Thanksgiving, etc.

So, it's only been 3 weeks, which is a slight improvement...right?  Anyway, back to business...

Thanksgiving Weekend
This was the first Thanksgiving that we haven't been home for since we got married and my first Thanksgiving away from home too.  But with our work schedules (I worked the day before Thanksgiving) and practically the whole Bay Area going somewhere or another, we decided to stick it out in CA.  Our friends John and Julie were also staying in CA instead of flying back to the East Coast, so we decided to go hiking on Thursday.

So, we packed up early on Thursday and drove 2 hours up to Point Reyes, which is a state park a bit north of San Francisco.  The weather was a little damp and chilly on the drive, but it cleared up as we were getting closer.  We were feeling pretty adventurous, so we picked out a 13-mile loop to hike.

We started out hiking up a "mountain" through the woods and then came out along the coast.  The sun was basking the coast and a gentle breeze was making its way along the cliffs at the water's edge.  It was fantastic.  The only un-fantastic part was that my camera broke...  so I only got pictures from the first little bit of the trip (shown below)..

Banana Slug! (There were lots of them)

The trees were covered in moss...

So, it was a little wet in the woods...

The only picture of the coast I got...

The 4 of us... and the last picture my camera took...

The last few miles of the hike were back in the woods and seemed to drag on a little, but that could have been due to the fact that we were hiking a half-marathon...  After we got back to the car, we were starving.  So, we stopped a grabbed some food on the way back.  I got a turkey sandwich (like you're supposed to...) and Bridget got barbecued chicken (not sure why...).  But it tasted so good regardless. :)

Bridget made plans with Julie to do some Black Friday shopping together, so John and I decided to hang out and watch some movies and football.  So, after a nice night of sleep, that's what we did.  The girls shopped for hours and John and I watched 2 of the 3 Bourne movies and watched part of the LSU-Arkansas game.  It was quite relaxing, to be honest. :)

Later that night, one of the couples from our church group invited us over for a Thanksgiving dinner.  The husband is a resident at the Stanford hospital and had to work on Thanksgiving, so we all celebrated the day after.  It was alot of fun to hang out with them, meet their friends, and eat lots of good food (of course!)

The rest of the weekend was pretty much just chilling out.  We ran quite a few errands, played some Wii, watched a movie or two, and basically caught up from the past few weeks of busyness.  It was pretty great!

12/3-12/4
It seemed like we did quite a few things this weekend.  Saturday morning started with volunteering with a group from church that does home repair for needy families in the Peninsula.  So, we helped build a wainscot in a lady's house.  I had no idea what that was until I got there, but it's pretty much a decorative wall covering with fancy trim and stuff.  However, the lady who lived there is blind and in a wheelchair, so she had kind of demolished the bottom parts of her walls.  So, we made a sturdy protective wainscot so she wouldn't hurt herself (or the wall) anymore.  The guys running the operation were really cool and let Bridget and I use the saws and measure the cuts and all, so that was alot of fun.

Rebuilding The Peninsula Together Team

That took up the middle of the day, and Bridget worked that night and I stayed home and worked.  Which ended up working out alright.

Sunday started with church as usual and then we went to a grilled cheese social to meet more people from the church and interact.  It was really fun.  We ended up talking to a woman who works with a group in Africa that does entrepreneurship training for predominantly women.  It was really neat to hear what her ministry is up to.

After church, I went and volunteered with another church ministry that fixes up old bikes and gives them to needy people in the community.  So, we got around 30 bikes from Stanford's impound and did some tweaking and repairing for a few hours.  As an engineer, I (ashamedly) hadn't really fiddled with bikes very much, so it was fun to get my hands dirty with some tools and learn about bikes while helping other people.

After the bike repairing, Bridget and I went to some friend's house for the evening. We had homemade pasta for dinner and then we played a game called Carcassonne.  It was a pretty fun game.  I won, so maybe I'm a little biased... :)

By the time we got home, we were exhausted and rested up for upcoming week!

