A digital travel diary. · WP v1.08 · Updated
My wife purchased tickets to the Some Like It Hot! musical playing at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, October 25, 2025. . Before attending the performance, we decided to stop by Scott's Seafood in downtown San Jose for dinner. While traffic was light, we had difficulty finding inexpensive parking. The outdoor parking lot near the San Jose Center for the…
Read More: Some Like It Hot! in San Jose
For my birthday, Inna made dinner reservations at Dio Deka, our favorite Greek restaurant in Los Gatos. Fortunately, Alex was in town for his job interview and could join us for dinner. . . After parking near Los Gatos High School, we walked over and were seated inside. We looked at the menu and ordered the following items: . Appetizer: Soutzoukakia (over-baked lamb and beef…
Read More: Birthday Dinner at Dio Deka
On Saturday, September 13, Inna and I visited the Flower Piano show at the Golden Gate Gardens. We wanted to enjoy the sights and smells of beautiful flowers while listening to beautiful music. . When we arrived at Golden Gate Park, we had real difficulty finding parking. Eventually, we found a space many blocks away. After parking our Tesla, we stopped by Tartine Inner Sunset…
Read More: San Francisco Flower Piano
After my wing foiling session at Coyote Point, I drove to Palo Alto, where Inna had made dinner reservations for 18:00 at the highly-rated Ettan Indian Restaurant. . . We had eaten at Ettan last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. Ettan is extremely popular and challenging to reserve on short notice. . . After I had parked my Toyota Sienna in a nearby parking garage,…
Read More: Dinner at Ettan, Palo Alto
After checking the iwindsurf.com pro forecast, I decided to wing foil at the nearby Coyote Point. Being late August, winds are less reliable and can quickly die out. . . On arrival at Coyote Point (a 45-minute drive from San Jose) via US-101, the wind was showing as 16 knots. I decided to rig my brand-new Duotone Slick SLS 5.5m wing (to provide additional thrust…
Read More: Wing Foiling at Coyote Point
Since Alex was leaving for Georgia Tech (Atlanta, GA), we decided to treat him to dinner (and to celebrate his birthday, which we missed). . . . I found Joey Valley Fair on Google Maps and was surprised to see so many high ratings (for a local restaurant I had never heard of). I was intrigued, and Inna and I made reservations while we were…
Read More: Dinner at Joey Valley Fair
Inna found an exciting and highly regarded magic show in San Francisco and decided to purchase two tickets for Friday, June 27th, at 19:00. . I had never heard about the show, but I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised. Happily, Kevin Blake exceeded my expectations and had a wide variety of magic tricks to showcase. . . . . . A MODERN MAGIC SHOW.…
Read More: The Illusionist at Palace Theater
I have been a fan of James Blunt for a long time and was excited when I learned that he was touring the world with a stop in San Francisco. I purchased the best seats I could find (on the Spotify Presale) for June 26, 2025 (Section FLR-4, seats 15 and 16, at the Masonic Auditorium) . . The tickets indicated a start time of…
Read More: James Blunt Back to Bedlam 20th Anniversary Tour
With a free day at work (and no wind in the forecast), I decided to return to mountain biking at Almaden Quicksilver County Park. . . After I pumped up the tires and lubricated the chain, I loaded the bike into the Toyota Sienna minivan and drove for about 20 minutes to reach the Hacienda Entrance of Quicksilver County Park. . As it was around…
Read More: Biking Almaden Quicksilver County Park
On Saturday, June 21, Inna, Alex, and I decided to hike around Saratoga. Inna found a highly rated trail on AllTrails.com, called Seven Springs Trail, and we decided to hike it. . . The trail had panoramic views of the San Francisco Bay Area, including the new Apple campus in Cupertino. The grass was all yellow (burned out), so this hike might be more scenic…
Read More: Hiking Seven Springs Trail, Saratoga
