One night, over dinner, H's friend, HH, suggested we should all go crabbing. Since the Bay Area is well known for its tasty Dungeness crab and this is crab season (the commercial Dungeness Crab season open officially on Nov 15th 2008), H and I happily agreed.
Given this is the first time I have gone crabbing, I looked up the web for some resources. Surprisingly, there wasn't too much good information. All I could find were the following:
Jeff's guide to Crabbing, a Noe Valley Voice story and this SF Gate article.
Armed with this information, I went to Sportmen's Supply and bought a crab trap. The sales staff recommended a bait cage which I bought as well.
Meanwhile, HH bought a pack of chicken drumstick, which he left out in the sun to stink. We would be using those for crab bait.
On Sunday, H and I, HH and his wife and father gathered our crabbing gear, camping chairs, warm jackets and snack before set off. I was concerned about pollution in the Bay water and convinced everyone we should do our fishing off the coast. Since we did not want to pay for fishing license, we had to fish from public pier.
Base on location mentioned in Tom Stienstra's article, we decided to try Princeton jetty on Half Moon Bay. When we arrived, the gates to the jetty were closed, but we were able to get onto the jetty by looping around a nearby building. The jetty was deserted and, at about 2:30pm, the sea water level seemed too shallow for crabbing. We decided not to try fish here.
As we were leaving, we saw a father and son walked onto the jetty with crab traps! We immediately asked about fishing in the area. Turned out, this was their first trip too. We wished them good luck and decided to try another location mentioned in Tom's article, Pacifica pier.
We were much more encouraged when we reach Pacifica Pier. There were many crab trappers on the pier. Figuring we found a good spot, we unloaded our gear, stick chicken drum stick into the crab trap, and slowly lowered the trap from the pier into the water.
After waiting for about 5 minutes, we tried pulling the trap up. It felt heavy! Excited H came and help, but the line just would not moved! Someone fishing nearby commented, "Your cage is stuck! $40 down the drain!"
We were of course quite discourage. H and I tried pulling the rope, and finally the trap became free. There was no crab:( The fisherman then told us to fling the trap far out to avoid the trap getting tangled up with the pillar under the pier. We tried this technique and at least had no problem with tangled traps. Crabs were another issue. We casted the trap 3 to 4 times and nothing was biting.
H went around the pier and started asking others casting crab trap. While there were many crab trapper, no one had caught anything in the past 4-5 hours. Dejected, we huddled up and decided what to do next. Given it was only 3pm, we wanted to try our luck some where else. It was decided we would go to San Francisco.
Our destination was Crissy Field pier, just off warming hut. This pier was located near Golden Gate Bridge, near the mouth of the Bay. We figured pollution would be less compared to other locations in the bay.
Given we had all up given up hope, we decided to use all our bait this time. We stuffed all 6 chicken drum stick into the net and swung it into the ocean. Almost immediately, we saw a seal stick its head out of the water and then dive towards our trap. H told us me and HH to quickly pulled our trap in, since the seals would steal the bait. But, despite our best effort to quickly reel in the trap, it was too late. Only 3 drum stick remained in the trap. We decided to use bait cage for this location.
We secured the bait cage to the bottom of the trap with our only 3 chicken drum stick in them, cast the trap and waited. After about 5 minutes, we decided to pull the trap in. Amazingly, there were 2 small crabs in the trap!
We were overjoy, despite the fact the crabs were too small to keep(The legal limit is at least 4 inches). The location made a big difference and soak time made a big difference. We cast our trap a few more times and let the trap soaked for a good 10 minutes each time. We caught a total of 6 crabs, including one about 5 inches wide. These were all rock crabs. Dungeness crabs fishing is illegal inside the bay:)
We fished for about 2 hours, until the sky started getting dark and it got really cold. Our last 2 cast did not yield any more crabs and we decided to call it a day.
But everyone in our party had crab meat on their mind. We decided to head towards Banyan Tree restaurant in Union City to try their chili crab. The chili crab here was a little too sweet and not spicy enough. I also find the sauce too watery.
All in all though, we had a lot of fun crabbing. We did a quick calculation and decided our bounty did not justify the cost of the trap, bait and gas, but it does make a great fish story.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Kayak Elkhorn Slough
I talked H into kayaking with me in Elkhorn Slough with promises of calm water paddling and abundance of wild life to observe. She agreed.
Our day started like most kayaking trip: early in the morning. We drove to UC Santa Cruz where we met up with my favorite kayak guide, Dave Johnston and the rest of the tour group. From there, we were transported by van to Elkhorn Slough boat launch at Kirby road.
When we arrived, I was surprised to see the pier which we used for launching kayaks last year was in ruins! Apparently, Dave was surprised too. Without a pier, we were forced to do beach launch on the small, gravel filled edge "beach" on the side of the pier.
H and I had some paddling experience, so we launched quickly. Also, I still remembered the paddling route from last year and quickly made our way out of the delta, towards the sea, leaving the rest of the group behind.
The early morning was filled with birds. The majestic white Pelicans was making a rare appearance in Elkhorn slough! These white Pelican would fly close to the ocean surface, then suddenly land in the sea water and make a quick turn. It was amazing to watch. Some were flying so close to our kayak that I was concerned we would be knocked over.
As we paddled closer to the mouth of the river, we started seeing my favorite animal: sea otters. Most of the otters I had seen at Elkhorn slough are quite shy. As soon as they detected us, the otter would dive into the ocean. On this trip, we were lucky to see an otter having a meal. It was trying to break open a shell and we had quite a show:)
The trip to the mouth of the river took about 2 hours. There, we shored for lunch and rested on a sandy beach on the left of the river mouth.
After lunch, we paddled under Highway 1 bridge to see the seals. After that, we paddled back to the launching point.
Due to the date, the falling tides were in effect for our paddle back, so Dave suggested we kayaked back near the edge of the delta, away from the middle of the channel. This eddy current would help us along as we were paddling against the tide.
To further help us along, Dave had a special equipment for this trip: Kayak sail. There was a nice breeze blowing inland. H placed the sail behind her and, with a wind blowing, created a nice back rest for her.
The return trip was rather uneventful. We saw more seals, sea lions and otters. Since we paddle were closer to the edge, the water became really shallow and we were almost stuck a few times. Luckily, we were able to push our way out without having to get out of our kayaks.
Base on gmap.com, this is a 8 mile paddling trip, which took us about 4 hours of easy paddling to complete. It was an enjoyable time on the water.
Our day started like most kayaking trip: early in the morning. We drove to UC Santa Cruz where we met up with my favorite kayak guide, Dave Johnston and the rest of the tour group. From there, we were transported by van to Elkhorn Slough boat launch at Kirby road.
When we arrived, I was surprised to see the pier which we used for launching kayaks last year was in ruins! Apparently, Dave was surprised too. Without a pier, we were forced to do beach launch on the small, gravel filled edge "beach" on the side of the pier.
H and I had some paddling experience, so we launched quickly. Also, I still remembered the paddling route from last year and quickly made our way out of the delta, towards the sea, leaving the rest of the group behind.
The early morning was filled with birds. The majestic white Pelicans was making a rare appearance in Elkhorn slough! These white Pelican would fly close to the ocean surface, then suddenly land in the sea water and make a quick turn. It was amazing to watch. Some were flying so close to our kayak that I was concerned we would be knocked over.
As we paddled closer to the mouth of the river, we started seeing my favorite animal: sea otters. Most of the otters I had seen at Elkhorn slough are quite shy. As soon as they detected us, the otter would dive into the ocean. On this trip, we were lucky to see an otter having a meal. It was trying to break open a shell and we had quite a show:)
The trip to the mouth of the river took about 2 hours. There, we shored for lunch and rested on a sandy beach on the left of the river mouth.
After lunch, we paddled under Highway 1 bridge to see the seals. After that, we paddled back to the launching point.
Due to the date, the falling tides were in effect for our paddle back, so Dave suggested we kayaked back near the edge of the delta, away from the middle of the channel. This eddy current would help us along as we were paddling against the tide.
To further help us along, Dave had a special equipment for this trip: Kayak sail. There was a nice breeze blowing inland. H placed the sail behind her and, with a wind blowing, created a nice back rest for her.
The return trip was rather uneventful. We saw more seals, sea lions and otters. Since we paddle were closer to the edge, the water became really shallow and we were almost stuck a few times. Luckily, we were able to push our way out without having to get out of our kayaks.
Base on gmap.com, this is a 8 mile paddling trip, which took us about 4 hours of easy paddling to complete. It was an enjoyable time on the water.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Central Coast Weekend 2-ATV, Pismo Beach, Morro Bay
On a previous trip through central coast, H and I saw many trucks hauling ATV. H commented she wanted to try riding an ATV at some time.
Turned out, Pismo beach in Central Coast was a mecca for ATV enthusiasts, which was a short drive from SLO. We got off the Pier St from 101 and went into the first ATV store we saw: Steve ATV.
It turned out to be a great decision. Steve was the only store carrying 2 seaters. We rented a 2 seater for 1 hour. We were then directed to the beach area. A shuttle bus would drive us to the dunes, where we would get a quick video introduction and pick up our rental ATV.
The most important rule in ATV riding was we need to wear out helmets at all time. The ATV could not get wet, so we were to stay away from the water at all time. Controlling the ATV was easy. On the right handle, there was knob. By pushing the knob up or down with the right thumb, we would control the speed of the ATV. Turing the handle bar controls the direction of where the ATV went, much like a bicycle.
Both H and I were not the dare devil type, so we took it slow. It was a really powerful ATV and responded to our control immediately. We rode up and down the sand dunes, taking our time approaching the dunes to stay in control and made turns slowly. This was a new experience and we were being careful. H and I took turns doing the riding, shifting our bodies forward and backwards as we go downhill and uphill respectively.
We rented the ATV for one hour and it was more than enough time to experience this sport. We took the shuttle back to our car and drove to Pismo beach down town. Here, we enjoyed fried fish, scallops, shrimp, clams and oysters at Pismo Fish and Chip. The fried seafood was not too heavily battered and tasted very fresh.
After lunch, we walked around the beach area. Since this was Labor Day weekend, the beach area was very crowded. As we walked around the beach town tourist shops, our attention was drawn to a chocolate shoppe, selling chocolate covered worms and crickets. H and I tried a chocolate covered worm. Luckily, we could only taste the chocolate and the texture of something crispy in the center of the chocolate:)
Near the end of our walk in the downtown area, we noticed a long line of people buying chowder at Splash cafe. We were definitely in culinary exploration mode and H decided to wait in line to buy the chowder, while I went to pick up our car. The chowder was thick and creamy, with lots of clams. However, we did not find it special enough to warrant the half an hour wait for takeout.
From Pismo beach, we drove to Morro Bay. We drove by a park and there was an Art Festival going on. We took a walk around the festival, but we not impressed.
From the park, it was a short drive to Morro Rock. We drove around the rock, and enjoyed the bay view. The rock itself was quite big, and the view from afar, with the rock set in the ocean was quite good.
We then walked along the water front, looking at the various shops. There was an interesting store called the Shell Shop, selling various types of sea shells. H bought a large shell to use as soap dish, then added a sea turtle made from shells glued together to give the soap some company.
We were walking along when H saw the arching windows of Morro Bay Wine Seller. It was starting to get dark and she wanted to enjoy the sunset through the window. We stopped by for some wine tasting and had a good chat with the store owner. Turned out, he used to work in restaurant in San Jose. We talked a little bit about how life's different in Silicon valley and central coast and had a great time. Before we left, we asked for restaurant recommendations.
"The Park", he said without any hesitation. "Maegen is a talented chef, you will enjoyed your meal."
With a recommendation like that, we could not resist. We drove back to San Luis Obispo and seek out the restaurant. My review of the restaurant is on Yelp. Overall, it was one of the best meal we ever had.
Turned out, Pismo beach in Central Coast was a mecca for ATV enthusiasts, which was a short drive from SLO. We got off the Pier St from 101 and went into the first ATV store we saw: Steve ATV.
It turned out to be a great decision. Steve was the only store carrying 2 seaters. We rented a 2 seater for 1 hour. We were then directed to the beach area. A shuttle bus would drive us to the dunes, where we would get a quick video introduction and pick up our rental ATV.
The most important rule in ATV riding was we need to wear out helmets at all time. The ATV could not get wet, so we were to stay away from the water at all time. Controlling the ATV was easy. On the right handle, there was knob. By pushing the knob up or down with the right thumb, we would control the speed of the ATV. Turing the handle bar controls the direction of where the ATV went, much like a bicycle.
Both H and I were not the dare devil type, so we took it slow. It was a really powerful ATV and responded to our control immediately. We rode up and down the sand dunes, taking our time approaching the dunes to stay in control and made turns slowly. This was a new experience and we were being careful. H and I took turns doing the riding, shifting our bodies forward and backwards as we go downhill and uphill respectively.
We rented the ATV for one hour and it was more than enough time to experience this sport. We took the shuttle back to our car and drove to Pismo beach down town. Here, we enjoyed fried fish, scallops, shrimp, clams and oysters at Pismo Fish and Chip. The fried seafood was not too heavily battered and tasted very fresh.
After lunch, we walked around the beach area. Since this was Labor Day weekend, the beach area was very crowded. As we walked around the beach town tourist shops, our attention was drawn to a chocolate shoppe, selling chocolate covered worms and crickets. H and I tried a chocolate covered worm. Luckily, we could only taste the chocolate and the texture of something crispy in the center of the chocolate:)
Near the end of our walk in the downtown area, we noticed a long line of people buying chowder at Splash cafe. We were definitely in culinary exploration mode and H decided to wait in line to buy the chowder, while I went to pick up our car. The chowder was thick and creamy, with lots of clams. However, we did not find it special enough to warrant the half an hour wait for takeout.
From Pismo beach, we drove to Morro Bay. We drove by a park and there was an Art Festival going on. We took a walk around the festival, but we not impressed.
From the park, it was a short drive to Morro Rock. We drove around the rock, and enjoyed the bay view. The rock itself was quite big, and the view from afar, with the rock set in the ocean was quite good.
We then walked along the water front, looking at the various shops. There was an interesting store called the Shell Shop, selling various types of sea shells. H bought a large shell to use as soap dish, then added a sea turtle made from shells glued together to give the soap some company.
