Sierra Vista Scenic Byway

Memorial Day Weekend 2017!  Road trip!  First stop, In-N-Out burger (Onions new favorite, although he goes regular burger no onions).  Here's my attempt at eating healthy.  Protein style burger, no friends, a hard-boiled egg, blueberries and water.  The last three brought from home.

Having seen Yosemite last year, we decided to head back to the Sierra Nevada's and go south of Yosemite to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks.  However, on the first day, we drove up into the mountains between Yosemite and Kings Canyon.  We drove up the Sierra Vista Scenic Byway starting in the town of North Fork, the geographic center of California.

The first part of the drive up into the mountains is nothing special, but you round a corner and the Sierra's are laid out all in front of you.  The first thing we see is Mammoth Lake and dam.

Mile High Vista is spectacular and as you see, we had fantastic weather.

Looking east into the Sierra Nevada, there are also lots of granite domes.  None as famous as Half Dome, but still, amazing.

Flowers EVERYWHERE.  White, red, yellow, orange....

The Sierra Vista Scenic Byway is a loop and we just kept driving up into the mountains. 

However, near the top, there was snow, so we turned around.  In addition, part of the road is unpaved.  Alas, we apparently missed out on two amazing sites along the drive.  Next time....

Graffiti

So, the main building (from the 1950's) of The Lick-Wilmerding High School will be torn down this summer and replaced with a new building during the next academic year.  Therefore, on the last day of school, students were given the go-ahead to write on the walls of the school.  Alumni even came back to take part.  I didn't really look closely at what was written but there was some offensive stuff.  I mean, of course, it's high school kids, and some, if not all, have some beef with some teacher, someone or something that happened to them. But I took the time yesterday to do a quick scan and here are some of my favorites.

Awww, thanks kid!

LWHS Math Department 2017-18.  We are losing Ms. Lea (front row left) to her new life adventure!  We'll miss her.

Tennessee Valley

This past Thursday, I met up with Nick to grab some dinner in the Castro and to hear the president of KQED in conversation with Bill Moyers.

I knew of Moyers name but it took Wikipedia to give me the full scoop on his life (press secretary for LBJ in his mid-20's).  He spoke about the power and importance of public radio....especially in our current political climate!

Onions usually works on Saturday's but got this past Saturday off.  We went to the farmer's market, checked out the fish store on Clement and then went across the Golden Gate Bridge to the Tennessee Valley.

It's a flat walk from the parking lot down to the ocean.

We stayed at the beach for about 45 minutes (that's Onions limit!) and then walked back up the valley to spend the evening at the Korean spa we like to go to!

Mothers Day Weekend 2017

Alas, this post doesn't actually include Mom herself, but it was a weekend full of activity and friendship!  Friday after school, Lick colleague, Mariel and I took BART to Hayward and met up with my Head-Royce colleague Chris for drinks and merriment.

After dinner, we stumbled upon a video game arcade, yeah that kind of arcade.  Although no quarters needed (it's $5 for all you can play in one hour), we went back in time to play Ms. PacMan, Frogger, Dig Dug and lots of driving games!

So those of you who know my issues around "paninis" know what I'm freaking out about here!

Saturday afternoon, Onions and my friend Jeff (second from left) from Beijing was up in Marin County with his partner Terry (second from right).  I picked up their friend Ed (left) and we met up and went on a hike called the Steep Ravine hike from the west side of Mt. Tam down to the coast.

Done!

We ended just south of Stinson Beach, what a glorious day.

We discovered that there are cabins and campgrounds at the bottom base of Steep Ravine for rent from the State Park system.  Yeah, nothing available for the rest of the year!

Sunday, Mother's Day itself, and I arranged for Onions and I to go indoor skydiving!

That's the skydiving tube right there.

 Here are some video clips of us in the tube.  It's WAY harder than it seems.

Flying Ernie

Flying Onions

Still with a few hours left on this glorious afternoon, we headed over to Coyote Hills Regional Park, which I found just on Apple Maps.  It was a great place, with rolling hills right along the way north of the Dumbarton Bridge.

Looking southwest towards San Jose

The wetlands just east of the hills, looking towards Hayward and Union City. 

The weekend ended with Mongolian Hot Pot. Usually, I'm not a fan, but this time I was into it.  Onions was happy because he LOVES Hot Pot and now will have my satisfaction as reason for us to go more often!

Chen Ten -- Spring 2017 Edition

Two Years Down, Two Years To Go!