Wisetrips Travel Blog

We have always enjoyed dining at the fabulous Solbar Restaurant in Calistoga, especially when we spent time at the Indian Springs  Resort. We have never stayed at the Solage Spa , but Inna wanted to try it, so we booked the " Just the Two of Us " promotion for the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend. We arrived on Friday afternoon and checked in. The drive from San Jose to Calistoga was uneventful, and we especially enj…

Inna purchased two front-row tickets to Riverdance  at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts for my birthday. I didn't know what to expect, as I had never seen it before and knew Michael  Flatley no longer danced in this show. We had a great view of the performance from the front row and enjoyed the dancers' energy. It was well-performed and enjoyable. I especially liked the Flamenco Dancer and the drummer (who pl…

I usually don't windsurf in November due to the cold weather and lack of wind. However, yesterday, I saw a forecast for 25+ knot winds, and I started to get tempted. The air temperature was 59 degrees Fahrenheit, and I noticed the Pacific water temperature was also about the same (unusually warm). I tried it and drove to Coyote Point, my closest windsurfing destination (about 45-50 minutes). Since I haven't windsurfed this…

As the weather was sunny and mild, I decided to try to mountain bike the Saratoga Gap and Peters Creek trail in Saratoga (starting at the Vista Point parking lot at the intersection of Highway 9 and Skyline Boulevard). Initially, I wanted to ride this trail with the South Bay Mountain Bike group  on meetup , but there was no space (8 people had already made reservations, and I was placed on a waiting list). I decided to rid…

I have been riding my old 1997 Specialized Ground Control on all sorts of trails for 18 years. It cost me $1,399 back in 1997 when I lived in Sacramento and biked on nearby trails and near Lake Tahoe. Recently, when it came time to do maintenance, I took it to the nearby Summit Bicycles . The mechanics there told me that my bike was completely obsolete and that everything needed replacing. I would be better off g…