We were walking along when H saw the arching windows of Morro Bay Wine Seller. It was starting to get dark and she wanted to enjoy the sunset through the window. We stopped by for some wine tasting and had a good chat with the store owner. Turned out, he used to work in restaurant in San Jose. We talked a little bit about how life's different in Silicon valley and central coast and had a great time. Before we left, we asked for restaurant recommendations.
"The Park", he said without any hesitation. "Maegen is a talented chef, you will enjoyed your meal."
With a recommendation like that, we could not resist. We drove back to San Luis Obispo and seek out the restaurant. My review of the restaurant is on Yelp. Overall, it was one of the best meal we ever had.
Central Coast Weekend 1-Paso Robles, Sycamore Springs
H and I spent our Labor Day weekend in California's central coast. Both of us had just returned from oversea trip and wanted to take it easy.
On this Saturday, we decided to do some wine tasting. Sunset Magazine called Paso Robles "The next great wine country", so we were looking forward to our visit.
Our first stop was Wild horse winery. A family friend swore by wines from this winery and I wanted to taste them for myself.
We arrived at about 10:45am, but the tasting room was not yet opened! We went into the tasting room anyway and were greeted by a friendly wine staff, who agree to let us start tasting. We started with the $5 tasting, and added the Unbridled tasting for $10.
After Wild Horse, we stopped by downtown Paso Robles for lunch. As we were walking around, we found Vivant cheese shop. H had always wanted to do a little cheese tasting, so helped ourselves to the free samples. The indoor seating area for Vivant was quite small, but they did have a nice court yard, which in early fall, was nice out. We decided to stay for lunch and ordered a cheese platter. 4 cheese was served, with soft, medium and hard texture and a blue cheese. Fruits, jams and nuts completed the plate.
Our next stop was Eberle Winery. H started feeling sick when we arrived, so we rested in the tasting room and outside in the patio until she felt better.
Eberle Winery's cave tour had gotten very good reviews online and I was somewhat looking forward to visiting the cave. Frankly, the cave was a bit of a let down for me. First of all, it was a man made cave. This cave was used mainly to store wine and felt cold and industrial. Elberle was milking it "cave" for all it's worth. Special wine tasting events, wine dinner could be held in the cave. In an effort to make the space more soft, romantic, lots of design elements were added, including a lovely copper wine wine holder tree which I really like. But personally, I would not hold my event inside this space.
We stopped by Eos winery for a little more tasting before calling it a day. H was feeling hungry and craving Chinese food, so we had a quick/light dinner at Golden Gong.
Why a light dinner? Well, our next stop was Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort. Soaking with a full stomach could be uncomfortable.
Sycamore Mineral Spring Resort is a upscale hotel-spa that also rents their tubs by the hour to drop in visitors. We opted for a private tub, located on a small hillside. There were many private tubs on this hill side, all open aired, but surrounded with a sheet metal fence for privacy.
The tub water was very clear and had a little sulphur smell. When I first entered the tub, the temperature felt great! But at the end of an hour's soak, it felt too hot for comfort.
Rejuvenated, we drove back to SLO and checked out a louge: Native lounge. H and I were not big into night life, so it was a nice change of pace. The lounge is located next to a park. We enjoyed a ginger honey cocktail and champange with hibiscus syrup, while listening to the soft jazz played in a garden like setting. We were lucky enough to score a couch with pillow and throw. It was very relaxing.
On this Saturday, we decided to do some wine tasting. Sunset Magazine called Paso Robles "The next great wine country", so we were looking forward to our visit.
Our first stop was Wild horse winery. A family friend swore by wines from this winery and I wanted to taste them for myself.
We arrived at about 10:45am, but the tasting room was not yet opened! We went into the tasting room anyway and were greeted by a friendly wine staff, who agree to let us start tasting. We started with the $5 tasting, and added the Unbridled tasting for $10.
After Wild Horse, we stopped by downtown Paso Robles for lunch. As we were walking around, we found Vivant cheese shop. H had always wanted to do a little cheese tasting, so helped ourselves to the free samples. The indoor seating area for Vivant was quite small, but they did have a nice court yard, which in early fall, was nice out. We decided to stay for lunch and ordered a cheese platter. 4 cheese was served, with soft, medium and hard texture and a blue cheese. Fruits, jams and nuts completed the plate.
Our next stop was Eberle Winery. H started feeling sick when we arrived, so we rested in the tasting room and outside in the patio until she felt better.
Eberle Winery's cave tour had gotten very good reviews online and I was somewhat looking forward to visiting the cave. Frankly, the cave was a bit of a let down for me. First of all, it was a man made cave. This cave was used mainly to store wine and felt cold and industrial. Elberle was milking it "cave" for all it's worth. Special wine tasting events, wine dinner could be held in the cave. In an effort to make the space more soft, romantic, lots of design elements were added, including a lovely copper wine wine holder tree which I really like. But personally, I would not hold my event inside this space.
We stopped by Eos winery for a little more tasting before calling it a day. H was feeling hungry and craving Chinese food, so we had a quick/light dinner at Golden Gong.
Why a light dinner? Well, our next stop was Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort. Soaking with a full stomach could be uncomfortable.
Sycamore Mineral Spring Resort is a upscale hotel-spa that also rents their tubs by the hour to drop in visitors. We opted for a private tub, located on a small hillside. There were many private tubs on this hill side, all open aired, but surrounded with a sheet metal fence for privacy.
The tub water was very clear and had a little sulphur smell. When I first entered the tub, the temperature felt great! But at the end of an hour's soak, it felt too hot for comfort.
Rejuvenated, we drove back to SLO and checked out a louge: Native lounge. H and I were not big into night life, so it was a nice change of pace. The lounge is located next to a park. We enjoyed a ginger honey cocktail and champange with hibiscus syrup, while listening to the soft jazz played in a garden like setting. We were lucky enough to score a couch with pillow and throw. It was very relaxing.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Cable Ski at Ski 360 Degree
One night, while looking out of the window in my parent's house, I saw the reflection of a pond. I asked Dad what's located there. He replied, "Cable ski park!"The location used to be a man made lagoon for swimming. But the lagoon gradually lose its popularity and had been closed. Recently, it had been converted to this cable ski facility.
What is cable ski? Well, it is water skiing, where the people are tow by a cable instead of boat. I had a first hand look at the facility on an after dinner stroll. The pond was about 40m long and 10m wide. An overhead cable system was been held up by four beams. The riders would pull on a pulley dragged along by this overhead cable. There were wake boarders, knee boarders and even a guy on water skis. Some were beginners, just happy with making turns, while others were doing acrobatic stunts.
I decided I wanted to try cable ski before I leave. So this morning, I went to Ski 360 Degree. An hour's session cost $36 and included life vest/knee board rental and some "basic" instruction.
Basic instruction was an understatement! The guy in charge of rental equipment was impatient and unfriendly:( After handing me a knee board, he had me kneeled on the board and showed me how to strap myself in. Then he told me the most important thing was to get out of the water and protect myself from others if I sank. I was to tug my elbow in during the start, straighten my hands once on water and placed the pulley on my left when turning left. There's no right turn in this cable ski park.
I asked about how to signal myself coming in. He impatiently told me to go between the white floats if I had finished my time on the water, or go between the pink floats if I wanted to continue.
On this morning, the pulley machines were being maintained, so I had to wait an hour before my first run. I kneeled down in my board, saw the ready signal turned green and was feeling pretty nervous. I got into position, felt a good jerk on the pulley, hung on tight and was immediately pulled onto the water!
On the water, I could really feel myself float. I relaxed a little and straighten my hand. At 58km/h, the board felt faster than what I saw on land. I held on tightly.
I was able to make it pass 3 turns. On the fourth turn, I felt the pulley slowed down significantly, then quickly sped up. This jerking motion of the pulley caught me off guard. The pulley slipped out of my hands and I sank.As I was getting out, a young Indian lady behind me had also sank. She told me this was the furthest she had gotten, so I was feeling pretty good about myself. I figured if I hung on tight enough, I would be able to make a full round.
On my second run, I was not as lucky. On the first turn, I sank. I tried holding on hard, but was unsuccessful.
On the third pass, I had gotten over the initial adrenaline rush. I was more aware of my form and controlled myself made it through the first turn. I pulled my arms in a little during the turn and that seemed to really help.
However, on the second turn, I felt the board slowed down significantly. As a result, I felt the board leaning forward. Then the pulley sped up. Since the top of the board was in water, the water resistance pulled on the body too much and despite my best effort, I was unable to hang on.
Due to prior arrangement and the fact that the start was delayed my almost an hour, I decided to call it a day. Also the mid-day sun was also shining brightly and I was a little tired.
However, water skiing was a lot of fun! I told my parents if I lived nearby, I would do it more. Cable skiing, however, may be boring after a while, since there's only turning in one direction.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Solvang, Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo
Scuba diving was more tiring than what we had expected. H and I slept till noon before we headed back to the Bay Area. Despite the late start, we felt we could drive at a leisure pace and get back to Bay Area at a reasonable time.
Our first stop was unscheduled. Hunger struck and we detoured to downtown Santa Barbara, looking for a place for lunch. I spotted a Left At Albuquerque and we sat down for a meal of Gulf Coast seafood enchiladas and chicken mango quesadilla with soup.
Our planned detour was Solvang. Located about an hour northwest of Santa Barbara off Hwy 154, Solvang is a Danish town. The downtown area are filled with European architecture building. We stopped by a candle shop, then walked over to the Hans Christian Anderson Museum, which also housed a coffee shop and a bookstore. I had wanted to tried some Danish pastries, and the lady at the coffee shop directed me to Solvang bakery. We tried some pastries, but were not impressed.
We walked around the downtown area more. There was an interesting doll house store, a Christmas store and a Thomas Kinkade gallery. We stopped by Kinkade's gallery so I could explain to H about "The painter of lights".
After a fairly pleasant stay in Solvang, we continued on our way until we reach San Luis Obispo where we stopped by Madonna Inn. We had seen this building on our way to Ventura and had wanted to visit on our way back.
Madonna inn is located by Hwy 101. We drove around the compound a little and the hotel to have less rooms than we had thought. We also found the building a little run down. Then we went to the lobby to check out the rates.
That's when we realized what Madonna Inn was all about. Each room was individually decorated around a different theme. The most unique room had to be the Caveman room. This room had an all rock interior, including the ceiling and the floor. The bathroom had rock walls and a rock covered shower area. The lobby sold post cards of each room, and there was a book describing the story behind Madonna Inn.
H and I also visited the restaurant. The dining hall was decorated with hot pink table cloth, booth seats and roses. It was too tacky for the both of us.
We continued on a uneventful drive back to the bay area. Normally, when we made out trip south, we took Hwy 5. This was our first trip on 101 and we found the drive pleasant and interesting.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Scuba diving at Channel Island
H and I went to Channel Islands National Park, near Santa Barbara, CA for a scuba diving trip. In fact, this trip was the reason I got certified. Since this is my first dive after certification, I was quite excited, but also a little nervous at the same time.
We booked our dive boat and rented scuba gear through http://www.calboatdiving.com/. This saved us a little work, as the rental gears were delivered directly onto the dive boat:)
We woke up at about 6am and boarded the Spectre dive boat at 6:30am. While the Spectre had beds below the deck for sleeping but we did not sleep there. H tried on her last trip but found the bunks smelly. I toured the lower deck and noticed the same thing. In spite of the crews effort in forcing air below the deck, the sleeping quarter still reek like musty damped cloth.
After checking in with the dive master, we were each assigned a dive station. We inspected our rental gears, then sat down for a leisurely, cooked to order, breakfast in the galley. Channel islands are about 12 miles from the mainland and it took the dive about an hour to reach there, so there's plenty of time to relax before the first dive.
On this day, we were diving on the mainland side of east Anacapa Island. Our first dive site was Landing Cove Point. The captain informed everyone to get ready about 20mins before reaching the site, so we were all ready to go when we arrived. After a quick site briefing from the dive master, we were on our way!
The dive began with a giant stride entry off the side of the boat. During our lessons, we had done giant stride entry in the swimming pool only. Here the drop was about 1m. It was a little terrifying thinking about this drop... The actual entry went fine though.
From the side of the boat, we swam to the back of the boat and descended following the anchor line. Since this was my first "real" dive, we decided to take it easy.
There was a kelp forest under the water. We swam around the kelp forest. There were many marine life, including Garibaldi, star fish and sea urchins. The visibility was about 40 feet, and there was not much wave. It was a great day to dive!
As we slowly used up air in our tanks, we found ourselves floating to the surface slowly. Both H and I dumped all the air in our BCD, but was unable to stay submerged. We had to swim back to the anchor line and pull ourselves down. We dive for another 20mins, until I ran out of air.
We boarded the dive boat was via a platform on the back of the boat. We knelled on the platform while Mike, the dive master, remove our fins. We then climb up a ladder to get back on deck. Mike saw how I was struggled with buoyancy and suggested a buoyancy check. I crossed my leg and dumped all my air, then sank to a eye level. I was carrying the correct amount of weights.
After the first dive, both H and I felt our throat were dry from breathing air from the tank. I had similar problem during my lessons, so both of us drank lots of water before our next dive.
The second dive site of the day was at Cathedral Cove. This dive site is partially over a kelp forest and a sandy beach. We dive along the edge of the sandy beach and kelp forest. There was a group of playful sea lion in the sandy beach area that were swimming to check us out! It was less than a meter from me.
There were also lots of sea cucumber, Sheephead fish and a school of small shiny fish. We were also able to stay dived the whole time and a great time. Again, I ran out of air before H and we had to surface. H continued diving near the platform, while I got out of my scuba gear and snorkeled with her.
After this dive, it was time for lunch! We were served barbecue tri-tip, with bread, beans and orzo. It was delicious!
After lunch, the captain announced we would be diving in the same spot. H and I were a little disappointed. We wanted to see some other sites. We decided to skip this dive and relax instead.
We took off our wet suit and dipped in the hot tub. But the hot noon sun and the hot tub was too much for me. I ended up sleeping in the galley.
Our final dive site of the day was the Canyon. This dive site had features of underwater valley, deep canyons with sidewall. It was still mostly kelp forest. I saw a beautiful blue snail like creature with bright orange "fur". I found out later it was a nudibranch: Spanish shawl.
There were more star fish, sea cucumber, sea urchins and shell fish with different colors. It was amazing.
