I just finished another book, the Best of the Realms volume 1 anthology. This is a book of short stories set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting in Dungeons and Dragons. It's not a great book, but one of my guilty pleasures is reading books like this; sometimes I like to not think when I'm reading. It's a good escape from the rigors of avoiding my school-related duties.
The fact that I read about (and play, when I can) D&D is a source of much chagrin for my wife. I have been playing since I was about 6, when my oldest brother introduced myself and my other brother to the game. I've played sporadically since then, and have always enjoyed it. I haven't gotten around to finding a group with whom I could play here in Socorro, but I reckon that, given the amount of time I already leave my wife bored and alone, it wouldn't fly very well if I was away an evening every week. Plus, I'm pretty sure I would be older than everybody else playing.
Next book on the reading list: The Highwayman by R.A. Salvatore, easily my favorite D&D novel author. I also met him once at Comic Con in San Diego. He was very nice. After that, it's some hard literature with a Dostoevsky excerpt. If you're looking at my blogger blog, my reading list is to the right.
And in just a few minutes we'll be leaving to go camping for the evening! Hurrah! Pictures to follow, hopefully.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Monday, March 26, 2007
Honeymoon pictures, YES.
You can go here to check out pictures of our honeymoon. FYI, I am NOT going to complete the Honeymoon days 8 and 10 entries in the blog. You can reconstruct day 8 from the pictures. Short recap of day 8: 15 miles of hiking, 2700' of elevation gain, a little snow, and some limping. No quiche. Day 10: drive, drive, drive. "Gas, brake, honk. Gas, brake, honk. Honk, honk, punch. Gas, gas, gas." Tour of Berkeley. Fly to Abq. Drive home. Fall asleep.
P.S. Quote is from Homer Simpson.
P.S. Quote is from Homer Simpson.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
No fake degree for you! Take that, Jeb!
Trolling the news stories, I ran across this: Jeb Bush denied honor at U. of Florida.
Apparently the faculty senate overturned a recommendation that Jeb be given an honorary degree from the UF. Of all the indignities! The university president said it was "unheard of" that a recommended person would be overturned by the senate. Maybe that's what happens when you recommend a controversial person, hmm.
Jeb actually has a degree, which he breezed through in a mere 2.5 years. He got his B.A. in Latin American studies at UT Austin. I wonder what the family thinks about him being a papist?
Well that blog was neither interesting nor informative.
Edit: This just in: Jeb given honorary alumnus status. I guess whatever works.
Apparently the faculty senate overturned a recommendation that Jeb be given an honorary degree from the UF. Of all the indignities! The university president said it was "unheard of" that a recommended person would be overturned by the senate. Maybe that's what happens when you recommend a controversial person, hmm.
Jeb actually has a degree, which he breezed through in a mere 2.5 years. He got his B.A. in Latin American studies at UT Austin. I wonder what the family thinks about him being a papist?
Well that blog was neither interesting nor informative.
Edit: This just in: Jeb given honorary alumnus status. I guess whatever works.
Friday, March 23, 2007
R.E.M. saves Darfur
OK, so not really. But they have recorded a song for an upcoming album of John Lennon music called Instant Karma: the Campaign to Save Darfur. Look here for the "video" of the song (consisting of the lyrics and a number of factoids about the shit going down in Sudan.
Now it's of course debatable that recording a song is the best way for a person to help people, but I guess if you're a musician it is very effective. The best way for me personally to help them would be to send letters to my congressman, and to send money. However, since the gumming already called it a genocide, I heartily doubt my letters would have any effect. Too many irons (or Irans or Iraqs) in the fire, so to speak.
Now it's of course debatable that recording a song is the best way for a person to help people, but I guess if you're a musician it is very effective. The best way for me personally to help them would be to send letters to my congressman, and to send money. However, since the gumming already called it a genocide, I heartily doubt my letters would have any effect. Too many irons (or Irans or Iraqs) in the fire, so to speak.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Hail yeah!
It just hailed here. Crazy amounts of hail, but it lasted no more than a couple minutes. The hail never got more than pea sized. But have I ever mentioned that I just love hail? Hail. There's something that seems vaguely unnatural about little spheres of ice falling from the sky.
The only thing I don't like about the hail is that it brings up many trepidations here in Socorro, due to this event.
The only thing I don't like about the hail is that it brings up many trepidations here in Socorro, due to this event.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
The Rio Grande in trouble? Who knew?!
The Rio made the list of the top ten most endangered rivers worldwide. The outflow is so low at the Gulf of Mexico that sea water is backing up into the estuary. This is threatening freshwater fish at the end of the river. According to the article, there are 69 species of fish (including the endangered silvery minnow) that are only found in the Rio.
I wish that the government here could enact legislation forcing water conservation. There's little to no grass in this state (unlike the incredible water sink Phoenix), but there's also whackloads of agriculture and (open, evaporating) canals running right through Socorro. But I also know that this kind of legislation won't happen, because people are comfortable and uninformed, and would rather jeopardize the water resources future of the desert than become interested in what is happening. This is the story in pretty much every environmental field today, not just water resources.
I wish that the government here could enact legislation forcing water conservation. There's little to no grass in this state (unlike the incredible water sink Phoenix), but there's also whackloads of agriculture and (open, evaporating) canals running right through Socorro. But I also know that this kind of legislation won't happen, because people are comfortable and uninformed, and would rather jeopardize the water resources future of the desert than become interested in what is happening. This is the story in pretty much every environmental field today, not just water resources.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Gay people: move to Tucson!
According to The Advocate, the following are the top 10 best places to live if you are part of the GLBT (or, if you're a gay-hater, you'll like this one better) community:
Columbus, Ohio
Dallas, Texas (WHAT?)
Ferndale, Michigan
Ithaca, New York
Lexington, Kentucky
Missoula, Montana
Portland, Oregon
San Diego, California
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Tucson, Arizona
Hooray for Tucson being accepting! Interestingly, check this out. According to this map, of those top 10 only 4 are in states that went blue in the last election; I would expect something more like the opposite distribution. Only one of these towns is up in New England. I find that sad. It is, however, exciting that Tucson is a good place for gay people. Maybe one day they'll be treated like real people.
Columbus, Ohio
Dallas, Texas (WHAT?)
Ferndale, Michigan
Ithaca, New York
Lexington, Kentucky
Missoula, Montana
Portland, Oregon
San Diego, California
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Tucson, Arizona
Hooray for Tucson being accepting! Interestingly, check this out. According to this map, of those top 10 only 4 are in states that went blue in the last election; I would expect something more like the opposite distribution. Only one of these towns is up in New England. I find that sad. It is, however, exciting that Tucson is a good place for gay people. Maybe one day they'll be treated like real people.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Honeymoon Day 9
Today was our second day at Yosemite. We started out with breakfast at the food court, and discovered something very important about the breakfast coupon scheme. Apparently, if you get the correct cashier, you can get pretty much anything with the coupon. Alison had oatmeal and toast, I had a breakfast sandwich (gross) and cocoa puffs, and we shared some eggs and hash browns. However, in addition to breakfast we discovered that we could each get a sandwich on our coupons, so we also got lunch. If anybody happens to read this and is going to Yosemite, they should keep this little tidbit in mind. If you're hiking all day, it is very useful to get lunch at the bottom anyway.
After breakfast we finished getting ready, then headed over to the Upper Yosemite Falls trail. Today, we were looking forward to a 7-mile round trip with 2700' of elevation gain. At the bottom of the trail, there was a sign that read: "This challenging wilderness trail zigzags up about 60 switchbacks to Columbia Rock. From this vantage point, about a mile up the trail, hikers can enjoy spectacular panoramic views of Yosemite Valley and the peaks beyond. An easy half-mile beyond Columbia Rock is the first view of Yosemite Falls. The trail steepens for the last two miles to the overlook at the brink of Upper Yosemite Falls." The final count runs like this. The first section of the trail contains 65 switchbacks in 1 mile. The middle, "easy" part has 8 in half a mile. The final section is 2 miles, and has 64 switchbacks. This hike took us about 6 hours to do a total of 9 miles. And at least 2/3 of the time was the way up. All the views were neat, and we definitely loved the hike, even though it was pretty strenuous in the biting 80 degree heat.
Our enjoyment was diminished somewhat by some of the other people on the trail with us. There were ridiculously many people on this trail with either little or no water, pretty dumb for a 7-mile (to the Upper Falls and back) hike over this kind of trail. Who hikes that far even on flat ground without water? Stupid people, that's who. People looked like they were about to pass out walking up this thing. We ended up passing everybody on the trail, and we're not even in very good shape. The NPS could also do a better job of warning people about the climb. Not that it would matter, but at least then they couldn't be blamed in any way. Also, apparently nobody wants you to pass them on the way down the mountain, because I think that not one group moved aside for us unless we had been breathing down their neck for a couple switchbacks already. I mean, I can't think of any other reason why we would be hiking so close behind them.
