Blog: Entries Tagged With 'hiking'
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Denver Trip - Thursday, May 8, 2025
The qualities that Priscilla considers when determining what place we should travel to next, in order of most important to less important:
1. Cost of airfare
2. What airport lounges we'll be able to visit
3. What free hotel nights we can use
4. The activities that will be available
Because she feels like we don't travel enough, and because Frontier Airlines was having a sale on flights to Denver, Priscilla was all too happy to book another trip for us. Flights from Burbank to Denver were $26, a steal by any measure. Of course, Frontier has its downsides and we had to rebook after they canceled our original flight, but at last we made it to the Mile High City last week.
The rest of the day was spent getting settled: picking up the rental car, getting a few grocery items from Costco, and driving to our hotel in Golden. We wanted to be in Golden due to its proximity to hiking, though that can probably be said about most places in the Denver area.
I had originally wanted to do an all-day hike in a more remote area, but those places tend to be at a higher elevation and, as I would later find out, are still getting snow at this time of the year. So we were consigned to doing two shorter (well, my definition of "short") hikes over two days.
So on Day 2, we hiked at Red Rocks Park, Priscilla doing 5 miles and me doing another 2.5 miles on top of that. The rock formations there were pretty unique and made for a scenic hike, and it was cool to see the famous outdoor amphitheatre. We hit up the gift shop and Priscilla bought a keychain that will be this year's Christmas ornament.
After hiking, we drove over to Downtown Golden to get lunch and walk around some more. The downtown area looks really nice, and they have a creek that's full of water and a walkway on both sides. It was similar to the San Antonio Riverwalk but less commercial. We even saw someone paddling around in a kayak.
We hiked at Green Mountain on Day 3. Priscilla was not fond of the elevation, but we finally made it to the summit. The scenery was beautiful and the panoramic views were lovely. The whole area was filled with green grassy hills, and to the west in the distance, we could see the amphitheatre at Red Rocks Park. There were small mountains as far as the eye could see, and behind those rose the snow-capped peaks of the Rocky Mountains.
In the afternoon, we headed over to Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge (which is not in the actual Rocky Mountains) to do the wildlife drive. It was a warm day, and perhaps as a result, we didn't see a lot of animals out. Priscilla had downloaded a podcast that narrated the 11-mile self-guided drive. We saw what appeared to be buffalo off in the distance, a field of prairie dogs, and a couple deer resting beneath a tree. The visit was a bit of a letdown, but I know that timing matters for these kinds of places.
That evening, we checked into the Staybridge Suites near the airport, which would be our home for the final two days. We had a small but functional kitchenette, and they even upgraded us to a two bedroom, two bathroom suite! It was cool to have two sides, but we ended up not using the other side since we didn't want to make more work for housekeeping.
Day 4 was Meow Wolf's Convergence Station. It's hard to completely describe what Meow Wolf is, but perhaps I'll call it an eclectic collection of immersive art, a thematic universe with an unfolding story.
We bought the QPass (RFID) card so that we could interact with consoles and unlock the story. But because it was a Sunday, the place was crowded and we weren't able to get our hands on everything. I appreciated the huge amount of work that went into creating this place, but I felt like it was a one and done kind of experience. The abstract, artistic style at teamLab Borderless in Tokyo was much more our cup of tea.
After Meow Wolf, we walked over to Downtown Denver but didn't do too much. Downtown Golden was a lot nicer; for instance, the river trail in Downtown Denver didn't have as much water and was a little run down.
Monday was our last day and was essentially just travel. We hit up the Capital One Lounge (courtesy of Priscilla's Venture X card) at Denver International Airport before flying Southwest back to Burbank. The lounge was fine, but I couldn't eat most of the food and I felt like the counterpart lounge at DFW had more food options and amenities. Priscilla, of course, is happy with anything she can get for free.
Overall, Denver was fun enough and I'm glad that we got to do a couple popular hikes. But what would really be up my alley is an all-day hike/run where I can explore and feel like I'm challenging myself. Priscilla and I agree that I can do that on my own while she hits up a coffee shop and explores the town for the day. Whether one of those days is really in the cards is going to be up to me.
1. Cost of airfare
2. What airport lounges we'll be able to visit
3. What free hotel nights we can use
4. The activities that will be available
Because she feels like we don't travel enough, and because Frontier Airlines was having a sale on flights to Denver, Priscilla was all too happy to book another trip for us. Flights from Burbank to Denver were $26, a steal by any measure. Of course, Frontier has its downsides and we had to rebook after they canceled our original flight, but at last we made it to the Mile High City last week.
The rest of the day was spent getting settled: picking up the rental car, getting a few grocery items from Costco, and driving to our hotel in Golden. We wanted to be in Golden due to its proximity to hiking, though that can probably be said about most places in the Denver area.
I had originally wanted to do an all-day hike in a more remote area, but those places tend to be at a higher elevation and, as I would later find out, are still getting snow at this time of the year. So we were consigned to doing two shorter (well, my definition of "short") hikes over two days.
So on Day 2, we hiked at Red Rocks Park, Priscilla doing 5 miles and me doing another 2.5 miles on top of that. The rock formations there were pretty unique and made for a scenic hike, and it was cool to see the famous outdoor amphitheatre. We hit up the gift shop and Priscilla bought a keychain that will be this year's Christmas ornament.
After hiking, we drove over to Downtown Golden to get lunch and walk around some more. The downtown area looks really nice, and they have a creek that's full of water and a walkway on both sides. It was similar to the San Antonio Riverwalk but less commercial. We even saw someone paddling around in a kayak.
We hiked at Green Mountain on Day 3. Priscilla was not fond of the elevation, but we finally made it to the summit. The scenery was beautiful and the panoramic views were lovely. The whole area was filled with green grassy hills, and to the west in the distance, we could see the amphitheatre at Red Rocks Park. There were small mountains as far as the eye could see, and behind those rose the snow-capped peaks of the Rocky Mountains.
In the afternoon, we headed over to Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge (which is not in the actual Rocky Mountains) to do the wildlife drive. It was a warm day, and perhaps as a result, we didn't see a lot of animals out. Priscilla had downloaded a podcast that narrated the 11-mile self-guided drive. We saw what appeared to be buffalo off in the distance, a field of prairie dogs, and a couple deer resting beneath a tree. The visit was a bit of a letdown, but I know that timing matters for these kinds of places.
That evening, we checked into the Staybridge Suites near the airport, which would be our home for the final two days. We had a small but functional kitchenette, and they even upgraded us to a two bedroom, two bathroom suite! It was cool to have two sides, but we ended up not using the other side since we didn't want to make more work for housekeeping.
Day 4 was Meow Wolf's Convergence Station. It's hard to completely describe what Meow Wolf is, but perhaps I'll call it an eclectic collection of immersive art, a thematic universe with an unfolding story.
We bought the QPass (RFID) card so that we could interact with consoles and unlock the story. But because it was a Sunday, the place was crowded and we weren't able to get our hands on everything. I appreciated the huge amount of work that went into creating this place, but I felt like it was a one and done kind of experience. The abstract, artistic style at teamLab Borderless in Tokyo was much more our cup of tea.
After Meow Wolf, we walked over to Downtown Denver but didn't do too much. Downtown Golden was a lot nicer; for instance, the river trail in Downtown Denver didn't have as much water and was a little run down.
