Here's what it's like when BART goes under the bay. Note the lights zooming by!

On Wednesday we headed into San Francisco on BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), which goes in a tube under the bay, a journey which is very loud.

The Golden Gate bridge from far away. It was a hazy day, with fog in the distance that at time hid most of the bridge from view, but later blew away.

The museum is indeed high over Berkeley and the Bay. No, she didn't fall.

Ros and I cycled up a steep hill to the Lawrence Hall of Science above the University of California at Berkeley. A mastidoon specimen.

There was a hummingbird amidst the prickley things, attracted by nearby flowers, I guess.

Among other things, Bob showed us some of the cactus gardens people have created in his neighbourhood. It's a dry and hot climate in Berkeley, and lots of different varieties grow.

Marijo's friend Bob showed us some of the sights of Berkeley. We went downtown and looked around, had a snack, bought a couple of posters, just did those sorts of touristy things.

And we came to housesit for Chuck and Dena, my brother and his wife, and to take these two for periodic walks - Jake, nearest the camera, and Lucy. Chuck and Dena went to a wedding in Maine.

We came to visit my dear sister, Marijo, whom we haven't spent a lot of time with over the past few years.

Our niece Leah Belzer Adams picked us up at the Oakland train station at Jack London Square. Actually, she went to the station for us twice - to pick us up, and back again when we realized we hadn't claimed our bags (we were so happy to get in!)

Finally, a bridge just north of Berkeley. It looked threatening, but the rest of the day actualy turned out fine.

At one quick stop our porter left the train to get himself a Starbucks coffee. It wasn't a stop we could get off at.

Some of the decoration in the club car. A porter told us that Amtrak was going to get rid of this sort of detail - we wondered why. Such details make train travel neat.

The roomette we had for sleeping was cozy but a bit tight. One could sleep on the lower level, with a window, and another on top, without.

Ros did some work in a club car.

In Portland, Ros and I went up to the front of the train to take a picture of the diesel electric locomotive.

And yet another tower we passed later in the afternoon, as you can see by the clock. I'm not sure where this was.

Union Station in Portland. Another tower. And a nicely preserved station.

Here's the station tower in Seattle. Many stations along the line have square towers, modelled aftr the tower in Venice, I think. Very phallic.

On Aug. 11 Rosalind and I set out for Berkeley to house sit and see my sister Marijo for a week. We decided to go by train. We took a bus (at 5:30 am!) from Vancouver to Seattle and boarded Amtrak's Coast Starlight.

This dumping has been going on for months. Lots of material has been excavated to make a tunnel under False Creek and downtown Vancouver.

This is a view from the Cambie Bridge inVancouver. Dump trucks are unloading earth excavated from our new subway tunnel into a barge that is towed out into Georgia Strait to be dropped into the ocean.

I love this part of the park's trail, with overarching trees.

We went on a hike with the Lindsay's, Judy and Hugh, and David, at Campell River Park. We followed the horse trail, which, if you watch your step, is very pleasant. (David is just behnd Judy.)

For his final cake, Jack was assisted by Meredith, Mary Macallum's daughter. Ros got the cake to share with the parishioners at Christ Church Cathedral during coffee hour. One birthday, three cakes!