A digital travel diary. · WP v1.08 · Updated
Today, I opened the 2017 Windsurfing season with a great session at Coyote Point, near San Francisco. It's one of my favorite local spots, along with Crissy Field, Rio Vista Powerlines, and Waddell Creek.. . The iWindsurf website reported 20 knots of wind, gusting to 30 knots, and I was excited to experience the fantastic bump'n'jump sailing again.. . When I arrived at 3:00pm, a…
Read More: Windsurfing Coyote Point
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…
Read More: Exploring Coyote Hills Regional Park
Today, Inna and I decided to see the freshly blooming flowers at Filoli Gardens in Woodside. When we arrived in the afternoon, there was a line to buy tickets. Although we have often been to Filoli Gardens, we have never seen a line.. . . . Many roses, tulips, and many other varieties were on display. Inna and I enjoyed viewing and smelling the flowers..…
Read More: Spring Bloom in Filoli Gardens
Although I have been to San Francisco's de Young Museum multiple times, I was never overly impressed by its collection of paintings and sculptures.. . Thus, reluctantly, I decided to come to the famous Bouquets to Art 2017 show. We arrived at the museum around 1:00pm, where we met with our friends (fortunate enough to have spare tickets to the show).. . . . Both…
Read More: Bouquets to Art 2017
After getting up at 4:00 a.m., we packed our snowboarding gear and headed to Kirkwood Ski Resort near South Lake Tahoe, California. The drive was surprisingly smooth, and I arrived in Kirkwood around 8:00 a.m. (a 3.5-hour drive). The roads were clear; there were no snow or highway restrictions (e.g., 88, 89, 50). . . . . Since we arrived early (around 8:00 a.m.), we…
Read More: Snowboarding Kirkwood and Sierra at Tahoe
For Inna's birthday with our family, we decided to try the well-rated Hult's restaurant in downtown Los Gatos. We have always wanted to try it since it's supposed to be run by a former Swedish Hockey player.. . . . . When we arrived at Hult's on Saturday evening, Valet parking was available for $6, but I decided to find free parking nearby. Although Hult's…
Read More: Inna’s Birthday Dinner at Hult’s
For Inna's upcoming birthday, I made a reservation at the well-rated (but perpetually unavailable) Nick's Next Door restaurant in downtown Los Gatos.. . When we arrived at Nick's on Thursday evening, we found plenty of parking on East Main Street. We arrived at a fully packed restaurant but were quickly seated. Inna thought the restaurant would be very romantic, but it was extremely loud and…
Read More: Inna’s Birthday Dinner at Nick’s Next Door
With excellent, fresh snow in Lake Tahoe (and 48" of new snow at Kirkwood), I was eager to make my own fresh tracks at Kirkwood - one of my favorite Lake Tahoe ski resorts.. . Since the drive to Kirkwood is long and tedious, I decided to use the Bay Area Ski Bus, a shuttle service that provides transportation to one of many Lake Tahoe…
Read More: Snowboarding Kirkwood
Is it every woman's fantasy - to be wooed and married to a wealthy, handsome, eligible bachelor? . . . In "Daddy Long Legs," a sweet musical adaption of Jean Webster's 1912 novel, we get to explore the finer points of this question. . . . On the Lucie Stern Theater stage in Palo Alto, Jerusha Abbott (played by the delightful Hilary Maiberger and Jervis…
Read More: Review: “Daddy Long Legs” (Lucie Stern Theater)
Although we have lived next to Los Gatos for many years, we have never witnessed the annual Christmas Day Parade. Since our son was playing trumpet in Dartmouth's Symphonic Band, he and his bandmates were scheduled to march in the Los Gatos Holiday Parade on Saturday, December 3, 2016.. . . . We arrived in Los Gatos relatively early, around 9:00 a.m. (though the Parade…
Read More: Los Gatos Holiday Parade 2016
On a beautiful, hot November day, we decided to enjoy a family game of miniature golf at the Emerald Hills Golfland.. . . . Inna and I played on one team, while Alex and James played on the other.. . Alex and James took an early lead on hole #1, with Alex scoring 2 and James scoring 3, while I scored 3 and Inna scored…
Read More: Playing miniature golf at Emerald Hills Golfland
Our friends purchased an indoor skydiving certificate at iFly, and our son Alex was eager to try it out.. . . . In the flight chamber, in-rushing air creates a cushion on which one can float, counteracting the earth's gravitation. After suiting up and getting instructions from the flight instructor, Alex was taken to the flight chamber and shown how to move his arms, legs,…
Read More: Indoor Skydiving at iFly
After work (due to heavy traffic on 85), Inna and I decided to stop by for dinner on Castro Street in Mountain View.. . We usually eat at our favorite Oren's Hummus Shop, but this time, we decided to be adventurous and try the nearby Bushido - a Japanese Sushi restaurant. We chose to sit outside and enjoy the beautiful, warm November weather. It's much…
Read More: Harakiri at Bushido, Mountain View
We decided to try bowling with our friends at Bel Mateo Bowl after our hike to Huddart County Park. It was almost Halloween time, and the Bel Mateo bowl had many Halloween decorations. Some staff were also dressed in Ghoulish costumes to frighten us all.. . We settled into our chosen lane once we got the obligatory bowling shoes (my size 11 was too big!).…
Read More: Bowling at Bel Mateo Bowl
Today, we decided (despite the slightly drizzly weather) to hike in the beautiful Huddart County Park in San Mateo / Woodside, CA.. . . . Based on recommendations in Alltrails.com, we initially tried to follow the Crystal Springs Trail.. The Crystal Springs Trail is a single track trail that runs down the northern section of the park and connects to several trails in the park.…
Read More: Hiking in Huddart County Park
I plan to ride the Russian Ridge OSP with the South Bay Mountain Biking meetup for about a week. I have been to other South Bay mountain bike riders, and this was a chance to ride some new trails that I have not previously ridden.. . Despite early morning fog in Los Gatos, the weather was fantastic at Russian Ridge OSP, and we had a…
Read More: Biking Russian Ridge OSP
We have not been to San Francisco's Geary Theater in a while - as nothing recently playing really excited us. However, Inna was intrigued by the concept behind "The Hard Problem" - a relatively recent (2015) play by Sir Tom Stoppard (screenwriter for Shakespeare in Love) on the subject of consciousness.. . . . How does consciousness come about? Is our identity the product of…
Read More: Review: “The Hard Problem” (Geary Theater)
Before seeing "The Hard Problem" at the Geary Theater, we stopped by for dinner at the well-recommended Cafe Claude in San Francisco, conveniently near the Sutter-Stockton garage.. . . . We made reservations in advance, but Cafe Claude was not very busy Wednesday evening. Cafe Clause serves a limited number of French dishes in a casual setting.. . . . Our waitress recommended the "Brandade…
Read More: Enjoying Cafe Claude in San Francisco
Because of the unusually sizzling California weather (90+ Fahrenheit in October!), we decided to hike at the nearby Villa Montalvo, with significant tree cover on most trails.. . . . Villa Montalvo is located in Los Gatos and usually hosts many arts & theater productions. We used Google Maps to provide driving directions.. . When we arrived, a production of Romeo & Juliet was in…
Read More: Hiking Lookout Trail at Villa Montalvo
. . The rain pours down in steady streams, shrouding in the gloom the Irish countryside of "Outside Mullingar," a recent play by John Patrick Shanley that opened on October 5, 2016, at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts.. . . The play premiered at Broadway's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on January 23, 2014, and closed on March 16, 2014. This was my…
Read More: Review: “Outside Mullingar”, TheatreWorks