We got up to Upper Yosemite Falls around 12:30, and decided to have lunch up there. Our sandwiches were rather good, probably the best thing we've gotten at the cafeteria so far. We downed those, then decided to move on to Yosemite Point, from where you're supposed to have a good view of the Valley. The trail up here was mostly snow-covered, so we had to be bad people and follow footprints of people who didn't bother to use the trail in order to get up to the point. We didn't stay there very long, coming back down to Upper Yosemite Falls to actually go to the vantage point. The trail down to the viewpoint is super crazy, and they have hand rails installed to keep you from plunging over the sheer cliff face (part of the trail has the rail on the wall side of you, so there's nothing between you and certain death). Alison did much better than me here. We took some photos, then slowly climbed the stairs back up to the main vantage point.
We immediately took off for the bottom. On our way away from the overlook we ran into a couple guys in their 30's who had apparenty decided it would be a good idea to attempt the hike with absolutely no water or food or anything else, for that matter. They had both removed their shirts at some point, and had come up with the brilliant idea of using snow as a surrogate for water. That's right, they were eating the snow that had been on the ground, probably for months, collecting all sorts of tasty stuff. Now, it's one thing to not bring any water on a hike. It's quite another to decide that, when you get deathly thirsty and feel like you can't go on, you must recourse to eating snow to survive. It is quite a thirdly incredibly idiotic decision to then continue hiking to the top, relying on snow to keep you hydrated. Survival of the fittest, indeed.
On our way down, despite it getting on toward 3, we ran across many more people who were still climbing up toward the top. Some of them were a long ways from the top. We also passed some people on their way down about halfway down who we had passed about halfway up on our way up the mountain. They were taking it very slow, and looked like they were not really fit for this trail. Perhaps it is for people like them that they have a large number of spots in the parking lot reserved for Search & Rescue, a thing we didn't really appreciate until we had done the hike.
After finally reaching bottom, we headed back to our room to wash the sweat off, then went over to the Mountain Room Lounge for some well-deserved dinner and drinks (24 miles in 2 days with over a mile of elevation gain!). Alison started off with a Lemon Drop, but I stuck to non-alcoholic, caffeinated beverages at first. I worked on blogs for awhile, successfully saving over yesterday's after finishing it. After hanging out for a little, we moved toward the central fire pit to have dinner. It turns out that the "dinners" they offer there are pre-packaged, and pretty much the same thing that is available in the food court, only in the food court you don't feel compelled to pay somebody for unwrapping it for you. I still ordered the same turkey sandwich I'd had for lunch, and Alison ordered the brie and fruit plate. I tried the Yosemite Pale Ale, which was quite good, though heartily overpriced ($4.50 for a glass, not a pint - that's $6). After dinner we moved to the real reason we'd gone here for a meal - they offer a S'mores package for less than $3 that contains everything you need to make 4 S'mores. We toasted our marshmallows and made S'mores and generally had a fine time there. It was an excellent way to cap the evening. Plus, Alison got to watch some NCAA tournament basketball during dinner, so she was pretty jazzed about that too.
Following dinner we headed back to the room to get packed for the journey home. Since we had gotten so many souvenirs on our trip (such as the basket that Alison got for me in Mendocino, my good luck cat from Chinatown, and various sundry other things), we were pretty sure that our bags, overstuffed on the way out, were going to burst this time. However, we miraculously fit all of our stuff into our luggage with a tiny bit of room to spare. Things actually fit better this time than they had originally. Wild. This activity pretty much tired us out, so we went to bed soon after we were done.
After breakfast we finished getting ready, then headed over to the Upper Yosemite Falls trail. Today, we were looking forward to a 7-mile round trip with 2700' of elevation gain. At the bottom of the trail, there was a sign that read: "This challenging wilderness trail zigzags up about 60 switchbacks to Columbia Rock. From this vantage point, about a mile up the trail, hikers can enjoy spectacular panoramic views of Yosemite Valley and the peaks beyond. An easy half-mile beyond Columbia Rock is the first view of Yosemite Falls. The trail steepens for the last two miles to the overlook at the brink of Upper Yosemite Falls." The final count runs like this. The first section of the trail contains 65 switchbacks in 1 mile. The middle, "easy" part has 8 in half a mile. The final section is 2 miles, and has 64 switchbacks. This hike took us about 6 hours to do a total of 9 miles. And at least 2/3 of the time was the way up. All the views were neat, and we definitely loved the hike, even though it was pretty strenuous in the biting 80 degree heat.
Our enjoyment was diminished somewhat by some of the other people on the trail with us. There were ridiculously many people on this trail with either little or no water, pretty dumb for a 7-mile (to the Upper Falls and back) hike over this kind of trail. Who hikes that far even on flat ground without water? Stupid people, that's who. People looked like they were about to pass out walking up this thing. We ended up passing everybody on the trail, and we're not even in very good shape. The NPS could also do a better job of warning people about the climb. Not that it would matter, but at least then they couldn't be blamed in any way. Also, apparently nobody wants you to pass them on the way down the mountain, because I think that not one group moved aside for us unless we had been breathing down their neck for a couple switchbacks already. I mean, I can't think of any other reason why we would be hiking so close behind them.
We got up to Upper Yosemite Falls around 12:30, and decided to have lunch up there. Our sandwiches were rather good, probably the best thing we've gotten at the cafeteria so far. We downed those, then decided to move on to Yosemite Point, from where you're supposed to have a good view of the Valley. The trail up here was mostly snow-covered, so we had to be bad people and follow footprints of people who didn't bother to use the trail in order to get up to the point. We didn't stay there very long, coming back down to Upper Yosemite Falls to actually go to the vantage point. The trail down to the viewpoint is super crazy, and they have hand rails installed to keep you from plunging over the sheer cliff face (part of the trail has the rail on the wall side of you, so there's nothing between you and certain death). Alison did much better than me here. We took some photos, then slowly climbed the stairs back up to the main vantage point.
We immediately took off for the bottom. On our way away from the overlook we ran into a couple guys in their 30's who had apparenty decided it would be a good idea to attempt the hike with absolutely no water or food or anything else, for that matter. They had both removed their shirts at some point, and had come up with the brilliant idea of using snow as a surrogate for water. That's right, they were eating the snow that had been on the ground, probably for months, collecting all sorts of tasty stuff. Now, it's one thing to not bring any water on a hike. It's quite another to decide that, when you get deathly thirsty and feel like you can't go on, you must recourse to eating snow to survive. It is quite a thirdly incredibly idiotic decision to then continue hiking to the top, relying on snow to keep you hydrated. Survival of the fittest, indeed.
On our way down, despite it getting on toward 3, we ran across many more people who were still climbing up toward the top. Some of them were a long ways from the top. We also passed some people on their way down about halfway down who we had passed about halfway up on our way up the mountain. They were taking it very slow, and looked like they were not really fit for this trail. Perhaps it is for people like them that they have a large number of spots in the parking lot reserved for Search & Rescue, a thing we didn't really appreciate until we had done the hike.
After finally reaching bottom, we headed back to our room to wash the sweat off, then went over to the Mountain Room Lounge for some well-deserved dinner and drinks (24 miles in 2 days with over a mile of elevation gain!). Alison started off with a Lemon Drop, but I stuck to non-alcoholic, caffeinated beverages at first. I worked on blogs for awhile, successfully saving over yesterday's after finishing it. After hanging out for a little, we moved toward the central fire pit to have dinner. It turns out that the "dinners" they offer there are pre-packaged, and pretty much the same thing that is available in the food court, only in the food court you don't feel compelled to pay somebody for unwrapping it for you. I still ordered the same turkey sandwich I'd had for lunch, and Alison ordered the brie and fruit plate. I tried the Yosemite Pale Ale, which was quite good, though heartily overpriced ($4.50 for a glass, not a pint - that's $6). After dinner we moved to the real reason we'd gone here for a meal - they offer a S'mores package for less than $3 that contains everything you need to make 4 S'mores. We toasted our marshmallows and made S'mores and generally had a fine time there. It was an excellent way to cap the evening. Plus, Alison got to watch some NCAA tournament basketball during dinner, so she was pretty jazzed about that too.
