NorCal Fun Continues

More good vibes around the Bay Area.  Been exploring north and south of the city, seeing some amazing small beach towns, epic views, and getting to know what's going on in NorCal.  Of course, the main attraction is seen above, the Golden Gate.  Driving through it for the first time in 15+ years was awesome and I treated it as a visitor should, with lots of pictures.  It's the way to get to Marin County in the north, full of relaxing vibes, small towns and windy roads.  Different than the big city life, and still close in to all the action, it is an amazing contrast and the perfect spot to get away and just enjoy life.  Here are a few pictures from the time up north:

Shannon and I at Point Reyes (windiest spot in the west coast)

Elephant seals whooping it up and soaking up some sun

Probably what the SF Bay looked like back in the day

You can't be right next to the big city without exploring it a bit too.  Spent another day out and about, capturing the Golden Gate from Lands End Park, enjoying the sights along Haight and taking in the view from Twin Peaks.  Always something going on all over the place, and with blue skies and sunshine, people have been out and about loving life.  Only way to do it.

Golden Gate popping through!

Up on top of Twin Peaks

Ayrika and I on Twin Peaks

Amoeba Records, chock full of music and amazinness!

A day in the Mission

I spent yesterday exploring the Mission District in San Francisco, quite the hopping place, diverse, eclectic and entertaining.  People all over, sitting at the cafes, hanging in the parks, putting up new street art and just being alive.  It's a neighborhood full of life, offering most amenities that you would want in a city, and is super close to downtown SF and all other parts of California's largest city up north.

Here are a few pictures from the day, mostly of the street art which is everywhere.  There is a definite Latino vibe to the area which is captured by the murals. 

The Mission of which the area is named after

The Women's Building

Represent the Peacock yo!

Clarion Alley, full of street art action

Appalachian sunset with the Blue Ridge mountains in the background

After a couple weeks of harvesting apples and living off the land in Virginia, it was time to hop on a bus or two and head north, popping into a couple more cities and States along the way back to the family in Boston.   It's quite nice to go with the flow, so when a few friends tell you to stop by their cities, you do it. 

The first was in Washington, D.C., to have a capital time of it. And man, was the weather good for a day of exploring. A perfect autumn day of blue skies with a slight crisp bite to the air. If only DC summer days were as good, then the city would be swarmed by even more. First up was a walk to the White House, an easy 15 minute walk from my friend Pat's apartment. Tons of security and fencing and no president in sight. Then on to the WWII memorial with a happy collection of vets having their photo taken. Next was the Lincoln Memorial for the best view in town. Always packed, always impressive, perhaps the best memorial (Jefferson is good for having less people and a great tidal basin) and it was good to rest up and enjoy the happy action of the tourists. 

Looking for Obama-rama

Vets at the WWII Memorial

The MLK Memorial was new to me and is cut from a striking piece of rock. Quotes from the great man abound and it makes you think of the few non-presidents who have such an impact on the United States (also see Benjamin Franklin on that 100 dollar bill). 

Having lunch at the Department of Energy was next with another friend and then it was on to a couple of amazing, free museums. More fun out and about with friends later on, eating Eritrean food, checking out the view from a DC rooftop and eating an amazing Popsicle at a spot owned by friends (www.pleasantpops.com). The next day was a promotion ceremony at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and checking out the ICU wing, all set up for Ebola and sparkling clean. Not your everyday DC tour. And that's why you get to know the good people.

Afternoon cloudness

View from the Lincoln Memorial

Korean War Memorial

Jefferson Memorial

Soaking up the view from the Lincoln Memorial

Pictures from the life in rural Virginia

Part of the apple orchard I worked in

Autumn colours

Buffalo Mountain up ahead

Lots of open green out about

Typical country roads we'd drive around on

Sunset over the Blue Ridge Mountains from Buffalo Mountain

Full on Appalachian panorama from the farm

Eliza climbing up high to shake down some Wolf River apples

Red fleshed crab apples perfect for making apple jelly

Ain't that a purty picture?