Monday was our last day and was essentially just travel. We hit up the Capital One Lounge (courtesy of Priscilla's Venture X card) at Denver International Airport before flying Southwest back to Burbank. The lounge was fine, but I couldn't eat most of the food and I felt like the counterpart lounge at DFW had more food options and amenities. Priscilla, of course, is happy with anything she can get for free.
Overall, Denver was fun enough and I'm glad that we got to do a couple popular hikes. But what would really be up my alley is an all-day hike/run where I can explore and feel like I'm challenging myself. Priscilla and I agree that I can do that on my own while she hits up a coffee shop and explores the town for the day. Whether one of those days is really in the cards is going to be up to me.
South Lake Tahoe - Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Because no amount of travel is too much for Priscilla, she made us go to South Lake Tahoe for the weekend of my birthday. I prefer to spend my birthday at home catching up on housework, whereas she likes to go out, so she entices me with hiking as a compromise. I'd been to Tahoe in the winter 3 times for a company ski trip but never in the summer, so I didn't mind (too much) going there for summer hiking.
So that Friday, we made the 4.5 hour drive to Econo Lodge in South Lake Tahoe, where we would be staying for the next two nights. Our plan originally was to go to Kiva Beach to do some kayaking first, but I'm bad at leaving the house early. So instead of visiting the beach, we consigned ourselves to walking around Heavenly Village, walking through Harrah's, Harveys and Hard Rock (and at the latter, we hung out for a bit under a gazebo at the pool area when there was nobody else there), and walking by Lakeside Beach outside the fence since we didn't want to pay to go in. Obviously, we like to do things that don't cost money (and the hotel was booked using travel points).
The next day, we drove up State Route 89 to visit Emerald Bay. What a sight! The most majestic vantage point was one short segment of Route 89 where the shoulder of the road slopes down towards the water below and it looks like you're surrounded on most sides by water - Emerald Bay on the north, Cascade Lake on the south, and Lake Tahoe on the East. There were a lot of cars already parked along Route 89, so we had little hope that we'd be able to find parking in the main Emerald Bay lot. So instead, we parked on the shoulder halfway between Eagle Falls and the Bayview Campground. We took pictures at the "mid" Eagle Falls - a spot just below the road but above the Lower Eagle Falls. Then we did the short hike to see Upper Eagle Falls and then the longer hike to Eagle Lake, entering into what's known as Desolation Wilderness. It was less than a mile from the upper falls to the lake, but it was a little tiring because of all the rock steps. Definitely not like the packed dirt trails that we're so accustomed to when hiking in the Bay Area.
Eagle Lake was so picturesque! You have the trees and mountains in the background and crystal-clear water in the foreground. We stayed here a bit and ate some of the salad we brought before continuing on. At this point, Priscilla would've been fine with heading back the way we came, but I as always wanted to do a longer loop. Well, this loop ended up being a little over 8 miles and took us nearly 7 hours to complete because of the elevation gain, the rock steps, and the altitude. At one point, Priscilla felt lightheaded because of the thinner air. But she pushed through (with many breaks) because she knows I enjoy hiking and that's what compromise looks like.
This is one of the most scenic hikes that we've done. Everywhere you look, there are trees, canyons, lakes, and blue skies all around. Plus some mountains still capped with some snow. We ran into a fair number of people during most of the hike, but that didn't detract too much from the experience.
On my own, I also stopped by Granite Lake and Cascade Lake and Falls. Granite Lake, about a third of the size of Eagle Lake, was just off the beaten path but nobody else was there. It was nice to be able to gaze at the lake in total solitude. Cascade Lake was viewable from the Cascade Falls Trail but was not directly reachable; there are some houses on the north side of the lake (lucky them), reachable only by private road. The trail terminates by Cascade Falls, and while the view of the falls from there is likely not as grand as when viewed from the front, I was still in awe of the beauty and power of the waterfall. I sat near the edge of the falls for a few minutes, watching the water flow down the cliff below and marveling at the beauty of the landscape. For a while, there was nobody else around. Just me, sitting there in appreciation of nature, cares momentarily forgotten.
The last stop was Inspiration Point, a vista point with its own parking lot, looking down towards Emerald Bay. I rejoined Priscilla there, but we didn't stay for too long, as we'd already been treated to better views along the hike. So we headed back to town and picked up pizzas at Base Camp Pizza to replenish the calories we'd burned during hiking and then some.
Monday morning after checking out of our motel, we stopped by the Tahoe Trout Farm, the part of the trip that Priscilla had been looking forward to the most. She's more into fishing than I am, so I let her do all the work while I took care of the online research when it became evident that our method of baiting the hook was consistently allowing fish to get the worms without getting hooked. After a lot of lost worms and after one more adjustment, we finally caught a 13-inch trout! We'd been given a metal pipe to hit the fish with to humanely kill it, but after several hits, the fish was still not dead. It was sad to know that we probably caused the fish more pain than necessary, so if we do something like this again, hopefully we can learn how to kill the fish properly.
The final stop before heading home was the Kiva Picnic Area where we had lunch, followed by a short walk around the adjacent Tallac Historic Site (the buildings were not open on the day of our visit). The drive home was somewhat difficult as we were both tired, but we made it back home at last.
We had a good time in Tahoe. If it were practical, I would probably have wanted to stay longer and do more hiking/trail running in Desolation Wilderness and other spots. The scenery is so beautiful and there's so much to explore. I'd also want to kayak at Emerald Bay to Fannette Island. And there's so much to see all around the lake - the southern area is just a tiny portion of it. Priscilla would say that these are the best years of our (remaining) life, that we should be traveling more, and that we already have enough to have financial independence given our relatively modest lifestyle. I, on the other hand, feel that we go on a good number of trips already. I don't enjoy the actual travel and being away from home, but once I'm there, I enjoy the places that we get to see. And I feel that we don't have enough yet to be financially secure and that it would be difficult to take a lot more time off work. So I guess we're still trying to find that balance and compromise.
So that Friday, we made the 4.5 hour drive to Econo Lodge in South Lake Tahoe, where we would be staying for the next two nights. Our plan originally was to go to Kiva Beach to do some kayaking first, but I'm bad at leaving the house early. So instead of visiting the beach, we consigned ourselves to walking around Heavenly Village, walking through Harrah's, Harveys and Hard Rock (and at the latter, we hung out for a bit under a gazebo at the pool area when there was nobody else there), and walking by Lakeside Beach outside the fence since we didn't want to pay to go in. Obviously, we like to do things that don't cost money (and the hotel was booked using travel points).
The next day, we drove up State Route 89 to visit Emerald Bay. What a sight! The most majestic vantage point was one short segment of Route 89 where the shoulder of the road slopes down towards the water below and it looks like you're surrounded on most sides by water - Emerald Bay on the north, Cascade Lake on the south, and Lake Tahoe on the East. There were a lot of cars already parked along Route 89, so we had little hope that we'd be able to find parking in the main Emerald Bay lot. So instead, we parked on the shoulder halfway between Eagle Falls and the Bayview Campground. We took pictures at the "mid" Eagle Falls - a spot just below the road but above the Lower Eagle Falls. Then we did the short hike to see Upper Eagle Falls and then the longer hike to Eagle Lake, entering into what's known as Desolation Wilderness. It was less than a mile from the upper falls to the lake, but it was a little tiring because of all the rock steps. Definitely not like the packed dirt trails that we're so accustomed to when hiking in the Bay Area.