Following dinner we headed back to the room to get packed for the journey home. Since we had gotten so many souvenirs on our trip (such as the basket that Alison got for me in Mendocino, my good luck cat from Chinatown, and various sundry other things), we were pretty sure that our bags, overstuffed on the way out, were going to burst this time. However, we miraculously fit all of our stuff into our luggage with a tiny bit of room to spare. Things actually fit better this time than they had originally. Wild. This activity pretty much tired us out, so we went to bed soon after we were done.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Honeymoon Day 7
Today we left the B&B behind and drove to Yosemite National Park. We started out with our last breakfast. The quiche-of-the-day was Black Forest Ham and Cheddar, and was quite tasty. I broke my no-pig-but-bacon rule for this quiche. Unfortunately, Alison was only able to eat one of the quiches on our stay there. If anybody vegetarian happens across this and is going to stay at Sea Rock (which we would definitely recommend), I might recommend that you let Barbara know that you need vegetarian-only quiches. There were so few people staying there with us (off-season) that I'm sure they would be happy to sort of modify the menu a little. In any case, all the quiches we ate were very tasty.
After taking off from Mendocino we headed down (South) the road (Highway 1) to Van Damme State Park again so I could see the Pygmy Forest. This area is a sequence of wave-cut ocean terraces that have been uplifted over time. They have stayed very flat, and are therefore poorly drained. Over time, some of them develop an iron hardpan, which further limits drainage and is often pretty shallow in the soil. What this all leads to is that the trees are unable to grow very tall, so they are pygmy. It wasn't terribly interesting, but it was a nice short hike and about all we did outside the car all day.
After leaving there we drove a few more miles south before hopping on highway 128 and heading east, leaving the ocean behind. Sad, but oh well. We drove through Navarro Redwoods State Park, which was super-beautiful. We then cruised through a bit of wine country in Mendocino County before passing into Sonoma County. There wasn't much to the countryside in this area and eventually we got to highway 101, one of the main thoroughfares linking the Bay Area with NoCal. This was pretty much all cities after awhile almost all the way to the Bay Area. We passed over the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, which was the first time we went through a double-decker bridge and were on the bottom level. Still, pretty views. We passed through Berkeley and waved hello to Jenny, then passed out to the east.
We finally stopped for lunch and gas around 1:30pm in a place called Pleasanton, although the only reason we know that is that it was printed on our gas receipt. No signs or anything. We had In-n-Out there, because it was almost the first one we had seen on the whole trip. We miss ours back in the Phx area. Once we finally figured out how to get back onto the 580, we passed two more In-n-Outs in the first several miles. Oh well. We also passed through Livermore, where LLNL and SNL/CA are. There, they had a Baja Fresh, where I plan on having every meal on Sunday.
After we got through Livermore we started descending into the Central Valley, and passed from Liberal country to Pombo country. Pretty different place. It took us another 3 hours to get to Yosemite after lunch, making about 6.5 hours total of driving on the day. Very long drive. And at the end of it, we still had to pay an entrance fee, even though we are staying at a hotel within the park. At least the entrance thing is good for up to 7 days.
It took us another half hour to finally get into the valley, where we stood in line and started to get the real Yosemite experience when we checked into the Yosemite Lodge at the Falls. At least the scenery was beautiful, because the car alarms and honking were not. After checking in we hauled our stuff over to our room and sat out on the porch before heading down to the Food Court for a late dinner. Alison had organic penne with vegan marinara sauce, and I had chili con carne and a side of mashed potatoes. It wasn't crazy expensive, but it wasn't all that good either. Basically cafeteria food at restaurant prices.
After dinner we headed over to the gift store to browse and found all sorts of neat things we didn't want or need, and, unlike when we were in Chinatown, we didn't buy anything. After that we headed back to the room and went to bed pretty early.
After taking off from Mendocino we headed down (South) the road (Highway 1) to Van Damme State Park again so I could see the Pygmy Forest. This area is a sequence of wave-cut ocean terraces that have been uplifted over time. They have stayed very flat, and are therefore poorly drained. Over time, some of them develop an iron hardpan, which further limits drainage and is often pretty shallow in the soil. What this all leads to is that the trees are unable to grow very tall, so they are pygmy. It wasn't terribly interesting, but it was a nice short hike and about all we did outside the car all day.
After leaving there we drove a few more miles south before hopping on highway 128 and heading east, leaving the ocean behind. Sad, but oh well. We drove through Navarro Redwoods State Park, which was super-beautiful. We then cruised through a bit of wine country in Mendocino County before passing into Sonoma County. There wasn't much to the countryside in this area and eventually we got to highway 101, one of the main thoroughfares linking the Bay Area with NoCal. This was pretty much all cities after awhile almost all the way to the Bay Area. We passed over the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, which was the first time we went through a double-decker bridge and were on the bottom level. Still, pretty views. We passed through Berkeley and waved hello to Jenny, then passed out to the east.
We finally stopped for lunch and gas around 1:30pm in a place called Pleasanton, although the only reason we know that is that it was printed on our gas receipt. No signs or anything. We had In-n-Out there, because it was almost the first one we had seen on the whole trip. We miss ours back in the Phx area. Once we finally figured out how to get back onto the 580, we passed two more In-n-Outs in the first several miles. Oh well. We also passed through Livermore, where LLNL and SNL/CA are. There, they had a Baja Fresh, where I plan on having every meal on Sunday.
After we got through Livermore we started descending into the Central Valley, and passed from Liberal country to Pombo country. Pretty different place. It took us another 3 hours to get to Yosemite after lunch, making about 6.5 hours total of driving on the day. Very long drive. And at the end of it, we still had to pay an entrance fee, even though we are staying at a hotel within the park. At least the entrance thing is good for up to 7 days.
It took us another half hour to finally get into the valley, where we stood in line and started to get the real Yosemite experience when we checked into the Yosemite Lodge at the Falls. At least the scenery was beautiful, because the car alarms and honking were not. After checking in we hauled our stuff over to our room and sat out on the porch before heading down to the Food Court for a late dinner. Alison had organic penne with vegan marinara sauce, and I had chili con carne and a side of mashed potatoes. It wasn't crazy expensive, but it wasn't all that good either. Basically cafeteria food at restaurant prices.
After dinner we headed over to the gift store to browse and found all sorts of neat things we didn't want or need, and, unlike when we were in Chinatown, we didn't buy anything. After that we headed back to the room and went to bed pretty early.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Honeymoon Day 6
Today was our last full day in Mendocino. We started out with breakfast (quiche-of-the-day: spinach feta, from which I removed the gross feta). We once again got up late today (8:15-ish), and what with DST moving everything back an hour, I've gotten worried about what will happen to me when we get back to Socorro. I have a hard enough time getting up in the morning as it is, without it still being dark.
We had seen a lot of things the last couple days, and we only had a couple of the B&B's recommendations left. First, we headed out to Jughandle State Reserve, whose entire point is some sort of 2.5-mile nature trail called the Ecological Staircase which shows the floral changes associated with the different ocean terraces here (due to tectonic uplift of the coast). However, the list of places didn't specify the length of this hike, and we just weren't up for it right before lunchtime. Maybe if we'd gotten lunch, but even then I don't know that we would have been super excited. Plus the trail was out at one point. So instead we went out to do our favorite activity, sit on the seacliff and look out. We had still (probably) not seen any whales on the trip, so we were thinking that maybe, just maybe one would appear.
After a very short wait, we started seeing sprays of water coming up out of the water. I hurried back to the car (for some reason we had left the binoculars there) and hurried back. We spent a long time (1 - 1.5 hours) just sitting there staring at the whales, as well as at a "stork" who was doing some fishing and then entertained us with his attempts to down his slithery prey. It was super neat. It's too bad we don't have some sort of super-zoom for our camera so we could have taken pictures of the whales to share, but suffice to say that it was quite an experience. We never got to see much of a whale (I think I once caught one's entire tail out of the water, but I didn't have binos) but it was still amazing to think of how much whale there was that was not visible. Great times.
After that we went back into Fort Bragg to see about lunch. We had seen the North Coast Brewing Company the day before, and I wanted to go there to have a local microbrew. But when we finally got there, we discovered that they don't open up until 2pm on Wednesdays. So instead we went down the street to Taka's Grill, a Japanese place. I had Chicken Udon ($6.75) and Alison had Inari ($5) and a vegetable roll ($4.35). The Udon was good, although the chicken was not completely to my liking. Our waitress was kind of strange (new there too), and she messed up my order (wrote down a vegetable roll for me too), then when I told her so she promised to get my udon out in a hurry, and took the vegetable roll for her own lunch.