12/9-12/10
So, I know it's not Sunday yet, but I'm kind of on a roll (of sorts...)

Anyway, my friend Johanna was in the area, and came down to Palo Alto from San Francisco Friday evening to hang out for half of the weekend.  She hadn't been around Stanford's campus, so I gave her a nice tour while Bridget wrapped up her tutoring for the afternoon.  I still like walking around Stanford's campus... it's really impressive.  After the campus tour, we grabbed some dinner at home (Bridget made some of her famous lasagna!) and then went back into downtown Palo Alto.  The city lights the trees at night and most of the shops stay open, so it's fun to just walk around.

Saturday morning was a relatively early start so we could fit a hike in before she flew out.  So, we grabbed a quick breakfast around 7am and headed out.  We went up to the same are we hiked around the first weekend here.  That time, it was really foggy and cold.  This time, it was kinda chilly in Palo Alto (34-ish), but it was sunny and in the 50s up on the ridge, so it was fantastic weather.  We had a nice, leisurely hike for an hour or two.  The scenery hasn't gotten old, and I highly doubt it ever will... :)

Cool Tree

Johanna and Bridget on the trail!

Bridget and Johanna at the top of Borel Hill

After the hike, we dropped Johanna off at the airport and head back home.

So, that's about all for now.  We head home for Christmas next weekend, so I'm doubtful I'll post before next year.  So,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
~ Jeremy

I'm not so good at this anymore...

11/20/11
So, I guess I have a much greater respect for full-time bloggers.  These people crank out posts every single day!  Like without fail!  And I can hardly write once a month anymore!  I'm so pathetic... or too busy having fun with everything else to do in life aside from sitting in front of a computer screen... :)

Anyway, I realize that I haven't posted in awhile and really need to catch you all up on our lives so I can quit feeling bad about it.  So, here's goes nothing... well, not quite nothing because we've been up to some stuff... :)

So, the weekend of 10/22-10/23, the most notable event was the Stanford-Washington football game.  A bunch of our friends from church had a tailgate all afternoon, so we hung out for the afternoon with them and then went to the game afterward.  The game was a blowout, which is always good when you're rooting for the team doing the blowing out.  :) 

Oh, and before that, I went for a run/hike with my friend John over in the East Bay.  It was supposed to be a run, but about 50 feet in, I realized that while my brain may be getting quite a workout these days, but legs are getting anything but (infer any and all puns).  So, we had a nice run-till-we-can't-breathe and then hike-till-we-could-breathe-again cycle.  And that lasted about two cycles.  And then we hiked the rest of the way up. :)  But the weather was phenomenal.  A crisp 45ish when we started and then the sun came out and heated the countryside up a bit.  Just enough to break a nice sweat to fool me into thinking I was getting a really good workout.  And the view from the top was great.  I didn't have my camera on me (since I was running, remember?) so you'll just have to believe me. :)

Anyway, that was before the tailgate, which ended up being a good thing because I could eat the tailgate food without feeling guilty.  Which probably more than negated the almost-workout I got on the trail.  Quite a pity...  But those were the most notable activities of that weekend.

10/29-10/30
My mom came and visited us this weekend!  It was great!  She came in on Friday morning and hung out with Bridget while she did her nannying and then met me on campus after I wrapped up.  We had a nice campus tour, compliments of your truly.  I still don't know most of the buildings, but can successfully navigate in a nice loop, so it feels like a genuine tour.  :)  We then grabbed dinner at an Italian place in downtown Palo Alto.  I called ahead and put in a reservation for three.  When we got there, it looked like they just added another chair to a 2-person table...and viola! - a 3-person table.  Quite clever... So, it was a cozy dinner, but the food was great.  The server even gave us half a loaf of sourdough bread to take home with us in the doggie bag.  :)  Major bonus.  :)

On Saturday, we slept in for a bit.  Well, I slept in and Bridget and my mom played games on their iPods.  After that, we went hiking over by Half Moon Bay, which is west of Palo Alto.  We hadn't been there before and it looked nice, so there we went.  :)  We took a trail that was a couple of miles, nothing too bad.  And it was a nice mix of forest and prairie-with-a-view.