Again, I ran out of air before H and we surfaced. H swam on the surface with the rest of her air and I joined her with my snorkel. The ocean life on the surface was not as exciting as the bottom of the sea, but still it was quite interesting.
After the last dive of the day, we took off our wet suit and soaked in the hot tub again. It was about 3pm and the sun had started to set. It was nice relaxing in the hot tub after a fairly tiring day. I always thought I was a strong swimmer, but I was tired with the underwater kicking, as well as carrying the weight belt and tank.
The trip back to the mainland was fairly uneventful. We saw oil rigs in the distance. The only thing missing were dolphins. H saw them swimming along the boat on her last trip.
After we docked, we were able to leave all our rental gear on board and drove to Oxnard, where we spent the night. We showered and then grab a quick dinner at "Hook, Line and Sinker". We ordered a grilled Mahi Mahi and Kamikazi salad with Yellowtail. Dinner was decent, but we were so tired that we did not do anything after dinner. Just hit the sack and slept.
It was a wonderful but tiring first dive trip for me. Conditions were perfect, not too hot, water was relatively warm, no wind or waves. I saw some interesting marine life and beautiful colors. The variety of the dive site was somewhat limited, but that just means I have more to explore on future trips:)
We booked our dive boat and rented scuba gear through http://www.calboatdiving.com/. This saved us a little work, as the rental gears were delivered directly onto the dive boat:)
We woke up at about 6am and boarded the Spectre dive boat at 6:30am. While the Spectre had beds below the deck for sleeping but we did not sleep there. H tried on her last trip but found the bunks smelly. I toured the lower deck and noticed the same thing. In spite of the crews effort in forcing air below the deck, the sleeping quarter still reek like musty damped cloth.
After checking in with the dive master, we were each assigned a dive station. We inspected our rental gears, then sat down for a leisurely, cooked to order, breakfast in the galley. Channel islands are about 12 miles from the mainland and it took the dive about an hour to reach there, so there's plenty of time to relax before the first dive.
On this day, we were diving on the mainland side of east Anacapa Island. Our first dive site was Landing Cove Point. The captain informed everyone to get ready about 20mins before reaching the site, so we were all ready to go when we arrived. After a quick site briefing from the dive master, we were on our way!
The dive began with a giant stride entry off the side of the boat. During our lessons, we had done giant stride entry in the swimming pool only. Here the drop was about 1m. It was a little terrifying thinking about this drop... The actual entry went fine though.
From the side of the boat, we swam to the back of the boat and descended following the anchor line. Since this was my first "real" dive, we decided to take it easy.
There was a kelp forest under the water. We swam around the kelp forest. There were many marine life, including Garibaldi, star fish and sea urchins. The visibility was about 40 feet, and there was not much wave. It was a great day to dive!
As we slowly used up air in our tanks, we found ourselves floating to the surface slowly. Both H and I dumped all the air in our BCD, but was unable to stay submerged. We had to swim back to the anchor line and pull ourselves down. We dive for another 20mins, until I ran out of air.
We boarded the dive boat was via a platform on the back of the boat. We knelled on the platform while Mike, the dive master, remove our fins. We then climb up a ladder to get back on deck. Mike saw how I was struggled with buoyancy and suggested a buoyancy check. I crossed my leg and dumped all my air, then sank to a eye level. I was carrying the correct amount of weights.
After the first dive, both H and I felt our throat were dry from breathing air from the tank. I had similar problem during my lessons, so both of us drank lots of water before our next dive.
The second dive site of the day was at Cathedral Cove. This dive site is partially over a kelp forest and a sandy beach. We dive along the edge of the sandy beach and kelp forest. There was a group of playful sea lion in the sandy beach area that were swimming to check us out! It was less than a meter from me.
There were also lots of sea cucumber, Sheephead fish and a school of small shiny fish. We were also able to stay dived the whole time and a great time. Again, I ran out of air before H and we had to surface. H continued diving near the platform, while I got out of my scuba gear and snorkeled with her.
After this dive, it was time for lunch! We were served barbecue tri-tip, with bread, beans and orzo. It was delicious!
After lunch, the captain announced we would be diving in the same spot. H and I were a little disappointed. We wanted to see some other sites. We decided to skip this dive and relax instead.
We took off our wet suit and dipped in the hot tub. But the hot noon sun and the hot tub was too much for me. I ended up sleeping in the galley.
Our final dive site of the day was the Canyon. This dive site had features of underwater valley, deep canyons with sidewall. It was still mostly kelp forest. I saw a beautiful blue snail like creature with bright orange "fur". I found out later it was a nudibranch: Spanish shawl.
There were more star fish, sea cucumber, sea urchins and shell fish with different colors. It was amazing.
Again, I ran out of air before H and we surfaced. H swam on the surface with the rest of her air and I joined her with my snorkel. The ocean life on the surface was not as exciting as the bottom of the sea, but still it was quite interesting.
After the last dive of the day, we took off our wet suit and soaked in the hot tub again. It was about 3pm and the sun had started to set. It was nice relaxing in the hot tub after a fairly tiring day. I always thought I was a strong swimmer, but I was tired with the underwater kicking, as well as carrying the weight belt and tank.
The trip back to the mainland was fairly uneventful. We saw oil rigs in the distance. The only thing missing were dolphins. H saw them swimming along the boat on her last trip.
After we docked, we were able to leave all our rental gear on board and drove to Oxnard, where we spent the night. We showered and then grab a quick dinner at "Hook, Line and Sinker". We ordered a grilled Mahi Mahi and Kamikazi salad with Yellowtail. Dinner was decent, but we were so tired that we did not do anything after dinner. Just hit the sack and slept.
It was a wonderful but tiring first dive trip for me. Conditions were perfect, not too hot, water was relatively warm, no wind or waves. I saw some interesting marine life and beautiful colors. The variety of the dive site was somewhat limited, but that just means I have more to explore on future trips:)
Friday, July 4, 2008
San Francisco Beer Tour
After watching Beer Nutz-San Francisco, my brother and I decided to spend July 4th to visit all the bar/brewery mentioned in the show.
Unfortunately, we were unable to get tour reservation at Anchor Brewing. Also, Magnolia Brewery was somewhat out of the way. In its place, we added Thirsty Bear brewery.
Our first stop was Beach Chalet. Located at the edge of Golden Gate Park, right next to the Pacific ocean, Beach Chalet is housed in a beautiful historic building, upstairs from the Golden Gate Park visitor's center. The restaurant had large windows facing Ocean Beach, looking out into the Pacific. Even though it was a foggy day, we enjoyed the view.
Beach Chalet offered 6 beers on their circle of ale selection: Hefeweizen, IPA, ESB, Red, Porter and 2 other beers I don't remember. Our favorite was the ESB, with the IPA a close second. The banana flavored Hefeweizen was actually decent, but I am not a fan of fruit beer in general.
The second stop of our beer tour was Rouge. Based out of Oregon, this brew pub had a San Francisco outlet located in North Beach. We ordered a 4 beer tasting set consisting of 200m IPA, Dead guy Ale, American Amber and a dark beer. We found the beer at Rouge too "hoppy" and not quite our taste. Their IPA, in particular, was too bitter. This was unusual, given I generally like a little hop in my beer.
Next stop was San Francisco Brewing Company. They did not have a taster set, so we ordered a small glass of all their beers: a lemony Hefeweizen, Albatross Lager, Emperor Norton Lager, IPA, Esteam, Brock, Ale, Stout and Porter. The Heferweizen here was too tart, in a bad way, so we quickly gave up on that. Both lagers was good. We especially like Emperor Norton. More malty than hop, it was a good change of pace. Their dark beers were all very strong. The stout was almost undrinkable. We liken the taste to Chinese medicinal stew. The porter was also bitter, but had a mild sweet after taste to make it more palatable.
Both Rouge and San Francisco Brewing Company are located a "touristy" North Beach. On most tables, we saw people with guide books enjoying their brews. Both venue were located in older buildings, but these buildings were not very well maintained. Instead of charming, both locale felt a little run down.
18 beers later, we came to the third stop of our tour: Thirsty Bear. Located next to the now defunct Hawthorne Lane restaurant, Thirsty Bear is located in the more modern/hip part of town. As we were tasting beer and having dinner, a steady flow of young professionals were coming in for food and drinks as well.
Thirsty Bear brew 8 beers: larger, wheat, brown ale, golden vanilla, ESB, IPA, Stout and the season brew Belgium white. Golden vanilla was quite special. It had a strong vanilla flavor on the nose and went down smooth. The Belgium white was golden in color, but had double the alcohol of most beer. It was quite good too.
We also ordered food off the Spanish inspired menu: grilled asparagus and spring onion with romesco sauce, ceviche and Valencia paella. The grilled vegetables with romesco sauce was great. The ceviche liquid was too tart, and overcame the sweetness of the seafood. The paella was tasty, but a little watery. We would prefer if it had a socarrat(the crusty bottom).
Our last stop of the night was 21st Amendment. Located near the base ball park, the brew pub looked modern. 21st Amendment offered the 8 beers: Blonde, Watermelon wheat, motor oil, darkness, cherry cider and 3 more which I could not remember.
I was looking forward to this stop because 21st Amendment offered a watermelon flavored beer. H's favorite fruit is the watermelon and I was wondering if she would enjoy the beer.
Unfortunately, at this time, both of us were feeling quite full from all the beers. We had paced ourselves and not drank on empty stomach, so we were not drunk or even high. But empty calories are still calories. Between the 2 of us, we could not finish the taster set! The watermelon beer came with a wedge of watermelon which gave the drink a strong watermelon smell. Upon removal of the garnish, we could still detect a hint of watermelon on the nose. I would have enjoy it more in a different occasion.
The cherry cider was not something I enjoy. It tasted like NyQuil.
We walked around the ball park area after our drinks before heading home.
Thus end our San Francisco beer tour! 34 types of beer in a day. This is definitely a personal record, one I don't want to break anytime soon:)
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Chihuly at De Young Museum, Beethoven Symphony No. 7
H and I planned a cultural weekend. I bought tickets to the San Francisco Symphony during their January sale. Then, about 2 weeks ago, I learned that there is a Chihuly exhibition at the De Young Museum. Since we were already going to the city, we decided to watch the exhibition on the same day.
My first exposure to Dale Chihuly's glass sculpture was his installation in Bellagio in Las Vegas. H remembered seeing his work at Monterey Bay Aquarium and was intrigued as well.
We arrived at the Museum a little after 2pm. Since it was H's first trip to De Young, we walked around the compound a little to admire the copper clad structure. Since the copper skin will turn green due to oxidation (think Statue of Liberty) to better blend with the surrounding park at some later time, I thought it would be nice for her to view the Museum in its current copper-golden shade.
Since our tickets for Chihuly were timed for 3pm, so we had time to wonder around the museum a little. H was impressed by the Mammouth ivory among the America arts exhibits:)
Finally, at 3pm, we entered the Chihuly exhibition. The first exhibit was a series of long thin white tubes with pale red base. The glass took on organic shapes and in the reflection looked like strange, white tree branches.
The next exhibit, I called the "Falling leaves". Here glass were blown into round disc with folds, almost like flower petals. The petals had shades of autumn leaf colors.
The next room was filled with Native American weaved bowls and throw. Among these artifacts were glass bowls, with earth tone. The bowls were not perfect, and I felt like I was looking at hand made bowls from clay, shaped after open gourds.
There was also a room filled with flower petals. These glasses had soft, pastel colors, and the reflection of the glass on the walls looked like a Monet painting.
Another piece was what I called "Purple goo dripping up from tree". Here water droplet shapes of purple glass was placed on dried fallen tree trunks. The droplets seem to be falling up away from the tree against gravity.
There were also 2 wooden boats, one filled with colorful glass balls, the other filled with random shapes. H and I joked that the exhibition had too many art work and not enough space that they resort to bazaar style of presentation.
In another room was a series of heart shaped glass sculpture. Both H and I do not like the series of pointed glass tubes that formed these heart, so we walked through this room quickly.
In the next room, the glass sculpture was placed on a glass see through ceiling. Light shine through the glass artwork, creating a colorful reflection on the ground. Again, H and I felt the display was too busy. It was a good idea, but the exhibit would probably benefited from more space.
Final, the last room consisted of various stand alone display of glass sculpture, set on the ground. Some had pointy tubes, like the heart exhibit, while others have tulip like leaves shapes.
Images from the exhibition from Bayareadragon.com
Overall, we liked the organic shaped of the glass sculpture and the soft natural colors. These shapes and colors transform the glass sculpture into something familiar, but at the same time mysterious. We also felt the some art installation was too busy and if the pieces were spread out more, we could enjoy individual glass pieces better. Here's a review by Mercury News, as well as SFGate.com.
After the exhibition, we took the elevator to the top of the tower. There, we enjoyed the areal view of Golden Gate park and the San Francisco skyline.
After visiting De Young Museum, H and I walked around Golden Gate Park a little before dinner.
Since we are going to Davies Symphony hall after dinner, we stopped by Indigo for a quick pre-concert meal. There, we enjoyed a grilled salmon with herbed orzo and spring vegetables, as well as a pan roasted pork tenderloin with corn, mushroom and broccoli rabe. H felt the tenderloin was a little tough and the sauce too sweet. I liked the herb orzo and fresh vegetable in the salmon dish, as well as the straight forward preparation of the fresh wild salmon. More about the restaurant at Yelp!
The program for the concert was Seht die Sonne by Magnus Lindberg, Chansons de Jeunesse by Debussy and Beethoven's 7th Symphony. Seht die Sonne was a modern piece, but had some elements of classical "depart and return" tone system, so it was fairly pleasant. We did not enjoy the Debussy piece as much.
Beethoven's 7th symphony was a big, exciting, fast paced piece of music. The conductor had only one little pause between the four movements and the final movement was a exhilarating whirl wind of music. We left the concert hall on a high note. Here, a critic disagree with my take on the concert.
Our last stop of the night was at my favorite wine bar in San Francisco: the Hidden Vine. After a day filled with exhibition and performance, we came here for a little port wine tasting to savor the sweet life:)
My first exposure to Dale Chihuly's glass sculpture was his installation in Bellagio in Las Vegas. H remembered seeing his work at Monterey Bay Aquarium and was intrigued as well.
