Roadtrippin', solo style

The Japanese word for weekend is shuumatsu (週 = shuu = week; 末 = matsu = end); that's the Saturday and Sunday (obvs). In December, there's the nenmatsu (年 = nen = year), which is three times better. Instead of one day off at the beginning and end of the week, we get three days each for the end of the year and beginning of the new year. Pretty sweet, innit?

With a good chunk of days off I decided to do something spontaneous -- well, as spontaneous as I can be.  Which means I thought about it for a week or so. Called my friends to see if I could crash with them.  Thought about what to pack. And on the 29th, I drove up to San Francisco. By myself! It's the longest time I've been on the road alone.  Which is why I was hesitant to commit at all.  I made sure enough people knew what I was up to before leaving, took a deep breath, and hit the accelerator.

After loading into the car everything I could possibly need -- knitting projects (yes, more than one), journal, book, clothes, camera, chargers, water, coffee, snacks -- it wasn't until about an hour or so into the drive that I realized I'd forgotten one very essential item: my phone -- YIPES!  I toyed around with going sans for the weekend, but it was impossible.  I'd have no way of contacting my friends, or getting around.  I'd be totally helpless. And so I turned around and drove back home. All the while cursing my own self.  Once I got home, it took me another 20 minutes to find the phone and refill my gas tank before I was off: again. Of course, I hit traffic.

It took me about eight hours (with one bathroom break) to finally reach my destination -- an apartment right about city center -- and my dear old friend had  a glass of wine and a darling two-year-old waiting for me: perfection.

The weather in SF was unseasonably clear and warm.  My friend, the baby, and I hung out in Noe Valley on Friday morning, and then I hopped away on my own through the Mission District and up to Japantown to meet an old roommate for coffee and a maddish visit to Daiso.  I'd jotted down a few stores to visit from Design Sponge's SF Guide, but it proved too tedious for my mood, so I just wandered around and poked into interesting-looking shops.  There's a mid-century furniture shop somewhere around 16th Street that always seems to catch my eye, which always causes me to sigh covetously at teak wall units and many a chair.  One day, my pretties.

On Saturday I went with my hosts to a New Year's Eve brunch -- fabulous idea that I might steal for this year -- which was one of the most international gatherings I've ever attended.  Simultaneous conversations going on in French, Arabic, English, Chinese, and Italian.  Beautiful Moroccan tea glasses, ceramics, and rugs.  Good coffee.  Good mimosas.  Lots of beautiful babies, playing harmoniously together.

At midnight, the three of us rang in the new year with a quiet, "Cheers!" so as not to wake the baby.  Then it was off to bed, and homeward bound the next morning, armed with coffee and a slice of toast.  I arrived at my door in five hours flat.

My SF photo album is dominated by pictures of a very charming 22-month-old girl.  I've put together a mosaic of the trip's other highlights below:

It'd been a good two years since coming to SF (last time was for the baby's baby shower!), so it felt good to be there.  I still don't know the city as well as I'd like to, and didn't get to meet up with my cousin, who lives there now.  Which means the possibility of returning is great.  Especially now that I know I can make the drive there in one piece. 

Graduation weekend

Since we had such a good time wine tasting over Memorial Day weekend, and I knew we'd be nearby again for my brother's graduation, I suggested to my family to head up a day early and relax before going to the Saturday ceremony.  Everyone agreed, and a family road trip was born.

We only went to two wineries, but that's cool.

[melville vineyards]

We got to spend time doing other things, like walking around Solvang (where we stayed) and watching the US vs. UK match.

[team usa]

The weather was gorgeous at graduation.  We spread a blanket on the lawn and relaxed.  And then were lucky enough to catch our grad at both processional and recessional.

[congrats]

We ended the night with a lovely dinner at Tupelo Junction on State Street (I hear the Bloody Marys are good, but I can only vouch for the blackberry mint mojito) before the long ride home.

[cheers!]

I was beat after just two days: traveling with family is always adventuresome, always yielding funny stories and good memories.  Thanks for giving us a reason to do the road trip, brother -- and congratulations!  Time to go job hunting...

Summer Picnic Club preview

Summer picnicking got started a bit early thanks to a lovely weekend spent wine tasting in the Santa Ynez Valley.  We had a glorious spread of bread, cheese, salami, turkey, carrots, cherries, watermelon, and a refreshing Sauvignon Blanc.  The weather was perfect.

