This cool building was out the window of our hotel room. There was also a cool view of the Bay Bridge

A cool shot along the bar in a restaurant we went into

Union Square was all set up for the run, with a big expo, and tents for registration and other cool things. Nike Town had a huge sign promoting the race

I love these cool retro street cars. They were all painted different far out colors. I could have spent days just shooting street cars

The day before the run we walked over to Union Square so Christi and her Friend Karen could pick up their race packets

Christi and Karen registering for the run

The graphics on the tents were great

After they picked up their packets we drove the race route so Christi and Karen could get a feel for the terrain

We stopped along the race route to take pictures with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. Here's one with Karen and Dan

A shot of the ever adorable Christi with the bridge in the background. I love the bridge and have always wanted a picture of Christi in front of the bridge

Christi took this cool shot of me in front of the bridge

Further down the route I got this shot of the bridge in the distance

After driving the route we went down to Fisherman's Warf to take pictures and walk around to see the sights

A fun shot of Alcatraz. We didn't tour it on this trip, but we've done it a few times on previous trips

I must have taken a hundred shots of the seals. They kept yelling at each other when a new seal would climb up on the dock and get too close

Here's another angle at Alcatraz

Not sure what the name of the building on the left is, but the one on the right is the transamerica tower

A street performer painted silver

I wanted to ride on a cable car, but we didn't get a chance

We went out to an italian place for dinner the night before the run. Here's Karen, Dan, and her friend Denise who lives down there

The morning of the race I drove to the far side of Union Square and parked in Chinatown so the car was handy so we could follow Christi and Karen to cheer

There were around 15,000 runners doing the half and full marathon and here they go

I took a lot of shots of the crowd running by, but never saw Christi or Karen (although after watching them run other races I didn't expect to see them at the start)

After watching the start, Dan, Denise, and I drove down to the Marina to watch them run by at about 3.5 miles

Christi and Karen running by

We then drove up to the top of the big tough hill on the route to cheer them on. Here goes Christi

Parking is hellishly brutal in San Francisco so Denise took a bullet for the team and stayed with the car double-parked while Dan and I walked over to watch the finish

Here's Christi closing in on the finish line

Christi at the finish line. The guys in tuxedos are firemen who were handing out the little blue Tiffany's boxes with the finisher's necklaces

Christi and Karen at the t-shirt pick up tent

The afternoon after the race we drove across the Golden Gate bridge to Tiburon where we wandered around, took pictures and had some drinks and lunch out on the deck

A shot of the city from Tiburon

A cool shot of the bridge from Tiburon

Some neat ships in front of the bridge

The bridge rising above the fog was hard to stop taking pictures of

I could just hear the poor little doggy asking "why, oh why does mommy dress me like this?"

Tiburon was an adorable place with fun shops and restaurants with decks over the water and looking back at the city

A cool sailboat cruising in front of the bridge

There were lots of pelicans flying over the water

I'm thinking this is my house, I just don't know how I'm going to tell the folks who are living there now

I love this sign

On Monday we drove out to Sonoma to check out the wineries. The Sebastiani Theater reminded me of stories my dad would tell me about visiting the Sebastiani winery when he was living in San Francisco

We had lunch in Sonoma at this incredible little restaurant. The mushroom and truffle oil risoto was outstanding, and the duck was to die for

This was a cool winery where each label used a different original artwork. We found a decent wine and sent a few bottles home

This was the only winery where I saw grapes on the vine

The grapes were beautiful

The second winery we went to was Arrowood. We didn't find anything that tasty except their $100 bottle but the view was beautiful

A beautiful stained glass window in the Arrowood winery

Christi on the deck at Arrowood

Here I am out on the deck at Arrowood

The vinyards at Arrowood

Our third stop was the Larson Family Winery. The irrigation system under the vines was cool

The workers were leaning on crates of grapes in the afternoon shade

The grapes looked beautiful

The inside of the Barn/Tasting room at the Larson Family winery

Our fourth and final winery was Gloria Ferrer where they make an excellent sparkling wine

Lambkin came along to have a little wine too

There was some beautiful lavendar around the Gloria Ferrer winery

The Vinyards were beautiful

As I wandered around taking pictures, Christi, Karen, and Dan sat out on the deck drinking sparkling wine and talking

In the Gloria Ferrer winery they had these cool caves where they stored their wine. This shot looks much lighter than it was because I used a long exposure. It actually took me quite awhile to realize the whole wall was lined with bottles

The view from the deck was beautiful

The hills around the winery were gorgeous in the afternoon sun

As we drove away from the winery I took this shot looking back

Christi shot this as we drove across the bridge with the top down on the convertable

Driving back to the hotel we stopped at an intersection and I got this neat shot of a cool old building with the Transamerica tower in the distance

When I was little we lived in Haight Ashbury so Christi and I drove over there on Tuesday morning and had breakfast and wandered around

We had breakfast in this great little place called the squat and gobble

A neat little market with a very big pumpkin

The famous street signs

This shop looked neat, but we were there too early and nothing was open

I love the bright colors of the houses in San Francisco

We went from Haight Ashbury over to the Presidio and wandered along the water before we headed out to the airport

We walked out the dock in front of the Presidio

Christi looking adorable in her nifty new race jacket out on the dock

I set the camera up to take this shot of us on a time. It worked pretty good considering I forgot to bring a tripod

The water was frothy along the breakwater

The waves were really coming in. We actually had to dodge a few of them

The fence along the water was made out of this cool big chain

A cool view back at the city