We arrived at the Museum a little after 2pm. Since it was H's first trip to De Young, we walked around the compound a little to admire the copper clad structure. Since the copper skin will turn green due to oxidation (think Statue of Liberty) to better blend with the surrounding park at some later time, I thought it would be nice for her to view the Museum in its current copper-golden shade.
Since our tickets for Chihuly were timed for 3pm, so we had time to wonder around the museum a little. H was impressed by the Mammouth ivory among the America arts exhibits:)
Finally, at 3pm, we entered the Chihuly exhibition. The first exhibit was a series of long thin white tubes with pale red base. The glass took on organic shapes and in the reflection looked like strange, white tree branches.
The next exhibit, I called the "Falling leaves". Here glass were blown into round disc with folds, almost like flower petals. The petals had shades of autumn leaf colors.
The next room was filled with Native American weaved bowls and throw. Among these artifacts were glass bowls, with earth tone. The bowls were not perfect, and I felt like I was looking at hand made bowls from clay, shaped after open gourds.There was also a room filled with flower petals. These glasses had soft, pastel colors, and the reflection of the glass on the walls looked like a Monet painting.
Another piece was what I called "Purple goo dripping up from tree". Here water droplet shapes of purple glass was placed on dried fallen tree trunks. The droplets seem to be falling up away from the tree against gravity.
There were also 2 wooden boats, one filled with colorful glass balls, the other filled with random shapes. H and I joked that the exhibition had too many art work and not enough space that they resort to bazaar style of presentation.In another room was a series of heart shaped glass sculpture. Both H and I do not like the series of pointed glass tubes that formed these heart, so we walked through this room quickly.
In the next room, the glass sculpture was placed on a glass see through ceiling. Light shine through the glass artwork, creating a colorful reflection on the ground. Again, H and I felt the display was too busy. It was a good idea, but the exhibit would probably benefited from more space.Final, the last room consisted of various stand alone display of glass sculpture, set on the ground. Some had pointy tubes, like the heart exhibit, while others have tulip like leaves shapes.
Images from the exhibition from Bayareadragon.com
Overall, we liked the organic shaped of the glass sculpture and the soft natural colors. These shapes and colors transform the glass sculpture into something familiar, but at the same time mysterious. We also felt the some art installation was too busy and if the pieces were spread out more, we could enjoy individual glass pieces better. Here's a review by Mercury News, as well as SFGate.com.
After the exhibition, we took the elevator to the top of the tower. There, we enjoyed the areal view of Golden Gate park and the San Francisco skyline.
After visiting De Young Museum, H and I walked around Golden Gate Park a little before dinner.
Since we are going to Davies Symphony hall after dinner, we stopped by Indigo for a quick pre-concert meal. There, we enjoyed a grilled salmon with herbed orzo and spring vegetables, as well as a pan roasted pork tenderloin with corn, mushroom and broccoli rabe. H felt the tenderloin was a little tough and the sauce too sweet. I liked the herb orzo and fresh vegetable in the salmon dish, as well as the straight forward preparation of the fresh wild salmon. More about the restaurant at Yelp!
The program for the concert was Seht die Sonne by Magnus Lindberg, Chansons de Jeunesse by Debussy and Beethoven's 7th Symphony. Seht die Sonne was a modern piece, but had some elements of classical "depart and return" tone system, so it was fairly pleasant. We did not enjoy the Debussy piece as much.
Beethoven's 7th symphony was a big, exciting, fast paced piece of music. The conductor had only one little pause between the four movements and the final movement was a exhilarating whirl wind of music. We left the concert hall on a high note. Here, a critic disagree with my take on the concert.
Our last stop of the night was at my favorite wine bar in San Francisco: the Hidden Vine. After a day filled with exhibition and performance, we came here for a little port wine tasting to savor the sweet life:)
Sunday, June 15, 2008
SCUBA Open water dive: Dive 4
Sunday started at 7am, much like Saturday. One more dive and I would be certified!
This dive went fairly smoothly as well. The most challenging skill was mask removal and clear. All of us preformed the skill without any difficulty. As we were preforming the skill, I saw a bird dived into the water to fish. That was pretty cool!
Again, after our skill session, we toured around a little more. This time, I did not run out of air:) Everyone had some difficult controlling their buoyancy and our instructor decided to ascent.
We did some final paper work and by 9:30am, I was done!
This dive went fairly smoothly as well. The most challenging skill was mask removal and clear. All of us preformed the skill without any difficulty. As we were preforming the skill, I saw a bird dived into the water to fish. That was pretty cool!
Again, after our skill session, we toured around a little more. This time, I did not run out of air:) Everyone had some difficult controlling their buoyancy and our instructor decided to ascent.
We did some final paper work and by 9:30am, I was done!
Saturday, June 14, 2008
SCUBA Open Water Certification: Dive 1-3
I woke up at 5:00am to go to Monterey peninsula. After 3.5 weeks of class room lessons and pool lessons at Diver Dans, it was down to 4 open water dive before I get my PADI Open water diver certification.
H and I arrived at Breakwater Cove at 6:45am. The first dive of the day was at 7am. I quickly changed into wet suit, setup my scuba unit and got a site briefing from my instructors, Kirk and Alexia. The weather was warm by Monterey standard and the water barely moving. It was a great day for diving!
Breakwater cove is also a very popular dive spot for beginner diver. I did not count, but there must be another 3-6 groups of beginner divers. I could tell the other groups were beginning divers since only people who are trying to get certified will do surf entry and exit on an otherwise calm beach:)
My open water dives went fairly smoothly. We did all our drills correctly the first time, and after each session had some time left over to tour around. And the skills we learned came in handy too. I tend breathed out of my nose, especially when on the surface, so I always fogged up my mask. Mask flood and clear was especially useful for me:)
On one of the tour, my dive buddy accidentally kicked my regular out of my mouth. Visibility at our dive site was not very good and since none of us were navigating, all three students were swimming very close to our instructor. Given we are all beginner and have limited buoyancy control, that was bound to happen. I was actually rather calm, looked up, snatched the regulator, purged and continued swimming! Just like the drill!
Overall though, I am still fairly nervous in the water. Twice, our group had to surface because I was running low on air. I considered myself a decent swimmer and still cannot understand why I have this fear of the water.
We finished our three dives a little after noon. I went to the hotel to shower, hung out my wet suit and rest.
Dinner was at my favorite restaurant in the Monterey peninsula: Passion Fish. H and I shared a tasty Dungeness crab cake to start. For entree, we ordered a red wine braised beef short rib and baked wild Alaskan Salmon. Surprisingly, the braised short rib was excellent and even more tasty than the salmon. Please read my review on Yelp! for more details.
H and I arrived at Breakwater Cove at 6:45am. The first dive of the day was at 7am. I quickly changed into wet suit, setup my scuba unit and got a site briefing from my instructors, Kirk and Alexia. The weather was warm by Monterey standard and the water barely moving. It was a great day for diving!
Breakwater cove is also a very popular dive spot for beginner diver. I did not count, but there must be another 3-6 groups of beginner divers. I could tell the other groups were beginning divers since only people who are trying to get certified will do surf entry and exit on an otherwise calm beach:)
My open water dives went fairly smoothly. We did all our drills correctly the first time, and after each session had some time left over to tour around. And the skills we learned came in handy too. I tend breathed out of my nose, especially when on the surface, so I always fogged up my mask. Mask flood and clear was especially useful for me:)
On one of the tour, my dive buddy accidentally kicked my regular out of my mouth. Visibility at our dive site was not very good and since none of us were navigating, all three students were swimming very close to our instructor. Given we are all beginner and have limited buoyancy control, that was bound to happen. I was actually rather calm, looked up, snatched the regulator, purged and continued swimming! Just like the drill!
Overall though, I am still fairly nervous in the water. Twice, our group had to surface because I was running low on air. I considered myself a decent swimmer and still cannot understand why I have this fear of the water.
We finished our three dives a little after noon. I went to the hotel to shower, hung out my wet suit and rest.
Dinner was at my favorite restaurant in the Monterey peninsula: Passion Fish. H and I shared a tasty Dungeness crab cake to start. For entree, we ordered a red wine braised beef short rib and baked wild Alaskan Salmon. Surprisingly, the braised short rib was excellent and even more tasty than the salmon. Please read my review on Yelp! for more details.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Paddle for Life 2008 and A's baseball
Last year's Dragon Boat race was so much fun, I decided to do it again this year:)
Once again, Xilinx formed a team to participate in the Second Annual Paddle for Life Dragon Boat Festival. This year's race is held in Jack London Square in Oakland, and the date was chosen to coincide with the Fifth of May according to lunar calendar: the traditional date for Dragon Boat Festival(端午节).
H's interest was piqued by my talking about Dragon boat paddling for weeks leading up to the race and she joined a team to paddle as well.
We reached Jack London Square at about 8:40am. The Xilinx team had set up a 3 huge tent space, which we shared with Lucy's Party Boat. Marvin, the Xilinx team captain, is dating Lucy:)
The fist race for Xilinx was at 9:45am. We were competing for the JLAC Silicon Cup. Also in the race were IBM, Intel and Agilent...basically other hi-tech companies.
We did our warm up, and marshall for the race. But the race was delayed from the start. One problem with the Jack London Square location is the loading dock was quite small. Also, the starting line was located at a dock further inland from Jack London Square and the ending line was located at Jack London Square. Every team therefore needed to paddle the entire length of the race course just to get to the starting point.
In the first race, Xilinx came in 3rd place, beating Agilent, but behind IBM and Intel. We started strong, but our synchronization was lost during the ramp up and that was when we fell behind. Our drummer told us we responded well to the middle power pieces, but this being a short course (only 300m), we were not able to make up for loss time. It wasn't even close, as we lost by almost a boat length.
Everyone joked that we have important business relationship with IBM and Intel, and didn't want to ruin it, so we let them off easy.
Meanwhile, H was racing with the VISA team. Their first race was against Clorox, Gatorade, Shell and AT&T. I was unable to see the start, but the VISA team was last at the middle of the race and never caught up.
I went back to the tent and got an interesting news. The Xilinx team will be racing against Lucy's party boat! And Marvin was going to drum Lucy's party boat for this race. Everyone had a good time teasing Marvin about where his loyalties should lie:)
As we ate lunch and prepared for our second race, the VISA team had their second race too. I met H at the marshalling area, and she told me VISA came in last in their second race too:(
We came in 3rd again in our second race, losing to Shell and MSAC Brute Force. We started poorly this time, as some of us missed the starting call, but paddled pretty much in time all the way. Unfortunately, we still lose by almost a boat length. We did beat Lucy's Party Boa though. Some of their paddlers had a few beers during lunch and it showed:)
Soon after our de-briefing, VISA was marshalling for their final race. One of their team member had to leave early, so I volunteered to be a hired gun for the VISA team. This race was for the division 8 final.
At this time, the wave at Jack London Square had really picked up. The race was therefore shorten to 250m, and the starting call was really fast. According to H, the VISA team had not practised together before the race, but their synchronization on the last race was quite good. I was happy to report, with me in the lineup, the VISA team came in first!
As soon as I got out of the boat, it was time for Xilinx's last race. We were racing in the division 3 finals. Again, even though we had pretty good form throughout the race, we came in 3rd again! It was quite disappointing. Marvin observed the race and commented our stroke rate was too slow. But we were having synchronization problem all day, so our drummer was reluctant to increase the stroke rate.
Overall, I still had a good time. The location at Jack London Square, though, had a major flaw: the tent area was not near the race course. While resting in the tent, we were not able to watch the competition.
Pictures of the Xilnix team can be found here and here.
After the race, H and I had a quick dinner in Oakland's Chinatown and drove to the McAfee Coliseum. H had gotten free Athletics tickets from work!
We were seated in a club suite just off first base. The last time I watched a baseball game in person was back in 1998, so this is special.
Unfortunately for us, the A's were not so special:( They gave up a home run on the first pitch of the game, committed an error, didn't have very good pitching and was soon down 0-5.
We sang "Take Me out to the Ball Game" during the 7th inning stretch, then decided to call it a day. H and I were both tired from the paddling and being out in the sun, and the A's certainly was not making things interesting.
Once again, Xilinx formed a team to participate in the Second Annual Paddle for Life Dragon Boat Festival. This year's race is held in Jack London Square in Oakland, and the date was chosen to coincide with the Fifth of May according to lunar calendar: the traditional date for Dragon Boat Festival(端午节).
H's interest was piqued by my talking about Dragon boat paddling for weeks leading up to the race and she joined a team to paddle as well.
We reached Jack London Square at about 8:40am. The Xilinx team had set up a 3 huge tent space, which we shared with Lucy's Party Boat. Marvin, the Xilinx team captain, is dating Lucy:)
The fist race for Xilinx was at 9:45am. We were competing for the JLAC Silicon Cup. Also in the race were IBM, Intel and Agilent...basically other hi-tech companies.
We did our warm up, and marshall for the race. But the race was delayed from the start. One problem with the Jack London Square location is the loading dock was quite small. Also, the starting line was located at a dock further inland from Jack London Square and the ending line was located at Jack London Square. Every team therefore needed to paddle the entire length of the race course just to get to the starting point.
In the first race, Xilinx came in 3rd place, beating Agilent, but behind IBM and Intel. We started strong, but our synchronization was lost during the ramp up and that was when we fell behind. Our drummer told us we responded well to the middle power pieces, but this being a short course (only 300m), we were not able to make up for loss time. It wasn't even close, as we lost by almost a boat length.
Everyone joked that we have important business relationship with IBM and Intel, and didn't want to ruin it, so we let them off easy.
Meanwhile, H was racing with the VISA team. Their first race was against Clorox, Gatorade, Shell and AT&T. I was unable to see the start, but the VISA team was last at the middle of the race and never caught up.
I went back to the tent and got an interesting news. The Xilinx team will be racing against Lucy's party boat! And Marvin was going to drum Lucy's party boat for this race. Everyone had a good time teasing Marvin about where his loyalties should lie:)
As we ate lunch and prepared for our second race, the VISA team had their second race too. I met H at the marshalling area, and she told me VISA came in last in their second race too:(
We came in 3rd again in our second race, losing to Shell and MSAC Brute Force. We started poorly this time, as some of us missed the starting call, but paddled pretty much in time all the way. Unfortunately, we still lose by almost a boat length. We did beat Lucy's Party Boa though. Some of their paddlers had a few beers during lunch and it showed:)
Soon after our de-briefing, VISA was marshalling for their final race. One of their team member had to leave early, so I volunteered to be a hired gun for the VISA team. This race was for the division 8 final.