Eagle Lake was so picturesque! You have the trees and mountains in the background and crystal-clear water in the foreground. We stayed here a bit and ate some of the salad we brought before continuing on. At this point, Priscilla would've been fine with heading back the way we came, but I as always wanted to do a longer loop. Well, this loop ended up being a little over 8 miles and took us nearly 7 hours to complete because of the elevation gain, the rock steps, and the altitude. At one point, Priscilla felt lightheaded because of the thinner air. But she pushed through (with many breaks) because she knows I enjoy hiking and that's what compromise looks like.
This is one of the most scenic hikes that we've done. Everywhere you look, there are trees, canyons, lakes, and blue skies all around. Plus some mountains still capped with some snow. We ran into a fair number of people during most of the hike, but that didn't detract too much from the experience.
On my own, I also stopped by Granite Lake and Cascade Lake and Falls. Granite Lake, about a third of the size of Eagle Lake, was just off the beaten path but nobody else was there. It was nice to be able to gaze at the lake in total solitude. Cascade Lake was viewable from the Cascade Falls Trail but was not directly reachable; there are some houses on the north side of the lake (lucky them), reachable only by private road. The trail terminates by Cascade Falls, and while the view of the falls from there is likely not as grand as when viewed from the front, I was still in awe of the beauty and power of the waterfall. I sat near the edge of the falls for a few minutes, watching the water flow down the cliff below and marveling at the beauty of the landscape. For a while, there was nobody else around. Just me, sitting there in appreciation of nature, cares momentarily forgotten.
The last stop was Inspiration Point, a vista point with its own parking lot, looking down towards Emerald Bay. I rejoined Priscilla there, but we didn't stay for too long, as we'd already been treated to better views along the hike. So we headed back to town and picked up pizzas at Base Camp Pizza to replenish the calories we'd burned during hiking and then some.
Monday morning after checking out of our motel, we stopped by the Tahoe Trout Farm, the part of the trip that Priscilla had been looking forward to the most. She's more into fishing than I am, so I let her do all the work while I took care of the online research when it became evident that our method of baiting the hook was consistently allowing fish to get the worms without getting hooked. After a lot of lost worms and after one more adjustment, we finally caught a 13-inch trout! We'd been given a metal pipe to hit the fish with to humanely kill it, but after several hits, the fish was still not dead. It was sad to know that we probably caused the fish more pain than necessary, so if we do something like this again, hopefully we can learn how to kill the fish properly.
The final stop before heading home was the Kiva Picnic Area where we had lunch, followed by a short walk around the adjacent Tallac Historic Site (the buildings were not open on the day of our visit). The drive home was somewhat difficult as we were both tired, but we made it back home at last.
We had a good time in Tahoe. If it were practical, I would probably have wanted to stay longer and do more hiking/trail running in Desolation Wilderness and other spots. The scenery is so beautiful and there's so much to explore. I'd also want to kayak at Emerald Bay to Fannette Island. And there's so much to see all around the lake - the southern area is just a tiny portion of it. Priscilla would say that these are the best years of our (remaining) life, that we should be traveling more, and that we already have enough to have financial independence given our relatively modest lifestyle. I, on the other hand, feel that we go on a good number of trips already. I don't enjoy the actual travel and being away from home, but once I'm there, I enjoy the places that we get to see. And I feel that we don't have enough yet to be financially secure and that it would be difficult to take a lot more time off work. So I guess we're still trying to find that balance and compromise.
First Quarter of 2021 - Monday, May 3, 2021
Well, it's been a pretty eventful four months into 2021. We're still in the midst of a global pandemic, but places are starting to reopen and life is starting to get back to some semblance of normalcy.
So far, 44% of Americans have gotten at least one dose of a COVID vaccine, with 31% fully vaccinated. In California and most other states, vaccination appointments are now available to anybody who wants them; I got my first dose last week. Daily infection rates in the US have been hovering around 50k, down from a high of 300k in January. Around the world, the situation is still more dire. Right now, India has it the worst with daily infections having ballooned to around 400k, and with only 9% of the population having had at least one dose of a vaccine and 2% fully vaccinated. Of course the western countries would get faster access to vaccines than the rest of the world. It's especially ironic that India is the world's largest producer of vaccines. The inequality is real, sometimes seemingly unreal, and visible. We have so many blessings living here that we must not take for granted.
One thing we're grateful for is the ability to attend church in-person with others again. Our church resumed in-person gatherings in February, and we've been meeting outdoors so as to not be limited by the capacity and singing restrictions for indoor services. Each family sits in their own socially-distant space in the parking lot and brings their own chairs, so there's a bit of setup involved each Sunday morning. We have to be there at the unbearably early hour of 9am for the morning service, and 8am on days when we help with worship, but I don't have a good excuse to not be waking up early anyway. The livestream (which we still have) is so much more convenient, but there's no substitute for meeting in person. Sometimes it feels like a drag to get myself there, but I know it's a good thing.
As for the two of us, Priscilla and I took a short trip at the end of March to hike at Pinnacles National Park, California's newest national park and the closest one to the Bay Area. We visited on a Monday, and we ran into a fair number of people but not a lot of people. Because I underestimate trail distance and difficulty, we ended up hiking for 8 hours and did nearly 14 miles over 4,000 feet of elevation, which included going a good ways up the side of a hill where there was no marked trail (I saw a sign saying there was a vista point and I thought it was at the top of the hill, but it was actually refering to an observation spot nearby which didn't register in my mind as an actual spot with a view). Priscilla was extremely tired through the latter third of the hike, but she very graciously put up with me.
I really enjoyed the relative solitude of Pinnacles, seeing a few condors on the Condor Gulch Trail, and visiting the scenic reservoir towards the end of the day (I ran there while Priscilla hiked back to the car). Because of COVID, the two caves at Pinnacles were closed - quite a bummer since they're supposedly awesome to visit. Hopefully we'll be able to visit again when the caves are open, and I'm sure that the hike will be better planned the next time around...
So during that trip, we stayed overnight in Hollister, which is a 30-mile drive to Pinnacles. This allowed us to save some money (hotels near Pinnacles are pricey) but still be able to get to the park early-ish without having to drive too far. On the way to Hollister, we visited the Gilroy Ostrich Farm, which Priscilla particularly enjoyed, and Casa de Fruta, where we didn't buy anything and spent more time walking around outside than looking at goods inside the shop. After Pinnacles, we ate at Carpo's Restaurant and stayed overnight in Capitola (Soquel, technically) and walked around Capitola and the beach the next day. The coolest part there was walking along the old railroad trestle (the rail line is no longer active, so no chance of getting flattened by a train) high above across Soquel Creek. This trip was our first since the start of the pandemic where we stayed in a hotel (wow!).
Then at the end of April, we drove down to LA to see family. We hadn't seen them since Thanksgiving; we didn't visit during Christmas because of the increased travel restrictions at that time. Our visit was pretty low-key, but it was good to see everyone, and Aaron's kids are a little older and the older one seems slightly more comfortable with me now and couldn't stop pointing out what color everything is. It's pretty cool (and a big relief!) to see her opening up, because before she would always just stare blankly at me, not wanting to engage.
