Kathryn and Will's Wedding

Here are a few pics from a wedding the weekend prior. Similar guest lists, similar remote location. The organization of the event was awesome - it was held at the bride's parent's house, and they appeared to have assigned tasks to everyone, and cooked / organized / built everything themselves. It was a very well-oiled machine.

Kiki and Boudreaux's Wedding

We took a few days off last week and drove up to Washington for Kiki and Boudreaux's wedding. It was a great drive - straight up the middle of California, Oregon, and Washington - and the wedding itself was really fun. We managed to take nearly 500 pictures along the way; these are some of my favorites. We saw Crater Lake, explored Sunriver and Bend, stopped at Mt. Hood and 'The Shining' Hotel, drove along the Columbia River Gorge, passed by Mount St. Helens, and hiked in the foothills of Mt. Ranier.

Paddling

We joked the other day at work that there's now a fitness requirement for the Client Services team. Our new GM is a nationally ranked Dragon Boat racer and now, along with her partner, racing outrigger canoes. My boyfriend has been pulled into the sport, and - while not necessarily more enthusiastic about it than our other coworkers - is very, very excited about it. They train three days a week in the SF Bay (and outside the gate) with the SFOCC.

Some basics:
- It's paddling, not rowing. Rowers go backwards, paddlers go forward.
- The outrigger is the thing on the side
- Unlike most kayaks and other small watercraft, outriggers are ocean-going (waves aren't a bad thing)
- It's a fairly popular sport these days - as evidenced in these photos.

These photos are from a Santa Barbara race two weekends ago. It's one of the largest California events. My boyfriend's team won by 1 minute 13 seconds (a huge lead in a 36 minute race), and was then disqualified for ridiculous reasons. Southern California teams train for a year and then race the second year; Northern California teams race their first year. The team was disqualified for having one person that had competed the year prior. Read it another way: 5 members of the team had LESS experience than the other competitors. I think they're less frustrated now, but needless to say, it's going to be a good season.

Skiing

I went skiing this weekend - for the first time in fourteen years. It was both better and worse than I expected. I wasn't horrible - by the end of the second day the easy runs were getting a bit boring - nor was I particularly good. On the first run of the second day, I remembered why I hadn't been in so long. I was never great at it, and for that reason never really enjoyed skiing. I think the potential is there to have fun (I was having fun towards the end), but I'm going to have to work hard to get to that point.

On the positive side, Tahoe is gorgeous. And not nearly as cold as I remembered. And watching your friends make crazy jumps is really entertaining.

Here's the result of my worst tumble of the weekend.

Why I Like Winter

Well, at least that season we call "Winter" in the Bay Area. 60 degrees, clear, bright, and very green. These were taken on two different, equally lovely hikes in Marin. Look closely and you'll see the Farallons in the last picture.

I'd definitely recommend visiting Bon Tempe reservoir in Fairfax (shown in the top photo). You can hike around it and a smaller adjacent reservoir in under two hours. It's lovely and uncrowded - a great morning walk.

The Big 3-0

I'm 30. Officially. I've actually been 30 for a few weeks now, and haven't dropped dead. Or found more gray hair or wrinkles. Or, for that matter, had any sort of midlife crisis. Yay! Thanks everyone for making it a great day!

Elk

Next up: Elk. Elk is about 15 miles south of Mendocino. I realized on my drive up there that I've never seen that area at all, including the Anderson Valley - I've flown to Mendocino a few times, but never been outside of that main town.

Needless to say, it's stunning. We went wine tasting, hiking, and even worked in a fairly substantial nap. There were three dogs up for the weekend, which was great. I highly recommend a visit.

(And in case you're not already jealous, this first picture was taken from the deck of the house. Pretty amazing spot.)

Brooks & Autumn's Wedding

I'm way behind on blogging, and am going to try my best to get caught up this weekend. First up: meet the newlyweds! I met Brooks close to ten years ago (he was the high school roommate of my boyfriend at the time), and have become friends with him in the past year or so. Autumn is quite the lucky lady (and Brooks is lucky to have found her). I had such a good time at the wedding that I only took a few pictures, none of which are very good. Trust me on this - they looked great. And the setting was beautiful.

I do like this pre-wedding pic of Hayden. That was a pretty good bloody mary.

Point Reyes

Finally, I'm out hiking again! I made the journey out to Point Reyes, which is actually much closer than I expected - only an hour and a half from the East Bay. Here's a sampling of pics from along the trail (near Limantour Beach). On a sunny day, it's hard to beat.

Stinson Beach

I'm slacking on posts these days - mostly out of lack of things to report. Work is really busy, and I haven't been traveling much. So, to make up for it, here's a bunch of shots from a skim boarding lesson last weekend (the first for most of us shown here). As you can tell, some of us picked it up faster than others. And in case you're wondering why these look better than normal, I didn't take these photos. Karl and Hideki are certainly much more adept.

Flying Overhead

My dad took Adam and I up for a flight over Napa and Sonoma last weekend. This is the Sonoma coastline, near Bodega Bay. I really loved it, especially given how much time we've been spending camping in that area lately. It's very cool to see how it all comes together - and also to see how much open space is still out there. If you look closely at this photo, you can tell that the road ends at that house in the center, but there's a fire road that extends past it, hidden from view. I'd definitely like to go check that out.

Austin Creek

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Originally uploaded by aliciamalia.

We made another camping trip this past weekend. While not one of our most successful, the campsite was spectacular. That's a pond right below our spot (complete with bullfrogs and fish, and turkey vultures above). It's a neat park, or rather two - you enter through Armstrong Redwoods state park, which has expansive old-growth redwoods, and after several miles enter Austin Creek, which is higher and has a vastly different landscape. It's about 3 miles north of Guernville in Sonoma County; 30 minutes drive from Goat Rock Beach and Jenner to the west.

We took a fairly strenous 4 mile hike (lots of up and down climbs) in the Austin Creek portion. You could probably do it as a day trip, but the camp is so lovely it's nice to stay for the night.

Strolling

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Originally uploaded by aliciamalia.

Along the trail

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Originally uploaded by aliciamalia.

Orange County

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Originally uploaded by aliciamalia.

We returned from a quick trip to Orange County last night. It was Elese's wedding shower, and a good excuse to get away for a long weekend. Elese lives in North Carolina now, so our relationship consists of these little trips, most of the time in places neither of us live. It's actually sort of nice - we're always on vacation when we see each other.

Adam and I planned on having Sunday and Monday to laze at the beach, but our plans quickly changed...

Day Two

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Originally uploaded by aliciamalia.

The coast was fogged in, so we headed inland. Our choice was almost completely random - we were looking for a National Park away from any of the main routes near Palm Springs (to avoid all the traffic leaving Coachella). We ended up at the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, apparently the largest State Park in California, and definitely a new favorite for me. The hike we took, while punishingly hot, was varied and packed with wildlife and unusual succulents. Adam thinks it was the best hike we've been on all year.

I also LOVED eating dinner outside in 80 degree weather. That's the life.

Another fine specimen

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Originally uploaded by aliciamalia.

This one is about 15 feet tall.

The First Oasis

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Originally uploaded by aliciamalia.

Day three

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Originally uploaded by aliciamalia.

As I mentioned above, it's really hot out there in the desert. We googled "Swimming hole" and found the trail to Cedar Creek Falls. It's roughly 12 miles south of Julian (a darling mining town worth visiting in its own right). The way down, and the pool at the end, are well-worth the effort; the way up was brutal. 2 miles uphill in 90-degree heat was tough. I'd do it again, though.

A Wee Dragon on the Trail

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Originally uploaded by aliciamalia.