When we were down on the wharf, the other day in San Francisco, we noticed that two cops and a city worker were cutting off the chain on a bicycle. The bike was chained to a lamp post and I guess that is illegal in San Francisco.

When I looked around, I noticed that there were no bike racks in the area. This surprised me. For a city that prides itself on being green, I would have thought that bike racks would be common place. Not so.

But more to the point, there were no signs prohibiting you from chaining your bike to a lamp post.

In a matter of seconds, the chain was cut and the bike removed. I am sure that the owner was shocked when he/she returned.

This is a street musician. He is playing the plastic drums. We call them pails.

The right side up pail is for money. His over head is quite low. The girl on the bike is topless.

This is a picture of a kosher restaurant. Was this taken in New York city? No, it was taken in China town in San Francisco.

This has to be one of the most unusual sites on our recent trip. This street is lined with Chinese restaurants and stores. So, you have to wonder how much business they get.

My guess is that they appeal to Jewish tourist but I could be mistaken. I suppose there could be a large population of kosher Chinese in the area.

The road that we are staying on while in California is the El Camino Real. This road runs the length of the state and was originally built by Spanish missionary’s hundreds of years ago. The road allowed the missionary’s to move from one mission to the next.

School kids in California are taught about the El Camino Real. It means the Real Road.

Not only did school kids learn about the road, there were required to make scale models of the missions alone the road. It got to be a joke that the fathers were the ones building the scale models. In fact, scale models of the missions could be obtained at garage sales just in case you were inept at building such things.

Since it was Sunday on our Palo Alto trip, we decided to attend church. Now, not knowing what was in the area, we got out the yellow pages. And, in keeping with California trends, there were churches listed that I had never heard of. One that caught my attention was the “Church of Self Fulfillment.

Now, I could see a church that focuses on “Spiritual Fulfillment” but self fulfillment seems a little more about you and less about God. I wonder if they have messages about how you can realize your full potential? Do they use the Bible?

We opted for a Presbyterian church with a full praise band. Grandma and Grandpa were not impressed.

The other day, we went to Half Moon Bay. It is one of my favorite communities. It it primarily a produce area that specializes in pumpkins.  There is also a very nice sea restaurant on the coast there.

But, it has been a couple of years since I have been there and it has rapidly changed. First of all, there is now a big RItz Carlton on the coast. Next to it is an expensive golf course, followed by some expensive homes.

A mile down from these expensive homes are some low income homes. I suspect that in another couple years, these low income homes will be replaced.

I hope that the restaurant can survive the housing change. They have good sea food. The Ritz is too expensive for me.

As we boarded the plane for home, we noticed a sign at the gate stating that consumption of alcohol on the plane could lead to drunkenness. Duh!!  What’s next?  Having sex in the lavatory could lead to pregnancy?

We attend the Menlo Park Presbyterian Church on Sunday. Since the church has three services on Sunday morning and since it looked rather large, I suspected that we needed to get their early.

Fortunately, the church was just down the road and easy to get to. We got there at 10;30 for an 11:00 service. The place was packed.

It was a traditional church with a contemporary service. They had a 4 manual pipe organ and full band. The praise was absolutely awesome!! We were blessed!!

It seems that Philadelphia and Baltimore are fighting over the body of Edgar Allen Poe. Baltimore has it in with their Poe museum but Phili wants it claiming that he did most of his writing there.

These people need to get a life. Most people don’t care about Edgar Allen Poe any more and they certainly don’t care about his dead body.

While out hiking in California, we noticed a sign on the trail which explained what to do if we encountered a mountain lion. Basically, it said that we should scream and wave our arms in the air. And, it that didn’t work, we should grab a big stick and attack the mountain lion.

Well, not wanting to be taken by surprise and looking for a large branch, I picked up the first one that I found and used it for a walking stick. It worked find.

We did not see any mountain lions but every time I heard something in the brush, I raised my stick in the air and made loud, threatening sounds.

I am sure I terrified a few chipmunks that day.