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I flew up to Seattle this morning for some meetings. I’m staying at the Edgewater Hotel, where I stayed back in October. Normally, I’m a Hilton guy when I’m in Seattle, but something is going on in Seattle, and every normal place I tried was sold out. (Still, its hardly like the Edgewater is settling!)

My compulsory window/balcony shot reveals a grand waterfront view…on a very gray day. Soooo, nothing POPS in this photo. Maybe tomorrow, I’ll awake to a more representative scene.

It amuses me when I overhear a typical, white-bread customer at Starbucks (or Peets as the case was this morning) pronounce 'cafe latte' with an Italian accent.

After a long day, I was looking for a simple, but yummy dish for dinner. I found this recipe for cilantro-grilled shrimp on the Martha Stewart website. The key to this dish is a very easy to make Asian cilantro sauce, which has a very rich flavor with only a few ingredients. Fresh cilantro and sesame oil are the prime flavors, plus a little adjustable heat from crushed red pepper. I heartily recommend this recipe. [Note: I served this over brown rice verses the ‘sesame cabbage’.]

This morning, Jeff, Matt, Chris, and I walked a 10K route through Golden Gate Park for the annual San Francisco AIDS Walk. The route was shrouded in a muggy coastal fog with nary a breeze for most of the walk. Quite unusal, really, since our fog is typically acompanied by pleasant offshose winds that keep our air fresh.

Still, in spite of the uncomfortable stuffiness, we did have a fun walk, broken up periodically by musical entertainment…and the famous, out-of-place buffalo paddock. The stand-out entertainer was a one-woman steel drum performance. When we passed this brave woman, she was enthusiastically banging out the song ‘Tequila’ (of Pee-Wee Herman fame). Each time the lyric tequila came around in the song, this tiny, stright-laced performer would belt it out with great enthusaism. (I think I caught the ‘eeee’ in te-queeeeeee-la in the photo below.)

I actually didn’t snap many shots today, but this odd stranger sitting on top of a tree certainly caught my eye!

After the AIDS Walk, we drove up to Sausalito for brunch. As we returned to the city, the fog was playing with the Golden Gate Bridge, so we drove up into the Marin Headlands for a perfect vista.

Before I get around to the details of THIS Sunday, I need to get around (finally) to LAST Sunday. In stark contrast with this morning’s heavy coastal fog, last Sunday morning’s skies were bright with sun. The warm sun drew a flirtations pair of hummingbirds to the lavender on our balcony. (Of course, they didn’t exactly cooperate with my camera…but this shot is fun.)

Sunday afternoon, we decided to take a hike along the north-western shores of the City. We hiked from the Cliff House to Lands End (and the Palace of the Legion of Honor museum) and back again. Along the way, we came upon the Mile Rock steps down to a rocky beach.

The hike was a healthy mix of flat paths and well-tended wooden stairs. Typical of the quality you expect within a National Park…and a pleasant place to disappear within San Francisco for a few hours.