Banana Slug!

View to the West

Big Trees!

After hiking, we went and walked around the tide pools at the beach.  There is a relatively well-known area with a huge plateau of rocks that is filled with starfish and sea anemones and even saltwater trees!  I didn't have my camera because I didn't want to drop it in the water, so that's just another reason to come and visit us yourselves!

After the tide pools, we grabbed dinner at a seafood place along the highway.  Pulled up next to a pretty snazzy-looking Lamborghini. :)

Orange Lambo

Amazing Sunset over the ocean

On Sunday, we went to church and then headed into San Francisco.  We had lunch at Fisherman's Warf (a must-do) and walked around Pier 39 (which is famous for its seals).  And then we hiked around Lands End trail (mentioned previously) and then up to Twin Peaks, which is a cool lookout point from which you can see almost the whole city!

Photo Shoot on Pier 39

The Golden Gate almost shrouded by the clouds

Twin Peaks

Twin Peaks Panorama (click to see it better)

Then off to the airport... :(

11/6-11/7
So, we went hiking this weekend with our friend Julie.  We went hiking in a new part of the East Bay.  A nice little hike around a lake and up into some hills.  And aside from missing a turn onto the trail we wanted to take, the hike when flawlessly... :)  (It wasn't a big deal, but still kinda funny)  But the hike had some great views of the whole Bay Area.  See pictures below. :)

Julie and Bridget made it!

Panorama at the top

The calm little lake

Headed back down

So, on the way back down, the trail took a strange turn and it was clear why, until we saw this tree that was literally hanging onto the edge of a cliff.  Only it wasn't at the edge, it was over the edge!  It's roots were somehow keeping it anchored to the rest of the cliff-side.  The trail used to curve over that way, but must have been diverted to keep people from falling off the edge or causing more erosion.  It was pretty crazy...

Really?!?!

On to the next weekend, 11/13-11/14.  We honestly didn't do much this weekend.  We both slept quite a bit.  Stanford lost to Oregon in football.  We went to a friend's house to watch the game, which was fun.  However, another friend (who happens to be an Oklahoma fan) came to root against Stanford so that Oklahoma would move up in the rankings.  So, it was a tense game.  Well, not really.  Stanford was just out-played and we all knew it.  On Sunday, Bridget wasn't feeling too well, so being a great husband I am, went to the drug store and got her some medicine and watched movies all afternoon.  :)  Not to toot my own horn too much though, because I probably would have watched movies with her anyway... :)  And that pretty much wrapped up that weekend.

Wow, now this weekend.  So, I ended up catching Bridget's cold/headache/sore throat thing this week and was finally getting over it by Friday.  So, we went hiking yesterday up behind Stanford's campus.  There is a huge satellite dish to "look at whatever scientists look at".  But there are a few miles of paved paths around there, so we grabbed some Chipotles, our picnic blanket, and our hiking packs and headed up.  Only problem was there weren't any picnic tables or trash cans.  So, we would have been like the only people picnicking (is that how you spell it?) in the whole place, or we could wait until we got back and go eat on campus.  So, we waited.  But, the scenery was gorgeous.  We have been surrounded by fall colors for the last month or more and it seemed to be at its pinnacle.  We could see splotches of colors all over the place.  We could even see all the way up the peninsula to San Francisco.  Totally cool.  Here are some pics.

REALLY bright tree on campus

View from the dish

Bridget :)

Then today, we went up to San Francisco with John and Julie.  We hung out at Baker Beach and took some pictures of us with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.  The weather cleared just as we arrived and it was fantastic!  There was even a huge rainbow across the bridge.  After that, we drove past the "Painted Ladies", which are a row of intricately decorated houses along Alamo Square.  I guess the TV show "Full House" had these row of houses in its intro to suggest that's where the show happened.  We just drove by, so I didn't get any pictures, but you can just type "Painted Ladies San Francisco" into Google.  And then we headed to Twin Peaks again to show them the view before heading back south along the peninsula.  It was quite the whirlwind tour of San Francisco, but alot of fun. :)

Panorama at the beach (which is pretty tough since the waves don't really "hold still")

KABOOM!

