Daily Archive: May 1, 2004

hike

Mother\’s Day Hike

IM002756For mothers day, Barb wanted to hike mission peak as a family. It was a great day to hike. Not too hot, not too cold. We were lucky enough to get to go with the Lewellyn family. Friends of ours through the close friendship between our daughters Kate and Nicole. Both families had spent all day Saturday together at MVALs and thats where the plan to hike together came about. Anyway we started at Ohlone college parking lot and took our time going up. There were nine of us all together. First time for the Lewellyn family going up the peak. We stopped at most of the famous rest stops along the way. picture_016 Taking advantage of the shade since it was already getting warm. Especially during that first lonnngggggg descent up to the seasonal pond. Steve had bought a new camera and took some great pictures. Both at MVALs and on the hike. He deserves credit for most of the mother’s day hike pictures After the hike and a bit of a rest, we met back at Annette and Steve’s for Mother’s Day Dinner. After a couple of beers and Toto’s pizza appetizer it was a feast of BBQ’d Steak, sausages, salmon. Green Salad, Annette’s famous, fantastic tasting potato salad, and homemade apricot pie with ice cream and coffee for desert! WOO HOO!! NOW THATS GOOD EATIN!!!! Really a great day. Great weekend too! Can’t believe we survived it!

friends

Champagne Day

IM002874Spent yesterday with the Champagne Crew in Hollister. The plan was to go down early, go hiking at the Pinnicales, come back, do a little hot tubbing and BBQ some dinner. We had forgotten that the holdiay weekend would bring many more people to park. The Pinnicles was very crowded, parking lots full and a shuttle running people in and out of the park. It was so hot standing out there waiting for the shuttle and the fact that they had more people waiting than shuttle space, we switched to plan “B”. WINE TASTING!! Headed first to the DeRose winery. IM002881 Now I’m not a wine drinker, but this may have been the best “wine expieriance” that I ever had. Pat DeRose was pouring the wine and teaching us about the different varieties. Very low key and personal. No formal tasting room here, just a table and antique bar inside the working winery. Among other things, I learned that some vines are never watered or irrigated (dry farmed). Some of the vines in his vineyard are over 100 years old. Checking out thier webpage I learned that winery itself is built directly on top of the San Andreas Fault. Great time at DeRose. And great wine too. Tanya recommends the Hollywood Red. From there it was up the hill to the Peatra Santa winery. IM002890 Peatra Santa was more like the wineries in Napa. $5 for 5 featured wines. I had already had enough wine for the day so I did’nt partake in any more tasting. The winery also produces olive oil which they had to sample. Three different types ranging from $25- $50 a bottle. All very good. Two wineries was plenty for us so we decided to head back to the Champagne house (sounds like another winery!). But before we did. we stopped at the 19th hole, a roadside bar in Tres Pinos that Al had always wanted to check out. 19th_holeFinally some tasting that I like to do! Not sure why this place is called the 19th hole. No Golf course that I could see anywhere around. Looks like a biker bar to me. Anyway, we had a couple of cold ones, played some music on the jukebox, stuck a dollar bill up on the ceiling. This must me a tradition at the 19th hole because there were at least 300-400 dollar bills thumb tacked to the ceiling. Some looked to be very old. Most people had written one thing or another on the bill before they put it up on the ceiling. This is accomplished with a long pole and paperclip contraption. IM002896So, since we were in tourist mode, we stuck a couple of bucks up there too! After that it was a short ride back to the Champagne house where we decided that maybe ordering a couple of pizzas was better than BBQing. Can’t go wrong with pizza!. The kids soaked in the hot tub some, but since we weren’t all sore form our hike, we took a pass and just visisted. Hit the road around 9:30. Another great day in California with the Champagne Crew. Be sure to check out the rest of the pictures from our “hike”

sports

Awards Night

Thursday night we went to the end of the year banquet for the American High swim team. The whole team (50+ kids) and all the parents got together and had a pot luck meal and the coach handed out awards. We are so proud of the team and all they did this year. Its really fun to watch these kids. They compete hard in every race. Both of our girls had real good years. They’ve made great friends and have worked hard these last 4 months. Kate improved all of her times and knocked 30 seconds off of her 500 meter freestyle time over the course of the season. Coach Gygax challenged her to become a varsity swimmer next year by dedicating herself to swimming. She is signed up for summer swim league so we expect record times from Kate next year. Kelly spent her year near the top of the Varsity girls team. She was in the top 3 in the girls 50 and 100 freestyle, and on the “A” relay teams. I remember last year she so stressed about even making the team. Now she is destined to be a captain next year. For her hard work, dedication and spirit this year, Kelly was given the “Coaches Award”. This is given to only one boy and girl on the varsity team. And its a big deal to all the kids. Kelly and I even talked about its a couple of days before and she thought that two of her buddies should win it. She was so surprised when she won. She really deserved it though. We are proud! I should also mention that Kelly and Kate both were awarded certificates of merit for being on a “Distinguished Scholastic Team” with a cumulative GPA of 3.46 ! Thats pretty good for a girls team with 20+ girls! WAY TO GO!!