I’ve been playing with yet another new camera this week – actually, four new cameras, all part of the new iPhone 18 Pro I picked up on Tuesday (I traded in the iPhone 17 Pro that I’d bought in July to replace my 3-year-old iPhone 15 Pro). Each upgrade has brought noticeable improvements in picture quality; this morning, we were out for a walk and I noticed a turkey vulture sitting on a power pole; I probably could have gotten a better photo with my new RX10-V5, but I don’t always have it with me, and I do always have my phone.

This evening, we cruised the Bay on the Red and White Fleet’s Enhydra for the Pacific Whale Foundation’s “Evening of Aloha on the Bay” event. The weather was typical for San Francisco, 60 degrees with a wind chill of 50 – you can’t see it, but I was wearing a gyotaku-enhanced Hawaiian shirt underneath my jacket and lumberjack shirt.

We got to meet some of the researchers, staff, and volunteers working with and for Pacific Whale Foundation, as well as some very nice fellow guests. We even won the auction for a sunset whale watching dinner cruise in Maui and the raffle for another Red and White cruise here!

The food was very nice, and the scenery even nicer, beginning with a walk around the area and then the views before the ship took off.

The timing was great – sunset, a full moon, and the Bay.

We sailed just beyond the Golden Gate before turning around for a quick trip back to Pier 43-½ and a slow Uber to the Grand Hyatt at SFO, where we’re spending the night.

More adventures await!

In the olden days before iPhones, mobile Internet, and Yelp, Diane and I used to rely on The Interstate Gourmet to find places to eat on the highway. We carried the book with us on road trips and were usually happy with the restaurants it recommended.

I was really intrigued by one restaurant, Nancy’s Airport Cafe. I’m not sure why – the review wasn’t exactly glowing – but every time we drove past it on I-5, I thought about stopping there. It never happened – the timing wasn’t right, or we’d just eaten, or we were in too much of a hurry, or….

Until today. We were on our way home from our overnight stop in Redding and had stopped at the Willows Rest Area just before lunchtime. I pulled up Yelp and looked for a nearby restaurant, and Nancy’s topped the list. Recent reviews were promising, so we decided to give it a try. Diane had the Greek Salad with chicken, and I had the Beefeater with a green salad. Yummy!

After lunch, we walked the twenty steps to the airport and admired a few planes; we could have walked over to any of them and climbed in!

The reason the timing worked out for Nancy’s today was that we’d spent an hour or so this morning charging the car at our favorite charger – the 50kW Chargepoint charger at Turtle Bay Exploration Park in Redding. The charger is nothing special (it’s actually pretty slow, though it is also quite inexpensive), but it gives us a chance to enjoy the park and the Sundial Bridge.

Our other charging stop for the day was also a regular stop on this trip, the 350kW Electrify America charger at the Vacaville Premium Outlets. There was nothing worth taking a picture of there, but it was quick.