ALC8 Day Two: My first (official) century (and I love bears!)
June 1, 2009
Route: Santa Cruz to King City
Distance (according to my Garmin): 106.5
Calories burned: 6520
Avg. Speed: 16mph
Total Elevation (no laughing): 3014ft
Today was seriously awesome. And why? Well to start it was my first official century, let alone first over 100 mile day! So let’s go through the highlights of today:
Preface: not all “highlights” are good
- Getting out of Santa Cruz was, for lack of a better term, a clusterfuck. Michael and I got up at 4:45 with the goal of being on our bikes ready to go at 6:30. However… seems folding up a tent in a way that fits in a little bag thing is a skill you have to earn… earn with about five failed attempts. So we ended up getting out at 7 instead and oohhhh good god getting out of Santa Cruz was madness!! Imagine about, god I don’t know, hundreds upon hundreds of bikers all lined up single friggin file in the bike lane in downtown Santa Cruz. During rush hour. And, since about 95% of us were on our best behavior, nobody ran lights or even took up a lane (which I still think we should have done). It took us about an hour to get out of Santa Cruz. An hour!! So that was definitely the low point of the day… because normally I’m all about getting through traffic asap!
- While biking on our way into a town called “Marina” we came across some serious headwinds. Now, friends of mine have always said “Heather, if you ever get a chance, draft a tandem. It’ll be the easiest riding of your life. Just push hard to hold on because those things can fly!” Well the biking gods favored me today because right when the headwinds picked up what happened? A lovely (almost seafoam colored!) tandem flew by me. So, what did I do? Well I picked it up, caught up, and held on for dear life! The next few miles were quite lovely until the evil call of the demon flat god sounded. The tandem got a flat!! Tragedy! So I asked them if everything was ok (it was) and I continued on my way.
- At lunch I called Chris to let him know how things were going and that so far, so good! This gave me something to do so I did’n’t have to sit all alone
- The rest of the day was really pretty flat and oh boy I flew on some parts. For a long time I was riding right behind a girl who I believe rides for Berkeley. We were going a solid 21ish for something like 10-15 miles. But, I left the rest stop before her and continued out on my own. I actually really enjoyed some of the riding by myself. I’ve never spent any time in that area of California and it’s really beautiful. Though I have to say… I felt a little weird/bad/guilty biking by the people who were picking all the strawberries.
- My very favorite stop of the day was at the mission. The theme? Dancing Bears!! Now, we aren’t talking about bears like the animal, we’re talking about “bears” – big burly gay guys. So I pull in to the rest stop in the middle of nowhere to find dance music and a bunch of bears wearing pretty much nothing but pink tutus with giant flagpoles with glittery flags, dancing together. So I got of my bike, got my yummy otter pop, took a video of them, and then my picture… because how could I not?! It was awesome!!
- After getting into camp I had dinner with Michael, Ryan PC Gibson (somehow I can’t just think of him as “Ryan”…and he apparently can’t think of me as “Heather” since now I seem to be “Private Whitney”), Topher, and Baris – and then we walked over to Safeway to get some snacks. Oh, we stopped at Carl’s Junior, too since everyone but me wanted a milkshake (I was too burnt out on candy from the ride)
So that was my day!! Tomorrow is about 60 miles more!
ALC8 Day One
May 31, 2009
Alright – now I might not be able to charge my laptop for this entire trip so I’ve got to make these entries short and sweet!
This morning at 3:45 Chris, me, and, I presume, Michael, all woke up to get ready to head down to the Cow Palace to start AIDS/Lifecycle 8 San Francisco to Los Angeles! Actually, Michael and I woke up to actually ride it and Chris woke up to be a saint and drive us over. Sadly (so so sooooo sadly) Chris couldn’t do the ride this year 
So anyways, thousands of cyclists and roadies (volunteers who help do pretty much EVERYTHING throughout the week) gathered for opening ceremonies and the ride out!
Google sponsored the event through the Gayglers (our gay Googler group), which meant the Google team got to ride out right up at the start! This was particularly great because there are over two thousand riders… and that’s a lot of people to start riding all at the same time. Especially through San Francisco.
