photoblog

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Hiking the Lonely Forest trail in La Honda Open Space Preserve

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This weekend, we hiked the La Honda Open space preserve. It is a 30 minute ride from Cupertino and we found parking at the trail head easily. Not many hikers as there was a mist and slight drizzle and a lot of fog on the way.

Reminded me of Windy hill which is also somewhere close by. Weather was good and parts of the hike were in the shade. It actually got quite warm when we went to the base of the vista point.

The normal trail for this place is the Harrington trail. Our friend Deepa, who will henceforth be known as “Lone forest Deepa” made such a pitch for this newly opened trail which would take us to Coho Vista point , that we decided to take a chance and follow her “pdf map” instead of all trails. We went through this trail which had no one on it, to the Madrone trail, then to the starting point for the vista. It was another 1.1 miles one way to the top and we were out of time. So we had chai and came back. Here is a Link to Deepa’s capture of the trail..

It was 9 miles, 1700 feet climb and took us 4 hours including the Chai and photo breaks. We will definitely revisit this in spring when there are flowers. Given this is a new trail we had to watch out for a large stretch. Lots of salamanders and lizards, slugs etc. crossing the trail in the morning.

Here are some pictures..

There were no benches though for a “bench photo”!

Very short video highlight reel..

Definitely recommended for a half day hike on a foggy day! Once you go up it is just beautiful!

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Another memorable birthday

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This year, started my birthday with a hot yoga class. This time Michele Vennard decided to a science experiment to see if people sing happy birthday better.. at the end of the class when folks have their lungs fully open. It was a correct hypothesis. Have had a class full of yoga buddies sing me happy birthday so many times over the years, sometimes at the beginning of class, during balancing stick pose, triangle pose… now at the end of class. This was the loudest and most musical version! As always a heartfelt thanks to BYSJ for giving me a second chance at life and making it a second home!

After this moved on to my second favorite activity in recent times.. Singing. We had a smule singing meet with a bunch of local bay area singers. Have been doing this once a month for almost two plus years now. We have all become family friends, especially since every house has a singer and a critical spouse in the audience most of the time. There was an amazing potluck lunch. San made mysore pak for me to take to the potluck which was yummy!

After spending a fun afternoon, went to Palermo’s Italian in San Jose to have a nice birthday dinner with my birthday buddy and family. There was some fireworks involved! Given hiking had to be pushed out, San made sure that we did hike the very next morning, bright and early.

There were three avid hikers who went ahead. Ended up walking at my pace with San’s music teacher and we just walked as we discussed music. Didn’t feel the strain and we made it all the same. Missed my friend Prasad on this hike as we were discussing TNS. The two of us have a track record for getting lost in hikes while discussing TNS’s music. San’s music teacher gave this alarmed look when she realized that she may be dealing with not a fan but a TNS fanatic! Will write about the hike in a separate post.

We came home and got some rest. Then we lost internet for 8 hours. Spent a lot of time on the phone with Comcast but finally gave up and they had to send a technician out Monday morning. We realized that without the internet the house breaks.. doorbells to heaters to solar panels .. they all have issues. Need to start wiring some backups!

The little one and her bestie have been cooking a thanksgiving dinner for our two families every year. Sometimes it is early given travel plans. This was the 10th anniversary of this tradition they started. They come up with a menu, do everything from scratch and cook all afternoon. They both know of my allergies and always.. always have something for me to eat as well. This year, they took a chance and we figured out I am not allergic to Kale or celery. Not sure if this discovery is a good one given San will now add these two to everything. Next year, I might get Kale Mysore pak for my birthday.. who knows! This years dinner was just amazing!

The entire birthday weekend was awesome!

Video highlights reel…

Now there is a big birthday left to celebrate…

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An evening in Naples

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The previous post in this series is here..

We drove non stop from Positano to Naples. Our hotel originally gave us a scare as the route took us through some run down neighborhoods. Finally when we went inside the hotel, it was really nice. It was the Buono Hotel in an area called Poggioreale. It is actually a 25 minute drive to the city center.

The staff were courteous and told us to take the public transport if we wanted to visit the city. However the ticket booths were closed and they did not accept cards on the bus and also we waited for 15 minutes and no bus/train came. The stop was right outside the hotel.

The little one bailed on us as usual as she had to study and rest. She told us to get her dinner. We just took the car and went into the city. It was a stupid idea. Even though I had been driving in Italy the last two days, in traffic, Naples evening traffic on a Saturday evening is a nightmare. Apparently there was a huge concert happening downtown in the city center. Roads were blocked. We did find parking near the castle. I have never been more proud of a parking job in my life. Jackie Chan would have been proud after seeing that parking job.

Then we walked to the castle. It was meh. So we did not bother to get tickets and go in. Just walked around it. Then came the Galleria. It was just amazing. This is one beautiful building. The photos and pano's are not fair to the place. Go see it for yoursef. We also visited a beautiful church in the city center and walked in Via Toledo which was surprisingly open to pedestrian traffic. Cops had blocked off a lot of roads for the concert.

Even though I took pictures of those strawberries and other foods on display, could not eat anything except the gelato. Thank god I am not allergic to chocolate!

our hotel.. which is actually really nice inside. Very close to airport. Don’t be shocked by Apple maps which says it is 20 mins away. It is 5 mins away in the morning at 4:30AM.

Photos from our walk around Naples city..

Some of these photos were DNG file for some reason and what I see on my phone is not what I get after saving it. Have to figure it out later. The shadows are dark!

This is where we got dinner from. It was really good!

After this we went to the third attaction which was closed thanks to the concert. Finally ate some gelato made from buffalo milk and got dinner from a busy restaurant. It was time to drive back. We used the breakfast area to eat our dinner. The staff said “go ahead. not a problem”. It was an early dinner. We had already packed for the most part.

The two panos from this walk..

The Umberto Galleria is massive!

A video highlights reel..

We had a 6:30 AM flight from Naples to Rome, a 2 hour wait in Rome and a flight from Rome to SFO. We tried to leave at 4:30 to the airport. It took us under 10 minutes to get to the car return area. It took a lot longer to figure out where to drop the key and then walk to the airport from there. It is a good 15 minute walk lugging the carry ons.

We did have a little fiasco where we got seprated from the kids and they did not show up at the gate. Gate D22 is off to some side in the airport and we were trying to get our money back on taxes paid at a kiosk. That process took too long (that counter opens late and there was a line) so we gave up and when we showed up at the gate, the kids were missing. Their phone died etc.. everything you can expect to go wrong and does.. Finally they showed up and we were off.

The rest of the journey was uneventful. Alitalia airlines was decent. First time flying in that but the food, entertainment and service was great. San had upgraded to economy plus as a surprise for the family! Given how tired we all were.

We were all smiles. The overall rating on this trip was an A+. Something for everyone, narrow escapes with sickness, falls, but on the whole made it back in one piece.

Copyright © 2012, Sundar Narayanan. All rights reserved.