[picnic]

The Santa Ynez Valley is such an easy and feasible getaway, especially with very action-oriented friends (we casually talked about the possibility of going just a few weeks ago).  And probably on account of the film.  We got seated at "the Sideways table" at the Hitching Post.

[towards the wine tasting]

Later, we even made a stop in Solvang and went to Sunday Service at Mission Santa Ines.  Hope you had a good Memorial Day weekend; we sure did!

Oh, and camping

After a full day with families and two Thanksgiving meals, DC and I packed up our gear for my first ever camping trip.  Since it was my first time, we decided to go for just one night.  Which, I noticed, outside of food, was just as much packing as a longer trip would have been, since we still needed sleeping bags, a tent, etc.  But better for me to start slowly:  I have to like it the first time for there to be a second time.

[packed and ready to go!]

Friday morning we set off for San Diego to meet up with our friends, before driving out to the campsite.  Cuyamaca Rancho State Park is under an hour's drive east of San Diego.  We went from beach to woodsy in hardly any time.

Once we arrived, we decided to go hiking first, to make the most of the daylight.

[golden oak leaves]

[stonewall peak hike -- elev 5,700 ft]

[view of lake cuyamaca below]

[back to camp]

After a good 90 minutes, we had enought light left to start making camp.  Good thing DC and I had a practice session with pitching the tent the previous weekend.  Being more experienced, he really did most of the work, though.

[pitching]

My brother, who's done a lot of camping in the last year or more, gave us a bunch of firewood.  He told me that he'd given us much more than one night's worth, but we found ourselves having to forage for more fire fodder.  Big bro did most of his camping in summer, where the fire didn't get started until after 8:00.  We had to start ours at 5:30!

Once the fire got going and we'd changed -- rather, added on layers -- it was comfy-cozy going.  For dinner we had curry udon, and for dessert there were cookies, s'mores, popcorn, and we threw some yams into the fire:

[yams]

We discovered that yams are a delicious substitute for the chocoloate in s'mores (especially when the person doesn't like chocolate), and putting a roasted marshmallow directly on the yam is quite nice, too.

We'd known of a 30-40% chance of rain, so made sure we cleaned and packed up before turning in.  The wind began to pick up, and clouds raced over the clear skies, obscuring the moon and stars completely in an hour.  DC made me sleep in the car because he didn't think I could handle the tent + wetness, and I obliged.

Here's what we awoke to:

[snowy leaves]

[snowy ground]

[breakin' down]

Yes, SNOW, people.  Myko enjoyed it, snapping pictures and drawing on my windshield.  DC got busy breaking down camp, urging me to stay in the car and keep warm.  We cancelled campside breakfast and headed back into San Diego to find a diner or something.

[clear + gray skies]

Despite the unexpected weather, it was a fun trip!  I do look forward to camping more in 2010.  I'll stick to car camping, though (no hard-core backpackin' roughin' it for me -- yet)!

Alameda

Tons of traffic made the drive down to the Bay Area much longer than it's meant to take.  But when we finally got to Alameda, the salty breeze in the air -- and a hearty lunch -- restored our spirits.  We fell into a food coma and had a slumbering siesta well into the afternoon.

The smell of a neighbor's bbq wafting through the open windows roused us.  We took a long walk down the shoreline and through a nearby lagoon area where each of the houses had its own deck and dock, with rowboats and canoes and the like.  Willow trees, ducks, yards with grassy knolls.  It was idyllic.

   

The walk really worked up our appetites -- we could hardly wait for the pizza to be ready!  Thank goodness the trip back from there wasn't too long.  DC had seen "The Ramen Girl" on a plane during a recent trip, so we rented it because he thought I'd like it.  The story line was so-so, but the scenery made me nostalgic for Japan.  Though I didn't notice it at the time, DC later said that I genuinely laughed a lot as we were watching it!

What a lovely wind-down to our busy weekend!  Just what we needed to power-up for the six-hour-straight-shot back down to SoCal.

Roadtrippin': Sac-town

This was our second road trip to Northern California for a wedding (DC's grad school friend); first wedding on a week-day.  In addition to taking Friday off, I made arrangements to leave an hour early on Thursday.  DC picked me up from the office, which meant leaving two hours before we would've if I'd worked a regular day and then taken the bus home.  It shifted traffic conditions in our favor, and it was still light before we got to Fresno, where we spent the night (so nice to be able to break our time on the road in half!).

