A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow

Have you ever seen a rainbow?

I saw just a handful the first 33 years of my life. Probably the most memorable one was in Ireland back in 2007 - does it get any better than spotting a rainbow over the lush greenery of the Irish countryside? - but the occurrences were few and far between.

Then I moved to the Bay Area and it was a rainbow explosion! And I don't mean that in the alternative lifestyle way...

Here's a lovely example from today. This picture was taken from the parking lot behind my building at work. This is where I see many of my SF 'bows. You can't really tell from the picture but this one ends right smack dab in the middle of San Francisco Bay.

(Can leprechauns swim? Discuss.)

Scientifically, rainbows occur when the sun hits droplets of moisture in the atmosphere. The best time to see rainbows are on those weird weather days when it's raining but sunny at the same time. This sort of thing happens a lot around the Bay.

Although this area usually only gets rain in the winter months, it's a very wet place. We are surrounded by water on three sides: the ocean to the west and the bay to the north and east. Fog from the ocean comes rolling over the mountains in the late afternoon. It's not unusual to get sprinkles at that time and if the sun has not moved below the fog line, rainbows are born.

It's pretty magical. I always get excited when I see one. I want to find someone and say, "Did you see it?" Like it's a unicorn or something. I'm trying to become more suave about the whole thing but somehow I doubt I will achieve that level of nonchalance.

Peace out, dear readers!

PS Who knows where the post title comes from?