Finally, Priscilla will be going through a career transition soon. She and her coworkers have been having a rough time due to the new CFO who's been difficult to work with. Priscilla was experiencing a lot of stress that was taking a toll on her mental health. Finally, she asked to work from home until the company found a replacement, after which she would leave. For reasons, her last day was supposed to be last Friday, but the new person hasn't started yet, so the company asked Priscilla to continue working another two weeks, which she agreed to because she knows how overloaded her team is. After she leaves, she wants to learn about self-employment and will be going down to LA for 10 days to help her parents sort out their finances, which they will pay her for - they gift her money every year anyway, but she wants to use this as a way to make self-employed contributions into a 401k. Later, she's planning to find a job with another company, ideally part-time and remote. It'll be good to see her more and for her to have more time to help me with things around the house that I don't have time for. Her sleep cycle got really messed up due to the stress she was experiencing, and she still can't help but wake up at 3:30am many days, but she's had more free time as a result and has been using her time more fruitfully.
I too need to better learn to carve out time for the things that matter. I think the pandemic has made me better in this area, but I'm still very much a work in progress. You never know how life is going to go or what day is going to be your last. If there's one thing that this time has taught me, it's that life is a gift and should not be squandered. As our modern-day millennial philosophers so eloquently put it, YOLO.
So far, 44% of Americans have gotten at least one dose of a COVID vaccine, with 31% fully vaccinated. In California and most other states, vaccination appointments are now available to anybody who wants them; I got my first dose last week. Daily infection rates in the US have been hovering around 50k, down from a high of 300k in January. Around the world, the situation is still more dire. Right now, India has it the worst with daily infections having ballooned to around 400k, and with only 9% of the population having had at least one dose of a vaccine and 2% fully vaccinated. Of course the western countries would get faster access to vaccines than the rest of the world. It's especially ironic that India is the world's largest producer of vaccines. The inequality is real, sometimes seemingly unreal, and visible. We have so many blessings living here that we must not take for granted.
One thing we're grateful for is the ability to attend church in-person with others again. Our church resumed in-person gatherings in February, and we've been meeting outdoors so as to not be limited by the capacity and singing restrictions for indoor services. Each family sits in their own socially-distant space in the parking lot and brings their own chairs, so there's a bit of setup involved each Sunday morning. We have to be there at the unbearably early hour of 9am for the morning service, and 8am on days when we help with worship, but I don't have a good excuse to not be waking up early anyway. The livestream (which we still have) is so much more convenient, but there's no substitute for meeting in person. Sometimes it feels like a drag to get myself there, but I know it's a good thing.
As for the two of us, Priscilla and I took a short trip at the end of March to hike at Pinnacles National Park, California's newest national park and the closest one to the Bay Area. We visited on a Monday, and we ran into a fair number of people but not a lot of people. Because I underestimate trail distance and difficulty, we ended up hiking for 8 hours and did nearly 14 miles over 4,000 feet of elevation, which included going a good ways up the side of a hill where there was no marked trail (I saw a sign saying there was a vista point and I thought it was at the top of the hill, but it was actually refering to an observation spot nearby which didn't register in my mind as an actual spot with a view). Priscilla was extremely tired through the latter third of the hike, but she very graciously put up with me.
I really enjoyed the relative solitude of Pinnacles, seeing a few condors on the Condor Gulch Trail, and visiting the scenic reservoir towards the end of the day (I ran there while Priscilla hiked back to the car). Because of COVID, the two caves at Pinnacles were closed - quite a bummer since they're supposedly awesome to visit. Hopefully we'll be able to visit again when the caves are open, and I'm sure that the hike will be better planned the next time around...
So during that trip, we stayed overnight in Hollister, which is a 30-mile drive to Pinnacles. This allowed us to save some money (hotels near Pinnacles are pricey) but still be able to get to the park early-ish without having to drive too far. On the way to Hollister, we visited the Gilroy Ostrich Farm, which Priscilla particularly enjoyed, and Casa de Fruta, where we didn't buy anything and spent more time walking around outside than looking at goods inside the shop. After Pinnacles, we ate at Carpo's Restaurant and stayed overnight in Capitola (Soquel, technically) and walked around Capitola and the beach the next day. The coolest part there was walking along the old railroad trestle (the rail line is no longer active, so no chance of getting flattened by a train) high above across Soquel Creek. This trip was our first since the start of the pandemic where we stayed in a hotel (wow!).
Then at the end of April, we drove down to LA to see family. We hadn't seen them since Thanksgiving; we didn't visit during Christmas because of the increased travel restrictions at that time. Our visit was pretty low-key, but it was good to see everyone, and Aaron's kids are a little older and the older one seems slightly more comfortable with me now and couldn't stop pointing out what color everything is. It's pretty cool (and a big relief!) to see her opening up, because before she would always just stare blankly at me, not wanting to engage.
Finally, Priscilla will be going through a career transition soon. She and her coworkers have been having a rough time due to the new CFO who's been difficult to work with. Priscilla was experiencing a lot of stress that was taking a toll on her mental health. Finally, she asked to work from home until the company found a replacement, after which she would leave. For reasons, her last day was supposed to be last Friday, but the new person hasn't started yet, so the company asked Priscilla to continue working another two weeks, which she agreed to because she knows how overloaded her team is. After she leaves, she wants to learn about self-employment and will be going down to LA for 10 days to help her parents sort out their finances, which they will pay her for - they gift her money every year anyway, but she wants to use this as a way to make self-employed contributions into a 401k. Later, she's planning to find a job with another company, ideally part-time and remote. It'll be good to see her more and for her to have more time to help me with things around the house that I don't have time for. Her sleep cycle got really messed up due to the stress she was experiencing, and she still can't help but wake up at 3:30am many days, but she's had more free time as a result and has been using her time more fruitfully.
I too need to better learn to carve out time for the things that matter. I think the pandemic has made me better in this area, but I'm still very much a work in progress. You never know how life is going to go or what day is going to be your last. If there's one thing that this time has taught me, it's that life is a gift and should not be squandered. As our modern-day millennial philosophers so eloquently put it, YOLO.
Hiking - Sunday, December 31, 2017
In keeping up with my madness, and for her own health, Priscilla has been setting a fitness goal for the last couple years. Last year it was to do 10,000 steps every day. This year it was to do 40 hikes.
I initially thought that 40 hikes would be difficult to do, but we powered through and were always ahead of schedule. Our last hike was last Friday at Big Basin, and I enjoyed it especially because of the waterfalls, which none of the other places we went to had (unless you count Barton Creek Greenbelt which had small ones).
The places we hiked were:
Most of the hikes were naturally in the Bay Area. We went to The Dish five times, the most of any place. I don't enjoy that hike as much as other places, but we went there during rainy days (which there were a lot of this year) because it's paved. 7 of the hikes were to fulfill the Pix in Parks Challenge put on by the Santa Clara Department of Parks and Recreation, where the reward was a free shirt. A couple of the hikes were done by Priscilla with other people (not me), but I made up for it because I went to a few places on my own.
Usually on our hikes, we would start together but I would soon go off running on my own, since she likes to go at a relaxed pace while I like to do trail running. I would sometimes run ahead and then run back to tell her which path to take at the next fork. Or if it was a place we were more familiar with, I'd go run a longer route on my own and then try to meet up with her at the end. This allowed us to both get what we felt was a good workout for ourselves, and we only ever lost each other once (at Castle Rock, lesson learned there).
