Category: Elsewhere

Unplugged

~ meh ~ 2 Comments

…is where I was for the past week and a half.  I sat down at a computer exactly once and it was for 5 minutes.  And it was glorious.

The past week, in a nutshell:

xmas in santa barbara (and an xmas dinner in seal beach)

hiking in the mountains

old friends

at old hangouts

a little swimming in the sun

in totally amazing weather

then i headed thata way

to sf

where i spent a lot of time walking

over hills, through familiar neighborhoods

avoiding death monsters

hanging out with super awesome peeps, making great food

and eating (and drinking) it

enjoyed some local music

and local art

culminating in a bridal shower for alix

where my more artistic counterparts took over the job of making the rehearsal bouquet (because I was ruining it) while i went and drank champagne and ate about 30 shrimp before hopping on a red-eye back to kentucky

so long, california. until next time.

happy 2012

Kentucky Goes Global

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An email from Margaret, who is currently working over in London for a few months (lucky):

So my friend Susie is doing what I”m doing work-wise, but in Osaka, and for a year.  She goes to visit a friend in the burbs outside Osaka and writes me this – (and see attached pic)
“then today we went to this hilarious (but good) place called U.K. diner.  i figured it was british food but instead it was a university of kentucky themed restaurant!  UK gear all over the place and a motorcycle inside and american food!”  
i mean that’s amazing.  i have no idea what the link between japan and U Kentucky is, but it’s strong.  Meg – I wonder if they televised the NCAA game there and all wore jorts???!!!
Attached picture below:
Yes, those are NASCAR cars, trucks (I just learned there is a NASCAR truck series), and big rigs lining the walls and a Camaro chair in the forefront.  The allure of Kentucky culture knows no bounds.

The Rez

~ meh ~ 2 Comments

About a year an a half ago one of our very best friends from college moved with her husband, who is a doctor, out to the middle of the Navajo Nation in Arizona so he could work at the local hospital. Last Thursday three of us met up in Albequerque and made the four hour drive out to Chinle (pronounced chin-lee) to visit the two of them along with their two year old daughter and brand new baby, who was born in September.

Our hosts were gracious enough to let us stay for three whole days (God knows why).  Our weekend consisted of:

adorable babies

 crowns, tutus, ballet, and bollywood aerobics (it’s the two-year-old’s favorite dance video)
 some hiking
 along big canyon walls
 to the bottom of canyon de chelly
 playing in the dirt
a trip to the swap meet (us in front of the house getting ready to go)
 a drive through the desert
 to monument national park
 where i learned that if you get out of the car to take pictures of goats
 your “friends” will drive about 8 miles an hour 5 feet in front of you so you can’t get back in the car, which is really fun
 there were some amazing rocks
 and amazing colors
 and amazing skies
 and amazing (?) people
 it was a fantastic trip. i miss everyone. thanks to paul and lisa for hosting. more pics to be posted here shortly.

Eleven

~ meh ~ 1 Comment

…and I’m back from the Rez!

Arizona/New Mexico/Utah was cool, got back in last night around midnight.  So waking up this morning was fun.  Pics from this weekend to follow shortly.  But in the meantime, this is neat.  Yesterday Twitter released a video visualizing all the tweets around the world mentioning 11.11.11 (each “1” signifies activity referencing the date, the size of the 1 correlates with the volume of tweets.)

Pretty cool to watch the 11:11 wave ride across the world (can you tell which countries don’t use the 24-hour clock?)

Mele Kalikimaka

~ meh ~ 7 Comments

So, this past week was supposed to be “END BLOBTOBERFEST!”  I was going to get back into training and put together a training schedule and GET ON THE BALL.  But then I got the flu and it knocked me on my butt for the whole week.  I didn’t exercise once.  Not even close.  But I did experience some soreness from lying in bed so much.

So, what did I do during my week off (aside from turning into a pile of white, doughy grossness)?

Signed up for a half Ironman.  Of course.

My good friend Alix is getting married next summer and decided to do the Honu 70.3 in June before the wedding.  And I am joining her.  It is going to be my A race for next year (I’ve never been to Hawaii before…I am beyond excited.)

PARTY ON THE NORTH SHORE!

Where oh where has October gone…

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{Celebrated a wedding with old friends in Colorado…}

David and Mom, 1966

{…and the life of an old friend in Seal Beach…}

 

{…some trail running in Barea…}

{…and Kentucky football games at Commonwealth Sadium…}

{…a little pumpkin baked deliciousness at home (recipe here)…}

{…and domestic adventures in canning…}

{…seasonal reading (yes, this book is from the “required high school reading” section of the library and is labeled “teen” on the cover)…}


{…and, of course, fall sunsets.}

Apartment Hike #2 (Part B)

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…continued from Part A.

Before we continue, did you know that September 17 is Constitution Day?

Chrissy did.  And did you know that Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution?  Now you do.

From the Inner Sunset we headed into Cole Valley for some uphill. Way, way uphill. Running sounded like a good idea, so that’s what we did.

It was easy.  And by easy I mean painful.  Ferg also figured out that skipping uphill is basically impossible.  From here, it was time for steps…which we also ran up.

These took us to…

Stop #5: Michelle and Dave’s, Mount Sutro.

Dave and Michelle (and Cooper, their dog) had an amazing view and a RIDICULOUS amount of delicious food at their house.  It was fantastic. We arrived sweaty and out of breath, and ended up hanging out there longer than the allotted 30 minutes due to some coordination problems with two other hikers who wanted to meet up (after about an hour we realized that they were waiting for us at Michelle and Dave’s old house across town.  Whoops.)  We decided to meet up with them at the next stop.

