George hosted an evening of good food and drinks for New Years Eve. We stayed up to midnight, mostly. I was really tired from Archer waking me up at 3am that morning. People also played Catastronaughts on the Switch. We called in to talk to Adam in Kanab and Irene in Taiwan.
I went home for Christmas to visit with family. I spent a lot of time with all of them, and we had the entire Geisert family together for the first time. I also got to see Nana, and she was able to remember who I was for part of the day, which was better than expected.
I planned a day of activities for the 10th anniversary of our first date. I did it all as a surprise for Steph, including why we were doing it in the first place.
First we had a nice breakfast, then headed to Omescape for a new room that is called ‘Undercooked’ and styled as a challenge to do as many ‘recipes’ as you can in the time limit. We nearly completed all the recipes and it was a ton of fun. One of the best escape room experiences that I’ve done.
We then headed to Shoreline Lake for a bit and watched the birds and got a drink at the cafe, mainly because my timing wasn’t super tight for the day.
We then headed to Palo Alto where we had afternoon tea at Tea Time. They did a really good job of it. Steph both complained that she wanted more and that her stomach was uncomfortably full, so I take that as she really liked the food.
We then wandered around Palo Alto, with a few of the shops that we wanted to visit no longer there. We then stopped by Café Venetia, the place where we had our first date. The upper floor was blocked off, so we couldn’t grab the same table. Instead I got a hot chocolate and we took a seat outside.
After chatting over the hot chocolate we made our way to the movie theater in Mountain View with the really comfy seats and saw Spider Man: No Way Home. It was much better than we were expecting.
We grabbed some magic chili tofu from Crouching Tiger (our favorite dish) on our way home, and relaxed the rest of the evening by the fire.
Steph and I joined a group led by Kevin from Catch and Cook California Youtube Channel to forage for mushrooms in the North Bay. We took a short class, then headed up into the forest to find mushrooms. He found a good spot and we found a lot of interesting varieties. We only found a few that were edible, and Kevin cooked up some of one of the mushrooms.
While Steph was in Mexico, cave diving for Thanskgiving, I had a group of friends over to celebrate the holiday. Most of the regulars were there; Riley, Rong, Paul, Yutong, Adam, and George. Adam’s mother also came. Adam had actually flown his own plane to the Bay Area to join us, and because it is his new toy.
Lee’s has been doing an excellent job DMing a game of Traveller. We completed the first story arc and have started on the second. I’m playing a former cop who is great with a blade. Tina is a rich noble, who has been in jail for a long time. Andrew is a gambling former smuggler. Adam is an antisocial pilot. Tim is a former Navy man who can fix most anything. Together we are doing pretty well at not dying. I got some figures printed and painted the ships that Tim printed out.
I was able to go back to the Southeast for Nana’s birthday. I had a good time and got to also meet Elise for the first time. I’m glad I was able to see all the family. At the dinner for Nana’s Birthday we had Fred, Karin, Rodger, Brenda, Tila, Cheryl, Cindy, Devin, and Adrian.
Steph and I went sailing on Pete’s boat out of Alameda. We started around 10am and headed out south of Treasure Island under the Bay Bridge. We caught the wind and had a good sail going around Alcatraz. We spotted the Matthew Turner, a square sailed ship, and followed it. After getting pretty close, the other ship was able to pull away. We then headed North of Alcatraz and towards Angel Island. We passed under the Bay Bridge on the North side, seeing the Bay Bridge troll. We puttered into Alameda, as the wind died. Pete was able to switch sails to one that was more suited to wind below 2 knts. He also ran out the whisker pole to help it keep shape. I didn’t do all that much during the sailing as I was the least experienced. Steph did a large part of the steering.
I got the kayak campsite again for Angel Island.
Michelle and Michael came to pick us up in the morning so we could get to SF for lunch before getting on the ferry. The lunch was nice, as we got to hang out on the pier, by the map of the bay. We mapped out our route and looked at features of the bay we weren’t as familiar with.
It was a pain to carry the kayak around, along with the camping gear. It luckily wasn’t too far.
This time we took the ferry to the island and I kayaked from the ferry dock to the campsite beach. It was a pretty short kayak, but we timed it really well and I got the calm tides. Even over the short kayak I got to see lots of wildlife along the coast of the island. I made it to the campsite about 30 seconds before the others. We set up camp and then hiked to the peak of the island. It was a pretty intense hike, at 700 feet high. We got multiple points with great views of the bay. Along the hike we saw a lot of deer, a coyote, and a pair of vultures.
That evening we went to the civil war fort and sat at one of the tables along the waterfront there to watch the sunset. The video below is that sunset with the clouds spilling over the hills next to the golden gate.
The next day we hiked the road all around the island. The military bases and the detention center were very interesting. The detention center was more modern than I expected, being in use from 1910-1937. We grabbed everything and a quick lunch before taking the ferry back and heading home.
It's an Exciting World 