John McLaren Park and the Philosophers walk

Having stared at the screen too much with powerpoint and also thanks to the blooming white stinky flowers all around Cupertino, the last week has been interesting. In short, the migraines were back. So here are a few overdue blog posts now that I can look at the screen and edit pictures for longer times.

Went with San to SFO for a morning. Had seen posts from a friend who had visited John McLaren park in SFO and taken some photos of the SFO skyline from this park. Wanted to put it on the list on the next visit. Most people in the park don't want to touch your phone to take a photo! COVID has put that fear in people in SFO to a higher level than in Cupertino! Finally a passing Chinese uncle obliged and took this photo for us! 

This park is awesome! They had a beautiful walkway, plenty of benches, manicured scenery, a nice pond with a large trees in the middle with birds, a decent restroom (very important), and trails that took us to a gorgeous view. 

Here are some pictures..

they had things for kids to play, but we saw almost Asian seniors as the only demographic. We stuck out like sore thumbs among the Tai-Chi folks. They knew were were tourists to this park and gave us a silent nod and a smile. Maybe they built this park to be so perfect for seniors? I loved it! 

On the way out we stopped at this cul-de-sac to take this photo of the ocean view! 

A lovely way to spend a few hours. The trail is across the street from the Philosophers walk..it is called Coyote trail and you get an amazing view from the top. If you happen to be in this area and have a few hours to spend, strongly recommend this.

It is one thing to have nice parks in the suburbs. Having something like this in the middle of a bustling city is just amazing!

Russian Ridge and Borel Hill sunset

We changed hiking plans for this week to the afternoon.. as it was expected to be a great sunset! 

The hike to Borel hill on a roundabout route through Russian ridge on the ridge trail is a little over 7 miles. It is a moderate hike compared to our other recent hikes! 

Saw the sunset from the Borel hill summit and the skies were just amazing!

Then we made a race to the parking lot. Couldn't feel our fingers on the way down.. I couldn't even click photos on the iPhone as my fingers were numb with the wind. Made it back down just before they close the park gates. 

Here are some photos and panos..

There were no park benches at this summit.. so we used the sign post for our "viewing our future" photo.

We celebrated the summit with some chai !! This hiking group rocks !! 

You get the most amazing views of the bay area from this point! You can also see Black mountain right alongside.. but the view from this point is better in my opinion!

the way up was a interesting.. there was not much shade for the most part.. the sun was on our head the entire time.. we picked a less sunny day for this hike which ended up a good move!

A picture that is typical of the group.. me trailing the rest of the pack by 500 feet or so.. 

Strongly recommend this for an afternoon to evening hike! 

There is another vista point that is not part of this loop at Mindego hill trail.. we skipped that today as there was not enough time.. that will be explored another day.. we did cover the Ancient oaks trail and Charquin trails today.

An evening well spent!

Black Mountain.. kind of..

It has been two weeks and this blog so no entry! It has been a busy two weeks with Jr. going back to college and me getting cranky to see her go, then the little one's school sends us daily notices to show how many new COVID cases are there in the school (why they can't have started the school after testing all kids after 7th Jan is interesting), then work got all busy and we had a pongal celebration! 

Have managed two hikes so far.. the first attempt ended at PG&E and we did not make it to Black Mountain.

These two photos are from that hike..

The second hike we made it to Black mountain.. but kind of .. instead of hiking 12 miles and climbing up ~2000 feet, we went through the Montebello Preserve and hiked ~7 miles and climbed ~1100 feet. It was much easier but.. the day we picked to do this .. just awesome! The skies were dramatic, there was a slight drizzle on way back and the colors... were just wow! 

I was not feeling great after a heavy dinner the previous night! Was feeling queasy and feverish, but felt better after a long nap. San said we could go on a shorter hike and to make me feel happy about going to Black mountain, one way or the other, took me with her. It is not easy to keep up with her on the way up.. as with everything, we have zero match, even on hiking.. she finds going uphill easy and I find going downhill easy.. so we are always 200 feet away either way.. but we do get photos like this.. 

Here are some more photos from the hike! As long as I am hiking like this and doing Yoga, that in itself acts like a COVID test! 

Always wanted to take a photo on that rock ever since San did it two years ago... the skies made it memorable!

We saw a total of 12 people (not close by) over a 3 hour period other than the 3 people we met and walked down.. The place was pretty desolate.. and it made for an interesting hike.. 

got to see silicon Valley light up for the evening just before starting down..

A couple of panos of both sides from the top of Black Mountain.. 

we kept walking down as we watched the sunset!

We saw a lot of deer grazing on the slopes. This preserve has mountain lions and we wanted to get back to parking lot right at sunset. 

We met a friend and his friends at the summit and walked down with them. Met some new faces and by the time intros were done, we had come down to the parking lot to more dramatic skies. There was a puddle of water near the parking lot.. and this was the outcome!

Sooner or later, will make the 12 mile trip to Black Mountain, right from our neighborhood, through the PG&E trail.. 

For now, it is back to work and getting some more much needed rest tomorrow!