After checking the iwindsurf.com forecast and noticing the crazy 25-30-knot winds, I decided to wing-foil at Coyote Point (since Crissy Field had wing-foiling championships and would be very busy). . . . On arrival at Coyote Point (a 45-minute drive from San Jose) via US-101, the wind was showing as 25 knots. It looked crazy windy on the water with large waves everywhere. . I…
Read More: Windy Day at Coyote Point
After checking the iwindsurf.com forecast, I decided to wing foil at the nearby Coyote Point. Inna decided to join me and watch me foil (and also stop by the nearby Equator Coffees coffee shop). . . . On arrival at Coyote Point (a 45-minute drive from San Jose) via US-101, the wind was showing as 14 knots, but the small wings used by most wing…
Read More: Wing Foiling a Coyote Point
With iwindsurf.com showing a favorable wind forecast for Saturday, June 7, 2025, Inna and I decided to drive to San Francisco so that I could wing foil at Crissy Field, and she could explore the various neighborhoods. . . I loaded up the Tesla Model Y with all my wing-foiling gear and started the drive around 10:15. There was usual traffic on the way, and…
Read More: Wing Foiling at Crissy Field
I have been listening to Hauser for a few years, so I was excited to hear that he would be touring the United States, with a stop in San Jose. I purchased tickets for the 8:00 pm show at the San Jose Civic on June 1, 2025. . . Here is a short video clip from the concert of Stjepan Hauser and Caroline Campbell performing…
Read More: Hauser – The Rebel is Back Tour
With the temperature in San Jose approaching 97 degrees Fahrenheit, we considered our escape to cooler climates. Initially, we considered visiting Crissy Field in San Francisco, but the traffic there was quite heavy (with a 90-minute drive time). . . Instead, we decided to revisit Pacifica, where temperatures were hovering around 60°F (and it was only a 50-minute drive). We loaded our Tesla Model Y…
Read More: Hike to Mori Point
Inna purchased tickets to Berkeley Rep's new production of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. We were pleasantly surprised and have not been to Berkeley Rep for a long time. Berkeley itself was also cleaner than when I last visited. . We really enjoyed this dramatic performance, and Hugh Bonneville's acting was excellent (as expected). . . . Here are more details about Uncle Vanya (courtesy of Perplexity…
Read More: Uncle Vanya at Berkeley Rep
Before seeing Uncle Vanya at Berkeley Rep, Inna and I decided to stop by the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden in Berkeley, CA. She has heard a lot of wonderful things about this garden, and we had never even been there! . The UC Botanical Garden is a living museum open to the public featuring one of the most diverse plant collections in the United States.…
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For Saturday night, Inna purchased tickets to Nobody Loves You - a musical hosted by ACT in San Francisco. . Before the 20:00 performance, we stopped by the Acropolis Greek Restaurant for dinner. After sitting down, we ordered the following items: . . Appetizers: Tzatziki with Pita, Greek Salad, Parthenon Ceviche. Drinks: Sparkling Water, Golden State Apple Cider. Boris: Lamb Souvlaki. Inna: Moussaka. . We…
Read More: Nobody Loves You at A.C.T.
On President's Day, Inna and I decided to visit a few shops in Palo Alto, then walk around Stanford University's campus. . . We first stopped by De Novo Fine Contemporary Jewelry, but it was closed on Presidents' Day. The nearby Marvel Cake bakery was also closed. . We decided to stop by Cafe Venetia for coffee and pastries. We found a table outside and…
Read More: Walking around Stanford
After my usual Sunday morning tennis (from 9:00 to 10:30 at Almaden Valley Athletic Club, we decided to drive to San Francisco and explore the city. Inna also purchased tickets to the "Dear San Francisco" show at Club Fugazi at 18:00. . . When we arrived in San Francisco at 13:00, we parked at Crissy Field (where I usually wing foil and windsurf). We talked…
Read More: Dear San Francisco at Club Fugazi