Hey everyone!  I'm writing this on my phone in the Blue Ridge Moubtains, out in Appalachia, pretty much in the middle of nowhere. It is amazing out here. I'm without wifi, so this will get posted whenever I get closer to the grid. But for now, it's just enjoying the nature and working on a crew harvesting apples for cider. 

I'm down here visiting my friend Eliza who runs the orchard and knows everything there is to know about apples. What better way to learn even more bout apples than to be out in the orchards working with them, hands on, tasting and working up a sweat. So far, it's been lots of collecting of apples, often climbing way up in the tree to shake all the apples off. Then down under to collect them, separating the bad apples from the good, and after collecting a full bushel (47 pounds), adding them to a bin (holds around 20 bushels). Yesterday we set a new record with 126 bushels picked. Notice the connection between Justus showing up and a new record being set?  It's tiring work and makes you realize the work that happens on a farm and makes you think more about what all happened with your food/drink before you get it. 

This past weekend Eliza and I were at a farm in central Virginia, rather a holistic cattle herd farm. They have slowly give back to nature with no nature, moving the cows every day to keep the grass and soil fresh and letting cattle be cattle. They've done a lot which was said couldn't be done and have a herd of 289 happy cattle. 

The herd farm was having a festival with lots of skill workshops, potluckin, live music and great vibes. Super fun to meet some new great people, many who are young farmers working on getting back to nature and making this world a better place. We planted trees, learned how to leach the tannins out of acorns to make them edible, found other edible trees which are native down here and did yoga outside on the grass with live bluegrass. Needless to say, it was an epic weekend. 

This being my first time in the South, it's been awesome so far, with great people, fun accents, lots of trucks and a more rural experience than most would have. Learning about apples and how supermarkets rarely sell apples with blemishes is crazy. Ugly apples are just as good and full of flavor. Do yourself a favor and eat ugly apples!

New puppy

It's been amazing to be back home with the family, resting up after all the travels and enjoying a late summer.  We recently rescued a new puppy to replace our amazing dog of 15 years, Thor.  We found a winner in Clover, a 6 month old Weimaraner / Lab mix who is super chilled out and loves people probably more than I do.  It's been a blast to have her around, sleeping in our laps and exploring around the yard.  She's a bit of a barker in the night time, otherwise, she's fit in great.  Here are a couple pictures of my parents meeting her for the first time at the rescue home and then one of her and I relaxing on the ground.  That was after having her sleep on my lap while I watched the Seahawks win on Sunday.  Doesn't get much better than that.

The good times in the Midwest

So everyone bad talks Cleveland.  This might be a good thing, cause when you get there, you get to enjoy the big city vibes in a place that isn't that crowded, where people know each other and it's easy to get around.  It's actually not that bad of a city.  Lake Erie is warm and there's some good beaches out there.  The sports teams are highly entertaining (in both good and bad ways).  There's some fun history involved (with rich people (Rockefellers) polluting the river which caught on fire).  And most importantly, you can get $1 hot dogs on certain nights at the Indians games. 

Our amazing view for the Indians game

Me and my favorite Indian player from back in the day

Celebrate no matter win or lose

A big thank you to my cousins Kevin and Kelly for hosting myself and the rest of the Peacock clan for my time in Cleveland.  Truly some of the best hosts out there, they made sure to treat me well with the best coffee spots, bars, sports knowledge, trivia and tours of the whole city.  Quite fun to be able to come back to the US and have so much family come join in the fun of this homecoming tour.  We feasted, listened to live polka, live reggae and even stopped by to see some holy relics at the Museum of Divine Statues.  Life was good in Clevland!

The cushy life in Cleveland

One of these is extinct and the other travels a lot

Good times with the family

Round two!  Macaroons done the Cleveland way

Fun in front of the tomb of President Garfield

Enjoying the Museum of Divine Statues

With the hilarious Alonzo Boden.  Comedy night!

The Christmas Story house.  Ralphie!!!!

From good comedy with Alonzo Boden, to seeing where movies such as The Christmas Story and The Deer Hunter were filmed, it was a great trip.  See you next time Cleveland!