[one minute: cornfields aplenty!]

[next minute: deserts]

I brought my current knitting project, the Whisper Cardigan from Interweave Knits, Spring 2009.  Stockinette stitch is perfect for roadtrips!

[Why so many safeties? Very rudimentary counting ability...]

We awoke on Friday morning entirely refreshed, and after a quick breakfast, were on the road again by mid-morning.  It only took about 2 1/2 hours to get to Sacramento.  Our destination: along the Sacramento River, just outside of city center.  A quick lunch, an afternoon siesta, and a quick change, and we were all set. 

The couple is techinically already married; that's why you don't see any chairs set up for a ceremony.  In fact, they live abroad, and their summer vacation is actually three weeks on tour to have various celebrations with their friends and family who are in the U.S.  The weather couldn't be better: a sort of cold-snap had Sac-town and its surrounds about 20+ degrees cooler than they usually are this time of year.  Lucky us!

[open bar + hors d'oeuvres -- yes please!]

[dance floor?! boo yah!]

Our friends are Muslim, and had an Arabic-style celebration.  Samosas, skewers, lamb chops -- yum.  Ladies in beautiful, glittery, sheer, floaty saris and dresses -- beautiful.  Arabic music, clapping, cheering -- interesting, and fun!  Bon Jovi and ice cream -- typical of the groom.  Table names of cities with significance to the couple and their courtship -- educational.  Congrats, N+N!

Being so close to the capital, I had to stop by and see it (I hadn't been since the 6th grade California History field trip)!  Unfortunately, deterred by large crowds of (loud) Asian tourists, we didn't stay too long.  But I still managed to take a few cool shots. 

  

   

All this in 20 minutes -- justapeek indeed!  We spent more time and were at greater leisure at our next stop.  And it was just Saturday morning!  More (pictures, mostly) later!

Bay Area getaway

Drove up for the fourth wedding in as many months.  My first time to Stanford.  It was as beautiful campus, a gorgeous wedding.  Sorry, no pics of that part.  The DSLR didn't go with my dress.  Some pics of the rest of the long weekend should more than suffice, however.  Enjoy! 

On the road. Up the 5. First time in years. 
Blown away by how awesome and varied it looks.

 

Well pruned sycamores. And beautiful buildings. At Cal.
Visiting DC's friend.  The rocket/planetary scientist. (Really.)
Second time here ever.  DC can't believe it.  Thinks I should get out more.

 

Caltrain station.  And awesome skyline. From F17.  Where J+B live. 

 

View by day. Equally awesome.

 

Mission Beach Cafe.  Yum.

 

Near AT&T Park.  Can you tell by the hats? 
Basically: one huge tailgate party. Wish we were going. 
Kenny!

 

Just under the Bay Bridge. 
Not the camera.  Not the photographer.  But the day itself: 
Picture perfect.

 

Cherry blossoms in summer?! Crazy!

Twice trippin'

Two road trips in as many weeks will leave one with a lot to tell, I declare!  In a nutshell: many miles traversed, many laughs, and much food and wine consumed.

My first trip to Fresno proved successul on many accounts.  Like I said, I got to see my DC's hometown, including the old elementary and high schools, houses lived in, and even the hospital in which he was born (and where his mother still works)!  And I must have done something right, because the folks dug up old footage of the violin- and viola-playing (and contest-winning) days.  It was adorable!  DC's dad seemed to have more of a tickle as we watched, laughing over bygone fashion and hairstyles.  Then came karaoke--which allowed me to score a few bonus points (thanks to those years living in Japan).  One of the best parts of the trip was Sunday morning brunch.  I'd sung the praises of brunch and the self-serve waffle bar of college days, and then awoke to find that DC's mother had pulled out their old waffle machine and run to the store for batter mix and fresh berries.  It was such a treat, and I felt truly, truly blessed.  As if that couldn't be beat, the folks presented me with an early birthday present, since they won't be down when my actual birthday comes.  It was, really, the sweetest thing.