Basically the rest of the ride was fairly uneventful for me. I stopped at a few rest stops and got to see some pretty amusing themes (like a bunch of guys dressed in 50’s poodle skirts and belly shirts) and made a new bike buddy! After lunch I ended up riding right with a girl named Leslie for pretty much the rest of the ride (an additional 40 miles). I was particularly grateful because I don’t really know *that many people on this ride and of the people I do know from work, none of them ride my speed
I arrived at camp at ~1:15PM after our 80 mile ride and was quite surprised to see that not too many people had arrived yet. This was awesome because it meant I got to take a shower with no line!! Yippieeeee!
After we all got our tents set up (thanks Michael!) a few of us decided to go to Costco (right outside our tent city) to see if there was anything delicious and/or useful. And, right when we finished with that Chris had arrived! He came to see me the first night since we were just in Santa Cruz!! After hanging out around camp for a while Chris took me out to a yummy Italian dinner in preparation for our 106 mile ride tomorrow.
After dinner and some hanging around Chris had to go so I walked him to his car and begged him to stay for about thrity minutes. But, sadly, he didn’t give in. So now I’m in my tent typing with Michael messing around with his iphone.
Time for bed! Tomorrow will be my (technically) first over 100 mile ride!
Oh but before I forget, I just want to say a very special thank you to Chris. Not only did he donate to me and Michael, he helped pack me (and by “helped” I really mean he just packed me), he made sure I had everything I needed, and he sat with me through all the day zero packet pickup lines. He’s a saint and I’m really very very grateful! I will miss you so much, baby!!
-Heather
Big Sur 2009 (aka: don’t cry, you were always an ugly crier)
April 28, 2009
This past weekend Eric, Chris, and I made our way to Monterey and Big Sur, California. And why? Because once again I talked Eric into doing the Big Sur marathon with me. But before I go into the details of the weekend let’s backup a bit….
So, just like the last time I signed up for a marathon (Big Sur 2007) the real purpose of the marathon isn’t really the marathon itself but instead the months of training. True to my Viking roots, I’m one of those people who gains about 15 pounds if I stop working out for more than a week or two. This means that I really have to be diligent about my exercise. And nothing spells diligent training like a marathon! And, let’s face it – I love food. And the body is a lot more forgiving for that Tartine morning roll and occasional donut (and big slice of cake with lots of frosting and strawberries with about a pound of homemade whipped cream, and …) when you ran 14 miles earlier that day.
And beyond all that, there’s a category at the Big Sur marathon called “Bonneydale” [sometimes it’s also called the “Athena” category]. It’s the category you can enter if you are over 145-150 lbs (depending on the race) and a woman. For men it’s called “Clydesdale” and is typically over 195 lbs. Anyway, I realized that if I ran at about a 9:30 pace for the marathon I’d have a real chance at placing in the top three for that. This would be a huge achievement because:
1) I’ve never placed in a sport. Ever. And to place for a marathon would be an epic win!
2) I thought to myself, “if you can place at a marathon than no matter what your body is like at that point, no matter how much you weigh, you’re really healthy. And that is enough.” Which is to say that I saw a win as validation that my body was good where it was – no matter what weight I was at when I crossed the finish line.
Well I hate to be the bearer of bad news but none of that happened. Instead, Eric and I ran it ~20 minutes slower than 2007 and I was in extreme pain.
The Injuries
- I started keeping my exercise journal again on January 5th and on my very first entry I wrote “yesterday did 58 minutes/ 6 miles so today was rest as to avoid inflaming my right hip and knee” And basically that issue (my right hip) plagued me through all of my marathon training. The pain basically feels joint-related all up inside my middle to outer hip into the very top outer part of the booty. It starts kind of achy with this “I want to extend my leg out and pop my hip joint” feeling and then it gets sharper and sharper as I run. Soon enough I also feel sharp pain in my knee. So much sharp pain in fact that I started to wonder (during the marathon) if it was going to get so bad that my leg would just be unable to bend at all – like sharp pain rigor mortis! No lies!