Her goal for 2018 is 10,000 steps again, but I'm sure that we'll still find fun places to go!
I initially thought that 40 hikes would be difficult to do, but we powered through and were always ahead of schedule. Our last hike was last Friday at Big Basin, and I enjoyed it especially because of the waterfalls, which none of the other places we went to had (unless you count Barton Creek Greenbelt which had small ones).
The places we hiked were:
- The Dish
- The Dish
- Picchetti Ranch
- The Dish
- Monte Bello
- The Dish
- Los Gatos Creek Trail
- Monte Bello
- Los Trancos
- Castle Rock
- Fremont Older
- Los Gatos Creek Trail
- Mission Peak
- The Dish
- Calero County Park
- Villa Montalvo
- Muir Woods
- Wahkeena to Multnomah Falls
- Stevens Creek County Park
- Rancho San Antonio
- Cliffs of Moher (Ireland)
- Mt Madonna
- Purisima Creek
- Coyote Lake
- Vasona Lake
- Joseph D Grant
- Monte Bello
- Purisima Creek
- Redwood Christian Park
- Glen Canyon Park and Twin Peaks
- Coyote Lake
- Coyote Lake
- Saratoga Gap and Upper Stevens Creek
- Upper Stevens Creek and Long Ridge
- Barton Creek Greenbelt (Texas)
- St. Joseph's Hill
- Griffith Park
- Castle Rock
- Topanga State Park
- Big Basin
Most of the hikes were naturally in the Bay Area. We went to The Dish five times, the most of any place. I don't enjoy that hike as much as other places, but we went there during rainy days (which there were a lot of this year) because it's paved. 7 of the hikes were to fulfill the Pix in Parks Challenge put on by the Santa Clara Department of Parks and Recreation, where the reward was a free shirt. A couple of the hikes were done by Priscilla with other people (not me), but I made up for it because I went to a few places on my own.
Usually on our hikes, we would start together but I would soon go off running on my own, since she likes to go at a relaxed pace while I like to do trail running. I would sometimes run ahead and then run back to tell her which path to take at the next fork. Or if it was a place we were more familiar with, I'd go run a longer route on my own and then try to meet up with her at the end. This allowed us to both get what we felt was a good workout for ourselves, and we only ever lost each other once (at Castle Rock, lesson learned there).
Her goal for 2018 is 10,000 steps again, but I'm sure that we'll still find fun places to go!
2016 Highlights - Thursday, January 5, 2017
Another year has unceremoniously come and gone, and while 2016 was a prodigious year for us in terms of activity, the same cannot be said of my blogging habits.
So for the benefit of posterity (or, more likely, my future self), here are the highlights from 2016.
At the end of April, Priscilla and I went up to SF to celebrate our anniversary. We got free entry to the California Academy of Sciences, de Young and the Exploratorium, courtesy of our friends' Chase Private Client card. We stayed a night at the Grand Hyatt for free, courtesy of Priscilla's credit card rewards. And we rode Uber and Lyft for free due to a signup promotion. Not a bad deal for an anniversary weekend!
At the beginning of June, we went to Carmel to celebrate our birthdays. We hiked Point Lobos and stayed a night at the Hyatt Carmel Highlands, again for free. We spent some time exploring Fisherman's Wharf the next day before returning home.
In mid-June, Sarah got married, so we drove down to LA and got to spend some time with family. Sarah got married at Bel Air Presbyterian Church, which has a really beautiful building and campus. I got carpal tunnel that weekend, presumably triggered by the driving, but that cleared up after a couple weeks of wearing a brace and trying to not type much. The joys of getting old.
Our all-church retreat was at Redwood Christian Park in August. It was about the same as the last time we were there, except Priscilla and I were in a family cabin this time instead of in a suite. We hiked to the cross in the nearby hills, and even got to do rock climbing this time around. The rock climbing was difficult and I didn't see anybody make it to the top of the "medium" difficulty route. Our retreat speaker was Pastor Alton from Berean Mission Church, and his messages encouraged us to live as a steward, a disciple-maker, a child of God, and a pursuer of Christ.
After the retreat, when trying to look for productive things to fill my time with, I came across a fitness mobile game called "Zombies, Run!". Definitely more productive than sinking all my time into an MMORPG. I played it for a month and ultimately quit due to the game always restarting when being run in the background, but during that time I bought some gear for running including bluetooth headphones for listening to music. In October, I bought a heart rate monitor to use with Strava, as well as a yearly subscription of Strava Premium. I really like Strava's Beacon feature, which allows me to share my real-time location data with Priscilla, and the Heatmap, which shows my running and cycling activity as a colored heatmap. I've also been more motivated to rack up running badges on Strava, which are admittedly easier to get than cycling badges. Apparently, badges and points, even if they are virtual, are the key to my heart.
So in trying to maximize my Strava achievements, I've been trying to do more runs and hikes. In 2016, I went on a total of 29 hikes; Priscilla a couple times fewer. My favorite hike this year was Mount Diablo in September. The panoramic views from the top were amazing. I went with Priscilla and Tracy and we did a 15-mile hike, and they were pretty tired most of the way up, but we slogged through it and I later designed die-cast medals for them for making it to the top.
We drove down to LA for both the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Both were a good time of getting together with family and friends. We hiked with Victor and Sally during the Thanksgiving break, and ate with my Van Nuys friends and hung out with Raymond during the Christmas break.
During the Thanksgiving weekend, I bought new phones for myself and Priscilla. I got us both the ZTE Axon 7 Mini which, despite the name, is quite a large phone. This phone is better than our old ones in nearly every way, and we've enjoyed no longer having to deal with the frustrations of having a cheap smartphone.
During the rest of the holiday leading up to and following New Year's, I took the time to get housework done and look for contractors to help overhaul our front yard. I'd like to rip out the neglected plants we have and put in drip irrigation so that I can plant something that will be low-maintenance. With any luck, and a bit of money, we will have a nice looking front yard yet.
I have no doubt that the new year will be exciting and productive in its own capacity, but I'm hoping that it will be equally as restful. There is a saying that in the beginning of your life when you are young, you have energy and time, but no money. Then in the middle of your life, you have money and energy, but no time. Finally, towards the end of your life when you are old, you have time and money, but no energy. Well I'm clearly in the middle of my (anticipated) life, as I wish there were more hours in the day to do everything that needs to be done. I guess what I need is more downtime!
So for the benefit of posterity (or, more likely, my future self), here are the highlights from 2016.
At the end of April, Priscilla and I went up to SF to celebrate our anniversary. We got free entry to the California Academy of Sciences, de Young and the Exploratorium, courtesy of our friends' Chase Private Client card. We stayed a night at the Grand Hyatt for free, courtesy of Priscilla's credit card rewards. And we rode Uber and Lyft for free due to a signup promotion. Not a bad deal for an anniversary weekend!
At the beginning of June, we went to Carmel to celebrate our birthdays. We hiked Point Lobos and stayed a night at the Hyatt Carmel Highlands, again for free. We spent some time exploring Fisherman's Wharf the next day before returning home.
In mid-June, Sarah got married, so we drove down to LA and got to spend some time with family. Sarah got married at Bel Air Presbyterian Church, which has a really beautiful building and campus. I got carpal tunnel that weekend, presumably triggered by the driving, but that cleared up after a couple weeks of wearing a brace and trying to not type much. The joys of getting old.
