A digital travel diary. · WP v1.08 · Updated
Today, I was fortunate to witness a Lunar Eclipse. Although the weather started out initially cloudy, it cleared up before 10:15 am (when the total eclipse was scheduled to occur). . . . . . . During the total eclipse, the sky went dark in Oregon but not completely opaque in Sunnyvale. . . . . . . . .
Read More: Watching the Lunar Eclipse
Today, I decided to go for an excellent mountain biking ride at Almaden Quicksilver County Park.. Unfortunately, halfway through the bike ride, I heard a loud whistle as my rear tire lost air pressure and turned flat. Since I was using tubeless tires, I expected my rear tire to self-seal automatically, but this did not happen on my ride. My WTB Werewolf rear tire went…
Read More: Biking Almaden Quicksilver County Park
As the weather was sunny and mild, I decided to try to mountain bike the Saratoga Gap and Peters Creek trail in Saratoga (starting at the Vista Point parking lot at the intersection of Highway 9 and Skyline Boulevard).. . . . I arrived just before 10:00 a.m. and rode my 2011 Specialized S-works FSR with newly built wheels.. . The trail started with an…
Read More: Biking Saratoga Gap and Long Ridge
In the morning, after checking San Francisco and Santa Cruz weather, we decided to drive to San Francisco's Presidio and hike around to the Golden Gate Bridge.. . . . We have previously hiked the Lands End Trail, but we wanted to try a different hike this time. After looking at the list of possible hikes on Alltrails, we decided to hike the Presidio Promenade…
Read More: Hiking Presidio and visiting The Legion of Honor
In the morning, we ate our last breakfast at the Premier Inn. I again selected the "Continental Breakfast" while Inna and Alex ate full hot breakfasts. I mainly ate cold cereal and a few pastries with coffee, while Alex and Inna ate some scrambled eggs.. . After breakfast, we quickly packed our belongings and checked out of the hotel. Once outside, I ordered UberX for…
Read More: Returning to Oakland
It's been a long time since I windsurfed at Sherman Island in Rio Vista, so I was excited to rediscover my old windsurfing spot (when I lived in Sacramento).. . . . The iwindsurf.com predicted 20+ knot winds on Saturday and Sunday, so I tried it out. Lately, I have been chiefly sailing at Coyote Point - since it's the closest location to my work…
Read More: Windsurfing Sherman Island
Today, we saw a TheatreWorks production of Hershey Felder's Beethoven. . . . The production primarily focuses on reminiscences of a Beethoven acquaintance while playing pieces of some of his most famous compositions, such as Moonlight Sonata, Pathetique, parts from Choral Symphony No. 9, and, of course, Fur Elise. . . . . . We enjoyed the concert, and Hershey Felder beautifully played Beethoven's famous…
Read More: Review: “Beethoven” at TheatreWorks (Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts)
Once the rains in San Jose finally stopped, I returned to mountain biking at Almaden Quicksilver Park and surrounding trails. However, I noticed that my rear tire was constantly losing pressure.. . . . . . . . At first, I took my 2011 Specialized FSR Stumpjumper S-Works FSR Carbon to Trail Head Cyclery. The mechanic there redid the rear tire. However, one week later,…
Read More: Return to Mountain Biking at Quicksilver Almaden County Park
Who knew that there was a nearby wildlife refuge in North San Jose?. . Steve Stolper suggested I join him on his bird-watching hike on the Mallard Slough Trail at the Don Edwards Wildlife Refuge in Milpitas?. . We met Steve at 1751 Grand Blvd, Alviso, CA 95002, where a parking lot leads to a small Educational Center.. . . . We saw many interesting…
Read More: Bird watching at Don Edwards Wildlife Refuge
After 25+ years of windsurfing on 20-year-old gear (1996 Ezzy Transformer sails, Aluminum Chinook booms, and PowerEx masts), I returned to the sport with new, modern gear.. . . . I found an excellent deal online at Isthmus Windsurfing, where Jon Massman was able to help me build a new quiver of sails based on 2016 Ezzy Elite sails and Ezzy Masts.. . I purchased…
Read More: Windsurfing Coyote Point on new Ezzy Elite sails
Since Friday, May 26, was a Juniper Holiday, Inna and I decided to see Monet's "The Early Years" exhibit at San Francisco's Legion of Honor Museum.. . The drive there was uneventful, though finding parking was a challenge. There were several intriguing sculptures in the courtyard of the museum. The sculptures looked like they were made from wet clay - yet they were solid.. .…
Read More: A Day out in San Francisco
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…
Read More: A Grand Day Out in SonomaToday, 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
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
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