On the Friday before the marathon (so the 24th) I had my first physical therapy appointment. Basically I needed the guy to tell me how I was going to get through the marathon with all the shin pain I had been experiencing. When Chris and I ran in Mexico, for example, the first lap or two I’d be hobbling and then it would slowly get better right up until we stopped – at which point the shin pain would cause me to limp around for the next twenty minutes. This injury was the one I was most worried about. I hadn’t experienced the hip issue for a while (it tended to come and go) but the shin could be a killer. I figured it was classic shin splints so I asked the guy to just tape up my leg, show me a stretch or two, and let me know the exact amount of Ibuprofen one could take before reaching toxic levels. Unfortunately, instead of that I was told that I had stress fractures up and down my left shin. He proceeded to tape my leg (and teach me how to do it for the marathon) but it was a really hard blow.
Friday Night
After getting the bad news on Friday afternoon I was pretty low. I still went out to sushi with Chris and Neil but by the end of it I felt fairly withdrawn. I was having an internal self-pity party of sorts. I thought about all the training runs I’d done – so many more long runs than the last time we did a marathon… I thought about all those cold winter mornings when I’d get my ass out of bed at 6:30am to go on runs three times during the week (plus long-run Saturday!) even when it sucked. And then I thought about how there was a very very real chance I wouldn’t be able to complete the race. How I could end up with a full-blown fracture through my shin, which would then totally fuck up my chances at completing the AIDS ride.
Eric made it the Bay Area by around 8:30 – 9pm and he picked me up in Palo Alto and we headed right up to SF. He wanted to study for the rest of the night but it ended up being me sobbing and sobbing with him trying to say it’d be ok no matter how it turned out. I was so stressed out and so very very scared.
Saturday
Well the gods must have taken pity on me because I woke up Saturday morning in a much better mood. Chris, Eric, and I got up fairly early and headed down to Tartine for a delicious breakfast and then started on our way to Monterey! The Big Sur race expo happens at the Monterey conference center so we bee-lined for that first. Eric and I picked up all our packet stuff and then we all meandered through the booths.
After all that, we ate lunch at a lovely little seafood place Chris knew about.
Then, Chris and I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium while loser Eric studied at the nearby Starbucks. The Aquarium just got a new special exhibit on seahorses and I’ve got to tell you – it’s seriously cool. Something about seahorses is so magical. Like I’ve said before, they’re like the chariots of Thumbelina-sized mermaids!
And, as you see here, apparently regular sized mermaids too! (who friggin knew?!?!)
After all that (oh and a glass of wine for Chris) we headed to a pasta place for our pre-race dinner. I wasn’t really that hungry (I’d already eaten so much that day!) but tried to get myself to down at least a little of my pasta! And, straight after dinner we headed back to our totally reasonable hotel motel and I went straight to bed.
Sunday
pre-race
The three of us all set independent alarms for 3AM. Those ended up being unnecessary because I was already awake. Laying there. Eyes open. In darkness.
Chris was super awesome and helpful and filled up my water bottle with half gatorade half water, put a few extra aleve in my little running bag, and drove Eric and I to the buses (for Big Sur you have to take buses to the starting area because they close down HWY 1)
The next few hours (and there were quite a few!) consisted of Eric and me trying to huddle in whatever way provided the most warmth. Turns out there really wasn’t a position that could keep us both warm. So that wasn’t so great. If you are reading this and will one day run Big Sur, bring a few blankets and a pillow!
race
About ten minutes before the start we all lined up at the starting area. It’s just amazing how many people sign up to do Big Sur. I mean it’s just a sea of people! How can there be that many crazy people?!
And yet when the epic champion music starts to play (of the eye of the tiger / start me up epic variety) you forget that it’s crazy. I just looked at Eric and we both just started screaming with excitement.
The race then started and we started all right. Sadly I put sports shield (which is like a friggin god send against chafing) around my stomach (sometimes you can get cut from your shorts on top) and that caused my slippery shorts to ride up my butt like crazy (too slippery to hold so they just decided to defy gravity and go up up up!) So the first two miles were me constantly pulling my shorts down (to no avail). Apparently showing the world my butt has become a favorite past time of mine anyways [see Puerto Vallarta entries].