Our all-church retreat was at Redwood Christian Park in August. It was about the same as the last time we were there, except Priscilla and I were in a family cabin this time instead of in a suite. We hiked to the cross in the nearby hills, and even got to do rock climbing this time around. The rock climbing was difficult and I didn't see anybody make it to the top of the "medium" difficulty route. Our retreat speaker was Pastor Alton from Berean Mission Church, and his messages encouraged us to live as a steward, a disciple-maker, a child of God, and a pursuer of Christ.
After the retreat, when trying to look for productive things to fill my time with, I came across a fitness mobile game called "Zombies, Run!". Definitely more productive than sinking all my time into an MMORPG. I played it for a month and ultimately quit due to the game always restarting when being run in the background, but during that time I bought some gear for running including bluetooth headphones for listening to music. In October, I bought a heart rate monitor to use with Strava, as well as a yearly subscription of Strava Premium. I really like Strava's Beacon feature, which allows me to share my real-time location data with Priscilla, and the Heatmap, which shows my running and cycling activity as a colored heatmap. I've also been more motivated to rack up running badges on Strava, which are admittedly easier to get than cycling badges. Apparently, badges and points, even if they are virtual, are the key to my heart.
So in trying to maximize my Strava achievements, I've been trying to do more runs and hikes. In 2016, I went on a total of 29 hikes; Priscilla a couple times fewer. My favorite hike this year was Mount Diablo in September. The panoramic views from the top were amazing. I went with Priscilla and Tracy and we did a 15-mile hike, and they were pretty tired most of the way up, but we slogged through it and I later designed die-cast medals for them for making it to the top.
We drove down to LA for both the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Both were a good time of getting together with family and friends. We hiked with Victor and Sally during the Thanksgiving break, and ate with my Van Nuys friends and hung out with Raymond during the Christmas break.
During the Thanksgiving weekend, I bought new phones for myself and Priscilla. I got us both the ZTE Axon 7 Mini which, despite the name, is quite a large phone. This phone is better than our old ones in nearly every way, and we've enjoyed no longer having to deal with the frustrations of having a cheap smartphone.
During the rest of the holiday leading up to and following New Year's, I took the time to get housework done and look for contractors to help overhaul our front yard. I'd like to rip out the neglected plants we have and put in drip irrigation so that I can plant something that will be low-maintenance. With any luck, and a bit of money, we will have a nice looking front yard yet.
I have no doubt that the new year will be exciting and productive in its own capacity, but I'm hoping that it will be equally as restful. There is a saying that in the beginning of your life when you are young, you have energy and time, but no money. Then in the middle of your life, you have money and energy, but no time. Finally, towards the end of your life when you are old, you have time and money, but no energy. Well I'm clearly in the middle of my (anticipated) life, as I wish there were more hours in the day to do everything that needs to be done. I guess what I need is more downtime!
Holiday Happenings - Friday, January 2, 2015
Thanksgiving: Lots of being sick
We drove down to LA on Thanksgiving day; I was getting over being sick and Priscilla had gotten sick from me. Both families plus Aaron's girlfriend Lauren met at my parents' place for Thanksgiving dinner.
Priscilla and I took it easy over the weekend. We walked around the pond at Reseda Park every day and had hot pot with her parents on Saturday. On Sunday we went to CCAC and joined some old church friends afterward at Poquito Mas. And on Monday we drove back home.
Christmas: Lots of little things
Trying to avoid traffic again, we chose to drive down on Christmas day; we left at 8:30am (not super early) but traffic was light all the way (and barely any semi-trucks on the road!). Christmas dinner was again at my parents' place, but no Lauren (she was on a road trip with friends).
The next day, Raymond joined me and Priscilla in going to a sushi place (Sushi For You) I found on Yelp and hiking at San Vicente Mountain Park and Westridge-Canyonback Wilderness Park. On Saturday, Priscilla and I went with my family to Forest Lawn, where we visited my grandparents' columbarium. I think it was my first time visiting after they'd both passed away. The grounds at Forest Lawn are quite nice, and we visitied this large building where the Crucifixion (HUGE! The largest painting I've ever seen) and Resurrection paintings are on display, and another building housing a stained glass reproduction of The Last Supper. We had lunch at Hong Kong Kitchen (it was alright), and Priscilla and I had hot pot with her parents for dinner.
Sunday was perhaps the busiest day. Priscilla and I again visited CCAC and had lunch at Pieology with people; afterwards we all went to a new boba place called Boba My Tea. We hung out for a long while, and Raymond (who came with us) and I barely had time to make our way over to Van Nuys to hang out with our VNHS friends that evening. We watched The Interview (meh, occasionally funny but way too crude), which a couple of them had wanted to watch because of the recent hype, and had dinner at Kinnara Thai Restaurant (woot).
Monday again was the day we chose to drive home.
New Year's: Crowds, crowds, crowds
On New Year's day, after a month and a half of having to postpone our visit for one reason after another, we finally visited Nathan and Andrea at their new rental house and watched Mockingjay and had hot pot at Little Sheep. Both the theatre and restaurant were packed. I guess this is what many people do on New Year's!
I took Dec 25 through Jan 1 off from work, and returned to work today. I managed to get a lot done there, but it feels strange/liberating to work just one day and get another weekend. Here's to a restful and productive weekend, and a great new year!
We drove down to LA on Thanksgiving day; I was getting over being sick and Priscilla had gotten sick from me. Both families plus Aaron's girlfriend Lauren met at my parents' place for Thanksgiving dinner.
Priscilla and I took it easy over the weekend. We walked around the pond at Reseda Park every day and had hot pot with her parents on Saturday. On Sunday we went to CCAC and joined some old church friends afterward at Poquito Mas. And on Monday we drove back home.
Christmas: Lots of little things
Trying to avoid traffic again, we chose to drive down on Christmas day; we left at 8:30am (not super early) but traffic was light all the way (and barely any semi-trucks on the road!). Christmas dinner was again at my parents' place, but no Lauren (she was on a road trip with friends).
The next day, Raymond joined me and Priscilla in going to a sushi place (Sushi For You) I found on Yelp and hiking at San Vicente Mountain Park and Westridge-Canyonback Wilderness Park. On Saturday, Priscilla and I went with my family to Forest Lawn, where we visited my grandparents' columbarium. I think it was my first time visiting after they'd both passed away. The grounds at Forest Lawn are quite nice, and we visitied this large building where the Crucifixion (HUGE! The largest painting I've ever seen) and Resurrection paintings are on display, and another building housing a stained glass reproduction of The Last Supper. We had lunch at Hong Kong Kitchen (it was alright), and Priscilla and I had hot pot with her parents for dinner.
Sunday was perhaps the busiest day. Priscilla and I again visited CCAC and had lunch at Pieology with people; afterwards we all went to a new boba place called Boba My Tea. We hung out for a long while, and Raymond (who came with us) and I barely had time to make our way over to Van Nuys to hang out with our VNHS friends that evening. We watched The Interview (meh, occasionally funny but way too crude), which a couple of them had wanted to watch because of the recent hype, and had dinner at Kinnara Thai Restaurant (woot).
Monday again was the day we chose to drive home.
