Saturday, July 12, 2008

OAKLAND

Oakland is a really special place for us. It's where we got our first place together, and it was home to Rob for the whole 5 years that he lived in the Bay Area.

Here's another photo swiped without permission from some random website. Despite the misconceptions, Oakland has many awesome neighborhoods in addition to its notorious ghettos. It's much like living in Berkeley, with plenty of good restaurants, shopping and parks, but for less money and with more parking.

It was super-nice to take a stroll through our old neighborhood...

...where we checked out a playground we'd never visited before...

...and took Kina to her favorite off-leash dog park!

Four years ago when we lived in this neighborhood, Kina came here every day to run around and chase squirrels. It must have been a little confusing for her to come back here again after so long, and for just 1 day.

We all had a nice relaxing time strolling through the shady grove of huge pines and redwood trees.

After a nice afternoon of visiting some of our old favorite haunts and doing some strolling and shopping around Oakland, we met up for dinner at the yummy Cambodian restaurant Phnom Penh with one of Rob's very long-time friends, Sue, and her boyfriend Lu.

Big thanks to them for putting us up for the night in their guest bedroom up in the Oakland hills!

Their neighborhood is absolutely gorgeous! When the fog clears, you can see out over the city and the entire Bay Area (much like in the photo at the top of this page).

Just a 5-minute walk to the crest of the hill and we were hiking in a huge wooded park that lets you totally forget that you're on the edge of a giant metropolitan area. We would be in so much better shape if we lived here again!

Sue and Lu's roommate Drew outfits Segue scooters for off-road use, and it was fun getting a lesson from him on how to ride it.

It's all in your body posture - if you want to go forward, just lean forward, and if you want to slow down or stop, lean back.

Yeeeehaw!! Thanks for the good times guys!

After a yummy breakfast at the epic Full House Cafe in Oakland's Laurel District, it was time to head across the bridge for a Saturday in San Francisco!

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