After lunch we had an ice cream sandwich next door at Cowlicks Ice Cream, which was super good. After this there was just one more place to see on the list, so we left Fort Bragg behind (bye-dee-bye) and headed back to go south of Mendocino. We were in search of Spring Ranch State Park (which is apparently part of Van Damme State Park). To get there, you pull off Highway 1 at a specified point, and basically start walking toward the ocean. There's a trail. We spent a little time at the seacliff looking for whales, but not much since we had spent so much time earlier. Instead, we just walked around a little bit to locate the "postcard views of Mendocino" advertised on the B&B hiking tip sheet (note: never really found). We spent a little bit of time trying to get a good picture of a mini-blowhole in the rock, but it never really came out. Also, we looked a bit at the sealife clinging to the cliff face. Afterwards, we picked our way down to the beach to look around down there. The neatest thing we found was a waterfall that emanated from a spring up high on the cliff, which discharged directly onto the sand, where it immediately percolated underground. There wasn't even a pool under the waterfall, much less a stream coming out of it. Super neat. We also saw some anenome-like creatures and more barnacles and such. I took a few close-up pictures of a probably dead crab. Then we climbed back up to the terrace, and hiked out to drive back to the B&B.
At the B&B we got out our complimentary half-bottle of white wine and some organic cheddar cheese we had bought the day before in Fort Bragg and headed out to the clifftop benches across the street. We sat there for awhile just drinking, eating, and listening to the ocean. It was beautiful. Alison claims to have liked the wine, but she only had half a glass while I was forced to drink the other 2.5 glasses in the bottle. Luckily it was pretty good wine, as far as wine goes. When we finished, we headed back to the room to get caught up on internet stuff, and to get ready for dinner.
We left for dinner at 7, and decided to hit the Mendocino Cafe again (where we had dinner on Sunday). We both got the same thing we had had the previous time (Chicken Quesadilla for me, Thai Burrito for Alison), and I also had a Wolaver's Organic Pale Ale. This stuff isn't pasteurized, so perhaps it was a little past its prime (bottled back in October). In any event, it was a little skunky and bitter, as IPAs are wont to be. I don't know if I'll have it again.
After dinner we headed back to the B&B to get ready to leave in the morning. Tomorrow is going to be a long day of lots of driving to make it to Yosemite, where there will probably not be internet access (no more blogging!). Hopefully we can make it there without chains!
We had seen a lot of things the last couple days, and we only had a couple of the B&B's recommendations left. First, we headed out to Jughandle State Reserve, whose entire point is some sort of 2.5-mile nature trail called the Ecological Staircase which shows the floral changes associated with the different ocean terraces here (due to tectonic uplift of the coast). However, the list of places didn't specify the length of this hike, and we just weren't up for it right before lunchtime. Maybe if we'd gotten lunch, but even then I don't know that we would have been super excited. Plus the trail was out at one point. So instead we went out to do our favorite activity, sit on the seacliff and look out. We had still (probably) not seen any whales on the trip, so we were thinking that maybe, just maybe one would appear.
After a very short wait, we started seeing sprays of water coming up out of the water. I hurried back to the car (for some reason we had left the binoculars there) and hurried back. We spent a long time (1 - 1.5 hours) just sitting there staring at the whales, as well as at a "stork" who was doing some fishing and then entertained us with his attempts to down his slithery prey. It was super neat. It's too bad we don't have some sort of super-zoom for our camera so we could have taken pictures of the whales to share, but suffice to say that it was quite an experience. We never got to see much of a whale (I think I once caught one's entire tail out of the water, but I didn't have binos) but it was still amazing to think of how much whale there was that was not visible. Great times.
After that we went back into Fort Bragg to see about lunch. We had seen the North Coast Brewing Company the day before, and I wanted to go there to have a local microbrew. But when we finally got there, we discovered that they don't open up until 2pm on Wednesdays. So instead we went down the street to Taka's Grill, a Japanese place. I had Chicken Udon ($6.75) and Alison had Inari ($5) and a vegetable roll ($4.35). The Udon was good, although the chicken was not completely to my liking. Our waitress was kind of strange (new there too), and she messed up my order (wrote down a vegetable roll for me too), then when I told her so she promised to get my udon out in a hurry, and took the vegetable roll for her own lunch.
After lunch we had an ice cream sandwich next door at Cowlicks Ice Cream, which was super good. After this there was just one more place to see on the list, so we left Fort Bragg behind (bye-dee-bye) and headed back to go south of Mendocino. We were in search of Spring Ranch State Park (which is apparently part of Van Damme State Park). To get there, you pull off Highway 1 at a specified point, and basically start walking toward the ocean. There's a trail. We spent a little time at the seacliff looking for whales, but not much since we had spent so much time earlier. Instead, we just walked around a little bit to locate the "postcard views of Mendocino" advertised on the B&B hiking tip sheet (note: never really found). We spent a little bit of time trying to get a good picture of a mini-blowhole in the rock, but it never really came out. Also, we looked a bit at the sealife clinging to the cliff face. Afterwards, we picked our way down to the beach to look around down there. The neatest thing we found was a waterfall that emanated from a spring up high on the cliff, which discharged directly onto the sand, where it immediately percolated underground. There wasn't even a pool under the waterfall, much less a stream coming out of it. Super neat. We also saw some anenome-like creatures and more barnacles and such. I took a few close-up pictures of a probably dead crab. Then we climbed back up to the terrace, and hiked out to drive back to the B&B.
At the B&B we got out our complimentary half-bottle of white wine and some organic cheddar cheese we had bought the day before in Fort Bragg and headed out to the clifftop benches across the street. We sat there for awhile just drinking, eating, and listening to the ocean. It was beautiful. Alison claims to have liked the wine, but she only had half a glass while I was forced to drink the other 2.5 glasses in the bottle. Luckily it was pretty good wine, as far as wine goes. When we finished, we headed back to the room to get caught up on internet stuff, and to get ready for dinner.
We left for dinner at 7, and decided to hit the Mendocino Cafe again (where we had dinner on Sunday). We both got the same thing we had had the previous time (Chicken Quesadilla for me, Thai Burrito for Alison), and I also had a Wolaver's Organic Pale Ale. This stuff isn't pasteurized, so perhaps it was a little past its prime (bottled back in October). In any event, it was a little skunky and bitter, as IPAs are wont to be. I don't know if I'll have it again.
After dinner we headed back to the B&B to get ready to leave in the morning. Tomorrow is going to be a long day of lots of driving to make it to Yosemite, where there will probably not be internet access (no more blogging!). Hopefully we can make it there without chains!
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Honeymoon Day 5
Today we got up and headed down to breakfast. Quiche-of-the-day: quiche lorraine, which I had for dinner the night before. This quiche contains cheese and bacon. I loved it, and had two slices with two english muffins. I am now fatter than I was before.
On today's agenda we had a number of places to visit up north in the Fort Bragg area, about 10 minutes north of Mendocino. First we stopped at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, which I thoroughly enjoyed ($7.50 per person admission). We discovered lots of things that we'd like to plant in our garden (rhododendrons and magnolias) when we have a garden. One neat thing is that they actually had a vegetable garden in the botanical gardens. They also had, on a bridge over a stream, a sign that read "No coins necessary to operate stream." apparently meant to combat coin-throwing-related problems.
We spent some time on the seacliff here too, trying to find us some whales. I think I may have seen a spray at one point, but we were never sure and the time spent ended up being unproductive. Oh well.
After this we went to the north side of town to visit Glass Beach. According to the website, this used to be a city dump, meaning that there is probably an incredible array of terribly nasty things there now. However, since it has been closed for three decades the beach is now pretty much all polished glass. Kind of neat, although not a real time sink. Plus, there was some sort of hobo camp gathering there, so we decided not to stick around too long. One of the hobos was being very mean to his dog too.
In town we got lunch at the Laurel Deli, which was sort of train-themed to go with the general terminus-of-the-Skunk-Train theme. The sandwiches (California Club for me, Vegetable Sandwich for Alison) were excellent, and we ate there for little more than $20! Apparently things in Fort Bragg are substantially less expensive than in Mendocino, although the town is also not quite as nice. If pressed, we could afford to live and eat in Fort Bragg, and spend all of our off-time in Mendocino hanging out at the headlands.
From lunch we headed north out of town to MacKerricher State Park. This park actually had somebody at the check-in station, but day use was free. Weird. This park is notable for the resident colony of Harbor Seals, as well as purported whale sightings. There is a whale skeleton next to the visitor center from a guy that just got tuckered out and washed up on shore.
First thing we headed down to the seal colony to check them out. I had never seen seals before, so I was pretty excited. Turns out that seals are about the laziest animals ever. They spent the whole time lying on the rocks, sometimes lifting their heads or moving an appendage. Once in a while one would get in the water, but they never did anything exciting. Good thing for them they're cute, or they'd have already been hunted out of existence for sure. We left the seal area to go to the beach, and headed south to the rocky beach section to look around.
