindow's lab (my former advisor) and have been friends ever since. She even came to visit me two summers ago in Tromsø, the first person ever to visit me there. She threw a very nice bbq party for me at her house while we were in Berkeley, with all our mutual Berkeley friends and acquaintances invited. It was really nice to see everyone again after so many years :-)

Unfortunately, Eva had to leave on the 13th for a bird-watching class in the Sierra Nevadas, so we had to make our good-byes already the Wednesday after we arrived. She was kind enough to allow us to continue staying in her house until our departure to San Diego. Good news - I have learned since that Stein passed Eva's grueling inspection and has received her official stamp of approval.

Summary of our five days in the Bay Area - sunshine sunshine and more sunshine. A HOT weather spell had hit the day we arrived and it was wicked hot our whole trip until we left. We didn't complain, seeing as how we were in transition between two winters! We spent a remarkable afternoon wandering around the UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens, which is a must must must for anyone who likes plants.

We did a lightning two-hour tour of the Napa wine country. I got to ride my friend Renée's pony Jazz, and Stein Magne got his first experience with a horse stable (in 40C heat, not exactly ideal). We were forutnate enough to catch the Tezuka Manga exhibit at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum, which was very cool!

We caught up with my good friend Jill Gervin, owner of Blow Salon and the woman who basically took care of me while I lived in Berkeley. She gave Stein a haircut and then we all went out for beers and lunch on the roof at Triple Rock Brewery. Thanks, Jill!

We also were lucky enough to spend a lovely afternoon with my very good friend Erika Leonard and her kids Merideth and Mason at their house in Castro Valley. The term house is an understatement, really, because their house is a combination jungle gym/playhouse/botanical garden/zoo. In other words, FUN! Erika is incidentally the person who, all those years ago in Berkeley, helped me to cement my decision to get my master's and move to Norway. So I really have her to thank for all the wonderful things in my life that have happened in the wake of that decision. Since I last saw her she's become quite the stationary trapeze artist, evoking lots of oooooohs and aaaaahhhhs from us with her feats of strength and flexibility.

And we got to try too! NOT as easy as Erika made it look.

Their dog Indy is quite the little genius and very keen on both training and playing.

Then there were the bunnies, the cats, and the chickens. I was in heaven :-)

But as time flew, so did our departure date approach, and we had one more visit to make before we hopped on our plane to the South Pacific. So on Saturday, June 15 we headed south on I-5 toward San Diego.