Wisetrips Travel Blog

Today, we attended the last performance of Dartmouth Middle School's S pring Concert - the second concert in 2017. Since he is graduating this year, Alex played trumpet for the last time with the Dartmouth Symphonic Band. After the obligatory "Star-Spangled Banner," t he Jazz Band opened the Spring Concert with " Listen Here " by Eddie Harris. This was followed by " Superstition &qu…

One of Alex's reasons for wanting to join the Symphonic Band at Dartmouth Middle School was to participate in the annual Disneyland trip. He worked hard during 7th grade to prepare for his Symphonic Band audition and was finally admitted into the Symphonic Band in June of 2016. During the Disneyland trip, the Symphonic Band got to play at Disneyland and California Adventure theme parks and record t…

Since our 16th engagement anniversary was on May 5, we decided to revisit where I first proposed to Inna - at the Benziger Winery , atop the hill that overlooks the winery. We enjoyed strolling around Benziger Winery's gardens, looking at the beautiful flowers. We saw a few frogs lurking about in the nearby lily pond, ribbiting. Inna took lots of fantastic, close-up photos of frogs and flo…

Since selling my Honda CRF250R in December 2016, I have not ridden any dirt bikes for a few months (the constant rainy weather did not help). I decided to refresh my off-road motorcycling skills with Brian Garrahan. I enrolled in his Into to Dirt class with  Garrahan Off-Road Training  for a one-day seminar at Carnegie Hills SVRA . I have only visited Carnegie Hills SVRA once before, so I was unsure about the quality of t…

After selling my beloved "red-sticker" 2013 Honda CRF250R offroad motorcycle in December 2016, I have been looking to replace it with a "green sticker" Yamaha WR250F for many months. The Yamaha WR250F was my #1 choice since it can be ridden year-round in California (being a green sticker bike), has a wide ratio transmission, and is expressly designed for trail riding. I found an almost b…

Since I could not play tennis (due to my minor mole removal surgery), I decided to explore Pinnacles National Park , located only 90 minutes from San Jose. Despite living so close for many years, I was unaware that the famous Pinnacles National Park was close. I decided to drive and see it for myself (since Inna and Alex were on their Caribbean cruise). I heard Pinnacles get very crowded in spring and su…

Today, Inna and I explored the beautiful Coyote Hills Regional Park. While Inna has visited the park several times, I have never been there. The drive to the park was easy - I took 880 N to Fremont and exited at Dumbarton Bridge, following Patterson Ranch Road to the park. No one manned the park entrance, so we did not have to pay the $5 entrance fee. We parked at the Quarry Staging area and waited for Iltcho a…