But I do wonder if trying to pull my shorts down caused me to run with poor form, which then caused the hip to freak out.
Either way, by mile 7 or 8 things weren’t looking so good. My hip injury came on with full force and by mile 10 I couldn’t deny it any longer. I had to stop to stretch it (basically I stretch like I’m really trying to pop my hip out and that seems to help for a mile or so). Mentally doing that was rough because we were right with the 4:30 finish pace group at that point. And stopping meant we’d really lose them. And lose them right before Hurricane Point – the hardest climb in the race (about 520 ft over 2 miles). But I had to stop. The pain was so sharp I couldn’t properly put my right leg out in front of me – I was sort of doing a rounded stride (so instead of the leg going in a straight line it was pushed out to the side and up in a half-moon hoop instead). I just couldn’t take it any longer- after about two miles of it, it was just getting way too severe.
As you can imagine, having to take a stretch due to severe pain at mile 10 (especially when I should have stopped at mile 7 or 
is a mentally daunting thing. You still have 16 miles to go and, since I knew the course, the next 16 were the really had ones. Big Sur has some non-trivial climbing all the way to the end and pain that early means nothing good.
Eric was really understanding (later I found out that since mile five he was experiencing pains, but he didn’t want to “keep me back”) but for me it was rough. The pain was a familiar one – after many 12, 14, and even 16 mile runs with it I knew it was one that would not just disappear if I kept running.
Either way we made our way up Hurricane Point, where I had to stop many many times to stretch it out 
again. By the top my quads were shot. I think it was just a combination of my hip and shin just causing less than perfect form (so you’re using the wrong muscles to make your way up) and not enough hill training. Even though in 2007 our top run was only 12 miles, almost all our long runs were hardcore trail runs up in the LA/Malibu hills. And those runs made Hurricane Point seem not so bad at all. This year, Hurricane point seemed pretty horrible.
After that it was slow going on the descents and the hip pain continued. I got fairly emotional at a few moments because I was just so frustrated with myself. If only I would have trained better (better hill climbing and better as in injury-free) I could be achieving my dream 9:30 pace. But instead I knew I wasn’t even going to get what I got in 2007 (about 4:57).
I think it was around mile 20 that Eric and I finally realized we needed to seriously walk. We were both in so much pain and my hip felt way way better walking than running. And so we walked. And, to be honest, it was probably the most enjoyable part of the race. I laughed for the first time. And, once I realized I would still be able to finish, I felt ok.
At almost mile 24 Chris found us! He walked out to run the last mile with us (and take lots of pictures) but since we were slower than we hoped, he just decided to keep coming out to find us. Of course, that was after:
the 4:30 pace group ran past him
he video taped them, thinking we’d be there [video here],
we weren’t there,
he wasn’t sure we weren’t there so decided to run after the pace group just to be sure [video here],
then was sure and decided to keep walking (hoping we really hadn’t passed him!)
And then found us!
And with all that said, it was great to see him! Great and sort of funny and sad. Funny because the juxtaposition of his energy to our absolute exhaustion really showed me how dead Eric and I were. Sad because it meant that my marathon end wasn’t going to be what I hoped for (us running strong as we made our goal 4:30 time).
Either way, we all walked together until mile 25, at which point we decided to harness all our energy and run the final 1.2 miles in [video of agony here]. Near the end Chris ran ahead to get pictures of us, Eric grabbed my hand and we ran the last stretch and through the finish line together. A team and partnership. From start to finish. In 2007 and 2009.
And, just like in 2007, I got a bit choked up at the end. I was a bit too weak to hold back the tears. I was so relieved while also disappointed while also happy. Relieved it was over, that we made it. Disappointed it wasn’t what I wanted – that I failed in a way. And happy – happy for such a great best friend and boyfriend.
After that we dragged our bodies (with the help of Chris!) to lunch. And then, Eric and I both fell asleep as Chris drove us back to San Jose.
