A digital travel diary. · WP v1.08 · Updated
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
For our family day, we decided to try playing Bocce Ball at the local Campo di Bocce restaurant and Bocce ball game center. I made reservations for 1:30pm (90 minutes of playtime) on Sunday, October 2nd.. . . . While playing Bocce Ball, we ordered a few appetizers and entrees from the restaurant.. . Alex selected the following dishes for himself:. Garlic Bread. Caesar Salad.…
Read More: Campo di Bocce, Los Gatos
For my birthday, Inna surprised me by making reservations at the newly opened Bywater Restaurant in downtown Los Gatos. Since this restaurant was newly opened by David Kinch, the famous chef of the 3 Michelin-star rated Manresa (also in Los Gatos), we were eager to have a bite there.. . When I lived in Houston, CA (after graduating from Georgia Tech), I got used to…
Read More: The Bywater Restaurant in Los Gatos
I have never mountain biked at Monte Bello OSP in Palo Alto, so I went with the local South Bay Mountain Biking Meetup.. . I arrived at the Monte Bello parking lot around 9:40 am, ready for the 10:00am bike ride. I had changed both of the tires on my Specialized S-Works bike. I did not realize that these tubeless tires needed to be re-sealed…
Read More: Biking Monte Bello OSP
We planned to hike some trails near Stinson Beach (Mt. Tamalpais) for a while. While I have hiked Mt. Tamalpais with the Sierra Club in the past, I have never walked the proposed Dipsea Trail.. . The Dipsea Trail is at Highway 1 and Arenal Avenue in Stinson Beach.. . Since our friends ran late, we stopped by the nearby Parkside Cafe for breakfast. We…
Read More: Hiking Dipsea Trail at Stinson Beach
Today, we decided to hike the beautiful Big Basin Redwoods State Park near Santa Cruz, CA.. We have not hiked there for over 15 years and wanted to know what, if anything, has changed.. . The drive to Big Basin Redwoods from San Jose was uneventful. I drove on Highway 85 west, followed by Highway 9, south to 236. The narrow, twisty road was not…
Read More: Hiking Big Basin Redwoods
Today, we decided to explore the beautiful Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. To avoid early morning traffic on Highway 17, we woke up early and headed to the park around 9:00 am.. . It's one of the few California State Parks that allows dogs. Last week, we went to Shoreline and were disappointed to learn that no dogs are allowed, as it's considered a wildlife…
Read More: Hiking Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park
Today, we planned to enjoy our favorite beach near Santa Cruz - Manresa State Beach. Since it does tend to get crowded (with minimal car parking), we decided to leave early, stopping briefly at our local Whole Foods to get sandwiches for a picnic lunch.. . . . The traffic heading on Highway 17 was unusually light at 9:00 a.m., and we arrived at Manresa…
Read More: Boogie Boarding on Manresa Beach
Today, we saw a TheatreWorks production of Cyrano. Cyrano is based on a play by Edmond Rostand and adapted by Michael Hollinger and Aaron Posner.. . . . The roles of Cyrano, Roxane, and Christian were played by J. Anthony Crane, Sharon Rietkerk, and Chad Deverman, respectively. It takes place at two times: Paris and Arras in 1640, and then Paris in 1655.. . I…
Read More: Review: “Cyrano” at TheatreWorks (Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts)
After purchasing my Honda CRF250R dirt bike, I realized I needed additional training to get more comfortable. I repeated the Intro to Dirt class with Garrahan Off-Road Training in Hollister Hills SVRA, CA.. . The class was initially scheduled for Sunday, March 13. However, Brian moved the class to Saturday, March 12, due to the rainy weather.. . . . . On Saturday, March 12,…
Read More: Intro to Dirt at Hollister Hills SVRA
Today, we returned to Filoli Gardens in Woodside to see many beautiful flowers in bloom. Despite it being late February, many flowers bloomed in Northern California.. . The last time I visited Filoli was in May 2011; it looked very different from how it looks today. In February, many flowers (such as roses) had not yet bloomed, but others, like dandelions and early tulips, were…
Read More: Filoli Gardens, Woodside