Next we headed over to Lake Cleone, where we took a quick hike around it. Apparently, if I have followed the logic of the signage correctly, Lake Cleone is home to a herd of some sort of lake cow. Also, there was a bird there that we took some pictures of, since it was just hanging out on a lakeside branch checking us out.
After the lake we went back to the beach, where we followed the Haul Road north along the sandy part of the beach. The Haul Road used to be a railroad that evil loggers used to transport their ill-gotten gains to mills and such. This was a nice walk, and we just sort of ambled along and took some pictures. Aside from the road apples, we enjoyed it. At one point we came across a creek that was trying to make its way to the ocean. It terminated maybe 20 feet away, but was steadily moving down the beach. I took a movie of it, because the patterns were really interesting; it would be making slow forward progress in one part of its channel, then another part of the channel would start flowing and the first area would either stop making forward progress or actually start regressing. In any event, you could see the permeability of the sand on easy demonstration, as most of the creek water just disappeared.
After MacKerricher we bought gas (a CA-record low $2.999 per gallon) and headed back down to Mendocino to see about dinner. We went by Mendo Burger, which was closed until Wednesday, and to the Moosse Cafe, but discovered that it was also closed. Restaurants being closed the first part of the week is apparently very common in Mendocino. We ended up getting dinner at Tote Fete, a takeout place in town. I got a California Club (again), and Alison got a pesto, artichoke, and ?? sandwich. Reasonable prices because sandwiches were 50% off. We also got a twice-baked potato (way too much sour cream) and some butternut squash, which would have been better hot. After dinner we returned to the B&B and watched some more Office.
On today's agenda we had a number of places to visit up north in the Fort Bragg area, about 10 minutes north of Mendocino. First we stopped at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, which I thoroughly enjoyed ($7.50 per person admission). We discovered lots of things that we'd like to plant in our garden (rhododendrons and magnolias) when we have a garden. One neat thing is that they actually had a vegetable garden in the botanical gardens. They also had, on a bridge over a stream, a sign that read "No coins necessary to operate stream." apparently meant to combat coin-throwing-related problems.
We spent some time on the seacliff here too, trying to find us some whales. I think I may have seen a spray at one point, but we were never sure and the time spent ended up being unproductive. Oh well.
After this we went to the north side of town to visit Glass Beach. According to the website, this used to be a city dump, meaning that there is probably an incredible array of terribly nasty things there now. However, since it has been closed for three decades the beach is now pretty much all polished glass. Kind of neat, although not a real time sink. Plus, there was some sort of hobo camp gathering there, so we decided not to stick around too long. One of the hobos was being very mean to his dog too.
In town we got lunch at the Laurel Deli, which was sort of train-themed to go with the general terminus-of-the-Skunk-Train theme. The sandwiches (California Club for me, Vegetable Sandwich for Alison) were excellent, and we ate there for little more than $20! Apparently things in Fort Bragg are substantially less expensive than in Mendocino, although the town is also not quite as nice. If pressed, we could afford to live and eat in Fort Bragg, and spend all of our off-time in Mendocino hanging out at the headlands.
From lunch we headed north out of town to MacKerricher State Park. This park actually had somebody at the check-in station, but day use was free. Weird. This park is notable for the resident colony of Harbor Seals, as well as purported whale sightings. There is a whale skeleton next to the visitor center from a guy that just got tuckered out and washed up on shore.
First thing we headed down to the seal colony to check them out. I had never seen seals before, so I was pretty excited. Turns out that seals are about the laziest animals ever. They spent the whole time lying on the rocks, sometimes lifting their heads or moving an appendage. Once in a while one would get in the water, but they never did anything exciting. Good thing for them they're cute, or they'd have already been hunted out of existence for sure. We left the seal area to go to the beach, and headed south to the rocky beach section to look around.
Next we headed over to Lake Cleone, where we took a quick hike around it. Apparently, if I have followed the logic of the signage correctly, Lake Cleone is home to a herd of some sort of lake cow. Also, there was a bird there that we took some pictures of, since it was just hanging out on a lakeside branch checking us out.
After the lake we went back to the beach, where we followed the Haul Road north along the sandy part of the beach. The Haul Road used to be a railroad that evil loggers used to transport their ill-gotten gains to mills and such. This was a nice walk, and we just sort of ambled along and took some pictures. Aside from the road apples, we enjoyed it. At one point we came across a creek that was trying to make its way to the ocean. It terminated maybe 20 feet away, but was steadily moving down the beach. I took a movie of it, because the patterns were really interesting; it would be making slow forward progress in one part of its channel, then another part of the channel would start flowing and the first area would either stop making forward progress or actually start regressing. In any event, you could see the permeability of the sand on easy demonstration, as most of the creek water just disappeared.
After MacKerricher we bought gas (a CA-record low $2.999 per gallon) and headed back down to Mendocino to see about dinner. We went by Mendo Burger, which was closed until Wednesday, and to the Moosse Cafe, but discovered that it was also closed. Restaurants being closed the first part of the week is apparently very common in Mendocino. We ended up getting dinner at Tote Fete, a takeout place in town. I got a California Club (again), and Alison got a pesto, artichoke, and ?? sandwich. Reasonable prices because sandwiches were 50% off. We also got a twice-baked potato (way too much sour cream) and some butternut squash, which would have been better hot. After dinner we returned to the B&B and watched some more Office.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Honeymoon Day 4
Today we started exploring the Mendocino area. We got up not-so-early (8:30-ish) to enjoy the nice bed in our cottage (#2). After breakfast (quiche-of-the-day: mushroom swiss. eww) we headed out to check out the countryside.
First, we went to Point Cabrillo Light Station. We gave the actual lighthouse a miss completely, and just spent our time looking at the ocean. On our way out we saw some deer, which was pretty exciting. We just hung out at clifftop for awhile, taking some pictures and enjoying the sights, and waiting for a whale to swim up to us. Alas, that never happened, we got bored, and we left.
From there we headed just south to Russian Gulch State Park, which was given to California back in the 30's, and they haven't done anything to it since. The roads were kind of bad, and there was nobody at the check-in station, but we dutifully put our $6 in the envelope like good little kids. I wonder how many other people in the park that day did the same.
First thing in Russian Gulch we did was the long hike to the waterfall. That totalled around 5.5 miles round-trip. This hike was definitely up my alley, with lots of gigantic redwood stumps and other pretty vegetation. Alison wished she could see farther. But some of the stumps must have been 35 feet in circumference. And many of the stumps had smaller trees growing out of them. We ate lunch at a little picnic area (bagels stolen from breakfast, and cheese and crackers from the basket Alison had put in the room for me), then continued on toward the falls. The falls were shorter than Arethusa (N.H.), but there were about a hundred fewer people there (just us). So it was still pretty nice. We took some pictures, then decided to go back the way we came, rather than continue on the long way around. On the way down we came across a slug (banana?).
After the falls hike we went to the headlands and had a snack before wandering around and taking some more pictures from the seacliffs. There was a blowhole there that was connected to the ocean through a tunnel, but the tide was pretty low so it did not do anything impressive. We did see a lot of tunnels in the rock on this coast, and took pictures of more than a few.
After the headlands we headed down to the park's beach. We took some more photos there, and I almost got stranded by the rising tide and a creek. I nearly died, especially when my foot got slightly wet during a high-stakes, adrenaline-fueled river crossing. It was very dangerous.
We left Russian Gulch satisfied, and moved on to the Mendocino Headlands State Park, which is pretty much located in town here. Apparently, way back when the citizens of Mendocino decided that they shouldn't let any crazy person try to live out on the headlands, where the winds are stupid strong. So they parked it all up. We wandered around there for not a lot of time, taking pictures and freezing our kiesters. We stayed in town for dinner, going to the Mendocino Bakery and Cafe, where we picked up some food (Quiche Lorraine for me, some other kind of quiche + green salad for Alison). They were about to close, so we took our dinner to go and headed back to the B&B to eat on the porch.
After this we decided to act on the many recommendations in the journal in our room and head over to Cafe Beaujolais to see what the dessert fare was like. We had already looked at their dinner menu, and decided not to spend all our money there. We shared a Ghirardelli Lava Cake ($7, and really small) with waters all around. I don't think that our waitress was amused, as it was likely a record for least money ever spent by a couple there. Not a place to go for the un-moneyed.
Dessert was the last thing in our day. After that we headed back to the B&B to watch us some Office and fall asleep.
First, we went to Point Cabrillo Light Station. We gave the actual lighthouse a miss completely, and just spent our time looking at the ocean. On our way out we saw some deer, which was pretty exciting. We just hung out at clifftop for awhile, taking some pictures and enjoying the sights, and waiting for a whale to swim up to us. Alas, that never happened, we got bored, and we left.
