Santa Cruz is a seaside town 100km south of San Francisco, at the north end of Monterey Bay. It was a very charming town until it was mostly destroyed by the Loma Prieta earhquake in 1989. For many years, downtown was just huge metal tents. Today it’s back to what it was, it has been…

Some more time in the city. The Haight or Haight/Ashbury, is the original hippie neighborhood. It used to be alive with artists, oddball shops, and institutions like the bookstore. Covid has not been kind to it. Many stores have closed and shuttered, and the bookstore is half its previous size. To the west is Golden…

is a cliff at Rodeo Beach, northeast of San Francisco on the Pacific coast. We were hiking the Coastal Trail, leading up and down the hills of the Marin Headlands. A wonderful region with great views over the coast, completely undeveloped except for some WWII batteries, now abandoned. And after our long hike, dinner and…

I have lived and worked here for many years, and I always enjoy visiting again. Due to an orange president and Covid it’s been seven years since my last visit, way too long! Much has been built in those years that is new to me, like the leaning tower and other highrises downtown. The historic…