We spent eight inspiring days in northern California over the holidays, with five days in Carmel and three in San Francisco.

On Christmas day in Carmel, we decided to take an early-morning beach walk, even though (in retrospect) it seems like a silly, if not downright stupid thing to do, since the local weathermen kept warning about the high winds and heavy rain that were threatening to hit the Monterey Bay area that morning.

Things looked okay when we left the hotel, umbrella in hand just in case.

But by the time we walked down Ocean Avenue to the beach, things had turned ugly.

It was so windy that sand was blowing up onto the path above the beach where we were walking. The pelting rain obscured our glasses and made it almost impossible to see. Tree limbs blew wildly around us. Even the seagulls on the beach seemed surprised as they were buffeted about by the strong winds.

Undaunted, we plowed through to the end of the beach, stopping for photographs of the angry seas and even a 30-second video or two of the wild display of nature around us.

Once at the end of the beach, we gazed back toward Pebble Beach Golf Club from whence we had come. And we were rewarded with this: a rainbow! Our rough journey had more than been worth it to capture this once-in-a-lifetime image.

Memories of the Christmas-Eve rainbow lingered in our minds during the rest of our stay in Carmel. We even toasted to the rainbow that evening over dinner.

Rainbows were still much on our minds by the time we arrived in San Francisco for the final three days of our trip. We did all the normal touristy things–Ghirardelli Square, Fisherman’s Wharf, North Beach, Golden Gate Bridge, the Ferry Terminal.

But by our last day in Baghdad by the Bay, we wanted something a bit more esoteric. So we headed out to the De Young Museum to see the Impressionist exhibit there. Of course, we hadn’t checked online first, so it was sold out until 6:30 that evening, when we had dinner reservations elsewhere.

So, deciding to make lemonade out of the lemons we’d been dealt, we toured the museum’s general exhibits and enjoyed a leisurely lunch.

One of my favorite paintings as we strolled through the spacious galleries was none other than another rainbow, which I offer up here for your viewing enjoyment. I didn’t get the artist’s name, or even know what period it’s from. Sometimes just better to revel in the image itself and not overthink the moment.