Kayaking the City (i.e. Geek meets Outdoors meets City)

Since Sarah jetted out of town to London for the week, I figured that it would be a perfect opportunity to take on a manly kayak trip. Not a 20 minute "let's just get out on the water" trip that we normally take, but a real, long kayak paddle.

OK, that's not the real story. The real story is that Sarah makes fun of me every time I pull out my GPS. So, with her safely 6,000 miles away, I was able to GPS to my heart's content.

So, I set out from AT&T Park (PacBell, SBC, whatever), and headed towards Ferry Plaza.

Here's a nice picture of me off the coast of The Gap headquarters. Now there's a site you don't normally see when kayaking! (I apologize for the poor photo quality, but my Razr phone only does so well...)

After about an hour of paddling into some stiff headwinds, I finally made it up to Ghiradelli Square. Here's another nice picture of me (OK, the tip of my kayak) looking at Ghiradelli Square from the water.

Finally, the best part of the trip happened long after I was off of the water: downloading my waypoints from the GPS into the mapping software! Sweet, eh? The yellow line with the black dots is my route, in case you were wondering.



In case you need some stats, check out the table to the left. Oh yeah, that was well over 9 miles. 9.07, to be exact!

Max speed? Yeah, that was 5.6 mph.

GPS? Worth every penny!






Of course, I do miss Sarah. Well, maybe...

;-)

 

Ferrari Central

For Men Only!

A few weeks ago, I dragged Sarah to Infineon Raceway up in Napa to check out the Ferrari Challenge. Basically, it was rich dudes who raced their own Ferraris, and car geeks like myself drooling in the stands. Below are some highlights.

Smurf-to-Breakers!

San Fransicso is a strange place. Where else can you see several Elvis (Elvi?), the US Jump Roping Team, a pink elephant, way too many hairy naked old guys, and 62,000 other people drinking their way along a 12K (7.46 mile) race?

Bay to Breakers is an annual race in San Francisco that began in 1912 as a way to get the city back on it's feet (literally) after the 1906 earthquake. That race has transformed over the years into "a testament to San Francisco’s uniqueness and audacity," as you will see.

This year, we just couldn't stop our inner Smurfs. We had to race! A friend of Sarah's put together a bid for the Guinness Book of World Records that was something to the theme of "the most people dressed up as Smurfs." Since there was not a previous record in this category, I think that we may have it locked up (we'll keep you posted).

In this year's race, Gilbert Okari, 27, of Kenya (shocking!), was the first man to finish. He did so in 34 minutes, 20 seconds. For comparison, it took our group 53 minutes and 35 seconds just to get to mile 2.

Anyway, here are some of the highlights:







Sarah, getting all smurfed up prior to the race.

The smurfs gather...

The giant mushroom (housing DJ Gargamel and 6 taps of smurf-tastic brew)!

Brainy Smurf (Calvin from Canada) and Sassette Smurf finally make it to Mile 2! Whew! Only 5.46 more miles to go!

That damn mushroom only ran on smurf-power!

And smurfs weren't the only celebrities there!

Happy New Year!

We hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas, and a few days off from work to get some R&R. Jay and I took the non-traditional approach to the holidays this year and traveled to Europe to celebrate Christmas, New Year’s and my birthday (yes, it’s an official holiday now!). After a grueling 12 hour flight, we landed in London on Christmas Eve morning. We explored the city and had afternoon tea at a swank hotel by Hyde Park … later that night we attended the midnight service at Westminster Abbey, complete with carols from the choir! On Christmas we exchanged the gifts we brought with us and called our families to say hello... here I am getting ready to call the kids!

The next two days we saw the sights and walked almost the entire city on foot, popping into pubs whenever we got cold, or in Jay’s case, thirsty for a Guinness.

Next we traveled by train to Paris and on to Nice… the train was fun, Jay had his face stuck to the window for most of the trip. I used the time to relax and read a great book (thanks Sherri!), which felt luxurious - no email, no phone, no IM = heaven! Nice was fantastic, the wine and open air markets were really amazing and we only wish we had more time to shop and eat there! The architecture was just what you would expect and was most impressive around sunset when the colors were magnified by the pinkish hues of the sky. Luckily the Matisse museum was open and we walked through town and up into the hills to check it out - very impressive, I think we actually learned something on this trip!
The water and beaches were beautiful (although rocky) and the sun was out every day (a nice change from London!). We also visited Cannes and Monaco, doing lots of window shopping at the high-end stores! The only place we really bought anything was at Lenotre, a chocolate shop that we couldn’t resist. Jay claims the éclair he had was the best “confection” of his life. And yes, real men do eat éclairs!! I was happy to find birthday cotton candy in Monaco, my favorite dessert!

Back in Paris for the last leg of our trip, we set out for more chocolate and were not disappointed… we’re still savoring the last few pieces of our loot. I also had the best cocktail of my life at the Four Seasons hotel (naturally). It was also by far the most expensive cocktail of my life. But since it was my birthday, I went ahead and had two! At this point in the trip, Jay was drinking soda so I rationalized a second pricey drink on my part was completely justifiable. So, you’re probably asking yourself “why was Jay drinking soda?” Well, let’s just say the foie gras from the night before didn’t agree with him and as of today, it’s been about six or seven days since Jay’s really eaten. We even took a field trip to the ER near our hotel to have him checked out… my French was a bit flimsy as I couldn’t recall learning any medical terms in school!!

