Watching a sunrise after a long long time

As a person who is so used to watching sunsets on the west coast over the ocean, it was odd for us to go chase a sunrise. Two weeks ago, we had to drop Jr. at SFO early in the morning. It had been a day since my gum surgery and the pain was starting to show.  Also I was on a mission to get off pain killers within a day so the 60 day Yoga challenge could continue. Taking painkillers and doing yoga is like drunk driving your body.. never ends well. 

I was also sad to see Jr. go. Not that I saw her when she was home during the last month. We had maybe a 30 minute overlap of our waking hours on a daily basis. 

San got us some help and info from a couple of friends who had recently shared snaps of Golden gate sunrises and Kirby cove views. 

managed a smile with my face still looking like an "idli paanai"! Both these are iPhone selfies .. so you can see the auto color changes..

We dropped Jr. at the airport and drove in the dark to Battery Spencer. A former military installation that apparently had canons mounted during World War times and never used. You get amazing views of the bridge from here. We were the first ones there after we used a flashlight and made our way. Within 20 minutes a dozen photographers showed up out of nowhere. It was like they knew exactly when to come and set up shop, click and disappear. It was hard to tell if they were wearing masks, so we moved out of the area.  We had been standing there for a good half hour already to enjoy the gradual brightening and once we saw the horizon light up, decided to go out and down to Kirby cove. 

We were the only ones on that road and it was probably a mile and a half walk down to the beach. This time only three other folks came to join us. We had enough gaps to put our tripods and take pictures. 

Have put the photos as a slideshow..

There were a few iPhone photos that I shared on Facebook but was waiting for a laptop and Photoshop to get the pictures from the Canon downloaded. The iPhone is good, but it auto adjusts the brightness, contrast and color to be able to "see" everything. When you take a photo of the bridge where everything else is dark because is the sun is not out yet, the pictures look like broad daylight and all the hues are gone!

It was frustrating. (you can see it in the video taken with the Phone and compare to the photos from the Canon). I had to adjust the iPhone photos to make it close to what we saw.

It is a just a question of tiem before I click a picture of me and San and the iPhone shows me a picture of Shah Rukh and Kajol instead of our faces.. so much for AI !

All said and done, the sunrise was breathtaking. We really enjoyed it and it provided me a good distraction from pain physical and emotional. 

We did check the tides for that morning and saw it was okay for 7AM. The tides have washed ashore so many people in last few months and we were warned by friends to be careful. 

We will definitely visit this place again! The Cove and beach are beautiful!

Another weekend another mountain..

This weekend we went on an amazing hike with friends to Mount Hamilton area. We climbed 1600 feet and did 7+ miles of some pretty steep hikes in Joseph D. Grant county park. Part of the park had fires and while it was all out, we could see the burnt trees and get some of the smell in the air. 

It was an amazing hike. It had rained all last night and this morning and the colors were vibrant. There was a part on our way back where the fog rolled in and we had very poor visibility, but it was okay because we were in a group. 

Once we descended below the fog, we were treated to amazing views of the lake and a spectacular sunset.. 

It took us a good 45 minutes to drive to the parking lot and three hours to do the trails. Some parts are so steep that you pretty much have to run down in as controlled a fashion as possible! 

There is Mount Hamilton in the background..

Happy to be in fresh air among friends..

was wearing the mask when anyone was within eyesight.. for the most part the entire area was empty. We saw a total of 8 people over that 3 hour period...  after some point was just wearing the mask like an armband just to huff and puff my way up the slopes.

The scenery was breathtaking.. 

be it sunny..

overcast..

or foggy..

I also got a close up picture of this little guy who we almost stepped on..

A short video clip from the afternoons hike..

When the sun started setting we were treated to some amazing colors..

amazing views of the lake as we walked down towards it 

The last few pictures were taken from the park entrance/exit..

The fog was amazing to watch, as long as we were below it! 

Our friends treated us to some vadais, hot chai and cookies etc. 

after they were all safely tucked away into the tummy, we drove back to what was an amazing sunset..

got these from the moving car..

There was no room to park and take pictures on this one lane windy road that got us back down to the valley.. 

It was surreal with all the hues being reflected everywhere! 

Something tells me we will be going here again and spending more time in this park. Strongly recommend a hike here if you have at least a 4-5 hour window. Go there by noon (if you are going in December!) so you are back down before the fog rolls in..

Hiking Hiking and more hiking

The last five weeks have seen me walk and hike like there is no tomorrow. First it was trying to make it past 20k steps/day for November.

That was in preparation for a College group trying to collectively walk 200 km on same 24 period across the globe. My target was 16km for the day and my goal was to walk 10miles at a stretch. Did both yesterday. Walked 10.3 miles in the morning, another 4 in the evening .. all this after walking 7 miles the previous evening to get some "practice". It was a happy day with all my classmates sharing before and after pics after their respective walks and runs. 

Then my wife tells me we are going on a hike this morning to the summit of the Windy Hill open space preserve in Portola. She tells me it is a gentle hike and 5.8 miles round trip to make me feel at ease. After starting the hike I am told it is moderately strenuous and is a 1100 foot climb and the loop is 7.5 miles! A few small misses in the details from the missus to push me a little . . . 

Oh how the tables have turned.. years ago I would be the one saying "the falls is just around the corner.. another 0.1 miles.." a few times to get her to not give up. Now she is doing that to me!

It was a pretty steep hike at places and I was lagging behind for the most part..especially when I stopped to take selfies or panos..not that much was visible in the fog!

Loved the hike.. we were up at the summit and above the clouds.. there was fog everywhere and water condensing off our faces and masks on the way to the top. 

It was great to watch the sun come out through the fog and the trees.

We were almost halfway back when the sun came out and made it interesting for the rest of the walk..

The dripping water and the sun streaming through the fog and trees made an amazing display.. the photos do not do enough justice to the actual views!

Once we were on the other side we got a clear view of the hills and the moon

This is one well made trail ! They have put a lot of thought into it..

The falling leaves made it even more interesting..

We made it back in time for lunch.. 

a video clip from the hike..

Wrapping this post up with a smiling San, whose accomplishment is to get me to go with her..

Another hike towards end of 2020! Given we have not flown anywhere or traveled to far away places, we are definitely seeing places that were within 20 minutes drive that have been missed all these years!

We will definitely be making another trip to Windy Hill where we get the views..maybe an afternoon hike! 

Having gone up Mission peak, Mount Um, Windy Hill in last month.. my confidence in hiking with my wife has improved significantly!