meisa's lagoon

freshly back from frisco (the guide book told us not to call it this, so maybe cisco instead?) we had a fantastic trip. it was quite jam-packed with goodness, and has left me very tired. i can't say the city was entirely what i expected; things better and things worse.

for example...i was really astounded by the number of homeless people there. i suppose the weather is the best for being homeless, but it was quite shocking. right after we stepped out of our hotel on the first day, shokufeh nearly got run over by a homeless man with no legs on a skateboard. if you've never seen this, which i can 99.9% guarantee you haven't, it's quite startling. i tried to give away a slice of pizza to someone less fortunate on the streets late at nite when i found that i could barely even approach them, they were so drugged up. this pizza experience kind of opened my eyes to the drug ring around our hotel, complete with a pimp and prostitutes. interesting...

a more pleasant aspect of the trip was the day trip to napa and muir woods. did a little wine tasting at a few vineyards in the valley. man, those people there are in a different world. it's amazing how much they know about a grape product! and how much they spend too! we watched people walk away with cases of wine and not even bat an eyelash at the many figured cost of it all.
on the way back from napa, we stopped off at muir woods, a thousand year old redwood forest. not the oldest of old, but enough to give me a taste of the magnificence of these trees. they really were spectacular. no one should die without seeing these awe inspiring creatures of nature.
all in all a good trip. here's a handful of pics to give you an idea.