It's an Exciting World

Steph organized for us to take a coastal foraging class with Kevin. We decided to head North early and stopped near where we did the mushroom foraging. We ended up finding two really nice chanterelle mushrooms.

We made it the rest of the way north before the class started, with a short stop by Bovine Bakery in Point Reyes Station. When we got to the spot we noticed that we weren’t the only group to bring old kitty litter containers. They were pretty much perfect because of their size, and the sealable lid.

Kevin did a quick intro and then we headed down the cliff to the spot he likes to use as his classroom. We gathered some red and purple urchin, sea snails, two rock crab, a steamer clam, and lots of mussels. We cooked a few of the mussels right on the beach, which was really nice. We hiked back up the cliff and did our counts before heading out. On the way back we gathered some sea water to keep everything fresh.

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.