From there we headed just south to Russian Gulch State Park, which was given to California back in the 30's, and they haven't done anything to it since. The roads were kind of bad, and there was nobody at the check-in station, but we dutifully put our $6 in the envelope like good little kids. I wonder how many other people in the park that day did the same.
First thing in Russian Gulch we did was the long hike to the waterfall. That totalled around 5.5 miles round-trip. This hike was definitely up my alley, with lots of gigantic redwood stumps and other pretty vegetation. Alison wished she could see farther. But some of the stumps must have been 35 feet in circumference. And many of the stumps had smaller trees growing out of them. We ate lunch at a little picnic area (bagels stolen from breakfast, and cheese and crackers from the basket Alison had put in the room for me), then continued on toward the falls. The falls were shorter than Arethusa (N.H.), but there were about a hundred fewer people there (just us). So it was still pretty nice. We took some pictures, then decided to go back the way we came, rather than continue on the long way around. On the way down we came across a slug (banana?).
After the falls hike we went to the headlands and had a snack before wandering around and taking some more pictures from the seacliffs. There was a blowhole there that was connected to the ocean through a tunnel, but the tide was pretty low so it did not do anything impressive. We did see a lot of tunnels in the rock on this coast, and took pictures of more than a few.
After the headlands we headed down to the park's beach. We took some more photos there, and I almost got stranded by the rising tide and a creek. I nearly died, especially when my foot got slightly wet during a high-stakes, adrenaline-fueled river crossing. It was very dangerous.
We left Russian Gulch satisfied, and moved on to the Mendocino Headlands State Park, which is pretty much located in town here. Apparently, way back when the citizens of Mendocino decided that they shouldn't let any crazy person try to live out on the headlands, where the winds are stupid strong. So they parked it all up. We wandered around there for not a lot of time, taking pictures and freezing our kiesters. We stayed in town for dinner, going to the Mendocino Bakery and Cafe, where we picked up some food (Quiche Lorraine for me, some other kind of quiche + green salad for Alison). They were about to close, so we took our dinner to go and headed back to the B&B to eat on the porch.
After this we decided to act on the many recommendations in the journal in our room and head over to Cafe Beaujolais to see what the dessert fare was like. We had already looked at their dinner menu, and decided not to spend all our money there. We shared a Ghirardelli Lava Cake ($7, and really small) with waters all around. I don't think that our waitress was amused, as it was likely a record for least money ever spent by a couple there. Not a place to go for the un-moneyed.
Dessert was the last thing in our day. After that we headed back to the B&B to watch us some Office and fall asleep.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Honeymoon Day 3
Today we got up early (sprung forward = lost an hour of sleep) to have breakfast in bed before packing our bags and driving over the Golden Gate Bridge out of San Francisco. I was sad to leave SF since I loved it so much, but we were about to hop onto the Pacific Coast Highway to drive north to Mendocino. I've always wanted to spend a week driving the length of the PCH, but after today I know it would take more like a month. I had to pull over every 10 minutes to let a few cars past, since I drove way slower than all the locals. It took us about 6 hours to drive the 190 miles, including lunch.
Even so, Highway 1 was beautiful and I would love to have stopped every half hour to take a bunch of pictures, but I was worried about getting into Mendocino before dark (neglecting to remember, of course, that with the early onset of DST the sun doesn't actually set until about 9 o'clock the next morning).
We stopped for lunch at a place called Timber Cove Inn, which is apparently a gathering place of sorts for yuppie motorcyclists. It was very strange. After they let us know that they were out of fries and tuna and a soup of the day, I got a turkey sandwich and Alison a grilled-cheese sandwich. The sandwich was good enough, although pretty small for costing $7. Alison's sandwich was pretty much Kraft singles on Wonder bread, with it not even having been cooked long enough for the cheese to melt all the way. For that, it only cost $5. This meal was pretty much the least bang for the buck I've ever had. The only nice things about the place were the two cats roaming around and the incredible view out the restaurant window.
We left there and continued on to Mendocino, making better time to the north of the super-curvy parts. We got into Mendocino at around 4pm, found our B&B (the Sea Rock Inn), and checked in. We walked accross the street to a little bench area the Inn owns and had some sparkling cider, crackers and cheese, and fruit, a surprise that Alison cooked up for me. It was an absolutely beautiful view, but we were both a little too tired to sit there for too long. We headed back and Alison napped while I read.
At 7 I finally roused Alison and we headed into town by foot to find some dinner. It wasn't a long walk, but we were unsure about where in town to go, so we spent some time wandering around before finally settling on the Mendocino Cafe. Food in town is super expensive. I got a (free-range) chicken quesadilla ($12) that was super good (salsa spiciness - 4/10), and Alison got a Thai Burrito ($12) that she loved. Probably our best meal so far on this trip. We ate outside on the patio and watched the sun set over the ocean.
Leaving there around 8:30 we discovered that it was pretty dark out, and that there are no street lights on the road back to the B&B. Nothing else to do, we hiked back without really being able to see. You could still see and hear the surf crashing on the beach at the base of the cliffs despite the dark. We made it safely, and are going to fire up the fireplace tonight, drink the rest of the cider, and maybe watch some Office. If I still have legs in the morning, tomorrow will be another full day.
Even so, Highway 1 was beautiful and I would love to have stopped every half hour to take a bunch of pictures, but I was worried about getting into Mendocino before dark (neglecting to remember, of course, that with the early onset of DST the sun doesn't actually set until about 9 o'clock the next morning).
We stopped for lunch at a place called Timber Cove Inn, which is apparently a gathering place of sorts for yuppie motorcyclists. It was very strange. After they let us know that they were out of fries and tuna and a soup of the day, I got a turkey sandwich and Alison a grilled-cheese sandwich. The sandwich was good enough, although pretty small for costing $7. Alison's sandwich was pretty much Kraft singles on Wonder bread, with it not even having been cooked long enough for the cheese to melt all the way. For that, it only cost $5. This meal was pretty much the least bang for the buck I've ever had. The only nice things about the place were the two cats roaming around and the incredible view out the restaurant window.
We left there and continued on to Mendocino, making better time to the north of the super-curvy parts. We got into Mendocino at around 4pm, found our B&B (the Sea Rock Inn), and checked in. We walked accross the street to a little bench area the Inn owns and had some sparkling cider, crackers and cheese, and fruit, a surprise that Alison cooked up for me. It was an absolutely beautiful view, but we were both a little too tired to sit there for too long. We headed back and Alison napped while I read.
At 7 I finally roused Alison and we headed into town by foot to find some dinner. It wasn't a long walk, but we were unsure about where in town to go, so we spent some time wandering around before finally settling on the Mendocino Cafe. Food in town is super expensive. I got a (free-range) chicken quesadilla ($12) that was super good (salsa spiciness - 4/10), and Alison got a Thai Burrito ($12) that she loved. Probably our best meal so far on this trip. We ate outside on the patio and watched the sun set over the ocean.
Leaving there around 8:30 we discovered that it was pretty dark out, and that there are no street lights on the road back to the B&B. Nothing else to do, we hiked back without really being able to see. You could still see and hear the surf crashing on the beach at the base of the cliffs despite the dark. We made it safely, and are going to fire up the fireplace tonight, drink the rest of the cider, and maybe watch some Office. If I still have legs in the morning, tomorrow will be another full day.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Honeymoon Day 2
We love B&Bs and wish we could afford to stay in them all the time. This morning we had breafast delivered to the room at 7:30. Not a terribly exciting breakfast, but it included fresh fruit and fresh-squeezed OJ and hot cocoa and several other things.
After breakfast, we headed down to the waterfront again. The first thing we saw when we stepped out of the B&B was a crowd of Chinese expats doing Tai Chi in the morning light of Washington Square. I would love to have that in my Saturday Morning schedule every week.
Reaching the waterfront, we sped through Fisherman's Wharf and got over to Fort Mason, which is an old military installation on the bay. From here we could see the Golden Gate Bridge, so I took about a hundred pictures of it as we walked West. We continued down the coast through Marina Green and Crissy Field and finally got to the Bridge, where there were many, many people. If I lived in San Francisco, I would personally do everything I could to avoid that area on the weekend, but there was an incredible number of people using the Bridge (and the coastal trail) as a running path. I'm sure I would love to have such a nice view on a run, but they seemed annoyed when we didn't move out of their way quickly enough, or when they had to slow down to accomodate us.
We walked to the first tower on the Bridge, then turned around and headed back.