At this time, the wave at Jack London Square had really picked up. The race was therefore shorten to 250m, and the starting call was really fast. According to H, the VISA team had not practised together before the race, but their synchronization on the last race was quite good. I was happy to report, with me in the lineup, the VISA team came in first!
As soon as I got out of the boat, it was time for Xilinx's last race. We were racing in the division 3 finals. Again, even though we had pretty good form throughout the race, we came in 3rd again! It was quite disappointing. Marvin observed the race and commented our stroke rate was too slow. But we were having synchronization problem all day, so our drummer was reluctant to increase the stroke rate.
Overall, I still had a good time. The location at Jack London Square, though, had a major flaw: the tent area was not near the race course. While resting in the tent, we were not able to watch the competition.
Pictures of the Xilnix team can be found here and here.
After the race, H and I had a quick dinner in Oakland's Chinatown and drove to the McAfee Coliseum. H had gotten free Athletics tickets from work!
We were seated in a club suite just off first base. The last time I watched a baseball game in person was back in 1998, so this is special.
Unfortunately for us, the A's were not so special:( They gave up a home run on the first pitch of the game, committed an error, didn't have very good pitching and was soon down 0-5.
We sang "Take Me out to the Ball Game" during the 7th inning stretch, then decided to call it a day. H and I were both tired from the paddling and being out in the sun, and the A's certainly was not making things interesting.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Cherry picking at Brentwood
H and I went to Brentwood to pick fresh fruits. Brentwood is located about an hour from South Bay and is known for its u-pick orchard.
At this time of the year, cherries are in season. We left south bay at about 11:30am. Our first stop was at Pomeroy Farm, since it was located closest to the freeway.
From Marsh Creek Road, the trees in the orchard looked bare. There was a 5lb min for u-pick and we were concerned if we could meet that requirement. As we entered the farm, we were told there were still fruits on trees in the back, which was where we headed.
Both Bing cherries and white Rainier cherries were grown at Pomeroy. This year, the Bing cherries tasted sweeter than the Rainier, probably due to the unusual weather pattern of wet winter/dry spring/cold spell that we had lately. We filled our bucket with a mixture of Rainier and Bing, while tasting fruits from the trees.
After picking a 5lb load, and feeling full from all the snacking, we headed out of Pomeroy farm to pick other fruits.
As we drove around, we saw Bacchini's Fruit Tree. They offered blackberry, loquarts, pluots and peaches. We stopped.
The farm had a row of loguarts trees, which were totally bare. We were done with cherries, so tried the pluots, which was in season. We also tried some peaches, but they were not quite ready. We also tried our hand at blackberry picking. Blackberry was very difficult to pick. We had to search for riped berries and the trees were full of thorns.
We went to a few more farms, but did not pick anymore fruits.
After hanging out in Brentwood a little longer, we decided to head back.
Dinner was at Little Sheep Hot Pot. After a whole day of eating fruits, the warm broth of the hotpot felt very soothing.
After dinner, we walked around Lake Elizabeth at Fremont Central Park to ease our overly stuffed stomach.
At this time of the year, cherries are in season. We left south bay at about 11:30am. Our first stop was at Pomeroy Farm, since it was located closest to the freeway.
From Marsh Creek Road, the trees in the orchard looked bare. There was a 5lb min for u-pick and we were concerned if we could meet that requirement. As we entered the farm, we were told there were still fruits on trees in the back, which was where we headed.
Both Bing cherries and white Rainier cherries were grown at Pomeroy. This year, the Bing cherries tasted sweeter than the Rainier, probably due to the unusual weather pattern of wet winter/dry spring/cold spell that we had lately. We filled our bucket with a mixture of Rainier and Bing, while tasting fruits from the trees.
After picking a 5lb load, and feeling full from all the snacking, we headed out of Pomeroy farm to pick other fruits.
As we drove around, we saw Bacchini's Fruit Tree. They offered blackberry, loquarts, pluots and peaches. We stopped.
The farm had a row of loguarts trees, which were totally bare. We were done with cherries, so tried the pluots, which was in season. We also tried some peaches, but they were not quite ready. We also tried our hand at blackberry picking. Blackberry was very difficult to pick. We had to search for riped berries and the trees were full of thorns.
We went to a few more farms, but did not pick anymore fruits.
After hanging out in Brentwood a little longer, we decided to head back.
Dinner was at Little Sheep Hot Pot. After a whole day of eating fruits, the warm broth of the hotpot felt very soothing.
After dinner, we walked around Lake Elizabeth at Fremont Central Park to ease our overly stuffed stomach.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Eastern Sierra Weekend 4-Bishop, Alabama Hills
On my previous 2 nights in the tent, I slept fairly lightly: I woke up at first light. But on this morning, I did not wake up until 9am.
We broke camp and drove down Route 395 to Bishop. As we parked at Erick Schat's Bakkery, H spotted an open air art fair in the park across the street. The art fair had some beautiful photos of the Sierras and we enjoyed browsing through the booths.
After a simple sandwich lunch at Erik Schat's bakkery, we went to visit Mountain Light Gallery. I was not familiar with the work of Galen Rowell, but H told me he was a famous outdoor photographer, who had tragically died in a plane crashed. There were several amazing photos of the Sierras and Patagonia in the gallery which I really liked.
Our next stop was Winnedumah Hotel in Independence. H stayed here on her her previous trip to Eastern Sierras and had wanted to show me the eccentric collection of stones/lamps/stuff in the lobby.
Further south on 395, we visited Alabama hills. The unusual rock formation was prefect for rock climbing! We hiked to a foot of a small cave in a stone and tried to climb to the opening. We made it up a crack, but without ropes/harness, did not feel safe continuing.
At this point, we were near the southern end of the Sierra range. Weather had been great and we decide to check on Tioga pass. Highway 120 was indeed open! We decided to drive through Yosemite to get back to Bay area.
H took the wheels on this stretch of the drive and I was very grateful. My last trip to Yosemite was almost 4 years ago, and I really enjoyed the early spring/snow tipped scenery. Highway 120 inside Yosemite was narrow and windy. There was also heavy fog, so if I was driving, I would not be able to enjoy the view.
By the time we left the eastern gate of Yosemite, it was getting dark. We stopped in
Old Iron Door Saloon in Groveland for dinner. Old Iron Door Saloon was supposed to be the oldest continuous operating saloon in California. Unfortunately, it looked that way too:(
The menu, however, was quite modern. I had a buffalo burger and garlic soup which I enjoyed. H ordered a southwest style shrimp salad. Watercress was used exclusively in the salad, which made the greens too peppery. She did not enjoy her dinner as much.
We had an uneventful drive from Groveland back to the Bay area.
We broke camp and drove down Route 395 to Bishop. As we parked at Erick Schat's Bakkery, H spotted an open air art fair in the park across the street. The art fair had some beautiful photos of the Sierras and we enjoyed browsing through the booths.
After a simple sandwich lunch at Erik Schat's bakkery, we went to visit Mountain Light Gallery. I was not familiar with the work of Galen Rowell, but H told me he was a famous outdoor photographer, who had tragically died in a plane crashed. There were several amazing photos of the Sierras and Patagonia in the gallery which I really liked.
Our next stop was Winnedumah Hotel in Independence. H stayed here on her her previous trip to Eastern Sierras and had wanted to show me the eccentric collection of stones/lamps/stuff in the lobby.
Further south on 395, we visited Alabama hills. The unusual rock formation was prefect for rock climbing! We hiked to a foot of a small cave in a stone and tried to climb to the opening. We made it up a crack, but without ropes/harness, did not feel safe continuing.
At this point, we were near the southern end of the Sierra range. Weather had been great and we decide to check on Tioga pass. Highway 120 was indeed open! We decided to drive through Yosemite to get back to Bay area.
H took the wheels on this stretch of the drive and I was very grateful. My last trip to Yosemite was almost 4 years ago, and I really enjoyed the early spring/snow tipped scenery. Highway 120 inside Yosemite was narrow and windy. There was also heavy fog, so if I was driving, I would not be able to enjoy the view.
By the time we left the eastern gate of Yosemite, it was getting dark. We stopped in
Old Iron Door Saloon in Groveland for dinner. Old Iron Door Saloon was supposed to be the oldest continuous operating saloon in California. Unfortunately, it looked that way too:(
The menu, however, was quite modern. I had a buffalo burger and garlic soup which I enjoyed. H ordered a southwest style shrimp salad. Watercress was used exclusively in the salad, which made the greens too peppery. She did not enjoy her dinner as much.
We had an uneventful drive from Groveland back to the Bay area.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Eastern Sierra Weekend 3-Hike out
We woke at day break. Venturing out of the tent, I was startled by the amount of snow that had fell over night. Where the grounds were bare when we went to sleep, there were about 3 inches of snow.We debated a little about spending another night in the wilderness or start hiking out. H was concerned because weather forecast for Sunday evening calls for as much snow as Saturday evening. If the same amount of snow fell, the trails may be covered by so much snow that we would be unable to find out way out.
Given the safety concern, it was thus decided hiking out was the better option. We had a leisure breakfast, then started tearing down the tent.
When going into the wilderness, it was prudent to reach one's campsite before dark and setup tent/boil water. Coming out, the pace was more relax. As long as we could reach trailhead before dark, we would be fine.
The 3 inches of virgin snow overnight had partially covered the trail, so footing on the hike was not very good, but since we were mostly going down, it was not too tiring. Also, H brought along gaiters, so snow did not get into our boots.
We stopped for pictures several times on our hike out. Here one of me in front of some bristlecrone pine.
Here's another at the foot of the rail tracks. Going down the tracks was quite an adventure. With less sure footing due to the new snow, I walked sideways down the tracks.
Since we had planned to spend two nights in the wilderness, we did not make hotel reservations. Given it is Memorial Day weekend, we decided to spend the night at a camp site opposite the trailhead.
There was still some daylight left, so we travelled around the Eastern Sierras. First stop was Mono Lake South Tufa. I was always fascinated by the tufa since reading about them in a few years ago, so this was quite a treat for me.
Snow began to fell again when we left Mono Lake. Our next stop was Mammoth Lake. Whiskey Creek restaurant offered a 5-6pm happy hour where food and drinks were half off, and we were there to take advantage of the deal.
The restaurant brewed its own beer as well. We had salmon and crab cake, buffalo wings and fish taco. Food was decent, and at half off prices, could not be beat!
Since it had continued snowing somewhat heavily, we were concerned how our tent would hold up. We left before dark back to the campsite to setup for the night.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Eastern Sierra Weekend 2-Hike In and Camping
I woke up at about 8am, then decided to take a hot shower and shaved. Given I will be in the wilderness for the next 48-72 hours, I will not be able to take shower or shave for the next few days.
After a satisfying smoke trout/mushroom/sausage omelet breakfast at Mobil Restaurant, located at the junction of Hwy 395 and 120, H and I were ready for action!
We set off to Silver Lake, located along Hwy 158 loop, off Hwy 395. We are going into Ansel Adams Wilderness, taking the Rush Creek Trail to Gem Lake. Distance from the trail head to campsite is about 4 miles, with about 2000ft gain in elevation. The peak elevation of the trail is about 9000ft.
After putting on our backpack, we started walking. H led the way, and I followed. After about 10mins, I sensed she was hesitant. Turned out, we took the wrong trail! We backtracked, found the correct trail head and set off again.
3 mins into the hike, we met our first obstacle, a small creek. A couple walking in front of us stopped, but equipped with hiking boots, we stepped on a few high rocks and crossed the creek confidently!
The next obstacle was a snowy slope. The first couple of miles of the trails were basically switchback along the side of the mountain. A patch of snow had covered the trail and we need to cross this slope.
Again, H led the way. She kicked the snow to form compact indention, then walked with the toe of her foot, using the small indention as foothold. Having no experience with snow transverse, I promptly fell and slided down the slope. Luckily the slope was not too steep and after a few feet, there was a bunch of stones and dried tree branches to catch me.
I "scrambled" along the edge of the snow patch and got back onto the trail. We crossed a few more similar snowy patches, but I now know how to give the snow a good whack with my boots to form solid foothold.
The altitude and the weight of the backpack started getting to me. I did not tighten the waist strap enough, so was putting a lot of weight on my shoulder instead of mostly on the hip. I was also inexperience with walk on trails. I would take a high step, where H tends to take 2 lower steps. This help conserved more energy.
We would cross another creek. I got careless and got one of my boots wet. While water did not penetrate the boots, H was concerned since there was snow in the forecast, and keeping oneself dry was a key to survival in the snow.
The Rush Creek Trail crossed an industrial rail car tracks, which was open, so we did not have to walk on more switchbacks. The rail car tracks went straight up a fairly steep part of the hill. According to H, the tracks were constructed and used for mining operations. I kept thinking about "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom":)
Atop the tracks, we saw the first lake - Agnew Lake. Given the location and the weather, I was surprised to see 2 people fishing at the lake.
We continued on Rush Creek trail around Agnew Lake and reach Gem Lake. At this point, I was fair tired. My steps were shorter and I had difficulty keeping up with H. Luckily, we were fairly close to our campsite, so we took several water break and was able to reach our destination at about 2pm.
The first order of business at the camp site was setting up the tent. With 2 of us working together, it was quickly done. I sat down, chewing on a Cliff bar when H pulled out a plastic bottle, filled with a strangely familiar red liquid....
After a satisfying smoke trout/mushroom/sausage omelet breakfast at Mobil Restaurant, located at the junction of Hwy 395 and 120, H and I were ready for action!
We set off to Silver Lake, located along Hwy 158 loop, off Hwy 395. We are going into Ansel Adams Wilderness, taking the Rush Creek Trail to Gem Lake. Distance from the trail head to campsite is about 4 miles, with about 2000ft gain in elevation. The peak elevation of the trail is about 9000ft.
After putting on our backpack, we started walking. H led the way, and I followed. After about 10mins, I sensed she was hesitant. Turned out, we took the wrong trail! We backtracked, found the correct trail head and set off again.