And that my friends, was my emotionally turbulent marathon weekend 2009.
You can see all the pictures (with additional inside commentary) here
And all videos can be found here
Weekend of Freckle-Making (aka: weekend of outdoorsy-ness)
March 31, 2009
This past weekend was chock-full of outdoorsy adventures! (too bad I somehow managed to gain back 2.5 pounds of the precious weight I’ve lost since January during this past week in spite of all my exercise, but I’m not going to dwell in a sea of self-hating and pity…… [why meeeeeee?!])
Moving on — this weekend!
On Saturday Chris and I went to Half Moon Bay and took a beginner sea kayaking class! And on Sunday we, along with his friend Christina, went on an almost 70 mile bike ride to Pescadero and back (back via Tunitas… *cue scary music of doom and despair!!*)
So how’d it all go down
Sea Kayaking
I’ve wanted to try sea kayaking again ever since I tried sit-on-top sea kayaking in Maui back in high school. And, since I wanted to treat Chris to a really cool activity in honor of our two month anniversary (…don’t laugh. Why shouldn’t we think of every possible reason to celebrate and do fun stuff?!), I thought this would be an awesome time to give it a whirl.
So we arrived at 8:45 and found out that there were only going to be three students! Us and one other girl. I started thinking that the low teacher student ratio was really really awesome right when I sat down in my sea kayak for the first time and had a little panic attack when I realized that I was like really really stuck in a contraption that could capsize with me still wedged in it.
The morning was spent practicing basic maneuvering skills (i.e. turning left, right, front and backwards paddling, etc.) in very calm waters. I had a case of déjà vu when I watched my paddle go into the water, which was kinda neat. [déjà vu because I rowed for UCLA my freshman year, which means I’ve seen an oar go in water a lot more often than pretty much 99.99% of the population]
We then had a nice lunch break over on a dog-friendly beach. This was cool with me but I’m telling you right now it was not so cool with the instructor. I didn’t think it possible for someone to hate dogs but if he doesn’t than he comes damn close. My guess – he’s had one too many unleashed and unmonitored dogs interrupt his teaching so he’s just sick of it.
After lunch it was time for our self-rescue practice, which means it’s time for us to purposely capsize our boats and learn how to get out (and then back in) safely.
Apparently it showed that I was less than enthusiastic about this business and, accordingly, he said I would go first. Eeekk!! When he first showed us the steps of how to get back in the boat I started laughing. Not “this is so funny” laughing but “holy shit this is ridiculous, I’m going to die” nervous laughing. I tried to explain that sometimes I can’t help but laugh when I’m nervous but I always worry people just think I’m an ass. Oh well. The laughing continued (though I did try and turn away while I did it).
After we all practiced it on the shore (which looks hilarious) it was time. I got in my kayak, Chris wished me luck and pushed my boat in (since I’m not so good at the getting-the-boat-to-go-from-shore-to-water bit) and I was on my way. The instructor was out standing in the water waiting for me to come up to him. The idea was that he’d walk me through the first time and, of course, be right there in case I totally flipped out (and, as a side note, I asked and in fact some people do need to basically be saved because they freak!)
After some protracted laughing and asking him if he was ready, I counted to three (“one” …. “two” …. gigglegiggle….. “twwwwoooooo”…… “two and a half” …… giggglee……. giggle….. “twoooooooooo ok”Capsize!) and did it!
Holy shit Half Moon Bay is cold.
Turns out I don’t have the arm strength to get myself and my giant life vest back on my boat so he taught me another method on the fly. It was a lot easier! I finally got back in, yelled “I’m alive!!” and paddled back to shore to trade spots with my two big-eyed comrades.
And, I found out, Chris recorded the whole thing!
Chris was next and he, unsurprisingly, did in fact have the strength to get himself up on his kayak. Blah blah who really needs upper body strength anyway?