We turned right instead of left and headed out towards Land's End via Baker Beach. The exact location of Land's End remains a mystery to us, but we got a number of beautiful views on this hike. At one point, a wave of fog rolled in to obscure our view, but it quickly passed on. We got to Seal Rocks, where we ate lunch at the Seal Rocks Inn. From there, we went down to the Cliff House, where there was once some sort of glass-domed tide-filled baths built in the late 19th century by a man with too much money. We opted not to go downhill since we had already hiked upwards of 5 miles, and instead skipped the baths and set out for the Golden Gate Park.
Golden Gate Park was super neat, all green and lush. It is also a 3-mile long, very eclectic mix of attractions. We saw the Dutch Windmill, where Alison says last time she came to SF there was a multitude of beautiful tulips. Just a few this time. From there we went over to the bison enclosure, where they have produced 100 bison calves in something like 110 years. Next we walked past the Polo Field, then on to Stow Lake. We were on a quest to find the Japanese Tea Garden, and located it shortly thereafter. After the $4 admission, we were swiftly disillusioned of the expected peace and solitude of this beautiful place. Turns out Saturday is a day when parents take their uncontrollables out to places where they think they can let them run around, so the Tea Garden was instead very loud and crowded. We enjoyed it as best we could, and shelled out an additional $7.50 for tea and cookies. When we live here I look forward to going here some weekday when nobody else is around and hanging out in the serenity.
After the Tea Garden it was getting on toward 4, so we decided to skip the 4-mile hike back to the B&B and board the bus. It was pretty empty when we got on, but swiftly filled to capacity when we went through Haight Ashbury, which has somehow gone from being a hippie enclave to being a trendy shopping place for the emo crowd. We successfully tranferred to another line to drive back through Chinatown and up to our B&B.
After showering we went downstairs to raid the social hour (wine, cheese, and crackers), then waited for Jenny to join us for dinner. We went to an Italian place in North Beach called Calzone's that was slightly scary, but had good food. they have a number of tables set up on the sidewalk, but all the chairs are on one side of the tables. I guess it's so they don't crowd, but I think they try to sit the "beautiful people" out there for free advertising.
After dinner we went to a pub called O'Reilly's where we had way too much to drink for us lightweights. Unfortunately there was no local brew on tap (they had Anchor Steam, but it's well-known and the tap was broken anyway), so I had to settle for some name brands. I made Jenny really mad at me, and she may never forgive me. After leaving the bar we escorted her back down to Market St. so she could catch the BART back to Berkeley. After that Alison and I basically passed out as soon as we got back to the hotel.
After breakfast, we headed down to the waterfront again. The first thing we saw when we stepped out of the B&B was a crowd of Chinese expats doing Tai Chi in the morning light of Washington Square. I would love to have that in my Saturday Morning schedule every week.
Reaching the waterfront, we sped through Fisherman's Wharf and got over to Fort Mason, which is an old military installation on the bay. From here we could see the Golden Gate Bridge, so I took about a hundred pictures of it as we walked West. We continued down the coast through Marina Green and Crissy Field and finally got to the Bridge, where there were many, many people. If I lived in San Francisco, I would personally do everything I could to avoid that area on the weekend, but there was an incredible number of people using the Bridge (and the coastal trail) as a running path. I'm sure I would love to have such a nice view on a run, but they seemed annoyed when we didn't move out of their way quickly enough, or when they had to slow down to accomodate us.
We walked to the first tower on the Bridge, then turned around and headed back.
We turned right instead of left and headed out towards Land's End via Baker Beach. The exact location of Land's End remains a mystery to us, but we got a number of beautiful views on this hike. At one point, a wave of fog rolled in to obscure our view, but it quickly passed on. We got to Seal Rocks, where we ate lunch at the Seal Rocks Inn. From there, we went down to the Cliff House, where there was once some sort of glass-domed tide-filled baths built in the late 19th century by a man with too much money. We opted not to go downhill since we had already hiked upwards of 5 miles, and instead skipped the baths and set out for the Golden Gate Park.
Golden Gate Park was super neat, all green and lush. It is also a 3-mile long, very eclectic mix of attractions. We saw the Dutch Windmill, where Alison says last time she came to SF there was a multitude of beautiful tulips. Just a few this time. From there we went over to the bison enclosure, where they have produced 100 bison calves in something like 110 years. Next we walked past the Polo Field, then on to Stow Lake. We were on a quest to find the Japanese Tea Garden, and located it shortly thereafter. After the $4 admission, we were swiftly disillusioned of the expected peace and solitude of this beautiful place. Turns out Saturday is a day when parents take their uncontrollables out to places where they think they can let them run around, so the Tea Garden was instead very loud and crowded. We enjoyed it as best we could, and shelled out an additional $7.50 for tea and cookies. When we live here I look forward to going here some weekday when nobody else is around and hanging out in the serenity.
After the Tea Garden it was getting on toward 4, so we decided to skip the 4-mile hike back to the B&B and board the bus. It was pretty empty when we got on, but swiftly filled to capacity when we went through Haight Ashbury, which has somehow gone from being a hippie enclave to being a trendy shopping place for the emo crowd. We successfully tranferred to another line to drive back through Chinatown and up to our B&B.
After showering we went downstairs to raid the social hour (wine, cheese, and crackers), then waited for Jenny to join us for dinner. We went to an Italian place in North Beach called Calzone's that was slightly scary, but had good food. they have a number of tables set up on the sidewalk, but all the chairs are on one side of the tables. I guess it's so they don't crowd, but I think they try to sit the "beautiful people" out there for free advertising.
After dinner we went to a pub called O'Reilly's where we had way too much to drink for us lightweights. Unfortunately there was no local brew on tap (they had Anchor Steam, but it's well-known and the tap was broken anyway), so I had to settle for some name brands. I made Jenny really mad at me, and she may never forgive me. After leaving the bar we escorted her back down to Market St. so she could catch the BART back to Berkeley. After that Alison and I basically passed out as soon as we got back to the hotel.
Friday, March 9, 2007
Honeymoon Day 1
Today we got to San Fran. We got up at 3:15 am PST to pack up and leave the Motel 6 in Albuquerque to get ourselves to the Sunport. The flights were OK, and we made sure to get good and loaded up with caffeine. Or at least I did. Do only annoying people fly, or is it just that those are the only people we notice?
We hopped a shuttle to get to the rental car area, which for some reason is only vaguely associated with the Oakland airport (it's at least a mile away). The rental car guy tried to scam us out of some money but Alison brought the hammer down. Driving in California is always stressful for us small-town folk, but I decided the best tactic would be to position the car behind a big-rig that was going slow and just follow. Worked like a charm, although he had to switch rigs a number of times. I was super excited when, shortly after leaving the rental car place, we drove past McAfee Colisseum, where the Oakland A's play. We didn't stop to gawk, but it was neat all the same.
We arrived in San Francisco at lunch time. After much consternation and signage so bad a Mainerd might get lost, we found our way to Pac Bell/SBC/AT&T Park, where the Giants play. We found a pretty good parking space, surprisingly, although we had some trouble corralling coins for the meter. Had a slice in a pizza place that was pretty tasty, then headed down to the park. I had the idea of going on a tour (a lot of good things have been said about this stadium), but there were no tours due to some sort of God concert. Sorry, God rock concert. So instead we walked around the outside a little and took some pictures.
After this we offloaded the car in a garage and dropped off our luggage at the B&B on Washington Square. Luckily they didn't have the room ready or this likely would have been the end of our day. Instead we walked over to Telegraph Hill and Coit Tower and looked around up there, then headed down to the waterfront. We went to Pier 39 and Fishermen's Wharf, and were too late to catch a boat to Alcatraz. To make up for it, we went over to Ghirardelli Square and shared a cookie bottom sundae. To work that off, we immediately started finding the longest and steepest hills we could so we could walk up them. We went up Russian Hill, then walked down the super-crookedy part of Lombard street. From here we decided we'd had enough of downhill and went up Nob Hill, and walked by Grace Cathedral. Back to the south we skipped over to Union Square, which, as it turns out, is all shopping and such. We did not stay there long enough to take any photos.
From Union Square we headed north to Chinatown, which I was very excited about seeing. Not so much for Alison (she's been there). We went to a bunch of cheapo markets there and bought some stuff we probably don't need, but can justify because it's our honeymoon. My favorite pickups were the good-luck cat and the set of Mah-Jongg tiles. Alison got a cute bag and a loose-leaf tea brewing pot. We ate at a place called Snow Garden, where the food was pretty good though not great (we're starved for good Chinese in NM) and the attendance was super low. I guess nobody eats at 5. Alison spent most of the dinner trying to will a crab out of its death-trap aquarium. It never did make it, poor guy.
