Queens Bike Ride - It Feels Good

View Larger Map

I officially started my 2008 summer biking fitness program yesterday. Some parts of Queens have great Greenways (for instance, a hidden ~2-mile path called the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway that connects Cunningham Park to Alley Pond Park - see map). Despite my wife's pestering I neglected to apply sunblock and when I got back home after 3 hours or so, my skin was tingly red. Still, it felt great coming home exhausted, knees buckling in the elevator. I look forward to a some more adventurous rides out of the city and into the wilderness of Long Island proper. Perhaps finish summer off with that NYC-Boston ride I've been fantasizing about since last fall.

OD on OC

Names and events have been altered in order to safeguard the true identity of my ex-New York friends (Sick and "NEE!") who now live in a cozy 1-BR in the middle of a cozy planned community in the heart of cozy Orange County. The tiny and well-kept neighborhood has a heated pool, well-maintained landscaping, and a fairly young, professional population. The place is a 5-minute drive from some nice beaches with dramatic overhanging cliffs, wild surf, and joggers with dogs. No signs of poverty, other than For Sale signs on a bunch of lawns - this is one of the harder-hit housing markets in the country. I went out early morning before everyone woke up to inspect the beach and see what all the fussing was about. We had spent the last three days hearing so many gripes about the area from Sick and "NEE!". To be honest, I'm ready to move in...

OK, so maybe people are a bit more fake, materialistic, and soulless than your average suburban paradise. But it's nice to be around a facade of medium wealth for a change. Compared with the harsh realities and extremes of New York City, it's a breath of fresh air. And what's more, there's the literal fresh air... The things that bothered me the most are the silly cars everyone seemed to be driving. When EVERYONE has a sporty convertible or a hummer, they can no longer posses any kind of status symbolism, but the people here don't get that. They also drive like crazy maniacs - something that seems completely gratuitous on the many-laned roads of the OC. Also, my friends complained of a lack of non-chain food and hospitality establishments. We witnessed that when we failed to get a seat at one of the only mom & pop shops in the area early Sunday (but to be fair, it was Mother's Day, too). So fake people and plastic-coated safe and boring food. These are legitimate concerns, but nothing to go on a killing rampage over... Get over it, you two, or else!

Hike, Bike, and Mike

Connie has been re-learning to drive on this trip and the ride from San Francisco to our Napa destination was her first major accomplishment, so yay Connie! And it should have been quite a lot of fun for her. First, I navigated her to and through Lombard's "Crookedest Street" destination, and lots of tourists probably videotaped her slow run through it. We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge, and then through wine country. And she made good time as well!



Our B&B (Lavender) at Napa's Yountville was great. Comfortable, luxurious, and they even give out bikes for use during your stay. We had the afternoon to explore so we started with a complementary wine tasting at a place next door. After that, we came back to the inn for some refreshments and hors d'oeuvre. Then, Connie needed some rest, so I took a short bike ride through some back roads lined with vineyards and pleasant-looking homes and estates. In the evening, we met up with our Orange County friends at the nearby French Laundry. Dinner was great. Lots of catching up, great food, super wine, amazing service. We woke up mid morning for a mediocre breakfast (but who needs it after the previous night) and a drive up to first Frog's Leap winery, then Heitz Cellars tasting room. Frog's Leap required reservations for a proper tasting so we only got a glass of Chardonnay and enjoyed a lazy stroll through the cellars, and the rest of the estate. The place had a very cozy atmosphere, like an affluent commune. Now that I think about it, I didn't see any men except the ones working in the garden or pumping wine-in-the-making from tanks to barrels. I guess the place oozed a certain feminine elegance. It was enjoyable, although the wine was only so-so. Heitz was a different story - simple tasting room with little frills, but the wines we got to taste were mostly good, with some distinct winners in the Cabernets and the Port.

We drove out of Napa down to San Simeon on the central coast going through 50-100 miles of amazingly scenic US-1. There, we went on an evening tour of Hearst Castle. The trimmings were a bit contrived, but the grounds and the house were well-kept and inspiring. I especially enjoyed the pool, kitchen and library. We had quick dinner with our friends and in the morning parted ways temporarily as we had planned a visit with our ex-colleague Mike Eisenstein who also recently moved out west, as well as a dinner with Connie's family. We had a nice, but short, visit with Mike and his girlfriend Bobbye in Santa Monica. Mike cooked us a delicious breakfast and we reminisced about the past and prognosticated about the future. Dinner was at some Chinese restaurant in Irvine and turned out to be a nuisance as everyone Asian in the area decided to have a pre-Mother's Day dinner that day, that place. We waited an hour for a table, but the food turned out to be OK and we left late but satiated. Not that it stopped us from moving straight to a cheese and cold cuts meal with our Orange County friends on whom we decided to impose for the night. They had been bitching, whining, moaning, grumping and grouching about their new surroundings ever since we met them for dinner at the French Laundry two evenings back. Now it was time to see what all the fuss was about...