Double rainbow over the bridge!

Well, that's about all I can type right now... hope you survived to the end!  Hopefully I'll post again before Christmas.  :)

Until then,
~ Jeremy

Two more weeks fly by...

So, maybe the post-once-a-week thing was a little ambitious.  Or I've been a little lazy as of late... You pick my excuse. :)

Anyway, life's been busy around here.  Bridget's nannying is going well and her tutoring is picking up.  My work is staying pretty steady right near "crazy". :)  But we're enjoying it for sure. :)

So, back to our weekend updates. :)  Two weekends ago was pretty chill.  Friday night was actually quite uneventful.  Bridget had to babysit, so I spent the time getting my extra work done so I could take off the rest of the weekend. :)  But, the upside was that we had all day Saturday to do whatever we wanted. :)  So, we drove down to Monterey to visit one of my good friends from Purdue who just moved there.  The drive was all twisy-turney most of the way but leveled out towards the end.  We stopped at a produce stand on the side of the road and got five bags of produce/fruit for like $25.  It was pretty amazing.

Once we met up with my friend, we got some lunch in downtown Monterey at a Mexican restaurant.  The food was pretty good.  After that, we walked around the main street area, the beach, and the pier.  I took a few pictures...  There is also a really cool aquarium in Monterey too, but we didn't go in.

Beach and Water

Panorama (click to see the bigger version)

After the walk-around, we went back to my friend's place and watched some Stanford football and got some pizza and just kind of chilled until we left.  It was great to see my friend again (it had been quite awhile) and Monterey is a pretty cool place.

Sunday was pretty chill with church in the morning and then some tennis if the afternoon.  Nice relaxing day.  :)  On to Monday...  Some of our friends play on a softball team and they needed some subs, so Bridget and I played softball on Monday night... in the rain.  Well, it was kind of misting a little bit and then it was drizzling a tad and the other team (mostly big burly men) waited in their cars until the "rain" stopped to come out and play.  Unfortunately for us, they were actually much better softball players and it would have been better had they stayed in their cars... :)  But it was fun to play anyway.  :)  The rest of the week was pretty standard...

This Friday night we went to a Stanford volleyball game with some friends.  Stanford beat up on Washington State (the last set was 25-4), but it was still fun to watch.  :)  After the game we came back to our place and played some games.  It was a good thing Bridget had an easy day because we stayed up way past her bedtime... :)

I slept in on Saturday, which was really nice.  Bridget had to babysit that night, so we both went and babysat.  After that, we drove into San Francisco for a friend's birthday party/get-together.  Parking was a nightmare...  It took 25 minutes to find a spot.  We almost accidentaly parked in a two-away zone (they marked every other parking meter and I almost parked in the non-marked one not realizing that the signs said "No Parking within 100 ft".  And it ended up being a good thing because on our way out later, we saw a gang of tow trucks hauling cars off the streets.  I guess it was the Nike Women's Marathon in the city, so they had to clear the streets.  But, we made it and had a pretty good time at the fiesta.  However, it did make for a pretty late night...  Oh well.  :)

We went to church earlier than normal and then went and watched the SF 49ers play the Detroit Lions in football.  Most of our friends are 49ers fans, so it was good that they won. :)  Although it would have been cool to see the Lions continue to do so well after being so horrible the last few seasons...

Anyway, this afternoon has been relaxing, which is always nice.  Oh, and the weather is amazing... just like always... :)

Till next time,
~ Jeremy

Catching up (again)...

Wow... time flies like a rocket around here!  It's been three weeks since I posted!  Yikes!  Needless to say, it's been exciting around here as of late!  Well, not necessarily super-exciting, but busy nonetheless... :)

Warning - This is a long post.  Buckle your seatbelts and hang on!  :)

So, I should cover the last two weekends before delving into this past weekend, which was an amazing trip to Yosemite National Park!

