Hiking the Lonely Forest trail in La Honda Open Space Preserve

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!

Another memorable birthday

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…

Labor day 2025: Istanbul, Cappadocia and Amalfi coast trip

One complaint I get from folks who go to the blog to get travel tips is that they have to go post to post backwards. There is no link from day 1 to day 2.. as I write in start to end sequence. My walking buddies suggested that everytime I finish a “series of posts”, there should be a summary post that describes the placed we stayed in, times between locations, etc.. something that they can literally cut and paste for a future itinerary. So for the first time trying that.

Click on the images to see the individual posts..

Day 1: Fly out of SFO to Istanbul. Start Friday afternoon. Reach Saturday afternoon local time in Istanbul airport.

Day 2: Two hours to reach hotel in old Istanbul area from Airport. Check in, change and visit Grand Bazaar, then walk around, see the Grand Cisterns and have dinner outside the Cisterns at a roof top restaurant, walk around the Sultanahmet mosque and square and get back to hotel.

The Grand Bazaar

Day 3: Sunday (Grand Bazaar is closed) All day walking tour of Istanbul with Viator. Hippodrome, Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, catwalk at a mall, lunch break on our own, back to hotel, then Topkapi palace, back to hotel, then a night cruise on the Bhosporus strait.

Walking tour..

Topkapi palace

Night cruise

Day 4: Monday : Another morning at Grand Bazzar and walking around, then go to Hammam for 2+ hours, lunch near the Hammam place and back to hotel, pack and leave for Airport. Fly from Istanbul to Nevshehir and a long ride to Cave hotel in Kapadokya (Cappadocia).

Hammam and bye to Istanbul

Day 5 Tuesday: Wake up to see the ballons, then go on an all day Viator tour of Kapadokya. Open air Museum at Goreme, Lover’s hill, Pottery at Avanos, buffet lunch, Imagination point, PInk Valley, underground city of Kaimakli, Pidgeon valley, Uchisar castle, stop for buying Turkish delights, back to Cave hotel. Walking around the Goreme village at night and a dinner in Indian restaurant.

Hot air balloons in Kapadokya

Goreme open air museum

Lover’s hill

Pottery gallery at Avanos

Imagination point and PInk Valley

Kaimakli underground city, Pidgeon valley and Uchisar castle

Day 6 Wednesday: Cancelled Ballon ride. Spend time in the village, drive to Nevshehir airport, fly to Istanbul, wait, fly to Naples (basically entire day in cars, airports), drive from Naples airport to Sorrento hotel.

spending time at cave hotel and off to Naples (all day travel via Istanbul)

Day 7 Thursday: Walking Food tour in Sorrento followed by visiting Church and Cathedral. Back to hotel and walk to the water to spend time in the sea in the public area. Back to hotel, change, visit city center for dinner, followed by sunset viewing.

Sorrento food tour

water time and sunset in Sorrento

Day 8 Friday: Drive to Ercolano to see the buried city of Herculaneum. Then drive to Pompeii to see buried city there, lunch at Pompeii, drive back to Sorrento, short break and Kayaking in sunset in Sorrento.

Buried city of Herculaneum

Pompeii

Kayaking at sunset in Sorrento

Day 9 Saturday: Say bye to Sorrento, load luggage, drive to Positano, spend time seeing vertical village, lunch, then drive to Naples hotel. See the Naples City center, Castle, Galleria Umberto, Via Toledo, ice cream, take out dinner which we had back in hotel with the little one and pack.

Positano Vertical village

An evenings in Naples

Day 10 Sunday: Early morning flight from Naples to Rome and Rome to SFO and back by Sunday late afternoon. Time to recover in time to head back to office Monday!

Had to take five days off instead of 4 as Turkish airlines flight time moved earlier. So had to take off Friday before labor day.

There was something for everyone in the family in this trip. No check in baggage. Managed to pack only clothes (fortunately summer clothes) and do a 9 day trip with a carry on bag each. Did not buy anything that would add to weight. Didn’t take laptops on trip. It was an exercise in luggage frugality. Enjoyed it thoroughly.

Hope this summary post helps you better. If it does drop me a note or let me know on FB and will do this for all future trips.