Archive for November 2007
Anniversay Weekend (Saturday, November 10th)
Tobia surprised me for our anniversary by buying us two tickets to LA to visit Point Vicente Lighthouse. Our flight was scheduled to leave early Saturday morning from SJ to LAX, and return in the evening.
We landed in LA around 10:30 in the morning and rented a car to drive out to Palos Verdes, where the lighthouse is located. The lighthouse is only open the 2nd Saturday of every month, so our timing had to be planned. Driving through Sepulveda Blvd in LA, we ultimately joined Highway 1 South and reached the lighthouse just before noon.
It was quite warm even that close to the coast. We got to walk into the lighthouse and climb into the lense room where it was extremely hot. On our way out, we walked along the coast line and got some nice pictures of the lighthouse from a distance. It was then I was able to truly appreciate the bluff upon which the lighthouse was built.
Following the lighthouse we had lunch outdoors, overlooking the ocean, which was very relaxing. We dropped the rental car off, and were extremely efficiently bused to the airport where Tobia was able to get us an earlier flight back home.
Once at home we quickly got ready and were picked up by Richard and along with Wes, headed off to SF for some great Italian food, followed by Beach Blanket Babylon (which was hilarious). A great and extremely tiring day… quite a jet-set life.
The following day we went to our favorite restaurant for dinner. Wonderful weekend!
Birthday Weekend in Texas (October 26th – 28th)
Beast moved to Texas about 2 years ago now. We’ve visited him a few times already, but on this visit we figured we’d celebrate his birthday (the 24th) and Tobia’s (the 30th). So by visiting right in the middle, we got to eat heartily for both of those occasions.
We left California early Friday morning, Cho dropped us off bright and early at SJ airport. We arrived at Dallas-Ft Worth airport in the early afternoon and a roughly 30 pounds skinnier hardly recognizable Beast picked us up.
He took us to eat at what’s become our first Texas meal ritual- Texas Land and Cattle. After pigging out and then getting some fantastic ice cream at Double Dip, we went to his place where he showed me the impressive progress he made on his glider.
The next day we went to Thanksgiving Square, a place Tobia has wanted to see for years, located in downtown Dallas. Following that, Beast jokingly suggested we go check out a plane museum. We were eager to check it out and had a great time there.
This was followed by Fogo De Chao’s, a Brazilian steak house that Tobia and Beast claim is the best beef they’ve ever had. I, of course, enjoyed their really great and fresh salad bar. As it was their birthdays, large desserts were brought to us despite our being stuffed. Everything was delicious (impeccable service) and we each easily packed on a couple pounds during that meal.
On Sunday, our last day in Texas, Beast took us to the flight club where he flies out of, and also takes customers on demo flights on weekends. Beast and I were both eager to go up together and for me to experience soaring in a glider. Some folks may recall a few years ago, my flying with Beast in a Piper Archer and hurling while landing back in SJ, and then subsequently throwing up for another 4 hours afterwards. Read more about it.
For my part, I made sure to eat a light breakfast, and Beast ensured we’d fly during calm conditions. We drove out to Caddo Mills airport- roughly an hour east of Dallas- and met some of Beast’s friends at the club. As the glider has no engine, we needed a tow plane to get us up in the air. Incidentally, Beast’s glider, when done, will be a self-launcher which means it has an engine and propeller, and will not require towing. The tow pilot took Beast and I to about 5000 feet where the view of the surrounding area below was nice and clear. After the tow pilot banked to the left and we curled to the right, Beast stabilized us and gave me the controls for a while. I gotta say, I had a blast!! Most of the time I was either too tough with the stick and/or rudders or too gentle, but ultimately I think I improved while up there. When we got low enough, Beast took over the controls and brought us down nicely.
The glider Beast and I went up in.
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Our tow plane and tow pilot (David).
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Chris the line boy helping us set up for our towing and flight. Chris and Beast exchange so much cussing and put downs, I found it quite entertaining.
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Chris attaching the tow rope to our glider.
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About to get towed. David tightened the rope slack at this point.
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Taking off.
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In the air now, headed to 5000 feet.
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Looking down at Greenville and Caddo Mills.
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The main man and pilot, Beast.
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The co-pilot of this show… myself.
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My controls, Beast had an identical set behind me. My feet are on the rudder pedals.
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Coming in to land.
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After chatting and joking around with some of the folks around the club, we headed back to Dallas. We had some lunch, some ice cream, and Beast took us back to DFW to fly back to San Jose. It was an awesome trip.
Port San Luis Lighthouse (Saturday, November 3rd)
After having our trip cancelled twice by the folks granting access to the Port San Luis Lighthouse, I was finally able to get them to commit to allowing us to get out there Saturday November 3rd.
A couple weeks earlier, Andy expressed interest in joining Tobia and I on our trip out there. Just 2 days before finding out the tour would happen, we all kicked into gear really quickly and planned our hotel and trip down there.
The three of us met at our house after work Friday night and drove down to San Luis Obispo. We slept the night at a mediocre hotel and woke up early the next day to head off to Port San Luis to hike out to the lighthouse.
After a surprisingly great breakfast at Coco’s we drove out to the port and signed in for our tour. There were two options, a slow hike and a fast hike. Too excited to be slown down by anything, I chose the short hike. Two guides- one from PG&E (who effectively owns and controls traffic on the trail because they own a power plant on the same grounds)- led us on the roughly 50 minute walk to the lighthouse. We walked up and down the large hill through some paved roads and other times through gravel and trails to get there.
The lighthouse was at the western edge of the hill, unviewable from the harbor. I loved its secluded nature, just above and quite close to the ocean. Our tour led us up to the lense room where we got a nice view of the surrounding coast.
The walk back was really quick. We followed this up with a stroll on the Port San Luis pier where we saw sea lions, had some drinks at a bar, and then we headed off to the San Luis Obispo Mission and lunch before driving back home Saturday afternoon, exhausted but really content.