Vegas: 710 Visuals performance at the Womb Room

One of the most gratifying aspects of life is when things come full circle. Good writers often include examples of this karmic turn around in their media be it through visual gags, narrative, or character development. 

It was with special pleasure, then, that 710 Visuals accepted an offer to perform at the Womb Room, the same venue where we'd originally witnessed liquid light art in action and been inspired to invest our time and energy into the medium ourselves.

Photos and video below!

Japan: Rainy night in Urayasu 2014-02-27

This was the day I got my digital camera, so these were the very first photographs I ever took using it.

Ah, nostalgia. 

Japan: Snowy Valentine's 2014-02-14

On Valentine's night Tokyo got hit with quite the snow storm…

London

The fountain in Trafalgar Square.

Way back when I was but a wee young lass in the year of 2005, I was fortunate enough to be able to go on a school organized trip to London. There were about 20 of us shipped overseas with a handful of teachers and guardians hoping to keep us out of trouble for five days. We had a pretty full itinerary, catching many of the major tourist spots including the London Eye, Stonehenge, Shakespeare's Globe, the Tower of London, Roman Baths, Harrod's, St. Paul's Cathedral, Trafalgar Square, the changing of the guards, Windsor Castle and more! It was a pretty whirlwind journey. Read on to see more photos!

Castro District

Glitter, rainbows, and lots of rock hard buildings. 

After climbing our way to Coit tower, then Lombard, we caught a bus over to the Mission district and  walked over to the Castro district from there. 

There were a lot of fantastic murals, shops and other fun things to see along the way!

San Francisco is renowned for being one of the most accepting and proud cities in the US,

and according to the San Francisco travel website, it's the city that

"practically invented gay" so we felt it a necessary inclusion in our stops throughout the city. 

Check out my photos below!

Lombard Street, San Francisco

Lombard street is one very wibbly wobbly road, zigzagging it's way up a steep hill. It's a one way road, so if you hope to test your driving along it's curves be sure to approach from the right side!

Having just visited Coit tower, we walked to Lombard relatively quickly while still enjoying the sights along the way.

San Francisco's Coit Tower

Since it was our last day in town, we decided to hit up a few more landmarks before we had to go. Our flight wasn't scheduled to depart until after 10pm, so we had plenty of daylight to kill yet. Christian, our AirBnB host, kindly offered to let us leave our backpacks with him until it was time for our flight so we were spared the additional hiking weight…which, considering the verticality of our destinations, was really appreciated!

Well rested after a leisurely evening we headed out for the city early in the day. 

Photos ahead!

Downtown Oakland

Downtown Oakland. 

Since we were here on a weekend the city center was eerily quiet as we ambled through.

Day trip to Berkeley

Welcome to Berkeley, a lovely little town north of San Francisco and Oakland, famous for having the oldest college campus in California along with it's politically liberal vibe.

While walking through Berkeley, it's evident that the town takes great pride in itself. The street lamps are adorned with baskets of flowers, the sidewalks are clean and the buildings beautiful and well maintained.

Quirky and creative individuals and businesses abound, with small cafes offering live orchestral performances or Japanese curry. One intersection has three distinct movie cinemas operating on different corners, each offering different movies. Amoeba records flagship store opened in 1990 in Berkeley, so if you're a music geek that's worth noting. It's a huge store with a robust selection and has expanded with newer locations in San Francisco (which we visited) and another in Hollywood.

While a fairly small town of permanent residents at around 100k, I imagine it's pretty safe to estimate that the population boons during college season. Several people remarked on the amusing contrast of seeing young preppie college kids mingling with a bunch of hippies, but that's the kind of atmosphere the town fosters. Everyone we spoke with was friendly and glowed with pride for their home.

Curious? I've got lots of photos for you below!

San Francisco: Aquarium of the Bay

You may not know this about me, but I have a major nerd-on for marine life. 

From cephalopods to aquatic vertebrates, crustaceans to coral, I think almost everything that swims, glides, wiggles and jiggles in the seas is pretty neat…

for the most part. 

I mean, in all seriousness, there are some intensely creepy little freaks roaming the oceans, like goblin sharks. 

Friggin' Xenomorphs of the sea, I tell you!!! Look at that retractible jaw!

But the San Francisco aquarium is devoid of goblin sharks in all their nocturnal deep sea horror, so fear not, friends!

I brought back a plethora of photographs to share the joy of aquatic lifeforms with you!

Yes, YOU!

(You special and unique little snowflake!)

So read on, amigos!

Ferry ride from Oakland to San Francisco

Riding ferries has long been a favorite way for me to see a new city. I've taken ferries in Tokyo, Hiroshima, Hong Kong, Seattle, Boulder City and San Francisco and they always offer such a unique experience. Growing up my dad was always taking me out on boating adventures around the Southwest, so having spent so much of my life in, on or around the water I absolutely love reconnecting with it whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Oakland's Jack London Square

After a brief refresher back at the house, we walked over to Jack London Square to wait for the ferry over to the San Francisco side of the bay. 

A lovely couple walking by offered to take photos for us when they saw Antho attempting with a self-timer. He was able to make this adorable gif with all the photos they took. :) Right on!

Oakland's Chinatown

After taking off from the Tenderloin and checking in at our AirBnB lodging, we headed over to Oakland's own little Chinatown! Our host Jackie recommended the area to us and we're happy to have taken her up on the suggestion. While fairly small it comprises a fairly well-rounded community center, with banks, restaurants, medical facilities and shops all nestled tightly together.

Return to Haight & The Dead House on 7/10

After checking in to our hostel, we returned to Haight street to check out the Grateful Dead house on 710 Ashbury on 7/10, because, duh. Between our psychedelic light show (710 Visuals) and our appreciation for the Dead it was a must stop on a tour, especially given the date.

Yeah, we're dorks.

Youth Hostel Central, 116 Turk, San Francisco

After all the fun we had at the Exploratorium, we headed back to the Tenderloin to check in at Youth Hostel Central. I've heard a lot of overblown warnings about "bad" neighborhoods in the past and never really felt threatened or uncomfortable in any area of Hong Kong, Seoul, Japan, London or Tijuana that I explored but perhaps I was lucky. For the most part, that was true enough of the Tenderloin, too, though I did notice some guys tried to intimidate Antho as they walked past us…