Andrew, Kevin, Adam, and I had a great time doing two drafts of the new set, Khans of Tarkir. I really enjoyed the set, more than I thought I would. The set was slow and allowed large forces to be built up. I was able to make a few trick sets and got them to work a few times. I also got a couple really bad draws. The second draft was better and more fun for me, as I was able to do a full 5 color set, as well as getting many of the really good versatile cards, the charms. I look forward to doing another draft soon, I’ll have to drive and host this one.
Steph and I had high tea on Saturday morning. The food was good and the tea was very good. I liked it, but felt out of place. I was the only male there, as high tea is a very feminine thing historically. I would like to go again, but with a larger group and take a longer time to do it. I still felt a little rushed since we had things to get to afterwards. We were very lucky to get a spot as someone had canceled earlier that day. After that we got some cakes at Sakura Cakes and food at Ranch 99.
Steph’s mom’s birthday was Friday so we went out to eat with them. Rangoon Ruby had amazing food. Everything was delicious except for te pad Thai which was ok. They are going to be taking a few trips soon to Fiji and Myanmar. They also gave us all the apples off their tree which we made into cider for reracking our cider babies.
Tina two others and I played dragon pets and I was great fun. I bit off more than I could chew with three pets early on. One escaped when I got too many angry food aspects. I wasn’t good at budgeting for those purposes. Tina got first by a lot and I got a close second.
For Steph’s birthday dinner we went to Chez Panisse. This restaurant was the first to really do farm to table, and it showed. The food was amazing and incredibly fresh. There were 4 tasty courses, and Steph got some amazing vegetarian substitutes, that were just as good as the meat dishes. We also were able to take a tour of the kitchen and freezers. They had some pretty neat equipment. The only thing I didn’t like was the candied grapefruit peel. It was very bitter and sour, which I didn’t care for.
We had a really good hike out, in the morning it was sunny, but as the day got later and we approached the coast it got overcast and foggy, which for hiking was great.
There were any complications, and when we got the bottom we cleaned up some, then got on the road. Steph drove, which was really nice, since I was super tired and don’t think I would have been good to pay attention. We decided to go get some pho at Pho Vi Hoa, which was delicious. I really enjoyed the trip, and would certainly do it again.
The kitties were happy when I got home.
From our camping site at Barlow flats it was another 3 miles to the hot springs. We decided to not pack up and drag everything to the hot springs but instead took just day gear and left the rest at Barlow flats. The hike to the springs was gorgeous and the last bit was crossing over a stream several times. When we got there the springs only had one occupant and we chatted with him for a while.
There are four pools, upper, middle, lower, and small. Other two hottest were the middle and small, then came the upper and then the lower. Flew spent most of our time in the middle pool, which could fit about 6 comfortably. An hour after we got there a group of 10 showed up and we chatted with them for a bit. Steph and I finished off the cider, and had a very relaxing time. More people started showing up as we left and the pools were pretty full by that time. The hike back wasn’t bad and we had a good dinner at camp.
Steph and got on the road about 1:30 and made it to Big Sur Station at around 4pm. we waited there for about 30 min and then Joe and Chad got there.
We set out as we were getting shower on daylight. The hike was beautiful, but the first part was a grueling uphill with no forgiveness.
It was dusk as we came to the first campground, terrace creek. We decided to push on for another hour or so in the dark to make it to the next campground, Barlow flats, two miles further down the way.
When we got there it was pitch black. The people who had made it there before us were nice enough to show us to an empty camp spot. I took a bath in the creek, Then we set up and hung out with some of the other hikers. There was wiskey, scotch, sake, wine, beer, cider, and weed going around. Everyone was sharing their plenty but I stuck to just a little cider. We decided to call it a night a little early since everyone was so tired.
Tina, Erik, Chris, and I played a game of pets. Chris and blocked Tina and Erik out of the pets in the middle. Even though it was looking like I would win I lost one point on poop making Chris the winner by a half point.
It's an Exciting World 