Western Delights

Our second day in Yosemite we woke up early to get a short hike in before we had to leave to the next stop on our California trip. I chose a moderate trail as I was tired of the flat meadows - up to the footbridge at the base of Vernal Fall. I planned to get up to the bridge and back (~1.5 hours), but Connie was feeling adventurous and led us half-way up the full ascent to the top of the fall (the 680-granite stair Mist Trail). At the half point or so I chickened out of finishing the slippery climb of the Misty Trail, and having now just read a Wikipedia summary about Vernal Fall, I am relieved we did not in fact die trying even that. At least I had a practical excuse - checkout time. Vowing to return to Yosemite one day and at least finish that climb, if not to go all the way to Nevada Fall and climb up Half Dome to boot, we packed our things and drove on West to San Francisco.

Five or so hours later we were on the Bay Bridge marveling at the City's downtown skyline. Having had a restaurant cancel our reservations for the night due to kitchen malfunction, we decided to go to Berkley and sup at the famed Chez Panisse. We started the evening at a nice beerhouse called Jupiter. Good brew, outdoor heated garden seating, and live (albeit mediocre) jazz. Chez Panisse was nice, but nothing special except for some exquisitely cooked squid. It was a good impromptu evening and Connie got to drive my hammered ass back to the hotel and claim some props. We took it easy the next day and started our day late-ish with a lunch of clams and more clams at Hog Island Oyster Co. Delicious "chowdah" and great service in this unassuming yummery. Then we hit the unpleasant but inevitable Fisherman's Wharf for a bit of a walk, gift shopping, sightseeing, and a terrible, yet obligatory, bread-bowl clam chowder. Why is SF's number one tourist attraction such a letdown? We then took a very long bus trip and uphill walk to the Legion of Honor Palace - one of two tiny halves of the main fine arts
establishment of SF. At least the view was nice from up top Lincoln Park. Dinner at Jai Yun was also a letdown, but not completely. And on the next morning we did a quick review of SFMOMA, but there wasn't much there. The city is just not as hopping as New York and it's got its charms but... Oh well, on to Napa.

Glorious Sequoia

We had a week back in New York after Panama. I found out I had passed the Foreign Service exam formally, but now have to wait 12 more weeks to find out if the rest of my application was good enough to move on. I started applying to some jobs in the public sector for which I am qualified (for instance, software developer for UN). If I can't get hired within that sector, I will go back to private sector. Can't sit on my hands for a year as I make my slow way through the Foreign Service process. But all of that is on hold for another week, as we are vacationing (again) in California...

We arrived on Saturday with Connie's parents, rented a car, and drove down to Orange County to meet up with my in-law's relatives (Uncle Joe - cousin twice removed, and his extended family). Everyone was there for Uncle Joe's son's wedding. We had an informal lunch with the family, visited Uncle Joe's impressive O.C. home and garden, checked into our not-so-impressive hotel, and made our way to Newport Beach for the wedding itself. There we met more family (including the couple, either of whom I did not know at all), drank, ate, and danced.

The next day we sent off Connie's parents to a seperate Chinese bus tour and made our own way northeast towards Kings Canyon & Sequoia National Parks. Or so I thought, until I realized I had mistakenly selected National Forest instead of National Park from the GPS Points-of-Interest menu. So a 6-hour drive turned into a 9-hour drive, including a speeding violation along the way, and a huge brunch at a Denny's. The park's Giant Forest of Sequoias and General Sherman (largest living tree by volume) were amazing. Wish we had more time but it was getting late already so we drove on to nearby Fresno for the night, stopping at Hooters for dinner.

Woke up early for another longish drive to Yosemite National Park. Yeah, we're park-hopping. After hearing so much about the park I found that Yosemite truly delivers. When the valley opens up before you as you drive east into the park, it's like a scene out of a fantasy movie. Granite cliffs, waterfalls, and a luscious-green valley floor. Breathtaking. We made a few stops along the way to snap some photos, got close to Bridalveil Fall (and got wet for all the effort). Did a few short hikes during the day, and in the evening went looking for bears based on a tip from a park ranger. The strategy is to drive along the valley floor looking for traffic jams caused by bear-oglers. Bear jams, as the ranger called them. We luckily happened on one at the right time and place and caught a yearling as it made its way across the drive, climb onto a fallen tree trunk and get busy tearing bark off in search of grubs. We had also seen deer and other smaller animals all over the place. A very rewarding experience.

Today we move onto more civilized pleasures in San Francisco...