First Week of May '09

Apologies for the lack of title creativity but not much else I can say there. There is no overarching theme for this post other than this is what I have done this weekend. Here goes...

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Dinner @ La Strada in Palo Alto. Risotto with roast quail. Tasty, but it did leave me wishing quails were a tad bit bigger.

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Tamales plate from Primavera at the Ferry Building Farmers Market in SF. Brilliant. Unfortunately, it was an ambitious breakfast and didn't leave me room to lunch on any of the other tasty dishes available at the Ferry Building...

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I made it up to the Farmers Market b/c this guy was back in town for a visit. Here's Kurt enjoying his meal (something with eggs, tortillas & salsa) that left him as full as I was.

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Then on sunday I ventured out into the wilderness for my weekly hike (sans hiking partner). This week, I tackled Black Mountain which meant a return trip to the Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve. I thought I took a pic of Black Mountain here but in actuality it is just behind the peak pictured.

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Honey, banana & peanut butter sandwich, raisins and celery. I'd call that a lunch of champions. A nice reward for making it to the peak.

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View from the top. Just a tad bit hazy at ground level but no complaints can be made about the trail conditions; plenty of sun, gentle breeze and a sneak peek of summer's warmth.

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Clearing on the top of the hill just behind where I took the previous pic.

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Some of the colorful flora present along the trail.

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Some man-made junk on top of Black Mountain. Not very scenic behind me but I was doing my best to utilize the lighting conditions.

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What more might be in store for this month? We shall see! Stay tuned for next weekend's adventures!

April Adventures 09

Howdy everyone. Just a quick update on some of the goings on of this past April. A bunch of great fun was had so here we go with the recap!

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Looking out from Goat Rock. Went on a lovely hike in Castle Rock State park w/Susanna on a beautiful day capped off with this excellent view and bread & cheese for lunch. Didn't get to climb this time around, but luckily I did the following week...

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Me bundled up trying to conserve warmth while climbing on a cool day in Castle Rock. This was my first experience doing the roped climbing outdoors. It was a blast! Thanks to Charles & Nick for being great teachers.

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Mount Baldy from a distance (it's partially obscured by the tree at the center of the pic). I headed down to So Cal to conquer this mountain with Grant.

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San Antonio Falls just a short ways from the Mt. Baldy trailhead.

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Grant & I after about 15 min on the trail. Amazing day down south. Warm (but not 98 degrees warm like it was in LA), clear and generally perfect conditions for a hike.

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Grant & I at the summit of Mt. Baldy. After about 5 miles and roughly 4000 ft. of elevation, we finally made it. Great feeling getting to the top and looking down on everything around. Definitely an addicting feeling of accomplishment and awe. Or, maybe it was the altitude...

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We did really make it. See!

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Grant trudging through the snow. Those hiking poles really came in handy!!!

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Me heading down through the snow on our way back down the trail. Luckily conditions were right so that we didn't need some more serious mountain gear!

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Dinner from Tannourine in San Mateo. This collection of appetizers included tabouleh, hummus, baba ghannouge, kebbeh,
cheese bourak and sambousek.

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Dinner from Bistro Elan in Palo Alto. Amazing place for food. This dish is sole prepared in a lemon-butter sauce with cauliflower, broccolini, slivered almonds and a few other things I can't recall. I will definitely be going back to this restaurant again!

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Went and watched the Pac-10 Women's Golf Championship at Stanford w/Randahl when he was back in town. Got to see Mari Chun & Stephanie Kono play in person! HI Pride! Former Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice was there to cheer on Mari as well and that's her in red in the middle of this pic (complete with Secret Service on watch).

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Technically this is a May picture, but a lovely Saturday morning brekkie was had at 7th Street Montara this past weekend. Savoury turkey & swiss crepe (with mushroom sauce) and blueberry french toast. Charming place to catch a spot of food!

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With work being so busy, these weekend bits of fun have really gone a long way to maintaining my sanity. Now here we are in May and I'm still stuck here in the Bay. Been reflecting on that a fair bit recently as it's a year on from when I was in Costa Rica and someone I know is currently on a trip to visit SA. Hopefully I'll make it through the launch of our new product at work and make it somewhere overseas in the near future! That's all for now. Hope you all are doing well!

Purisima Creek

Just another quick update. Here I have some pics from the Purisima Creek hike I went on a couple weeks ago. Let us get right to it!

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In this pic, we can see Purisima Creek winding its way amongst some fairly dense vegetation. During the beginning of the hike, the trail made its way through a very foresty region parallel to the creek.

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The path began to climb after a fair bit of creek following and on that gradual ascent, we encountered this colorful inhabitant. My first official sighting of a genuine banana slug! Much harder to miss compared to the more conservatively colored lizards that we have seen in the past.

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After that moderate climb, the trail headed into a tree filled gulch which featured a bit of up and a bit of down. Fortuitously, the opportunity came about to catch a lunch break when we came upon a bench along the trail at the same time as my stomach began to complain of neglect. After lunch, additional adventure presented itself in the way of a fallen tree across the path that required just a bit more than textbook hurdling form.

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Clearing the gulch afforded us this beautiful view of the surrounding terrain and the expansive Pacific. What an amazingly pretty day to be outside.

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I hope you all enjoyed this brief entry. Till next time!

The Visitors

The Bay Area was recently graced with not one but two of Hilo's finest.


Travis & Kurt
Thanks for dropping by guys. It's been a long time between drinks and hopefully it won't be as long till the next...

Hiking in 2009 (so far)

So, here's the quick entry for March. Just to catch you folks up on what I've been doing on my weekends. I've recommitted to spending time outdoors and working on the fitness as well. Here's a glimpse on how those efforts are going so far this year.

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It's Super Bowl sunday and there were a few deer out in force at Edgewood Park. This park is quite literally 5 min away from my house!

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Azusa Trail w/Grant. Torrential rain was forecast but it stayed dry all day long. Off in the distance (amidst all that smog), you can see downtown LA...

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PG&E Trail @ Rancho San Antonio. For the 2nd weekend in a row, it was dry just long enough for us to do the hike.

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Grant & I at the top of the trail. At this point, we were both pretty damn hungry...

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On a 'hat trick' of sorts, I should've known I wouldn't have been as lucky for the 3rd weekend in a row. Castle Rock Falls was flowing pretty well and I was "blessed" with a steady drizzle through my short hike in the area.

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Finally! A gorgeous weekend! Despite losing an hour of sleep the night before, no thanks to DST, that didn't dampen the bloody beautiful view up at Windy Hill. Oh...and unsurprisingly, it was windy...

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Blurry pic of a little lizard that I almost stomped at Windy Hill. A distant cousing of the Geico gecko?

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A view of the Pacific from a trail at McNee Ranch State Park.

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The very same view on the way down. Not rainy, but damp (and windy).

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I've realized over the past several weeks just how much I miss being outside. It's lovely to be back!