3 mins into the hike, we met our first obstacle, a small creek. A couple walking in front of us stopped, but equipped with hiking boots, we stepped on a few high rocks and crossed the creek confidently!
The next obstacle was a snowy slope. The first couple of miles of the trails were basically switchback along the side of the mountain. A patch of snow had covered the trail and we need to cross this slope.
Again, H led the way. She kicked the snow to form compact indention, then walked with the toe of her foot, using the small indention as foothold. Having no experience with snow transverse, I promptly fell and slided down the slope. Luckily the slope was not too steep and after a few feet, there was a bunch of stones and dried tree branches to catch me.
I "scrambled" along the edge of the snow patch and got back onto the trail. We crossed a few more similar snowy patches, but I now know how to give the snow a good whack with my boots to form solid foothold.
The altitude and the weight of the backpack started getting to me. I did not tighten the waist strap enough, so was putting a lot of weight on my shoulder instead of mostly on the hip. I was also inexperience with walk on trails. I would take a high step, where H tends to take 2 lower steps. This help conserved more energy.
We would cross another creek. I got careless and got one of my boots wet. While water did not penetrate the boots, H was concerned since there was snow in the forecast, and keeping oneself dry was a key to survival in the snow.
The Rush Creek Trail crossed an industrial rail car tracks, which was open, so we did not have to walk on more switchbacks. The rail car tracks went straight up a fairly steep part of the hill. According to H, the tracks were constructed and used for mining operations. I kept thinking about "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom":)
Atop the tracks, we saw the first lake - Agnew Lake. Given the location and the weather, I was surprised to see 2 people fishing at the lake.
We continued on Rush Creek trail around Agnew Lake and reach Gem Lake. At this point, I was fair tired. My steps were shorter and I had difficulty keeping up with H. Luckily, we were fairly close to our campsite, so we took several water break and was able to reach our destination at about 2pm.
The first order of business at the camp site was setting up the tent. With 2 of us working together, it was quickly done. I sat down, chewing on a Cliff bar when H pulled out a plastic bottle, filled with a strangely familiar red liquid....
"Red wine?!" I asked. I could not believe it! H had packed the wine to help celebrate my first backpacking trip.We sat around, enjoying the sun and the beauty of Gem Lake's snowy banks. Soon small dots of snow starting falling. We collected some lake water and retreated to warmth of our tent.
Since we did not really break for lunch during our hike, we decided to have an early dinner. H had brought along quite a feast! There's seaweed soup, instant noodles, spicy pickled vegetables, tea quail eggs and sliced turkey. For dessert, there's hot coco.
Given it was now snowing fairly heavily, and I was tired from the hike in, we slept at about 8pm, as soon as night falls.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Eastern Sierra Weekend 1-The Drive
H and I left Bay Area at about 5pm for a 3 days backpacking trip in the Sierras over Memorial Day weekend. This is my first backpacking trip since coming to the Bay Area, so I was excited and concerned at the same time. I have little wilderness survival skills, and there was snow in the forecast.
The Memorial Day "get out of town" traffic was surprisingly light, and we were making fair good time. We are going to Lee Vining via Hwy 120 East, which had just opened a few days ago and we figured we would reached the motel by 9pm.
This detour set us back several hours and we finally reach Lee Vining at about 1am. H arranged for us to spend the night at El Mono Motel/Latte Da Coffee Cafe. Both of us were so tired from the drive that we hit the sack and fell asleep almost immediately!
The Memorial Day "get out of town" traffic was surprisingly light, and we were making fair good time. We are going to Lee Vining via Hwy 120 East, which had just opened a few days ago and we figured we would reached the motel by 9pm.
Unfortunately for us, it started snowing on Friday night in Yosemite National Park. When we reach the park entrance, we were informed Tioga Pass was closed. We had to turn back on Hwy 120, and take Hwy 108 instead.
We reached the Hwy 120/108 split at about 10pm. The drive through Sonora Pass on Hwy 108 was very tiring. The road was narrow, winding, steep. To make matter worst, there was some light rain and heavy fog.This detour set us back several hours and we finally reach Lee Vining at about 1am. H arranged for us to spend the night at El Mono Motel/Latte Da Coffee Cafe. Both of us were so tired from the drive that we hit the sack and fell asleep almost immediately!
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Maifestival at Toursits Club
An online newsgroup posted a gathering for Mai Festival at Tourists Club of San Francisco. While I unfamiliar with the event and location, Germany beer and sausage in beautiful Muir Woods sounded like something I would love doing on a weekend:)
H and I left southbay at about 9:30am. Unfortunately, our trip through San Francisco was greatly delayed by Bay to Breakers. We did not arrive at Muir Woods until almost 1:30pm.
The private parking lot off Ridge drive was full when we arrived and we were forced to park off Panoramic Highway. A steep paved trail led from the Ridge drive lot to a Bavarian style lodge. The area is not as secluded as I had imagine, with several residential lots next to the Tourists Club's lodge.
A Bavarian band was playing traditional German music as we arrived. We found a seat on patio and watch visitors danced. Some visitors were in outdoor clothes/hiking boots, others in street clothes and a few in traditional German costume.
A small dance troupe performed an interesting Austrian dance called the "May Pole Dance" that I had never seen before. The dancers danced around a pole which had red and white strips attached to the top. Each dancer held on to the free end of the strip. Male and female dancers were paired into couples facing each other. The guys danced clockwise and the women danced anticlockwise. As they meet each other, the gentleman and ladies alternately go inside each other. With this motion, the dancers formed a quilt with the strips at the top of the pole.
I found this video on YouTube which showed this dance.
There were more dancing performance, and audience participation. Even I got into the action! The band played the Chicken dance music, and I had remembered the dance from college. I taught H the simple dance routine and did a few rounds. For those of you that did not go to school in Wisconsin, here's how what I was talking about!
After the dancing, we quickly refueled with some German beer and cabbage. Since we were already in Muir Wood, H took me to the top of Mountain Tam. From the parking lot, it was a short hike to the top. We sat there looking at the fog came in from the ocean, through the small opening of the Bay. The weather was perfect and it was beautiful.
Soon the sun began to set and we headed back towards south bay. Since we had to drive past San Francisco, we decided to stop for dinner in the city.
We ended up in Kan Zaman Cafe for a little middle eastern food and belly dancing performance. H had never seen belly dancing and was interested.
We had a simple dinner of pita bread, hummus, dolmas(grape leaves), tabouli, falafel and kibbeh. Then the belly dancer started performing. In addition to the usual belly dancing routine with the hand bell, she did a special routine where she balance a plate with several candles on top of her head while dancing.
Both the food and the dancing was better than my previous Kan Zaman experience, so we left satisfied!
H and I left southbay at about 9:30am. Unfortunately, our trip through San Francisco was greatly delayed by Bay to Breakers. We did not arrive at Muir Woods until almost 1:30pm.
The private parking lot off Ridge drive was full when we arrived and we were forced to park off Panoramic Highway. A steep paved trail led from the Ridge drive lot to a Bavarian style lodge. The area is not as secluded as I had imagine, with several residential lots next to the Tourists Club's lodge.
A Bavarian band was playing traditional German music as we arrived. We found a seat on patio and watch visitors danced. Some visitors were in outdoor clothes/hiking boots, others in street clothes and a few in traditional German costume.
A small dance troupe performed an interesting Austrian dance called the "May Pole Dance" that I had never seen before. The dancers danced around a pole which had red and white strips attached to the top. Each dancer held on to the free end of the strip. Male and female dancers were paired into couples facing each other. The guys danced clockwise and the women danced anticlockwise. As they meet each other, the gentleman and ladies alternately go inside each other. With this motion, the dancers formed a quilt with the strips at the top of the pole.
I found this video on YouTube which showed this dance.
There were more dancing performance, and audience participation. Even I got into the action! The band played the Chicken dance music, and I had remembered the dance from college. I taught H the simple dance routine and did a few rounds. For those of you that did not go to school in Wisconsin, here's how what I was talking about!
After the dancing, we quickly refueled with some German beer and cabbage. Since we were already in Muir Wood, H took me to the top of Mountain Tam. From the parking lot, it was a short hike to the top. We sat there looking at the fog came in from the ocean, through the small opening of the Bay. The weather was perfect and it was beautiful.
Soon the sun began to set and we headed back towards south bay. Since we had to drive past San Francisco, we decided to stop for dinner in the city.
We ended up in Kan Zaman Cafe for a little middle eastern food and belly dancing performance. H had never seen belly dancing and was interested.
We had a simple dinner of pita bread, hummus, dolmas(grape leaves), tabouli, falafel and kibbeh. Then the belly dancer started performing. In addition to the usual belly dancing routine with the hand bell, she did a special routine where she balance a plate with several candles on top of her head while dancing.
Both the food and the dancing was better than my previous Kan Zaman experience, so we left satisfied!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Napa Weekend-Sequoia Grove, Oakville Grocery, Opus one
Woke up late again after a relaxing evening. H was kind enough to get waffles for me, which I wolfed down after a somewhat light dinner.
This morning, we drove down south. Along the way, we stopped by Sequoia Grove. I had wanted to stop by this winery to taste their Gewurztraminer. It was my sister's favorite wine and was once served on Singapore Airline first class cabin. When we arrived though, we were in formed Jim Allen, the founder of the winery had sold the winery. Since Allen Family was his label, they had stopped the label and had not made Gewurztraminer since!
We were disappointed, but decided to try the new Sequoia Grove wine. We were the only part in the tasting room and had a generous pourer. We enjoyed a flight of red wine and another flight of white wine in the outside garden and got a little tipsy.
We decided we had enough wine for the morning and stopped by Oakville Grocery for a simple picnic lunch of grilled polenta cake, cheese, and salad. Weather was great as usual in Napa valley and we enjoyed out time in the sun.
After lunch, we decided to stop by a winery with a beautiful building. Turned out, it was the famous Opus One label. At this time, both of us did not want to drink anymore wine, so just toured the winery. The building had a update-classical look and was quite handsome.
My original plan was to go to downtown Napa and purchase a wine tasting card. This card cost $20 and at 10 different downtown tasting room, initial tasting cost only 10 cents. But, we were all "wined-out" for the weekend. Instead, we browsed the shops a little. The downtown area was fairly quiet on Sunday afternoon, with many stores closed, so we decided to call it a weekend and head home.
This morning, we drove down south. Along the way, we stopped by Sequoia Grove. I had wanted to stop by this winery to taste their Gewurztraminer. It was my sister's favorite wine and was once served on Singapore Airline first class cabin. When we arrived though, we were in formed Jim Allen, the founder of the winery had sold the winery. Since Allen Family was his label, they had stopped the label and had not made Gewurztraminer since!
We were disappointed, but decided to try the new Sequoia Grove wine. We were the only part in the tasting room and had a generous pourer. We enjoyed a flight of red wine and another flight of white wine in the outside garden and got a little tipsy.
We decided we had enough wine for the morning and stopped by Oakville Grocery for a simple picnic lunch of grilled polenta cake, cheese, and salad. Weather was great as usual in Napa valley and we enjoyed out time in the sun.
After lunch, we decided to stop by a winery with a beautiful building. Turned out, it was the famous Opus One label. At this time, both of us did not want to drink anymore wine, so just toured the winery. The building had a update-classical look and was quite handsome.
My original plan was to go to downtown Napa and purchase a wine tasting card. This card cost $20 and at 10 different downtown tasting room, initial tasting cost only 10 cents. But, we were all "wined-out" for the weekend. Instead, we browsed the shops a little. The downtown area was fairly quiet on Sunday afternoon, with many stores closed, so we decided to call it a weekend and head home.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Napa Weekend- Franciscan, Heitz, Lavendar Hill, Ubuntu
H returned safely from her trip through the Sierras, and we decided to have a relaxing weekend off in Napa Valley. Since her trip was physically demanding, I had made arrangement for spa treatment as well.
We drove to Calistoga on Friday evening and spent the night at the Lodge at Calistoga. The hotel offered free breakfast, which included freshly made waffles. It was a good start to the morning.
Unfortunately, our day was interrupted by a flat tire, which we discovered when we left the hotel to start travelling. We had to wait for AAA to come change into our spare tire and drove the car down to Napa for replacement tires.
Since we were already in Napa, we decided to have lunch in downtown. We happened upon on Caffe Cicero and enjoyed a steak sandwich and pesto chicken sandwich.
After lunch, we drove back up towards Calistoga as I had made spa appointment in the afternoon. We stopped by Franciscan and Heitz for wine tasting. Heitz was a great stop because they made a finest wine in the Napa area and tasting was free!
We arrived at Lavender Hill Spa right on time for our appointment. Located just off Highway 29, Lavender Hill looked like a old Victorian house at the side of the road. But it was charming and the garden was beautiful.
Both H and I chose Volcanic Mud bath for our bath. The mud is one time used only and it was not very thick. Lavender Hill had couples facing each other during spa treatment, though we did not try to talk over the flowing water and our eyes were covered by cold cucumber slices. Classical music played softly in the background while we soaked and the atmosphere was serene.
After the bath treatment, we were wrapped in towel and given a foot massage. Then we were ushered to separate massage rooms for our massage treatment. The massage rooms were closer to the road, so there was some vehicle noise, affecting the atmosphere. But the massage itself was relaxing and I came out of the treatment refreshed.
Dinner was at Ubuntu, a chic restaurant and yoga studio in downtown Napa, which had been getting rave reviews for its vegetarian cuisine. We ordered the asparagus salad, baby beets and avocado and cauliflower in a cast iron pot. The asparagus were lightly boiled and all the woody portion shaved off. It was served with a lemon dressing. The baby beets and avocado salad included diced red and yellow beets served with bitter greens. The best dish of the night was the cauliflower in cast iron pot. The cauliflower was soft and sweet and surrounded by a fluffy, creamy sauce. I liked this dish a lot.
Dessert was a bowl of frosted feuilletine, served with vanilla ice cream and warm coconut milk. The dessert was made to look like a bowl of breakfast cereal, and the warm milk and ice cream made for a interesting contrast in temperature. I enjoy this dessert very much too.
Overall, the dishes were carefully prepared and the taste delicate. The cold salad rely too much on the ingredients. Also, portion sizes were small.
After dinner, we drove around downtown Napa a little and headed back to Calistoga for the night.