New Year's: Crowds, crowds, crowds
On New Year's day, after a month and a half of having to postpone our visit for one reason after another, we finally visited Nathan and Andrea at their new rental house and watched Mockingjay and had hot pot at Little Sheep. Both the theatre and restaurant were packed. I guess this is what many people do on New Year's!
I took Dec 25 through Jan 1 off from work, and returned to work today. I managed to get a lot done there, but it feels strange/liberating to work just one day and get another weekend. Here's to a restful and productive weekend, and a great new year!
Hiking and Otherwise - Monday, January 14, 2013
On January 1, 2013, Priscilla and I did the unthinkable. We hiked Mission Peak in Fremont! Originally we weren't going to even think about Mission Peak till maybe April, but Priscilla one day was all gung-ho and suggested doing something difficult on New Year's Day. I quickly got some RBF people in on the fun, so there was no way Priscilla could back out!
It ended up being the two of us, Judy and her friend Grace, Joe, and Nicole and her mom Nancy. Apparently a lot of other people had the same idea, because parking was very difficult to find in the small lot and on the nearby residential streets! We finally found a spot 5 minute's walk from the lot.
The 2000 foot ascent over 3 miles took about two hours to complete. It was cold and very windy, especially at the top, which I didn't expect. Judy ended up getting sick afterward, which I felt bad about, but she seemed better the next time we saw her. We had a lot of fun getting to know everybody better, and conquering the peak in celebration of the new year!
That Saturday, four days later, Priscilla and I hit up another preserve: Monte Bello OSP in Los Altos. It was also unexpectedly windy, but only near the top of the canyon. We hiked to the summit of Black Mountain, which turned out to be a bit of a letdown, but overall it was a nice hike with a cool view of the tree-filled canyon.
And this past Saturday, the 12th, Priscilla and I hiked in Picchetti Ranch OSP in Cupertino. Man, we're on a roll! Fearing the worst, Priscilla dressed in multiple layers, only to find that it wasn't too windy or cold here. The hike wasn't too difficult, and Picchetti (which has its own winery by the same name) is relatively small, so we continued on the trail that took us into Stevens Creek County Park. We ended up hiking just over 4 miles - not great, but we were in a hurry to get to...
Game day! My officemate Lisa arranged a game day/night with some friends at one person's house in San Jose. There must've been at least 30 games that different people brought. We had 9 people, so we played different games with people alternating between two groups.
I finally got to play San Juan (which we were supposed to play the last couple game nights, but there were always so many other interesting-looking games). I also played Wise and Otherwise, and four rounds of Boggle at the end of the night after pizza. What a fun day this was, and what an interesting year it's been so far!
What else have we done? I went to my first ever baby shower on the 6th, in celebration of Justin and Vicky's soon-to-be first child! Priscilla and I saw The Lion King at the Orpheum Theatre in SF, we had dinner with my uncle and aunt, and we've both been busy looking for new jobs. I had my second on-site interview in five years (first in two years) and have been studying like mad. Hopefully we'll stay productive and be able to say at the end of 2013 that we had an awesome year of learning, growing and serving.
It ended up being the two of us, Judy and her friend Grace, Joe, and Nicole and her mom Nancy. Apparently a lot of other people had the same idea, because parking was very difficult to find in the small lot and on the nearby residential streets! We finally found a spot 5 minute's walk from the lot.
The 2000 foot ascent over 3 miles took about two hours to complete. It was cold and very windy, especially at the top, which I didn't expect. Judy ended up getting sick afterward, which I felt bad about, but she seemed better the next time we saw her. We had a lot of fun getting to know everybody better, and conquering the peak in celebration of the new year!
That Saturday, four days later, Priscilla and I hit up another preserve: Monte Bello OSP in Los Altos. It was also unexpectedly windy, but only near the top of the canyon. We hiked to the summit of Black Mountain, which turned out to be a bit of a letdown, but overall it was a nice hike with a cool view of the tree-filled canyon.
And this past Saturday, the 12th, Priscilla and I hiked in Picchetti Ranch OSP in Cupertino. Man, we're on a roll! Fearing the worst, Priscilla dressed in multiple layers, only to find that it wasn't too windy or cold here. The hike wasn't too difficult, and Picchetti (which has its own winery by the same name) is relatively small, so we continued on the trail that took us into Stevens Creek County Park. We ended up hiking just over 4 miles - not great, but we were in a hurry to get to...
Game day! My officemate Lisa arranged a game day/night with some friends at one person's house in San Jose. There must've been at least 30 games that different people brought. We had 9 people, so we played different games with people alternating between two groups.
I finally got to play San Juan (which we were supposed to play the last couple game nights, but there were always so many other interesting-looking games). I also played Wise and Otherwise, and four rounds of Boggle at the end of the night after pizza. What a fun day this was, and what an interesting year it's been so far!
What else have we done? I went to my first ever baby shower on the 6th, in celebration of Justin and Vicky's soon-to-be first child! Priscilla and I saw The Lion King at the Orpheum Theatre in SF, we had dinner with my uncle and aunt, and we've both been busy looking for new jobs. I had my second on-site interview in five years (first in two years) and have been studying like mad. Hopefully we'll stay productive and be able to say at the end of 2013 that we had an awesome year of learning, growing and serving.
Biking, Hiking and Food - Tuesday, September 6, 2011
I decided to take Friday off to drive down to LA for the long weekend. I left at 8:15am and traffic was remarkably smooth the entire way down until I hit San Fernando. I was surprised that traffic was good even through the Buttonwillow area where two lanes narrowed to one due to construction, but apparently there weren't enough cars on the road yet to create a bottleneck.
After I got to LA, Aaron and I went to his bike shop and picked up the Specialized Crosstrail Sport that he ordered for me. The difference between the Crosstrail and my old Huffy is like night and day. I never imagined it'd be possible to climb hills with ease!
The following day, Priscilla and I rode our bikes to and around Lake Balboa. We did a little offroading towards the end and followed a narrow trail through overgrown brush that ended up at nowhere, and unwittingly rode through mud and got huge mud-covered tires.
Priscilla made chicken kabob for lunch and seafood soup for dinner and we juiced a lot of fruits and veggies with her power juicer. She really tries to make me healthy food! We watched Ip Man 2 and Fist of Legend, both excellent films.
On Sunday after church we had lunch with Tom and Amanda at a Vietnamese place that had a delicious chicken and rice dish. Priscilla and I went to Kohl's to use a $10 off $10 coupon I had, and after scouring the store for half an hour failing to find anything cheap, we ended up getting a bag of socks for me that cost $5 plus tax after the coupon, just a dollar less than Walmart sells it for normally.
Afterward, we dropped by Warner Park for an hour to watch CCAC and New Life people play ultimate frisbee. We didn't play since we weren't dressed in athletic clothes.
Dinner was back at my parents' house where they made a ton of food for us, including two kinds of salmon, chicken drumsticks, shrimp kabobs and turkey barley soup. My mom had the soup slow cooking for hours. No wonder it tasted so good.
Finally on Monday, we went hiking in the morning at the creek near my house. We managed to hike for an hour and a half before it got hot. The rest of the day was spent catching up on work and reading. We both took a long nap but were amazingly productive afterward.
Today I drove back to the Bay Area, and traffic was again very smooth. Taking a long vacation definitely helped with that. I'm ready to get back to work, but in the meantime it's 10pm and I could totally fall asleep now.
