Into the fire...

Conventional wisdom...and good sense...would suggest that when its sweltering hot in Northern California, you certainly don't head east. But that was my Saturday destination, and I persevered.

When we awoke on Saturday morning, it was an uncomfortable 88 in the City. Around noon, I drove to the East Bay to pick up my friend Susan in Rossmore, to begin our drive to Sacramento for a "gathering" of our photo classmates at our instructor's house.

The temps peaked at 108 as we passed the town of Davis, and were a relatively chilly 104 once we reached Sacramento. I've got to give big kudos to Susan's Prius...which held onto an amazing 51 mpg even with the air conditioning cranked...bravo.

In spite of the heat, the day was wonderful. Our gathering was fun (as always)...we shared work-in-progress and "what I did on summer vacation" stories (oddly...on the first full day of summer). My long drive and chat with Susan was relaxing...revealing...comforting. And by the time I made it back to SF, the heat had broken, and the City was down to a refreshing 56 degrees!!

Its now Sunday morning, and Mother Nature has sent back our lovely fog to cool us down (wow...53 this morning) and give our weary garden a break. In my happy mood, I thought I would share some of the shots I took from the top of Twin Peaks on Friday night. The sun was low, and lit up the entire scene like a painting. The air was clear enough to see Mount Diablo off in the distance (the bottom photo).