Revisiting Foothill Park after 4 years

The anniversary trip posts have to wait for this brief interruption

Given this is a long weekend, we decided to revisit foothill park in Palo Alto this afternoon. This park is just 25 minutes from our place. The first time we got to visit it was in 2021 sundar72.com/travelog/2021/1/4/a-lost-world-foothills-park-palo-alto.html?rq=foothillwhen covid was still in peak. We were wearing masks and walking.

We went in the afternoon because I had to do two back to back yoga classes this morning. Got an hour and a half post yoga class to get something to eat, drink lot of fluids and join the gang on a 9 mile hike this time.

Parking is available for 6$ right inside the park. We started hiking at 2PM and were out by 5:30. It was pleasant. There was a lot of water in the creek and falls and there was hardly anyone else in the park.

Our little one joined us for this hike as well and that was a bonus..

We caught some sunset colors right when we reached the top. So for a change, a front facing bench photo to start this post..

A gallery of portrait format pics..

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We were also treated today to some amazing Bajji after walking in the cold.. to go with Chai.. our hiking group leader made my day!

A video highlights reel of the hike..

Exhausted after all that exercise all day, but feeling good!

Will definitely recommend this place for an afternoon hike in cool weather!

Mission on a foggy frosty morning

Last weekend there was a plan for a 10 mile hike which got pushed out to a later date. It was a long weekend and I had been a couch potato the entire time. Spent all my time and focus on adjusting the blogsite post moving to Squarespace 7.0 from Squarespace 5.0. It was scary for me to move platforms and there were glitches as things don’t always move smoothly. Was looking for html and css code help at one point and going nuts. A guy by the name of Freddie patiently helped over an almost two week period with his team to support the move. I have been their customer for 12 years, still they understood how this change for the look and feel of my site was important to me and the old folks in India who read it.

San decided to take the little one along to Mission peak for the first time. She had driven from SoCal pretty much non stop on Friday evening and had a day of rest. She was a trooper! So was I having been volunteered last minute the previous night.

We started at 7 and it was Frosty, Foggy and cold. For the most part as we went up it was just the three of us. The crowd started coming only when we were almost halfway down.

In spite of it being that cold, I was sweating profusely as we did good time. Hence the change of shirt after reaching the top!

The little one refused to take a few extra steps to get a better bench photo.. so we had to settle for this zoom in of my ever growing sun burnt bald spot ..

did stop for pictures as Mission hikes always show the same landscapes very differently throughout the year!

the grass was all covered in frost and we could see maybe 20 feet forward at the most.. we were holding hands and walking at one point hoping we don’t run into the notorious cows on this trail!

the highlight picture at the top and the Chaifie on the way down..

The rest in pictures..

A short video clip..

Effectively this was a great morning. Got me out of the funk of blog site updating. Ended up being a turning point for my mood after coming back down!

Here is to many more trips to Mission peak in 2025!

Shopping day

Black Friday has evolved in the family over the years.. for more than a decade we simply just lost interest in shopping as a family or just started looking at things online. 

Usually we are traveling somewhere to celebrate our birthdays and Black Friday would land smack dab in the middle of a Disney trip!

This year it was San's birthday and both kids were with us and we decided to make the most of it. The girls went shopping bright and early while I did yoga. 

Then to make up for it, Jr. went shoe shopping with me. Three years ago I bought a pair of these Nevados shoes at Big 5. The display piece happened to be my size. Wanted a black walking shoe that could double up as something I could wear to work and this was perfect. It was 25 bucks then and I asked for a discount because it was the display piece and sure enough the store manager gave it to me for 20! Have walked at least 1800 miles in in over the three years and it is finally showing signs of wear on the outside and the sole. So went and bought the exact same thing yesterday! Jr. was amazed by my decision making. Told her, "hey, we went in and out and got shoes in 10 minutes because we know this works great!". This time it was not a display piece and was 30 bucks. Still expect to use this for the next three years!

The Salomon hiking shoes with ankle support that was bought ~2 1/2 years ago has also gone through at least 1500+ miles just with weekend hikes) and the ankle hooks are bent. The laces jumped the hooks during the grand canyon hike because over time the ankle support bends to fit my leg. While the tread is pretty good, wanted to get new hiking shoes. That was again a great bargain at REI. It was a 180$ shoe being sold for 80$. It did get the "paisa vasool" certification from both me and San. This time though I want to be able to replace shoes every year.  This waterproof shoe was actually Jr.'s recommendation. Apparently she had one in high school and early college and it was great. 

Then came the best part of "online shopping". "We" and I use that term loosely, are proud owners of a Karoke machine. San and the kids are allergic to noise, especially any sound that comes out of my mouth! However, after San tried a portable karaoke machine day before yesterday that one of our friends got to a party, she was convinced that we could use one at home. Spent two hours researching what was the best option and finally got this on Amazon. So Ta Da! This thing has many applications. . including but not limited to use as a public address system that can wake up the kids when they are sleeping late! They are not too thrilled about this purchase. The litle one has declared "thank god I don't live at home!" 

I am hoping that this will get me used to singing into a hand held dynamic microphone instead of the iPhone's wired earplug mic! 

In less than a day it will be back to the routine! Haven't blogged in more than a month as the day to day grind has been very busy. It is time to start posting little snippets again.. 

Hope all of you are enjoying the long weekend!