Please allow me to interject my feelings about Mother Nature

I remember several times playing high school baseball in Walnut Creek where the game time temp at 6 p.m. was 100-plus and Dad driving up with a wool coat in the car from The City, where it probably didn't get out of the 50s all day. Marine layer/Berkeley Hills.

I've worn a ski jacket to a June night game at Candlestick and still been shivering.

 

Clockwise winds rolling down from the north all day.

 

The coldest I've ever been at a baseball game was at Candlestick in the early '70s in June. So bad we left in the sixth inning of a 1-1 tie, and it was Marichal vs. Seaver!

 

We've just had a wonderful 10-day stretch in the PNW. Highs in the low 80s, cooling off at night to the upper 50s, light breezes, no humidity, no bugs.

 

The older I get (now 51), the more my summer travel features hiking trips to places that are much cooler than my home in Georgia. I've stood in snow in summer for 14 years in a row. Earlier this month, it was a trip to scorching hot Salt Lake City, but drive less than 30 minutes up the mountain and the temp drops 20 degrees. Hike another hour up and there's loads of snow still on the ground and even a small iceberg floating in a mountain lake.

 

I remember watching coverage of Bonds breaking Aaron's record and the crowd was dressed like it was November in New England.

 

Too late for me to do it this year, but I want to spend the last three weeks of July one year just exploring the UP of Michigan on my own. I've been told the northern LP has its moments too.

 

Be sure to bring bug spray … they don’t call the mosquito the U.P.’s state bird for nothing.

On the other hand, Lake Superior certainly isn’t going to have a 100 degree water temp in the summer. It will cool you off!

 

LOL ... I avoided considering Alaska precisely because of the mosquito problem.

 

And here I am considering a late-August trip to central Oklahoma, like a dumbass.

 

112 here today, meaning we have hit 110+ every single day in July. We are supposed to top out around 109 tomorrow, so we may not make it a full month.

 

Close enough. I'll concede that putt.