Don't think I left the agricutural heartland without any homegrown goodness.  We stopped by a local specialty shop to stock up on goodies for me to take back to fam and friends.  The Sierra Nut House is such a cool place!  I chose Jordan Almonds for my dad (his favorite), ginger candy for mom, cantaloupe candy, mixed nuts and berries, and dried cranberries for myself, a treat to sprinkle onto salads (and a substantial difference in freshness compared to what you can get at the supermarket).  Yum!

In addition to that, the entire family called, searched, and brought me to a local yarn store!  Janna's Needle Art was a great store, full of a variety of yarn, a table full of laughing ladies, and a very cute poodle.  Of course I had to get something.  After a lot of ogling I chose a skein of sock yarn in a purply color that I don't have much of in stash--and that DC's mother liked.  I'm going to knit her a pair of socks.  I later found out from the proprietess that it was dyed by a friend of hers.  So I am glad I chose something unique and local.

   

Neither of the photos above shows the beauty and depth of the yarn's variegatedness, but I'm including both as examples of the effects of light and background on photography (something I'd like to learn about properly).  The one on the left was taken in natural morning light; the one on the right was taken at night by (harsh) flourescent light.

Unfortunately, I'm unable to share some of the more interesting photos I took of on-the-road scenery because the files are way too big.  It was a bit of a gray weekend, but I had some cool shots of the ribbonlike car lights along the grapevine, fruit orchards in bloom, and snow on nearby hills (it's been chilly!).



I remembered to change the camera settings for last weekend's road trip to Phoenix, but ended up not taking so many photos.  I also brought along some knitting, but hardly got to it, despite six hours on the road each way.  DC and I hardly even had any music on; we just talked and enjoyed each other's company.  I managed one photo shoot for the socks, though.  The camouflage blends right in with the desert scene!

In Phoenix we stayed with DC's friends and had dinner with each of their parents the two nights we were there.  On Saturday afternoon we went to visit an old college friend of mine, who I hadn't seen in years.  I finally got to meet her husband and her younger son, who is now two!  He and his older brother (now a very precocious five-year-old) are the cutest!  It was the greatest type of weekend--full of friends and families.

This was the first real roadtrip for DC and me (he says Fresno doesn't count); and it really solidified that we are good travellers and good companions.  Which is great news.  I'm looking forward more and more to our upcoming trip to Washington, D.C.  And we're planning another roadtrip to the Bay Area for later in the summer.  It's nice not to always travel alone!



A couple days of focused knitting on the bus and I am already further along than this picture, snapped yesterday morning.  One great thing about the pattern is that it lends to ease of row-counting.  I go by "section" as my ribbing shifts back and forth, so the going along is quick.  Huzzah!  I've finished both short-row heels and have moved on to the leg cuffs, which means these babies will be done, blocked, and ready to give well in advance of my dad's birthday.

Two road trips in as many weekends is as much as a girl can handle.  We did indeed have a good time, but I like that we will be at home the next few weekends.  There's much going on and much to be done before we take off again.  I'll come up for air here every now and again to keep you posted!

Mini-trip

The week has gone by quicklier than usual on account of the Presidents Day holiday and being out of the office all day on Wednesday.  It's also been quieter because a VIP visitor we were expecting (and had been planning for madly) had to cancel.  Suddenly the weekend is here, I'm going up to Fresno, and I haven't even packed yet.

Thankfully it's just three hours away, we're only going for a couple of days, and I've already decided what knitting project to bring.  All that remains is to do a quick search on any knitting shops in the area.  (Priorities: got mine straight!)

The only things I'm bringing are the socks and Shetland Shorty--which I started long ago and only last week picked up again, only to discover a pretty huge mistake I'd made, which meant  I had to frog it pretty much to the beginning and basically knit it all over.  But that process has shown me that this is a project I want to and can finish, and one that I will definitely wear.  I'm just worried that I won't have enough yarn (it calls for 490 yards for the smallest size, and the Handmaiden Sea Silk I'm using only has 435).  But I will knit onwards anyway, fingers crossed.

I'm excited for this weekend trip: Fresno is not only the Raisin Capital of the World and the Gateway to Yosemite, it is DC's hometown. I'm looking forward to seeing the house he grew up in, baby pics, and -- maybe, if I'm lucky -- old videos of his orchestra and sports team days.  His folks have the karaoke machine at the ready, too.  Nice.

Last week I found the battery charger for my digital SLR, so I'll be bringing that up with me.  Here's to a great weekend of family, fun, inspiration, and simply getting away!