After I got to LA, Aaron and I went to his bike shop and picked up the Specialized Crosstrail Sport that he ordered for me. The difference between the Crosstrail and my old Huffy is like night and day. I never imagined it'd be possible to climb hills with ease!
The following day, Priscilla and I rode our bikes to and around Lake Balboa. We did a little offroading towards the end and followed a narrow trail through overgrown brush that ended up at nowhere, and unwittingly rode through mud and got huge mud-covered tires.
Priscilla made chicken kabob for lunch and seafood soup for dinner and we juiced a lot of fruits and veggies with her power juicer. She really tries to make me healthy food! We watched Ip Man 2 and Fist of Legend, both excellent films.
On Sunday after church we had lunch with Tom and Amanda at a Vietnamese place that had a delicious chicken and rice dish. Priscilla and I went to Kohl's to use a $10 off $10 coupon I had, and after scouring the store for half an hour failing to find anything cheap, we ended up getting a bag of socks for me that cost $5 plus tax after the coupon, just a dollar less than Walmart sells it for normally.
Afterward, we dropped by Warner Park for an hour to watch CCAC and New Life people play ultimate frisbee. We didn't play since we weren't dressed in athletic clothes.
Dinner was back at my parents' house where they made a ton of food for us, including two kinds of salmon, chicken drumsticks, shrimp kabobs and turkey barley soup. My mom had the soup slow cooking for hours. No wonder it tasted so good.
Finally on Monday, we went hiking in the morning at the creek near my house. We managed to hike for an hour and a half before it got hot. The rest of the day was spent catching up on work and reading. We both took a long nap but were amazingly productive afterward.
Today I drove back to the Bay Area, and traffic was again very smooth. Taking a long vacation definitely helped with that. I'm ready to get back to work, but in the meantime it's 10pm and I could totally fall asleep now.
Thanksgiving - Tuesday, November 30, 2010
As customary, I spent my Thanksgiving in LA, where I was treated by my parents to an overabundance of good food. For Thanksgiving they made the usual- turkey, yams, mashed potatoes, ham, biscuits, etc. On all the other days they made a lot more- including turkey pot pie, crab, chicken stew and seafood soup. They also gave me a week's worth of food to take back to the Bay Area. My parents are awesome.
During the holiday weekend, Priscilla and I also celebrated our four year anniversary by hiking on the Escondido Canyon Trails (where there's a famed waterfall, which unfortunately wasn't much more than a trickle at that time of year), making shepherd's pie (more like Priscilla making it and me eating it), and having hot pot for dinner with her parents. The next day we worked on a jigsaw puzzle (we're really into those now for some reason) and watched "Batman: Under the Red Hood." The next day we visited Chi at HRock, her home church away from home, had tacos with a bunch of her friends, and visited her grandmother who recently got out of the ICU.
All in all, it was a fun, relaxing holiday weekend. Too short though.
During the holiday weekend, Priscilla and I also celebrated our four year anniversary by hiking on the Escondido Canyon Trails (where there's a famed waterfall, which unfortunately wasn't much more than a trickle at that time of year), making shepherd's pie (more like Priscilla making it and me eating it), and having hot pot for dinner with her parents. The next day we worked on a jigsaw puzzle (we're really into those now for some reason) and watched "Batman: Under the Red Hood." The next day we visited Chi at HRock, her home church away from home, had tacos with a bunch of her friends, and visited her grandmother who recently got out of the ICU.
All in all, it was a fun, relaxing holiday weekend. Too short though.
Vacation in LA - Friday, April 9, 2010
I drove down to LA last Friday and was there till Wednesday. I was there mainly to do maintenance on the Previa. I helped my dad change a bunch of fluids (brake, transmission, power steering, coolant and oil), we got new tires, and he changed a bunch of parts (hoses, belts and air filter) when I was out having fun with friends. Unfortunately due to some bad instructions on Chilton's website, he over-torqued a bolt and bent a part holding a pulley, so he had to order a new part and it didn't arrive by the time I had to leave. I ended up driving my grandfather's 20-year old Taurus back to the Bay. I don't really mind; the only slight nuisance is that the interior is dirty since Aaron had been using the car to haul dead trees.
Other than car issues, on Saturday I went hiking with a dozen CCAC people on a trail near Tom Sugi's house and played Dominion with a few people afterward. The next day I ate "Korean" chicken fried rice at Galleria while listening to Ezekiel's many thoughts on the healthcare reform, and in the evening Priscilla and I had our last premarital counseling session with the Sugis. Monday, I was sick with some sort of stomach flu (what a great way to spend vacation), as were Priscilla and a lot of other people who went on the hike. Tuesday, Priscilla and I were feeling better so we got snacks from Trader Joe's and she helped my mom make dinner (aka learning wife skills for the potential near future).
Overall, I had a lot of fun, caught up on sleep, and got a new temporary car. And I think I'm getting used to the 5.5 hour drive. I just kind of went on autopilot, especially on I-5 where it's all straight and boring. I did find a good Christian radio station out there, K-LOVE. They're in many cities on many frequencies, but I managed to get mostly good reception on the 88.3 frequency from Buttonwillow to Gilroy, which is more than half the trip. I also learned that driving next to big rigs can greatly boost spotty reception, since big trucks act as big antennas!
Other than car issues, on Saturday I went hiking with a dozen CCAC people on a trail near Tom Sugi's house and played Dominion with a few people afterward. The next day I ate "Korean" chicken fried rice at Galleria while listening to Ezekiel's many thoughts on the healthcare reform, and in the evening Priscilla and I had our last premarital counseling session with the Sugis. Monday, I was sick with some sort of stomach flu (what a great way to spend vacation), as were Priscilla and a lot of other people who went on the hike. Tuesday, Priscilla and I were feeling better so we got snacks from Trader Joe's and she helped my mom make dinner (aka learning wife skills for the potential near future).
Overall, I had a lot of fun, caught up on sleep, and got a new temporary car. And I think I'm getting used to the 5.5 hour drive. I just kind of went on autopilot, especially on I-5 where it's all straight and boring. I did find a good Christian radio station out there, K-LOVE. They're in many cities on many frequencies, but I managed to get mostly good reception on the 88.3 frequency from Buttonwillow to Gilroy, which is more than half the trip. I also learned that driving next to big rigs can greatly boost spotty reception, since big trucks act as big antennas!
FTP Troubles - Sunday, July 11, 2004
I haven't updated my site since the June 28 entry. I couldn't FTP using Internet Explorer into my UCLA account, so I couldn't upload my webpage. Today Kenny taught me how to FTP via DOS command prompt, and that worked perfectly. Kudos to him! And many many curses to Internet Explorer. <goes and downloads Mozilla's Firefox>
Towards the evening, I went hiking on the trail above my house with Daniel, Sarah, their 2 guests, my brother, and David. My brother and David were riding around on their bikes, and they were supposed to meet up with us on the trail. But the walkie talkies we were using to keep in contact didn't work too well, and our cell phones couldn't get reception up in those hills, so for a while we didn't know where they were.
Towards the evening, I went hiking on the trail above my house with Daniel, Sarah, their 2 guests, my brother, and David. My brother and David were riding around on their bikes, and they were supposed to meet up with us on the trail. But the walkie talkies we were using to keep in contact didn't work too well, and our cell phones couldn't get reception up in those hills, so for a while we didn't know where they were.