weekend adventures

After a typical Saturday morning cleaning and working on projects at church we decided to practice for our big backpacking trip this summer (stay tuned for more details!).  We have a tendency to complain that there's nowhere close by to go hiking, since there are no mountains within a few hours, and East Bay is a pretty urban area.  However, there are some nice regional parks in the area, and Quinn found a 9 mile loop that we could hike in Wildcat Canyon Regional Park, a mere 20 minutes from our home.

Many places we might feel quite silly carrying our big backpacks all loaded down around in a small-ish regional park, but hey, it's the bay area.  We did get a few odd looks, but most people didn't even notice.  Anyways, we filled up as many water bottles as we own, dragged out our camping gear, and then loaded  up our two packs.  They weighed something like 40 lbs a piece, but we didn't actually weigh them.  If something had happened and we had to stay out there longer than expected, we would have been fairly well prepared!

For most of the hike we were on a ridge, so had gorgeous 360 views of the area.  Above you can see San Pablo Reservoir, and if you turned around you would be looking out towards San Francisco and the ocean. It was also great because there weren't many people in this part of the park, and parking wasn't an issue at all.  Only downside was that the trail was paved for some of the time.  But, we saw lots of animals-- lizards, snakes, turkeys, and cows.  I was SO tired by the end after carrying all the weight ... I guess more motivation to get better at running hills, and to practice perseverance. :)

Did you have any weekend adventures? 

Friends!

One benefit of living in the Bay Area is that we get visitors now and then!  A few weeks ago, a friend who's currently at Dartmouth College was in the area on a business trip and he was able to spend a few extra days with us.  We capitalized on the opportunity and took him hiking along the coast at Tomales Bay.  It wasn't a super clear day, but the fog/clouds did lift as we reached the point (yay!).  There were also some wildflowers out, which I thought were absolutely gorgeous.  If you have a day to spend outdoors, this was a longer, but reasonable and rewarding hike with out a lot of demanding elevation changes.

And now we have the pleasure of having another friend from Los Alamos (who's most recently been in Japan) in the area for the next few months.  Alan will be over for dinner tonight, and then who knows what other things we'll find to do with him over the rest of the time.

What do you like to do with visitors?

A few dinner pics too...

Focaccia Pizza

Easy supper of grilled panini sandwiches, asparagus, and tomato soup

Crispy Noodle Cakes with Hoisin Chicken (recipe courtesy of Fine Cooking)

One of the things I have been enjoying about marriage is that there is always someone to cook for.  Granted, some days it's not as fun as others, but by and large I really enjoy cooking for someone who appreciates the food I spend time preparing.  I'm afraid I scared Quinn when I lived by myself in college and was too lazy to cook so would eat lettuce and beans, or whatever I could find in the cupboard for dinner some days. 

I really like to try new foods, however I also like to round out trying new things every week with a few good staples (something along the lines of home made chicken fingers, baked chicken or fish, or Awesome Burritos).  What do you like to do for dinner?

Some of the yummy food we make and share...

Red VelvetCupcakes:
shared with grad students

Monkey cupcakes:
shared with church ladies at a jungle-themed baby shower

"Berkeley" Crepes (stuffed with Nutella, strawberry and banana; inspired by The Crepevine):
shared with husband and sister

Yummm... now I want to eat a cupcake for lunch. I love making things that taste good look pretty too! 


ps-dinner photos to come soon ...

"O LORD, our Lord,

How excellent is Your name in all the earth,
Who have set Your glory above the heavens!
Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have ordained strength,
Because of Your enemies,
That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?
For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.
You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
All sheep and oxen—
Even the beasts of the field,
The birds of the air,
And the fish of the sea
That pass through the paths of the seas.
O LORD, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth!"
Psalm 8

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Last week we found our California adventures continuing with a quick camping trip to the Eldorado National Forest, which is close to South Lake Tahoe. The trip was a nice refresher from the busyness of day to day life. Although we had a splendid time, we both agreed that it was good we didn't go camping for our honeymoon :).

On Friday, we took an all-day hike, saw a few lakes, and observed some of God's wonderful handiwork. If some parts of this current, fallen world can be so beautiful, I can't even imagine how wonderful the New Heaven and New Earth will be when Jesus returns!

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After church today we met up with some friends and rode our bikes to Ceasar Chavez Park to see Berkeley's annual kite festival. It was a nice day, a lovely ride, and some of the kites were truly amazing! The octopus above was one of my favorites. It was crazy how high some of the kites were-- some of the strings weren't even straight but curved mid-air. The nerdy-ness of some in our group could be noted in that it was pointed out that this phenomenon illustrated that strings really do have mass. (Oh basic physics class, why do you continue to lie to me? ;)) Of course, I added to the nerdy-ness by pointing out that one kite looked like a virus.

The bigger character kites reminded me of the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta; the biggest difference being that the kites don't have gondolas like the balloons.

The view of San Francisco from the park.

This is a picture of our new home! Personally, I think it's rather cute seeing as it's pale yellow and has an itsy front porch where I hope to put pots of flowers and herbs. We've lived here almost a week, and everything is starting to find it's own place (just in time for our gifts and my stuff to get here on Monday!).

Today is an example of why I like the new location so much... after spending the morning at home working on various things, I walked 20 minutes to meet Quinn for lunch. After lunch and playing a game of Robo Rally with some other grad students I headed out to run errands-- on foot. Two hours later my errands were complete, I had seen some interesting things, and I got some fresh air.

One of my stops included Goodwill. I wasn't really looking for a vase, but this one was just so fun and interesting looking. And then, since I had a vase, I had to stop at the little corner florist and buy a flower to go in it. :)