But, first things first, two weeks ago, we went down to San Jose to meet up with some friends for dinner.  They were gracious enough to invite us over, so we brought a ourselves (weren't allowed to bring anything) and they whipped up some amazing shrimp and salad.  They weren't together, but they were fantastic!  After dinner, we went to downtown San Jose for dessert.  We went to this cool restaurant with a 2nd-story porch.  And since it's California, they had the cool radiant heaters for the "cold" summer evenings...  It was like 65 out and people were bundled up....  Lightweights... :)  Anyway, it was a great time.

That Saturday was pretty chill.  So chill, in fact, that I don't even remember what we did.  I think it involved tennis, which is still a work in progress.  Bridget got a new tennis racket (her old garage sale racket was in need of replacement) so it's even more unfair now...

Sunday morning was the usual with our young marrieds group and then the church service.  In the afternooon, Bridget had a baby shower for the wife of one of my colleagues.  And since guys don't attend baby showers, all of the husbands went go-karting!  Which was actually alot of fun.  It was an indoor track, which didn't make sense because the weather here is so nice, but oh well.  They did their best to make it feel realistic, including jump suits and helmets!  The jumpsuits were a little awkard, but kind of made the go-kart feel like a fighter jet. :) We had a short "time trial" for a few laps and then had a "race" based on the positioning from the time trial.  I unfortuantely got stuck behind a slow guy who kept cutting me off, so I didn't place as high as I would have liked, but there's still something innately exciting about skidding around a turn in a little go-kart and nearly slamming into a wall of old car tires.  Well, maybe just for me... :)

After the go-karting, the guys went back to crash the baby shower, by request, I might add... :)  Bridget had to nanny, so I stayed home and got some work done.

Phew... that was two weeks ago.  It's tough to remember... good thing I've been blogging so I can help myself remember what I've been up to... :)

Anyway, last weekend, Bridget's parents were in town!  So, she was quite the tour guide for the days they were here.  We went to the Palo Alto Creamery on Friday night, which was alot of fun.  Burgers, salads, cookies, and homemade pies!  Loads of good times and calories.  :)  We played Euchre after that and Bridget and I actually won!  Twice in a row too! :)  That is quite the unusual occurrence and quite enjoyable, I might add. :)

Saturday began with a leisurely morning and then a nice hike up in the coastal range above the bay area.  We went for a nice couple-mile hike over the San Andreas Fault and had a picnic up there by another trail.  It was quite nice.  Weather was great too.  The afternoon was pretty chill, and we got some Mexican food for dinner.  By the time dinner was over, everyone was ready for bed, so it was a pretty relaxing evening. :)

Sunday began with church and then San Francisco.  We got lunch (pizza) in Menlo Park and then made the trek to S.F. and hung out in the Golden Gate Recreational Area, which is a huge park near the Golden Gate.  After that, I split off and had to meet with my team for meeting.  But Bridget and her parents took the rest of the S.F. tour.  :)

Alrighty... that was a typeful... kinda like a mouthful but on a computer...  :)

Anyway, last weekend, we left bright and early on Saturday morning and headed to Yosemite National Park.  We picked up our friends from San Jose on the way.  The trip was around 4 hours, and by the time we had our picnic lunch and made it to the trailhead, it was about 2pm.  Which was more than enough time to do a short 8-mile hike up to some neat waterfalls.  So, quick lesson on the part of Yosemite we were in.  We drove into Yosemite Valley and then hiked from there.  Yosemite valley is quite possibly one of the most picturesque places in the world.  You really can't turn around without losing your breath yet again from the magnificent mountains all over the place.  This valley is home to Half Dome, which is literally, a huge dome-shaped piece of rock that looks like it was cut in half.  It is also home to "El Capitan" which formidably rises roughly 4,000 ft. from the floor of the valley.  And then there are waterfalls streaming down the sheer rock faces at every turn.  Truly the epitome of breathtaking without giving it back.  Unfortunately, I volunteered to drive, so I was having to work so hard to focus on the road amidst the squeals of delight from the other passengers...  But enough drivel and on to the action!