We drove to Calistoga on Friday evening and spent the night at the Lodge at Calistoga. The hotel offered free breakfast, which included freshly made waffles. It was a good start to the morning.
Unfortunately, our day was interrupted by a flat tire, which we discovered when we left the hotel to start travelling. We had to wait for AAA to come change into our spare tire and drove the car down to Napa for replacement tires.
Since we were already in Napa, we decided to have lunch in downtown. We happened upon on Caffe Cicero and enjoyed a steak sandwich and pesto chicken sandwich.
After lunch, we drove back up towards Calistoga as I had made spa appointment in the afternoon. We stopped by Franciscan and Heitz for wine tasting. Heitz was a great stop because they made a finest wine in the Napa area and tasting was free!
We arrived at Lavender Hill Spa right on time for our appointment. Located just off Highway 29, Lavender Hill looked like a old Victorian house at the side of the road. But it was charming and the garden was beautiful.
Both H and I chose Volcanic Mud bath for our bath. The mud is one time used only and it was not very thick. Lavender Hill had couples facing each other during spa treatment, though we did not try to talk over the flowing water and our eyes were covered by cold cucumber slices. Classical music played softly in the background while we soaked and the atmosphere was serene.
After the bath treatment, we were wrapped in towel and given a foot massage. Then we were ushered to separate massage rooms for our massage treatment. The massage rooms were closer to the road, so there was some vehicle noise, affecting the atmosphere. But the massage itself was relaxing and I came out of the treatment refreshed.
Dinner was at Ubuntu, a chic restaurant and yoga studio in downtown Napa, which had been getting rave reviews for its vegetarian cuisine. We ordered the asparagus salad, baby beets and avocado and cauliflower in a cast iron pot. The asparagus were lightly boiled and all the woody portion shaved off. It was served with a lemon dressing. The baby beets and avocado salad included diced red and yellow beets served with bitter greens. The best dish of the night was the cauliflower in cast iron pot. The cauliflower was soft and sweet and surrounded by a fluffy, creamy sauce. I liked this dish a lot.
Dessert was a bowl of frosted feuilletine, served with vanilla ice cream and warm coconut milk. The dessert was made to look like a bowl of breakfast cereal, and the warm milk and ice cream made for a interesting contrast in temperature. I enjoy this dessert very much too.
Overall, the dishes were carefully prepared and the taste delicate. The cold salad rely too much on the ingredients. Also, portion sizes were small.
After dinner, we drove around downtown Napa a little and headed back to Calistoga for the night.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Wind, Flower, Snow, Moon (风花雪月) 2-Skiing at Kirkwood, last trip of the season
H and I left Bay area at 5:30am for what turned out to be the last ski trip of the 2007-2008 season. The cold spell that we experienced at Antelope Valley was affecting Kirkwood too. We were dressed more for winter skiing than spring skiing:(
I rented ski boots from Kirkwood and borrowed a set of high performance skis from H, since the Ski Renter closed early on Friday. Then, we followed our usual routine of heading up chair #5 and doing a warm up run on Mokelumme. The snow felt a little icy in the morning, probably from melting snow freezing overnight. I was also getting used to a different set of skis. I did not get the usual carving of snow and the first run felt out of control.
I encouraged H to go up chair #6 while I got used to the snow and the new skis. I went back to skiing on lower Monte Wolfe and found that the high performance skis actually carved better, but do required a little more flexing compared to the rental skis. I did lower Monte Wolfe a few more times when H caught up with me and ask if I was ready for chair #11. She had been skiing chair #6 and felt that snow condition on black trail was actually better.
I was feeling better, so decided to joined her on chair #11. We went down Comestoga and I did feel the weather had warmed up slightly and snow condition on black trails was indeed better. H suggested skiing Wagon Trail, since it was a longer but less steep slope where I would have a chance to work on narrowing my stance. The wind was blowing hard enough that chair #5, the infamous "Wall", was not opened, so Wagon Trail was relatively desserted.
H alternate between chair #6 and chair #11, while I alternate between Wagon Trail and Comestoga, either working on technique or trying to get a little thrill:)
We broke for lunch at about 12:30pm, and resumed skiing at about 1:30pm. Sensing the day and maybe the season was coming to a close, we became very careful as both of us wanted to end the season without injuries. We skiied mostly on Wagon Trail.
H did one more run on chair #6 and joined me at 3:40p for our last run. She told me to ski freely and not worried about working on technique and I was given full authority on which trail to take. I was tempted to do Comestoga, but opted for Wagon Trail. It had been a long weekend, and I decided pushing myself on the last run of the season did not make sense.
On our ride up chair #5, we saw beginner skiers trying a wedge stop on Comestoga. Big mistake! He fell badly and was unable to stop himself even after falling for a good 10-15 feet. We were determine to avoid that fate:)
We came down Wagon Trail safely, just as the life closed sign was posted. No injuries for the season!
On our way back to the Bay area, H and I talked about the weekend. We had covered half the length of California, going from Bay area to Antelope Valley and back up North to Kirkwood. That's when H commented, "Wow, we saw wind, flower, snow and moon, all in one weekend!"
Wind, flower, snow and moon (风花雪月) is often used to describe romantic times together, which we did share, but we also enjoyed these four natural scenery. A nice word play that summed up the weekend perfectly.
I rented ski boots from Kirkwood and borrowed a set of high performance skis from H, since the Ski Renter closed early on Friday. Then, we followed our usual routine of heading up chair #5 and doing a warm up run on Mokelumme. The snow felt a little icy in the morning, probably from melting snow freezing overnight. I was also getting used to a different set of skis. I did not get the usual carving of snow and the first run felt out of control.
I encouraged H to go up chair #6 while I got used to the snow and the new skis. I went back to skiing on lower Monte Wolfe and found that the high performance skis actually carved better, but do required a little more flexing compared to the rental skis. I did lower Monte Wolfe a few more times when H caught up with me and ask if I was ready for chair #11. She had been skiing chair #6 and felt that snow condition on black trail was actually better.
I was feeling better, so decided to joined her on chair #11. We went down Comestoga and I did feel the weather had warmed up slightly and snow condition on black trails was indeed better. H suggested skiing Wagon Trail, since it was a longer but less steep slope where I would have a chance to work on narrowing my stance. The wind was blowing hard enough that chair #5, the infamous "Wall", was not opened, so Wagon Trail was relatively desserted.
H alternate between chair #6 and chair #11, while I alternate between Wagon Trail and Comestoga, either working on technique or trying to get a little thrill:)
We broke for lunch at about 12:30pm, and resumed skiing at about 1:30pm. Sensing the day and maybe the season was coming to a close, we became very careful as both of us wanted to end the season without injuries. We skiied mostly on Wagon Trail.
H did one more run on chair #6 and joined me at 3:40p for our last run. She told me to ski freely and not worried about working on technique and I was given full authority on which trail to take. I was tempted to do Comestoga, but opted for Wagon Trail. It had been a long weekend, and I decided pushing myself on the last run of the season did not make sense.
On our ride up chair #5, we saw beginner skiers trying a wedge stop on Comestoga. Big mistake! He fell badly and was unable to stop himself even after falling for a good 10-15 feet. We were determine to avoid that fate:)
We came down Wagon Trail safely, just as the life closed sign was posted. No injuries for the season!
On our way back to the Bay area, H and I talked about the weekend. We had covered half the length of California, going from Bay area to Antelope Valley and back up North to Kirkwood. That's when H commented, "Wow, we saw wind, flower, snow and moon, all in one weekend!"
Wind, flower, snow and moon (风花雪月) is often used to describe romantic times together, which we did share, but we also enjoyed these four natural scenery. A nice word play that summed up the weekend perfectly.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Wind, Flower, Snow and Moon(风花雪月) 1-Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve
H and I drove all night from the Bay area to Gorman, CA where we spent the night. Our destination is Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve.Even with a record dry March and April, 2008 had a fair amount of rain. About a week ago, I peeked at the current photos section on the reserve's website, and the California poppies were fully bloomed! We decided to make this trip.
From Gorman, it was a short 20 minutes drive to the poppy reserve. The reserve is located amongst flat farm land, so we started seeing the large patches of golden poppies as we approached the entrance.
Unfortunately, the wind was unusually strong. The poppies did not open fully. The wind also kicked up a lot of dust and the flowers did not have their usual silk like shine.
We walked around the reserve a little and came to a patch of poppies which was behind a small hill. The hill blocked the wind, so the flowers open a little more here and it was not as dusty. We sat down inside the patches. The flowers were all around us as far as the eye can see. As the wind blew, the sea of golden poppies sway in the wind, like waves in the ocean. H and I tried very had to think of ways to describe the scenery, but both gave up after a while.
The weather made it very uncomfortable to stay in the reserve, and we figured we will get some comfort food.
H suggested Din Tai Fung in Arcadia. I had heard my Taiwanese friends talked about this restaurant and eagerly agreed. We arrive at about 1:30pm and we seated almost immediate. We shared a chicken soup, 2 orders of the famous xiao long bao, vegetable dumplings and fish dumplings. The food was comforting and homey. After a cold and windy morning, the food really hit the spot. I will be yelping about this place soon!
After lunch, we started our drive back to the Bay area, stopping at Casa de Fruta for nuts and dried corn. H will be going on a back country ski trip and needed ration.
It was a full moon weekend, and being a cold spring day, there was no a cloud in the sky. The moon looked especially bright as we drove along 152, crossing Pacheco Pass back onto 101.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
First Black Diamond!
We woke up at 7:30am, again trying to arrive at Kirkwood for powder before the wet stuff forms:)
With stops for gas and breakfast, we arrived at 9:05am. H and I warmed up on Mokelumme off chair #5 again. Sensing my comfort level, she suggested trying chair #11. There are 2 runs off that chair: Short Spoke and Comestoga. They share a common trail at the beginning. Then the trail splits. On the left is Short spoke, blue slope slightly steeper and longer than Mokelumme. To the right is Comestoga, an easy black. In fact, according to H, Comestoga was classified as a blue slope until this season, when it was upgraded to black.
We did Short spoke on our first run and since the snow was decent, H asked if I wanted to try the black slope when snow condition was still good. I agreed.
As usual, H led the way and I followed. I was focusing on my turns and made a series of wider curve down a particular steep portion of the slope when H stopped me.
"I don't understand why, but you skied better on black than on blue." she commented.
"What black slope?" I asked, thinking we were still on the common portion of the trail.
"We just took the trail to the right," she replied, "You mean you didn't know you are on a black slope?"
"Actually, no...I was just following you...I was wondering to myself why the same slope felt steeper than on the previous run." I answered.
I had unconsciously skied on a black slope and apparently did quite well. But, having known I was on a black slope, however, made me overly cautious and started skiing slower. Without speed, I was not getting the same carving I had achieved before.
H was clearly disappointed. "I shouldn't have told you!" she exclaimed. "You were doing so well!"
We tried Comestoga again, and again I was very cautious coming down the black portion of the slope. H gave up. "Congrats on your first black," she said. "Now, if only you can stop being conscious about this being a black slope..."
The snow condition got worse quickly and I began to feel tired, so we stopped for lunch. We shared an Asian Bowl and soup in Monte Wolfe bistro. Probably due to the excitement that I had just skied my first black diamond slope, I ate a lot.
I went up Comestoga 2 more times. However, snow condition had deteriorated much fast on Sunday compare to Saturday and by 3pm, I felt like I was skiing on a sticky mash. The heavy lunch also made me felt bloated. I was totally spent and decided to call it a day. H did another run and not wanting to risk injury, call it quits too.
We left Kirkwood at 3:15pm and reached Bay area about 6:45pm, ending our 2 day tiring but fun spring ski trip.
With stops for gas and breakfast, we arrived at 9:05am. H and I warmed up on Mokelumme off chair #5 again. Sensing my comfort level, she suggested trying chair #11. There are 2 runs off that chair: Short Spoke and Comestoga. They share a common trail at the beginning. Then the trail splits. On the left is Short spoke, blue slope slightly steeper and longer than Mokelumme. To the right is Comestoga, an easy black. In fact, according to H, Comestoga was classified as a blue slope until this season, when it was upgraded to black.
We did Short spoke on our first run and since the snow was decent, H asked if I wanted to try the black slope when snow condition was still good. I agreed.
As usual, H led the way and I followed. I was focusing on my turns and made a series of wider curve down a particular steep portion of the slope when H stopped me.
"I don't understand why, but you skied better on black than on blue." she commented.
"What black slope?" I asked, thinking we were still on the common portion of the trail.
"We just took the trail to the right," she replied, "You mean you didn't know you are on a black slope?"
"Actually, no...I was just following you...I was wondering to myself why the same slope felt steeper than on the previous run." I answered.
I had unconsciously skied on a black slope and apparently did quite well. But, having known I was on a black slope, however, made me overly cautious and started skiing slower. Without speed, I was not getting the same carving I had achieved before.
H was clearly disappointed. "I shouldn't have told you!" she exclaimed. "You were doing so well!"
We tried Comestoga again, and again I was very cautious coming down the black portion of the slope. H gave up. "Congrats on your first black," she said. "Now, if only you can stop being conscious about this being a black slope..."
The snow condition got worse quickly and I began to feel tired, so we stopped for lunch. We shared an Asian Bowl and soup in Monte Wolfe bistro. Probably due to the excitement that I had just skied my first black diamond slope, I ate a lot.
I went up Comestoga 2 more times. However, snow condition had deteriorated much fast on Sunday compare to Saturday and by 3pm, I felt like I was skiing on a sticky mash. The heavy lunch also made me felt bloated. I was totally spent and decided to call it a day. H did another run and not wanting to risk injury, call it quits too.
We left Kirkwood at 3:15pm and reached Bay area about 6:45pm, ending our 2 day tiring but fun spring ski trip.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Graduation from green; D'vine Wine Bar
Spring skiing continued...
H and I left Bay Area at 5:30am since weather had been unusually warm, and we wanted to hit the slope early and end early to ski in the best possible snow condition.
We reach Kirkwood at about 9am, just as the lifts were opening. H suggested warming up on Mokelumme off chair #5, a blue slope I skied 2 weeks ago. This time though, she suggested using a narrower stance to improve carving.
Snow condition at 9am was surprisingly good. Unlike our previous trip, it was not icy, probably because of the warmer weather. However, it was still cold enough for the snow not to melt into mash.
