I just got back from a few days in San Francisco to visit the kids and tomorrow I’m off to Iron River in the U.P. for a memorial service on Saturday. The trip to San Francisco was lots of fun and the trip to the U.P. will be not so much fun, but it will be nice to visit with old friends and talk about the good memories we all have about our friend, Jack Sorby.

Matt and Anna spent a few days babysitting their father in San Francisco, so I guess turn-about is fair play. I fought with myself about taking running clothes with me. I knew if I took them, I would run and, with the recent injury to my left hamstring, that wouldn’t be smart. I walked a lot, sometimes alone and sometimes with Matt and Anna. The walks seemed to stretch out the offending muscle and it must have done some good ‘cuz I ran five miles Tuesday and this morning with zero pain.

One of the walks was on a trail along Alpine Lake, just north of the city in Marin County. The first two miles of the trail looked flat on the map, but it went up and down due to small ravines and ridges going down to the lake. It reminded me of the trails that some of the Trilanders will be doing this week at the Pinckney Half Marathon. After that two miles, the trail turned up the hill (I suppose it was a mountain, but it was a small one in the coastal range) and continued up for .9 miles gaining 800 feet elevation. It was chilly (mid fifties) and windy, but Matt and I were both sweating profusely by the time we reached the top.

We walked along a ridge on a fire trail for 1.4 miles before we headed straight down, giving back the 800 feet elevation we worked so hard for, to where we started. It was a total of 5.2 miles and we were both bushed by the time we got back. We had lost enough in fluids that we thought it best to head straight for Marin Brewing Company to replace fluids and have a sandwich. As we passed San Quentin prison, I waved to Scott Peterson. For what he did, he doesn’t deserve to have that nice a view.

Sunday evening, Matt, Tonya and I went to a beer dinner. No…it wasn’t a dinner made strictly out of beer…it was some very elegant food paired with some out-of-this-world beers. I hope I didn’t embarrass Matt and Tonya too much when I referred to the Citrus Cured Curraun Blue Sea Trout as raw fish, or when I tasted some of the pate-based appetizers and made an awful face like a little baby that tastes pureed peas for the first time. Actually, the food was excellent and much of it was new to me. I haven’t traveled in the circles of duck breast served rare and caviar that costs more than a good pair of running shoes, but I’m learning. I am slowly acquiring a taste for some of the sour beers and there were quite a few. The alcohol content of the pairings seemed to increase as the night went on with Avery Brewing’s The Beast Grand Cru and Lost Abbey’s Older Viscosity in the 12-14% range. Yes, we took a cab there and back.

Just (Missing The Kids Already) Jack