Wisetrips Travel Blog

After watching a few tennis instructional videos on Youtube (2 minutes tennis), I have listed tips to improve my tennis skills. Here is a GoPro Hero4 video of my recent service practice. Open video Tennis Serve Issues to work on: Being still before starting the serve motion Tossing the ball in front More coiling, separating arms later  Keeping the racquet arm horizontal (at shoulder level) Engaging …

For our 20th Wedding Anniversary, Inna reserved the Avila La Fonda Hotel , located on the beautiful Avila Beach, California, for the two-day weekend, from Friday, October 15 to Sunday, October 17. although we have stayed at Pismo Beach multiple times, we have never stayed at Avila Beach. Friday, October 15, 2021 We started our drive to Avila Beach on Friday, October 15, at about 7:00pm, hoping to avoid all of the sign…

For our 20th Wedding Anniversary, I made dinner reservations for 6:45pm at Flowers, Saratoga . We noticed Flowers nearby when we last dined at The Plumed Horse (for Alex's Bellarmine Graduation). It was an exquisite restaurant, and we wanted to try it. We arrived on time and parked in the parking lot near Plumed Horse . After checking in, the hostess sat us at an outdoor table, as expected. Inna and I were hoping …

On October 5, 2021, I joined the Almaden Valley Athletic Club (AVAC) to resume tennis training. The monthly membership cost is $200/month for one adult. In addition, I had to pay a $175 membership joining fee. In 2020, I was well on my way to improving my tennis skills, moving from a USTA 3.0 rating to 3.5. This training involved daily training on the Sunnyvale Tennis Center's ball machine and multiple tennis clinics with R…

After surfing for many weeks at famous surfing spots in Laguna Beach: Thalia Street, Rockpile Beach, Newport Beach, San Clemente, and Trestles, I realized that my surf paddling could use improvement.  I discovered Rob, a local surf trainer, teaches proper surf paddling techniques. He runs a website called  surfingpaddling.com. He is based in the San Francisco Bay Area and offers online and private lessons. I contacte…