Mokelumme is still a little too steep for me to work on technique, so I practised mostly on Lower Monte Wolfe. I was slowly gaining confidence and by my third or fourth run down Lower Monte Wolfe, I skied down the entire slope without stopping. The downside to gaining all this speed was my pole timing was all messed up. I was not initiating my turns with my poles, instead was sticking them out after my turns had started.
Snow condition gradually turned bad as the morning worn on. The snow became wetter and lumps of snow began to form. My inside foot was sometimes trapped by the lumps of snow during turns and made me fell down several times. Conscious of the wet, lumpy snow, I tired lifting my inside leg higher to avoid the lumps. While this helped enforced better carving, but also made each run more tiring.
I broke for lunch at about noon and had a pull pork sandwich with slaw. There was a band playing in the Kirkwood Mountain Village square, so I had live music to enjoy with food. Hit the slope again at 1pm and continued skiing on the 2 blue slopes. Due to the wet snow condition, I was unable to work on my stance as much as I prefer, but was feeling very comfortable going down both blue slopes. H jokingly commented I had graduated from the green slopes.
We had planned to stop skiing at 3pm, but H caught a second wind and we did not stop until 4pm when the lift closed.
We checked into City Center Motel in Carson City. After a quick shower, we took a stroll inside the Carson Nugget casino. Compare to Vegas, casino in Carson city are tiny. Since neither H nor I gamble, and I was bothered by the smoking, we left the premise after a quick look around.
Dinner was at D'vine wine bar and bistro. This is a fairly new establishment and I was unable to find any review about it on the web. But we were glad we came.
The exterior of the wine bar looked a little run down and cold, but the interior was new and warm. There was also live music. We ordered the roasted salmon and the raspberry pistachios salad. Shared a lovely flight of 5 wines. Finished the evening with a mixed berry cobbler with ice cream. For more on D'vine Wine Bar, please read my review on Yelp!
H and I had a wonderful evening and would come back to D'vine wine bar on future ski trips.
H and I left Bay Area at 5:30am since weather had been unusually warm, and we wanted to hit the slope early and end early to ski in the best possible snow condition.
We reach Kirkwood at about 9am, just as the lifts were opening. H suggested warming up on Mokelumme off chair #5, a blue slope I skied 2 weeks ago. This time though, she suggested using a narrower stance to improve carving.
Snow condition at 9am was surprisingly good. Unlike our previous trip, it was not icy, probably because of the warmer weather. However, it was still cold enough for the snow not to melt into mash.
Mokelumme is still a little too steep for me to work on technique, so I practised mostly on Lower Monte Wolfe. I was slowly gaining confidence and by my third or fourth run down Lower Monte Wolfe, I skied down the entire slope without stopping. The downside to gaining all this speed was my pole timing was all messed up. I was not initiating my turns with my poles, instead was sticking them out after my turns had started.
Snow condition gradually turned bad as the morning worn on. The snow became wetter and lumps of snow began to form. My inside foot was sometimes trapped by the lumps of snow during turns and made me fell down several times. Conscious of the wet, lumpy snow, I tired lifting my inside leg higher to avoid the lumps. While this helped enforced better carving, but also made each run more tiring.
I broke for lunch at about noon and had a pull pork sandwich with slaw. There was a band playing in the Kirkwood Mountain Village square, so I had live music to enjoy with food. Hit the slope again at 1pm and continued skiing on the 2 blue slopes. Due to the wet snow condition, I was unable to work on my stance as much as I prefer, but was feeling very comfortable going down both blue slopes. H jokingly commented I had graduated from the green slopes.
We had planned to stop skiing at 3pm, but H caught a second wind and we did not stop until 4pm when the lift closed.
We checked into City Center Motel in Carson City. After a quick shower, we took a stroll inside the Carson Nugget casino. Compare to Vegas, casino in Carson city are tiny. Since neither H nor I gamble, and I was bothered by the smoking, we left the premise after a quick look around.
Dinner was at D'vine wine bar and bistro. This is a fairly new establishment and I was unable to find any review about it on the web. But we were glad we came.
The exterior of the wine bar looked a little run down and cold, but the interior was new and warm. There was also live music. We ordered the roasted salmon and the raspberry pistachios salad. Shared a lovely flight of 5 wines. Finished the evening with a mixed berry cobbler with ice cream. For more on D'vine Wine Bar, please read my review on Yelp!
H and I had a wonderful evening and would come back to D'vine wine bar on future ski trips.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Holi
I went to Holi at Stanford with A.
Holi is the Indian festival of colors. I had heard my Indian co-workers described it and also saw a scene in "Out Sourced" that depicted the celebration. A is from India, but growing up, he did not celebrate Holi...at least not this way, so he was very much looking forward to this event.
The day was unusually cold. As advised by A, I wore a white T-shirt and shorts, but had to wear a light jacket to keep warm. We arrived at Sandhill field at about 1pm, but was too cold and hungry to participant in any celebration. Instead, we hit the food stands:)
We caught a lucky break after lunch. The sun shined a little and warmed up the field. In India, people celebrated Holi by splashing permanent colored water on each other. At Stanford, water soluble colored powder was used instead. There were water hose was available and some festival goers had brought along water pistol just to get people wet. Given the weather, I was glad I managed to stay dry.
I was mildly colored when I left.
Some others at the festival were not as lucky.
We were there for a total of 2 hours. It was interesting finally seeing Holi in person.
Holi is the Indian festival of colors. I had heard my Indian co-workers described it and also saw a scene in "Out Sourced" that depicted the celebration. A is from India, but growing up, he did not celebrate Holi...at least not this way, so he was very much looking forward to this event.
The day was unusually cold. As advised by A, I wore a white T-shirt and shorts, but had to wear a light jacket to keep warm. We arrived at Sandhill field at about 1pm, but was too cold and hungry to participant in any celebration. Instead, we hit the food stands:)
We caught a lucky break after lunch. The sun shined a little and warmed up the field. In India, people celebrated Holi by splashing permanent colored water on each other. At Stanford, water soluble colored powder was used instead. There were water hose was available and some festival goers had brought along water pistol just to get people wet. Given the weather, I was glad I managed to stay dry.
I was mildly colored when I left.Some others at the festival were not as lucky.We were there for a total of 2 hours. It was interesting finally seeing Holi in person.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Ski Kirkwood, Day 2
Woke up a 6:45am because I wanted to experience skiing on freshly groomed snow. The drive from the hotel to Kirkwood took about an hour, but surprisingly, there were already cars in the parking lot when we arrived!
We quickly got ready and waited by the lifts. But, the lift operator that stopped us. "Lift opens at 9am!" he shouted. Since that was 15 more minutes of waiting, we went into the cafe to sit it out.
At 9am sharp, we hit the slope again. I went back to lift #9 and hit those three green slopes. Freshly groom snow was not what it was made up to be:( It was warm enough on Saturday that some surface snow had melted and froze overnight. The slope was icy and the only Funny Bunny had some powder on it.
H came to check on me right before lunch. She mentioned my turns were perfectly parallel now, but the inner ski was forced by conscious leg motion. I was not letting my turns developed enough because I didn't want too much speed. But, more speed was actually the key to finding the edge!
We had a quick lunch and I went back to the green slopes to continue practising with my new found knowledge. I gained a little confidence and went back on Squirrel Ridge to try out my new found skills. But on the initial steep section, my right turn involuntarily revert back to wedge:(
Feeling frustrated, I did a few more runs on Funny Bunny. This pattern continued for the rest of the afternoon.
It was a rather cold day for spring skiing. In fact, light snow flurries fell most of the afternoon. The slope was really icy and the new layer of snow was too light to hide the ice.
We stopped skiing at about 4pm when the lift stopped operation and headed back to the Bay area.
My skiing skills are slowly improving and I can begin to appreciate why some people are addicted to skiing.
We quickly got ready and waited by the lifts. But, the lift operator that stopped us. "Lift opens at 9am!" he shouted. Since that was 15 more minutes of waiting, we went into the cafe to sit it out.
At 9am sharp, we hit the slope again. I went back to lift #9 and hit those three green slopes. Freshly groom snow was not what it was made up to be:( It was warm enough on Saturday that some surface snow had melted and froze overnight. The slope was icy and the only Funny Bunny had some powder on it.
H came to check on me right before lunch. She mentioned my turns were perfectly parallel now, but the inner ski was forced by conscious leg motion. I was not letting my turns developed enough because I didn't want too much speed. But, more speed was actually the key to finding the edge!
We had a quick lunch and I went back to the green slopes to continue practising with my new found knowledge. I gained a little confidence and went back on Squirrel Ridge to try out my new found skills. But on the initial steep section, my right turn involuntarily revert back to wedge:(
Feeling frustrated, I did a few more runs on Funny Bunny. This pattern continued for the rest of the afternoon.
It was a rather cold day for spring skiing. In fact, light snow flurries fell most of the afternoon. The slope was really icy and the new layer of snow was too light to hide the ice.
We stopped skiing at about 4pm when the lift stopped operation and headed back to the Bay area.
My skiing skills are slowly improving and I can begin to appreciate why some people are addicted to skiing.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Ski Kirkwood
Spring skiing season officially arrived at Kirkwood on April 1st. Sensing ski season was coming to an end, I decided to go skiing once more with H.
H is a much better skier than me. She was kind enough to share with me her secret: "Breakthrough on skis" by Lito Tejada-Flores. We watched the first DVD together the night before and I took mental note of the exercises I should be working on.
Since this was a 2 day ski trip, we left the Bay area at 6am. The drive via route 88 took a little more than 3 and a half hour, as there was some light snow on the ground.
We started skiing at about 10am. H accompanied me on Squirrel Ridge, a green slope at lift #7 to start the day. The first section of the slope was a quite steep and I instinctively reverted to wedging. Sensing my discomfort on that slope, we went skiing on lift #9 instead. The three green slopes: Funny Bunny, School Run and Graduation were more appropriate for me:)
I was mainly working on skiing on one leg. Of the three slopes, Graduation was less crowded and had more powder, so I skied that slope most of the time.
After lunch, H skied with me on Funny Bunny. She noticed I had made some improvement and suggested we go up on lift #5 and try Mokelumme, a blue slope. I was able to come down with mostly parallel skiing. We also tried Lower Monte Wolfe, which had more powder and less slope. These are probably the steepest slopes I had ever skied, and I am happy to report I am making small improvements.
At about 4pm, we headed out of Kirkwood towards Carson city, where we checked into City Center Motel. After a quick shower, we headed out the door. Since both of us are not the gambling type, we decided to get dinner at JT Basque Dining room in Gardnerville.
There was a 40min wait for table. We strolled around Gardnerville while waiting, but most shops were closed. It was also getting cold. JT was buzzing with people and H was bothered by the noise. We were ready to leave and have dinner at another restaurant when our table was ready.
The food made the wait worthwhile. JT offered "all you can eat" side dishes with one main entree per person. I would classified the cuisine as comfort food. We started with a simple tomato based vegetable soup with orzo, served with bread and butter. Next up, a simple tossed green salad dressed with oil and vinegar that was more tasty than it should. There was also sides of baked beans, beef stew and fries, sprinkled with paprika. Finally, the best part, was the free refills on red wine. The wine itself was sweeter than what we preferred, but still quite good.
We chose the Basque scampi and Basque chicken as our entrees. The Basque scampi was a stir- fried onion and green pepper shrimp sitting in a tomato-based broth. It was delicious! The Basque chicken was similarly prepared, using boneless, skinless chicken breast steak instead of shrimp. The chicken was cooked just right, but this entree paled in comparison to the shrimp.
After dinner, vanilla ice cream and almond chocolate ice cream was served. It was a satisfying end to dinner. Read more about this restaurant on Yelp!
We decided to call it a night after the meal, since I had wanted to wake up early and experience freshly groom snow.
H is a much better skier than me. She was kind enough to share with me her secret: "Breakthrough on skis" by Lito Tejada-Flores. We watched the first DVD together the night before and I took mental note of the exercises I should be working on.
Since this was a 2 day ski trip, we left the Bay area at 6am. The drive via route 88 took a little more than 3 and a half hour, as there was some light snow on the ground.
We started skiing at about 10am. H accompanied me on Squirrel Ridge, a green slope at lift #7 to start the day. The first section of the slope was a quite steep and I instinctively reverted to wedging. Sensing my discomfort on that slope, we went skiing on lift #9 instead. The three green slopes: Funny Bunny, School Run and Graduation were more appropriate for me:)
I was mainly working on skiing on one leg. Of the three slopes, Graduation was less crowded and had more powder, so I skied that slope most of the time.
After lunch, H skied with me on Funny Bunny. She noticed I had made some improvement and suggested we go up on lift #5 and try Mokelumme, a blue slope. I was able to come down with mostly parallel skiing. We also tried Lower Monte Wolfe, which had more powder and less slope. These are probably the steepest slopes I had ever skied, and I am happy to report I am making small improvements.
At about 4pm, we headed out of Kirkwood towards Carson city, where we checked into City Center Motel. After a quick shower, we headed out the door. Since both of us are not the gambling type, we decided to get dinner at JT Basque Dining room in Gardnerville.
There was a 40min wait for table. We strolled around Gardnerville while waiting, but most shops were closed. It was also getting cold. JT was buzzing with people and H was bothered by the noise. We were ready to leave and have dinner at another restaurant when our table was ready.
The food made the wait worthwhile. JT offered "all you can eat" side dishes with one main entree per person. I would classified the cuisine as comfort food. We started with a simple tomato based vegetable soup with orzo, served with bread and butter. Next up, a simple tossed green salad dressed with oil and vinegar that was more tasty than it should. There was also sides of baked beans, beef stew and fries, sprinkled with paprika. Finally, the best part, was the free refills on red wine. The wine itself was sweeter than what we preferred, but still quite good.
We chose the Basque scampi and Basque chicken as our entrees. The Basque scampi was a stir- fried onion and green pepper shrimp sitting in a tomato-based broth. It was delicious! The Basque chicken was similarly prepared, using boneless, skinless chicken breast steak instead of shrimp. The chicken was cooked just right, but this entree paled in comparison to the shrimp.
After dinner, vanilla ice cream and almond chocolate ice cream was served. It was a satisfying end to dinner. Read more about this restaurant on Yelp!
We decided to call it a night after the meal, since I had wanted to wake up early and experience freshly groom snow.
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