We headed back to the B&B to drop off stuff, then went looking for (and found!) the City Lights bookstore, home to beat poetry, progressive thinking, and general dissent. It was a neat place, although with over 20 books in the queue I was browsing. Alison bought a couple of books, one out of which we will surely get a lot of use. From here it was finally back to the room for a shower and some sleep. We got to bed around 9:30 pm PST, which means we were up for 18.25 hours on day one. And with several miles hiked over hilly terrain, we were pooped.
We hopped a shuttle to get to the rental car area, which for some reason is only vaguely associated with the Oakland airport (it's at least a mile away). The rental car guy tried to scam us out of some money but Alison brought the hammer down. Driving in California is always stressful for us small-town folk, but I decided the best tactic would be to position the car behind a big-rig that was going slow and just follow. Worked like a charm, although he had to switch rigs a number of times. I was super excited when, shortly after leaving the rental car place, we drove past McAfee Colisseum, where the Oakland A's play. We didn't stop to gawk, but it was neat all the same.
We arrived in San Francisco at lunch time. After much consternation and signage so bad a Mainerd might get lost, we found our way to Pac Bell/SBC/AT&T Park, where the Giants play. We found a pretty good parking space, surprisingly, although we had some trouble corralling coins for the meter. Had a slice in a pizza place that was pretty tasty, then headed down to the park. I had the idea of going on a tour (a lot of good things have been said about this stadium), but there were no tours due to some sort of God concert. Sorry, God rock concert. So instead we walked around the outside a little and took some pictures.
After this we offloaded the car in a garage and dropped off our luggage at the B&B on Washington Square. Luckily they didn't have the room ready or this likely would have been the end of our day. Instead we walked over to Telegraph Hill and Coit Tower and looked around up there, then headed down to the waterfront. We went to Pier 39 and Fishermen's Wharf, and were too late to catch a boat to Alcatraz. To make up for it, we went over to Ghirardelli Square and shared a cookie bottom sundae. To work that off, we immediately started finding the longest and steepest hills we could so we could walk up them. We went up Russian Hill, then walked down the super-crookedy part of Lombard street. From here we decided we'd had enough of downhill and went up Nob Hill, and walked by Grace Cathedral. Back to the south we skipped over to Union Square, which, as it turns out, is all shopping and such. We did not stay there long enough to take any photos.
From Union Square we headed north to Chinatown, which I was very excited about seeing. Not so much for Alison (she's been there). We went to a bunch of cheapo markets there and bought some stuff we probably don't need, but can justify because it's our honeymoon. My favorite pickups were the good-luck cat and the set of Mah-Jongg tiles. Alison got a cute bag and a loose-leaf tea brewing pot. We ate at a place called Snow Garden, where the food was pretty good though not great (we're starved for good Chinese in NM) and the attendance was super low. I guess nobody eats at 5. Alison spent most of the dinner trying to will a crab out of its death-trap aquarium. It never did make it, poor guy.
We headed back to the B&B to drop off stuff, then went looking for (and found!) the City Lights bookstore, home to beat poetry, progressive thinking, and general dissent. It was a neat place, although with over 20 books in the queue I was browsing. Alison bought a couple of books, one out of which we will surely get a lot of use. From here it was finally back to the room for a shower and some sleep. We got to bed around 9:30 pm PST, which means we were up for 18.25 hours on day one. And with several miles hiked over hilly terrain, we were pooped.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Baseball!
Wow, it's been 2 weeks since I last posted. Alison is kicking my ass this month. So I'll post today about something that nobody is going to care about.
Spring Training has started back in the ol' A.Z. and we're missing out on it this year. This is very sad. Not that I took nearly enough advantage of having 12 major league teams in my vicinity when I lived there; I only saw something like half of those teams play, and that in only 4 different stadiums. I wish now that I had gone to all (10?) of the stadiums just to see what they're like. I have been to the following:
1. Tucson Electric Park (Tucson), home of the White Sox (until next year, when they will move to Goodyear) and the new, aesthetically-different Dbacks. Also, the Tucson Sidewinders play there during the year.
2. Hi Corbett Field (Tucson), home of the Colorado Rockies since they came into existence in 1993. Before that, it was the home of the Cleveland Indians. Also, the Tucson Toros used to play there, until the Dbacks came into being, the Sidewinders were created to be their AAA team, and TEP was built (1998). I remember those days!
3. Phoenix Municipal Stadium (Phoenix), home of the Oakland A's. This stadium is really close to Tempe and ASU's campus. Also, apparently the Phoenix Firebirds used to play here before moving to Scottsdale. They were the AAA team for the Giants.
4. Tempe Diablo Stadium (Tempe), home of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim which is in California located on the Pacific Coast of the United States of America in the Western Hemisphere of the planet Earth in the Solar System in the Milky Way in this particular Universe.
The following stadiums I have not been to for spring training:
1. Scottsdale Stadium (Scottsdale), home of the Giants. I have been to this stadium, but only for the World Baseball Classic, where I was embarassed to see fans make fun of the poor South African team, which lost badly to the U.S. all-stars. Jerks.
2. Peoria Sports Complex (Peoria), home of the Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres.
3. Maryvale Baseball Park (Phoenix, home of the Milwaukee Brewers.
4. HoHoKam Park (Mesa), home of the Chicago Cubs.
5. Surprise Stadium (Surprise), home of the Texas Rangers and the Kansas City Royals. I've never been here, but I saw it being constructed back when I was working.
So now what? I'll have to go back some time and check out the rest of these, plus the one they're building out in Goodyear for 2009, when the Los Angeles Dodgers will be coming out to Arizona. I hear tell that the Indians will be coming out too. The White Sox are also moving up to Goodyear with the Dodgers. I haven't yet found out whether the Indians are going to be moving into TEP.
I guess the upshot is that I miss it, and I didn't take enough advantage of it when I had it. That's always the way. Now I'm just looking forward to the good old Omaha Royals, who I grew up watching in the beautiful Rosenblatt Stadium. They're coming to Albuquerque to play against the Simpsons inspired Isotopes twice this year. I'll be sure to wear my Omaha gear!
Spring Training has started back in the ol' A.Z. and we're missing out on it this year. This is very sad. Not that I took nearly enough advantage of having 12 major league teams in my vicinity when I lived there; I only saw something like half of those teams play, and that in only 4 different stadiums. I wish now that I had gone to all (10?) of the stadiums just to see what they're like. I have been to the following:
1. Tucson Electric Park (Tucson), home of the White Sox (until next year, when they will move to Goodyear) and the new, aesthetically-different Dbacks. Also, the Tucson Sidewinders play there during the year.
2. Hi Corbett Field (Tucson), home of the Colorado Rockies since they came into existence in 1993. Before that, it was the home of the Cleveland Indians. Also, the Tucson Toros used to play there, until the Dbacks came into being, the Sidewinders were created to be their AAA team, and TEP was built (1998). I remember those days!
3. Phoenix Municipal Stadium (Phoenix), home of the Oakland A's. This stadium is really close to Tempe and ASU's campus. Also, apparently the Phoenix Firebirds used to play here before moving to Scottsdale. They were the AAA team for the Giants.
4. Tempe Diablo Stadium (Tempe), home of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim which is in California located on the Pacific Coast of the United States of America in the Western Hemisphere of the planet Earth in the Solar System in the Milky Way in this particular Universe.
The following stadiums I have not been to for spring training:
1. Scottsdale Stadium (Scottsdale), home of the Giants. I have been to this stadium, but only for the World Baseball Classic, where I was embarassed to see fans make fun of the poor South African team, which lost badly to the U.S. all-stars. Jerks.
2. Peoria Sports Complex (Peoria), home of the Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres.
3. Maryvale Baseball Park (Phoenix, home of the Milwaukee Brewers.
4. HoHoKam Park (Mesa), home of the Chicago Cubs.
5. Surprise Stadium (Surprise), home of the Texas Rangers and the Kansas City Royals. I've never been here, but I saw it being constructed back when I was working.
So now what? I'll have to go back some time and check out the rest of these, plus the one they're building out in Goodyear for 2009, when the Los Angeles Dodgers will be coming out to Arizona. I hear tell that the Indians will be coming out too. The White Sox are also moving up to Goodyear with the Dodgers. I haven't yet found out whether the Indians are going to be moving into TEP.
I guess the upshot is that I miss it, and I didn't take enough advantage of it when I had it. That's always the way. Now I'm just looking forward to the good old Omaha Royals, who I grew up watching in the beautiful Rosenblatt Stadium. They're coming to Albuquerque to play against the Simpsons inspired Isotopes twice this year. I'll be sure to wear my Omaha gear!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