So I guess if you boil it all down, the trip was really all about searching out great food and drinks, which probably isn’t too surprising to anyone out there… best wishes to everyone for a happy and healthy 2006!

A Jaunt to Joshua Tree

A few weeks ago (actually, the end of October, so several weeks ago), we spent a long weekend in the Palm Springs/Joshua Tree area of Southern California. I'm not sure what we were expecting, but it was a very intersting trip!

First of all, before we got to Joshua Tree, we spend the day in Palm Springs - better known as "God's Waiting Room" due to the overwhelming number of old people. The place is a desert oasis, if you're definition of refuge consists of golf courses and "homes for active seniors." I was expecting something like Rodeo Drive in the desert, but it was more like Del Boca Vista. The only thing that wasn't unexpected was the heat - which I'll quantify as "pretty damn hot." But hey, it's a dry heat.

Joshua Tree Nat'l Park is about an hour's drive from Palm Springs (which is about 2 hours from LA) through the southern part of the vast and inhospitible Mojave Desert. Well, it's vast, but there are about 4 small towns along the way, including Yucca Valley and Twentynine Palms.

Joshua Tree NP consists of several different ecosystems, and has elevations ranging from 500 to 5,000 feet. The northern desert is characterized by stands of spike-like ocotillo plants and “jumping” cholla cactus. The northern part of the park contains the habitat of the Joshua tree. And, the western most part of the park, above 4,000 feet, provides habitat for juniper and pinyon pine.

The trip was fairly uneventful, but it was interesting to see that the desert is nothing like the stretches of sand dunes that us East Coasters are led to believe. There are tons of plants and animals, and suprisingly, lots of water. Browse through the pictures below and see the diversity for yourself.

A teddy bear cactus and a yucca plant. The yucca is related to the Joshua tree, as you'll see in the pictures, but the name difference between "tree" and "plant" is apparent.

Sarah getting a closer look at some of the desert vegitation in this seasonal stream. Bird life was very plentiful in the park, and this area was also full of bugs, lizards and other creatures.

Some of the rocky outcroppings that make Joshua Tree such a destination for rock climbers.

The Joshua tree "forests" looked like orchards. The trees were almost perfectly spaced, and appeared to be in rows that were planned and designed.

Sarah, piloting our intrepid Sebring convertible through the desert.

Probably the most disturbing image of the trip was the smog cutting through the Palm Springs valley. According to the guide, there is one pass through the mountains east of Los Angeles that acts like a funnel and sucks the LA fog into Palm Springs and Joshua Tree NP.

In the middle of the park, there is a man-made lake, created by ranchers back in the good old days to water their grazing cattle. There is much more water in the desert that we ever imagined - you just need to know where to look.

Does Sarah ever follow directions?

Under the stars and the Joshua trees at our luxury campground accomodations.

Smarter, Funnier, and so grown up!

Hi everyone! I've just returned from Florida, where I had a blast hanging out with Ty, Jake and Alli for a few days. My visit was free but hanging with the kids always makes me feel like a million bucks.




Ty is starting the 2nd grade this year and he is really looking forward to starting school (and seeing his favorite gal pal, Victoria!). Ty is reading a lot and is always intensely-focused on whatever he is doing. During my visit, Ty asked me to play video games with him and Jake ... I obliged and they were very disappointed when I beat them... twice! I have to say I was pretty happy with my performance at NBA All Star Hoops given I had a) never played the game before, b) really dislike video games, and c) showed them aunt sarah isn't as old as they might think!




Jake is starting the 1st grade this year, and quite frankly, dreading the entire back to school thing. At the school orientation, I asked Jake if he liked where his desk was, and he answered "No, I just want to sit somewhere else all by myself." OK.... good luck with getting his homework done every night, Holly! Speaking of which, Jake and I worked on his summer project together and had a lot of fun - he even decided to do extra decorating after we had done all of the required elements. We made a mobile featuring scenes from an Arthur book, including a lobster with googly eyes, holding a feather. Sometimes Jake seems lost in his own little world, but every 30 minutes or so he will say something that makes you realize he's been listening all along. He's a smart - and very clever - little boy and loves to make faces at the camera and make everyone around him laugh (hello, middle child!!).

Alli.... well, where do I start? She is raring to go... to school, to dance class, to shop at the mall, you name it! Alli is SO excited to start school this year. She'll go three days a week and will have the same teacher Ty and Jake had. She is also signed up for dance lessons and has already started practicing with her Bella Ballerina video tape. She's probably also the most articulate of the three... actually, on any given day i think she could out-talk anyone in the family (even Mom!), Ha!

All in all, a very fun trip! We managed to see March of the Penguins, go to Busch Gardens, go to Channelside for bowling and the Aquarium, and spend plenty of time in the pool! A very busy five days!