Fully fueled on pulled pork, mac and cheese, and brownies, we finally hit the road again.  This next stretch would be one of the longer ones of the day.  Road sodas in hand, we left Mount Sutro and headed down into…a forest.

Yes, really.  This little jungle is nestled right behind Michelle and Dave’s, and is home to the only mountain biking trail inside the city (we actually had to let a few bikers pass by.)  We emerged from the forest for yet another hill…

…and a few more stairs…

…to the top of Tank Hill, for a pretty fantastic cityscape.

(Note: Tank Hill was actually a hill for a water tank, not an army tank.)

At this point we were pretty far behind schedule, so we had to get our move on.  After a handstand attempt at the spot where the water tank used to be…

…we headed downhill (finally) toward Upper Market and passed a minibus that, like Chrissy, understood the importance of Constitution Day.

We successfully completed our first crossing of Market (the main drag you can see in the picture above from the top of Tank Hill)…

…and managed to find a ledge to set the camera on autoshoot and posed for a full group shot.  From here, it was down through Noe Valley to…

Stop #6: Summer and Ryan’s, The Mission

This stop resulted in 2 more hikers, 2 dogs, and a Katy Perry dance party.  But 30 minutes later we were on our way again, through the Mission to…

W-K MARKET!  The same stop we made last year.

Cutty bang time.  This year tasted a lot better, for some reason.*  We continued through the Mission without encountering A SINGLE bacon wrapped hot dog cart (a miracle)…

…successfully completed our first freeway crossing…

…and hiked up to the top of Potrero Hill to…

Stop #7: Ferg’s, Potrero Hill

Quick stop, we met up with 3 new hikers (and acquired another dog) and headed downhill (thank God)…

…to freeway crossing #2.  Completed our second freeway crossing successfully, with some people showcasing their parkour skills down into SOMA.  Counting strollers was long gone, but a few hikers were so happy to be on flat ground again that they just kept on skipping.

As dusk fell, we headed into downtown, crossed Market Street for a second time, passed City Hall…

…and marched straight into the Tenderloin to our old favorite hang out, Harrington’s Pub: where people smoke inside and dogs are welcome (which worked out great for us).  We asked a lady in the bar to take a group shot.

Apparently she’d been hanging out at the bar for a while.  But to be honest, it was probably better than any of us could do at that point.  We finished up our drinks and hit the road again, where we saw…another double decker red bus.  Why these things run through the Tenderloin I will never understand.  This meant only one thing:

Time for The Outsider, another Tenderloin gem.  From here we put on our blinders and made our way up the final hill to our FINAL STOP!

Stop #8: Sherwin & Peterson’s, the Tendernob

Victory.  Pizza and football for everyone.

Finishing time: 8:30pm

Lessons Learned: Carl is the fastest skipper in the group; they won’t let you in to a marijuana store “just to go pee”

Flora and Fauna:  Max, Lani, Cooper, and Huey.

*UPDATE: The Cutty Bang was on ice this year.  General consensus is that’s why it was so much better.


Apartment Hike #2: Skip the City (Part A)

~ meh ~ 4 Comments

Like, literally.

Some fortunate people with calves like this had an advantage:

Most of us did not.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Location: San Francisco

Distance: 14.04 m

Entry Fee: A good attitude, willingness to walk up hills

Apartment Hike #2 was a massive success…no thanks to me.  A huge HUGE thank you goes out to Molly, Peterson, and Ferg for making this happen.  And, of course, all of the hosts.  Without you, there would be no Urban Apartment Hiking.

ROUTE:

ROOLS:

  • 30 minutes at each house
  • Bacon Wrapped Hot Dog Carts–duh
  • Red Double Decker Tour Buses = chug a beer at the nearest bar.  5 minutes max.
  • Bay Quackers Duck Bus = shot of the warmest garbage tequila on the dusty bottom shelf from the nearest bar
  • Every time you see a stroller, you get to tell someone to skip.  That person has to skip until the next stroller is spotted, and the skipping gets passed along to someone else.

AND WE WERE OFF!

Stop #1: T. Dude and Eden’s, The Richmond.  Newly engaged.  Champagne for everyone.

Eden couldn’t join, but was gracious enough to host.  Their new apartment is awesome.  We left the first stop with almost 20 people in tow…21 if you count the one in utero (Summer is a TROOPER).

Pat and Foster skipped through the park…

…and right into our first Red Double Decker bus.

Which landed us in Yancy’s at 10:45am.  Sherwin (attempted to) skip through the door.

On our way to stop #2, we saw Red Double Decker Bus #2…but decided to hold off on our second bar stop until after we had hit all the stops on our Inner Sunset lineup.

Stops #2 (Telleen, where we were provided with delicious fresh fruit), #3 (Molly, who made some fantastic cookies), and #4 (the Hesslers, who provided a wide range of delicacies) were all within 4 blocks of each other in the Inner Sunset.  And that’s exactly how it went: boom boom boom.

Telleen's backyard
Happy Hikers, The Hesslers backyard

Then we hit the road again…

…and walked the 3 blocks down to the Blackthorn Tavern for the second bus stop.  Lara skipped.

(Gold star to anyone who can identify the origin of the yellow sunglasses.)

At this point we were halfway through our stops but had only been hiking for about 2 hours.  And it had all been flat. We were fully fueled and ready to attack the upcoming hills. Things were about to get a lot gnarlier…especially for skipping.

To be continued…