Those special moments....

I think I've mentioned how I like to watch clouds. Growing up in Los Angeles was fun but the clouds there are just 'meh'. The first time that I went to the San Francisco Bay Area on my own, I spent time near Point Bonita which is on the northern side of the Golden Gate Bridge overlooking the city. It's one of the most beautiful city-views in the world. I've spent evenings there looking at the city lights flicker... for hours at a time. I would love to go up there on afternoons after biking in Marin or running up the Dipsea Trail. I used to see clouds rolling in from the Far East shaped like boats, dragons, and all sorts of animals. I've spent 3 sunrises there in my memory... and each was so moving emotionally that I get wistful about my friends, life and the interesting things there.

When I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, I found a new appreciation for things there. I worked near the eastside of the Dumbarton Bridge and just east of the Coyote Hills Regional Park. I'd spend after-work hours there trying to bike up the different hills and out around the levees (which I think is no longer allowed). I must've spent a few hundred hours there. A little known spot is around one of the south-most hills on the westside of the county gun range (rarely used). There is a steep grassy hillside with a few notches in the earth to nestle in by rock outcroppings. I'd finish the ride by climbing up to that hill and walking the bike around the side. Then just sit and watch the sun fade behind the peninsula as the wind whipped the grasses in water and wave-like patterns.

I would spend time thinking about my girlfriend and our future. I'd sit and watch the clouds drift in the from the west. Sometimes I could see the fog creeping over the top of Skyline and feel the vanguard winds cooling me down.

The SF Bay Area has some of the best clouds in the world, in my opinion. Unless it's the heart of summer (no clouds), there are all sorts of interesting things to see. That being said, I think the Seattle Area has some of the most interesting cloud shapes, when the sky actually isn't just gray. Today, it cleared slightly and the sun was backlighting some very high layers. They looked like smooth undulating ribbons of silver and silk. Some sections even looked like frosted glass. They were not noticeably moving and the sky just looked magical. I was driving and slapping myself for not having one of my two digital cameras with me.

As I got out to play with Taiga, the winds really kicked up and small fast-moving gray clouds were racing to the northeast. It looked like a stampede of little cars and fish. What a curious mixture of shapes. Even in the cold, I played with Taiga and watched the clouds. We finally stopped when I got tired and the sky had turned into the underside of a gray comforter (I see that way too much up here).

I had a good day today for no other reason than I saw a few shapely clouds. Good for me.