The day started out cold and cloudy, turning to cold and rainy just after breakfast. When the rain let up and the baby woke up from his three-hour morning nap (!), we decided it was time for a family outing. We called our friends the Es, and made plans to meet them and their 9-week-old daughter A at Vik's in Berkeley for a lunch of delicious Indian chaat (snacks).

After lunch, we all went to the Albany Bulb to walk off those masala dosas and bhatura cholles. Once a garbage dump, the westernmost jut of Albany Waterfront Park is now an outdoor gallery of sorts for an Oakland artists' collective that refers to itself as Sniff. The artists have erected giant sculptures, painted concrete slabs, and other installations using detritus washed up from the bay and artifacts from the Bulb's landfill days. We missed the biggest collection of artwork, at the tip of the park, because the Es had their stroller and the trail proved difficult to navigate in places. We'll definitely be back someday to do the full loop.

We did enjoy our little hike along the bay, with its picture-perfect views of SF, the Golden Gate, Mt. Tamalpais, and, to the immediate north, Point Isabel and Costco ("Look," I told Harper, "That's where Grandma and Poo-pa live!").

Read more about the Albany Bulb in Bay Nature magazine.