Wisetrips Travel Blog

For our 25th Anniversary dinner, I initially booked Evvia, but had to cancel because Inna felt unwell. When I tried to book another day, I could only reserve outdoor tables, which worried me due to the cold weather. I decided to try dining at Le Papillon —a restaurant I visited decades ago. I made a dinner reservation for Saturday, October 24, at 19:00. On arrival (a short 15-minute drive from home), we were quickly seated …

With Alex relocating to San Francisco's Noe Valley neighborhood, we decided to celebrate his birthday at  Memento SF,  a local, well-regarded restaurant. After dropping off a few items at his new digs (and his birthday presents), we walked a few blocks to Memento SF (on Castro Street). Since one of Alex's roommates was running late, we ordered appetizers and drinks, and then the main courses. We ended up ordering…

The Almaden Valley Athletic Club , where I am a member, was celebrating its 50th anniversary on May 30th, and I decided to attend with my wife. According to ChatGPT: The founding story of Almaden Valley Athletic Club is closely tied to two longtime friends, Jim Theiring and Joe Shank , who grew up together in Coos Bay, Oregon. In 1974, Jim and his wife Linda invested their life savings i…

For Mother's Day , I made dinner reservations at Dio Deka , our favorite Greek restaurant in Los Gatos. It used to be a Michelin 1-Star restaurant (but not any longer). After parking near the restaurant, we walked over and were seated outside. It was the first time we had ever sat on the patio at Dio Deka (near the fountain), and we really enjoyed it.  We looked at the menu and ordered the followi…

For Inna's Birthday dinner, I made reservations at  Evvia  - one of our favorite Palo Alto restaurants.  Evvia  serves authentic Greek entrees, and we really like the high-quality dishes.  I was really tired from work and came home around 18:30. We even contemplated cancelling going to Evvia, but I decided it was worth the effort to revisit this local gem. We arrived at 19:30 and were quickly seated indoors, at a table …

Is human knowledge only to be found in books? As wonderful as books represent, document, and express human thoughts, they are not a substitute for direct, personal contact that comes from seeing, hearing, feeling, and experiencing things for oneself. Can any book truly capture the exhilaration of  windsurfing on Bonaire,   snowboarding on freshly fallen powder at Mammoth ,  piloting a Cessna single-engine aircraft ,  swimming with sh…

For Thanksgiving, Inna decided against cooking and instead selected the nearby Lele Kitchen restaurant for the main dinner. She made reservations for Thursday, November 27, at 16:00. We ordered the Thanksgiving "Trust the Chef 7-Course Menu" as follows: Bread (freshly baked from a 38-year-old starter) Pie Tees x2 (Boris, Inna) Oysters x1 (Alex) Chestnut Soup x3 Trout Draniki x2 (Boris, Alex) Mushroom …

As I started playing more classical guitar music on my Yamaha FG830 acoustic (metal-string) guitar, I ran into difficulties with the narrow string spacing common to most metal-string acoustics. Unlike modern acoustics, classical guitars are strung with nylon strings, spaced farther apart to allow more space for plucking. I decided that to perfect my classical guitar technique, I really needed to learn on a classical, nylon-…

Is human knowledge only to be found in books? As wonderful as books represent, document, and express human thoughts, they are not a substitute for direct, personal contact that comes from seeing, hearing, feeling, and experiencing things for oneself. Can any book truly capture the exhilaration of  windsurfing on Maui ,  snowboarding on freshly fallen powder at Mammoth ,  piloting a Cessna single-engine aircraft ,  swimming with sharks …

How was 2024 in Sports? I was more active than in previous years. Tennis was my most intense activity. 187 days of playing tennis at Almaden Valley Athletic Club (AVAC) 97 days of Fitness at Almaden Valley Athletic Club 14 days of SUP surfing (Waikiki Beach on Oahu, Lihue's Kalapaki Beach) 9 days of wing foiling (Crissy Field and Coyote Point) 2 days of snowboa…

For Alex's 22nd Birthday, we decided to treat him to dinner at nearby  ASA Los Gatos . After arriving at 19:15, we sat down indoors and ordered the following items: Drinks: 2 Raspberry Cream Sodas, Lemonade Appetizer: Burrata, Truffle Fries, Croquetas de Jamón Alex: Carbonara Pasta Boris: Paella Entree Inna: Mushroom Pasta Dessert: Chocolate Chip Cookies, Vu Ice Cream Our dinner was excellent, and we especially …

I have been looking to replace my 2008 Toyota Sienna Limited with a newer vehicle for a long time. My vehicle requirements were as follows: hybrid engine (to lower fuel costs) space to carry a mountain bike, windsurfing gear, and surfboards AWD/4WD for ski trips to Lake Tahoe and Mammoth low maintenance costs excellent long-term reliability price of $50,000 or less new (or used with an extended warranty) …