A digital travel diary. · WP v1.08 · Updated
After seeing the Living Social offer at Briarwood Inn in Carmel, we decided to take the plunge and try it. We enjoy visiting Carmel, which would give us extra time to visit the nearby beautiful Point Lobos State Reserve.. . . . Our room at Briarwood Inn was very nice and clean, and was a good value for the price. It even had two queen…
Read More: Hiking Point Lobos State Reserve
Today, I decided to try mountain biking at my nearby Almaden Quicksilver County Park in south San Jose.. . . . . The entrance to the park is pictured below.. . . . I started at the Mockingbird Hill entrance (the park's Northern side) and took the Virl O Norton Trail, heading east toward the Hacienda trail. Norton Trail is very steep, and I had…
Read More: Biking Almaden Quicksilver County Park
Today, I decided to try mountain biking at Santa Teresa County Park in San Jose. The park is nearby, and I was surprised to learn I had never been there.. . . . I got up early in the morning and researched all of the trails. There are many trails at Santa Teresa, and it's easy to get lost. I followed the recommendations posted by…
Read More: Biking Santa Teresa County Park
Today, I mountain biked on Limekiln Trail near Lexington Reservoir in Los Gatos.. The Limekiln trail starts out moderate but gets very steep. It's a great workout for mountain biking, providing excellent cardiovascular exercise. It's pretty challenging, and I often walk at least the upper part of the trail.. . . . Here is a short GoPro Hero3 Black video on the bike's handlebars.. .…
Read More: Biking Limekiln Trail
Inna and Alex spent the early morning at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom and the rest of their time at Disney's Hollywood Studios.. . . . . . . Here is a photo of Alex and Inna on the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride.. . . . . . . . . . . In the evening, Inna and Alex watched the "Fantasmic" show..…
Read More: Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Orlando
Alex and Inna decided to visit Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom on the morning of Sunday, April 13.. . . . . . . . Inside the park, Alex and Inna rode on a Wild African Trek through a jungle of animals. . . . . . They saw giraffes,. . . . . . . There were also elephants, zebras, and many colorful birds..…
Read More: Walt Disney World Animal Kingdom, Orlando
Inna and Alex visited Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida, without me (I had to work).. However, they enjoyed their visit and took many beautiful photos.. . While they liked the Magic Kingdom, they thought that the Magic Kingdom at Disneyland (in Anaheim) was better. The castles look very distinctive - as if they were modeled after Germany's famous Burg Eltz (which we visited…
Read More: Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom, Orlando
In early April, Inna and Alex visited Disney World's Epcot Center in Orlando, Florida (while I was working).. . . . Alex really enjoyed most of the rides and attractions.. . . . There were many colorful garden characters on display throughout the park.. . . . Alex really enjoyed playing video games.. . . . Here is Goofy playing soccer.. . . The grounds…
Read More: Epcot, Orlando
Tuesday, April 8-9, 2014. . Inna and Alex were looking forward to visiting Universal Islands of Adventure - especially the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.. . . . . They really enjoyed their time there. . . .
Read More: Universal Islands of Adventure, Orlando
On the first day of their Orlando Adventure (during Alex's Spring Break), Inna and Alex visited Universal Studios Florida.. . . . . Inna and Alex went on all the major roller coaster rides, including Hollywood RipTide and Rockit.. Both Inna and Alex rode it a few times. Here is a short video of their experience on the roller coaster:. . . . . .…
Read More: Universal Studios Florida
On March 1, Best Buy had a great deal on Apple iPhones (offering $150 for a trade-in on a working iPhone 4S). I traded my iPhone 4S for two 16GB iPhone 5S models.. . My Logitech kitchen speaker (model S715i with a 30-pin connector) did not support the new Lightning connector or Bluetooth, so I had to replace it.. . . . . I was…
Read More: Review: Bluetooth Speakers
In January 2014, we decided to remodel our old kitchen. We were getting tired of the old appliances and the small tiles breaking off our countertop. In addition, the cabinets were very worn, and some did not open properly.. . Our older kitchen looked like this:. . . . . We went through a relatively lengthy process in choosing the appliances, kitchen cabinets, and our…
Read More: Kitchen Remodeling
Our United Airlines Flight from San Francisco to Seattle was delayed due to maintenance issues. So, instead of flying out at 9:05 a.m. as intended, we departed at 11:30 a.m. and landed in Seattle around 2:00 p.m. We rented our 4x4 Jeep Compass from Avis in Seattle and drove to Whistler, BC. I thought about getting a cheaper car, but the weather report indicated snow,…
Read More: Skiing Whistler
Today, we went to see The Physics Show at Foothill College.. . We enjoyed the show, and Alex especially liked learning about Inertia, Temperature, and Pressure. We wanted the demonstrations of shrinking balloons using liquid nitrogen and the bed-of-nails one, where one of the instructors lay down.. . I was surprised by how busy it was - hundreds of kids of all ages.. . .…
Read More: The Physics Show at Foothills College
Today, we saw Cirque du Soleil's production of Amaluna. I really liked Amaluna. It had incredible acrobatic stunts and was fun to watch. The second half of the show was better than the first. . . The stage had an exciting, creative flair.. . . . We sat in row BB (2nd row from the stage) and enjoyed being close to the performers. They had…
Read More: Review: Amaluna by Cirque du Soleil
Today, we saw Berkeley Rep's "Man in a Case" performance at the Roda Theatre.. . . . Initially, I was excited to see Mikhail Baryshnikov in a dramatic production. Mr. Baryshnikov is a world-famous dancer, and I was excited to see what he could bring to these Chekhov stories.. . The play was sold out and went on for 75 minutes (no intermission). It is…
Read More: Review: Man in a Case (Roda Theatre)
Today, we saw a production of "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.. Live!" at the Montgomery Theater in San Jose.. . . . . I didn't expect it to be a one-man show, but it was pretty funny and enjoyable. We had a lot of laughs during the two hours of the show.. . According to John Gray, men and women need different…
Read More: Review: Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus
Today, we saw the History of the Eagles Concert at the SAP Center in San Jose.. I have never seen San Jose this crowded! The concert looks like it's sold out.. . . . . We didn't have the best seats in section 213, row 11. People were constantly going back and forth to get beer or drinks during the concert (it was a bit…
Read More: Review: History of the Eagles Concert
My son attended the Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival at UC Berkeley today.. . The festival started at 09:00am and ran for three hours. The building was pretty crowded, with kids of all ages working on problems of varying difficulty. There were 18 tables, each with 6-10 kids, who sat and worked on problems, usually for 30-60 minutes. When one completed the designated problems, he moved…
Read More: Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival
We attended the Bay Area Travel & Adventure Expo at the Santa Clara Convention Center today.. . I was surprised by how many people were interested in travel!. . First, we listened to Rick Steves's talk about traveling through Europe. Rick Steves' talk was extraordinarily crowded, with standing room only for many visitors (including me).. . He talked about his guidebooks and about how he…
Read More: Bay Area Travel & Adventure Expo, Santa Clara