Melody and I decided to take a quick weekend trip up to the Bay area to visit Melody’s friend Maddie for her birthday and my buddy Josh Weiss while he was in the area. We usually don’t make it up to the Bay area often, unless there is something special! We left early Friday to try to catch dinner with Maddie on her birthday. This gave great views out of the airplane along the coast, which reminded me of my flight with Josh around Los Angeles – where I magically lost my pictures. Well here are some pretty neat photo opportunities along Santa Monica,

Santa Barbara

and some natural landscapes. I did eventually try to look for Mt Whitney and other peaks I’ve hiked.

The moon, during sunset.

The next day, Maddie told us of a Glass Pumpkin farm, where we could go pumpkin picking. We ran across a “Where the Wild Things Are”-esque building. Looks like a nest for humans!

And we eventually made it to the Glass Pumpkin Farm which hosted a beautiful selection of colorful, glass-blown pumpkins.

The fields for picking.

Melody presenting me with an albino pumpkin.

The cute little setup of pumpkins.

Later that day, I decided to visit the city and was dropped off at the Palo Alto stop. I had to figure my way around the city, so aided with google maps I looked to walk to where Josh was.

As I walked across the city, I could see the changing architecture. Most notably these old style buildings were renovated for new businesses. Here is Lululemon, shot just for Melody.

I met up with Josh soon after and decided to do a walking tour. We first visited Lombard Street from afar, which was pretty cool to see atleast. I probably will have to revisit. Then we headed toward the Fisherman’s Wharf area and Pier 39, with a quick dinner break at In-n-Out.

There was some great lighting during the time, and Josh was trying to master his skills at street photography. So I gave it a try as well.

Fisherman’s Wharf

Pier 39.

And the last stop for the night, was a stroll through Chinatown. Very different from the one in LA.

To top off our stay, we ended up going for a nice hike in an exclusive Palo Alto Foothills Park with Maddie and Paul. Here is a photo of the girls.