Sunrise 5:47: Many sights, one campus

By the time the female Dawn Jogger was jogging across Roble Field on the Stanford campus this morning, she was convinced that there can't be another university in the world where you can see such a mix of beauty, nature and life all within an hour's span. And all on within a mile of each other.

The heat wave of the past few days had broken, and the coastal overcast, while not directly overhead, had fanned itself around the perimenter of the Dish open space. It was the classic Peninsula 'built-in air conditioning' that the female DJ's mother like to point out.

After making the two Dish ascents and the last wedge hill, she was about to exit through the Juniper Serra gate, when another jogger flagged her down, asking, "Do you think that's a mountain lion cub?" There, hiding in plain sight in the grass, was a young bobcat (distinguished by its pointy tufted ears and spotted coat) patiently waiting for a breakfast of ground squirrel. (The female DJ didn't want to distress the animal by approaching too close - and Silvio's telephoto lens is limited - but the male DJ helped by putting a red circle around the bobcat's head.)

The day's run was capped by seeing various members of the class of 2007 making their way to Baccalaureate or Senior Day festivities, undoubtedly thankful the temperatures had cooled down. A morning like this always makes the Bay Area's high real estate prices seem worth it...