So, the hike we did on Saturday went past Vernal Falls and up to Nevada Falls, which doesn't mean a whole lot unless you know the area.  In case you aren't up on your Yosemite geography, those are two waterfalls from the same source.  Vernal Falls is a pretty easy, short hike from the valley and Nevada Falls is more challenging.  I don't remember the distances, but the first part of the path was paved and then became a little more rugged.  Which is nice for some people because pavement is easier, but doesn't quite have the same "man vs. wild" feel to it.  Just a personal preference...  And there was quite a bit of traffic along pretty much the whole hike.  And once we started climbing a bit off of the valley floor, it was quite easy to see why...  Instead of belaboring the point any further, here are the pictures from the hike...

Just getting started...

Vernal Falls

Liberty Cap

Nevada Falls

Me atop Nevada Falls (notice the shoes...!)

The breathtaking view over Nevada Falls

Yes, I guess trees grow out of rocks in California...

A panorama view from the trail on our way back down.  Half Dome is on the left and Liberty Cap is on the right.  (Definitely want to click on this to make it bigger)

So, that was a spectacular first hike in Yosemite.  We were optimistic about finding a better hike the next day and spent some time strategizing after a quick soak in the hot tub at the hotel.  :)  We decided on a 13.5 mile hike up to Eagle Peak, the top part of the Three Brothers Formation, shown below (the three peaks kind of leaning on each other).

I didn't take this picture.  Got it from here. 

 

 

The next morning started bright and early around 6:20am.  We grabbed some breakfast and hit the trail.  The hike had us climbing up to the top of Yosemite Falls, which is the highest waterfall in North America (over 2,400 ft.).  Since the falls were over 2,400 ft., that meant that we had to climb over 2,400 ft. of elevation to make it to the top!  That part of the hike had quite a few switchbacks, but each time we turned around, it was another spectacular view.  Almost made you forget your were working so hard... :)

Yosemite Falls

The view partway up.  Definitely want to click on this one too!

The view a little bit higher

The view from whence we came

Once we summited the waterfalls, we followed the trail for another 2.3 miles and gained another 2,000 ft. of elevation to the top of Eagle Peak.  The trail on top felt and looked like a standard walk in the forest.  It did not feel like we were walking over 3,000 ft. above the valley.  The trail was nice and soft and there were trees and moss everywhere.  Didn't see any bears or mountain lions, but did see a fair number of lizards and blue jays.  :)  But we also didn't see many other people until we started back down.  Anyway, once we made it to the top (in just a hair over 3 hours), the view was amazing.  I feel like the English language doesn't have enough superlatives to describe it, so I apologize for the cliche descriptions.  Maybe awe-inspiring would be better.

Yep, the trees get pretty big.

Walking through the forest

Us atop Eagle Peak!

The view.  And, yes, we were extremely high

Yes, the ground really ends at the edge of the sand.  4,000 ft. to the bottom...

After eating a picnic lunch (and taking our garbage with us, of course), we started the hike back down.  We stopped and took a look at/over Yosemite Falls, which was cool.

The view over the falls

After that, we hiked/ran/walked back down the dizzying trail back to the bottom.  But the cool part was that all of the views looked new since we walked the other direction the last time, so it was a whole new experience.  Also, the sun was now on the other side of the sky, so the lighting was different too.

One of the bazillion amazing views on the way down

By the time we reached the bottom, we were breathless.  Part due to the views and part due to the exertion.  Not sure which was the greater part.  But it was an incredible day nonetheless.

The last leg of the journey was the reverse 4 hour journey back home, which would have been quicker if I hadn't have been stuck behind 2 RVs.  Oh well.  We made it safe and sound.

Whoa... that was alot of typing.  But I guess I did it to myself.  Bridget and I may just lay low(er) this weekend.  And then again, maybe not... :)  Guess you'll have to check back and see!  :)

~ Jeremy