Bay Area Adventures | February, 2020
What a strange reality we’ve stepped into. Looking back just one month is like looking at a completely different world. But here goes: my monthly recap of February, a.k.a. pre-Covid19 life. Filled with gatherings of all sorts.
We start the month with our weekly bike ride to the Ferry Building for the farmer’s market.
Matching bikes and market bags!
Board games at Game Parlour! This was one of the gatherings we brainstormed at my birthday. Seems like we’ll have to rethink most of the others. But I’m so glad we got to do this!
Lean in at Saira’s, where she reads Ibtihaj Muhhamad’s children’s book that I got for baby H.
Office of Accountability.
Article Club. and a dinner with TAFers since Vince was in town visiting.
Hike Club, San Francisco. With Cassie and Meg… and Rusty.
Moonrise over Oakland.
Hike Club in Alameda. This was also my month of fitness, with 4-5 different activities each week between my OrangeTheory Fitness classes and hike clubs.
A little Steph next to a great big battleship. Not quite the Covid-riddled cruise ship that would come into port a month later.
Dinner in Oakland at FOB Kitchen.
Hike Club again in SF: Lake Merced, with Cassie, Courtney, and Rusty. Best hike club member. The second photo below is miner’s lettuce, which Cassie then plucked from the ground and ate. Brave Cassie.
Afterwards, picking up lunch from Souvla… spotted a Valentine’s Day pop-up.
… and we joined with Do-Hee and Meg at Meg’s house.
Valentine’s Day, behind the scenes on a proposal I shot, with Cassie playing second photographer and decoy.
Another Saturday morning at the Ferry Building Farmer’s Market. With Chris and Crystal.
That night, drinks at Moongate Lounge in Chinatown.
Watermelon radish and arugula salad with the goodies from our garden!
Game day at Courtney and Jackson’s house. Betrayal at House on the Hill. And homemade pizzas with arugula from the garden.
Hike Club: Oakland. A walk around Lake Merritt with Chelsea, Cassie, Steph, John, and yes, Rusty.
Hike Club SF: Twin Peaks with Cassie and Rusty.
One of the violinists in my orchestra works with Music at Kohl Mansion, which helped bring this Violins of Hope exhibit to the Bay Area. It’s a large collection of violins with the common thread that they all survived the Holocaust. The exhibit included performances using the instruments as well as this gallery in the Veterans Building. This first violin was inscribed inside with a swastika, likely by a luthier who then returned it to the unsuspecting Jewish owner of the instrument. They didn’t discover the inscription until decades later when the instrument was taken for repair.
Other instruments were beautifully inlaid with the Star of David.
A bunch of members of the Oakland Civic Orchestra visiting the exhibit.
Afterwards, I happened upon this block party where they were giving away free Souvla froyo.
Drinks at the Linden Room and ramen from Nojo.
Weekend getaway in wine country. We toured Ridge Winery’s estate… and it turned out to be a private tour since no one else signed up at that time.
A look at the 120-year old vines.
Inside, we got to sample from both tanks and barrels! Wines in the process that are almost ready to be bottled.
And then we visited Reeve for their members’ pickup party, complete with tastings, food, and our wines for the quarter.
Dinner: Girl and the Goat for Sonoma Restaurant Week.
Another week, another Hike Club. This time Sibley Volcanic Natural Preserve.
All the trees are blooming!
Night out at the SF Ballet’s Sensorium event. This is how you really know we’re in completely different times now. Look at all those people!
They had different little stands throughout the building, like this little quartet of musicians from the Ballet Orchestra who were playing whatever people wanted to make up on the white board.
Mirror selfie with my dates Do-Hee & Cassie… And then we discovered that we were definitely the target demographic because a ton of our friends were also in the building… so we did a mirror selfie with our friendors too.
Do-Hee came to Alameda to go to OrangeTheory with me, and then we got sushi afterwards. I took my first class at the end of January and have taken fifteen classes since. They’ve now shut down for the coming weeks, so I have to figure out how to work out without someone telling me what to do again.
Hike Club: solo edition. Since no one else was available this Thursday, I decided to join one of the free walking tours that the city of SF offers every day. This was a tour about the Embarcadero.
I rode my bike downtown (not something I usually do). And got to meet up with Kayla for lunch!
The next day, Do-Hee and I tried Barry’s Bootcamp for the first time. We both prefer OrangeTheory, but it was nice to try it. Afterwards, I made more pizzas and Cassie came over for a lunch date on the patio.
And that was the final Friday of the month! So, time for Cerf Club!
Thankfully they were back to a more extensive menu this time. We got almost one of everything, including these delicious baos.
And then Alex and I ran off back to his place for a paint night. One of these things is not like the others…
Haha, I went off script and painted magnolias instead of the prompt.
Hooray February! Life isn’t quite the same this month, but we’re still gathering together… from afar. Stay safe, everyone.
Anna Wu is a wedding and portrait photographer based in San Francisco. She compulsively documents and blogs all of her daily adventures. Follow her on instagram and view more of her professional work at annawu.com.