The best part of the experience was definitely what happened next – partner rescue. So basically instead of rescuing yourself you enlist the help of your partner. I volunteered to go first and Chris was supposed to come rescue me. (romantic, I know). Well turns out prince charming can’t hack it! As he got his boat next to mine I guess my boat (and I’m already in the water holding onto my capsized boat at this point) started floating away from him. So, instead of paddling to it, he just reached out to grab it. Well, he lost his center of balance in the process and capsized himself!!
So there we were… both in the water.
I was laughing. Freezing but laughing.
I then waited until the other girl came over to rescue me while the instructor got Chris. By the time it was all over I was in that friggin ice water for way too long because I swear I couldn’t reattach my spray skirt thing to the lip of my kayak because I couldn’t feel my fingers well enough!
But let’s face it… I’d do it all over again… if only for the joy of telling Chris he couldn’t save me.
So that was sea kayaking! It was fun and I think we’re going to try and rent some and practice a big before taking the next class.
Biking
Route: Chris’ – Stanford (to pick up Christina) – Alpine – Old la Honda – then I think we descend the other side of it (?) – ????? – Pescadero and DELICIOUS food!!! – Stage Rd. – ?? – Tunitas climb of doom – Kings – Woodside – home!
Distance: 67 miles
Time: all day (left at about 10:30 and got back at, I believe, 6!)
What can I say? It was my first time riding with Chris and Christina together and I was a bit nervous I’d totally suck compared to them. But, it turns out, I did alright. I was the slowest going up Tunitas but other than that we were all together the entire time. (Well… Chris stayed with me on Tunitas because he’s sweet and values his life but you know what I mean!)
I love cycling and all that but what really makes long all day rides like that worth it is the food. Seriously. The Pescadero bakery place is so delicious I could shed a baby tear. I got an awesome turkey sandwich made with the freshest sourdough roll and a carrot cupcake-muffin thing that puts even Sprinkles to shame! Oh and we got a blueberry scone, too. God food tastes so good after biking.
So I made it back alive (though that descent down Kings scared me a fair bit) and was super proud of myself!
That’s, for better or worse, the longest ride I’ve probably done since Eric and I last rode to Pescadero! And I’ve got to pick it up if I’m going to survive the AIDS ride come the end of May!
El fin!
Napa! (and by Napa I really mean Yountville!)
March 3, 2009
This past Saturday Chris’ friend Ming invited Chris and a bunch of other Stanford Immunology geeks up for the Make Our Garden Grow Napa Youth Symphony fundraiser. Ming is the conductor for the youth symphony and his girlfriend is a year above Chris in Stanford’s Immunology PhD program. So now that all those connections have been explained, on to the good stuff!
Chris and I decided it’d be fun to make a mini-vacation of it, so I took Thursday and Friday off from work and we headed up early for lots of drinking, ungodly amounts of eating, biking, and a generally merry fun time! I had actually never been up to this so called “wine country” before, so I was super excited!
I’ll go over some of the highlights
Wine
My favorite wine stop was, without question, Silenus. Silenus is a custom crush facility, which basically means a bunch of smaller producers can actually crush their grapes and make their wine there. This is all super great for me, the wine drinker, because I got to try lots of different makers’ stuff all at once. And, with the assistance of Erica, the awesome wine hostess we had, we got to hear lots of first-hand accounts about the winemakers. Oh, and they had great wine, too! I ended up getting the MOST delicious wine by Scott Harvey called “Angel Ice”. Oh good gods it was good. So good in fact that after I finished my taste I kept smelling my glass. Embarrassing really. But the nose on that thing! And it was like liquid heaven on the palate! Oh, and if you decide to buy some I recommend serving it super DUPER cold. It’s just totally meant to be that way.
Dearest Scott Harvey, if you ever read this, feel free to send me more of your deliciousness anytime!! Your Jana Rieslings are delectable!
[side comment: yes, I purposely found a way to say both “nose” and “palate” – how will I become a true wino like Chris if I don’t practice my vocab?!"]
In other wine news, I’ve discovered that I’m a fan of Muscat, or at least the Palmaz Vineyard Muscat Canelli Florencia [reviewed by an actual wine blogger person here]. Palmaz ended up being our big tour experience (they have caves… though they aren’t the dark murky spelunking caves with dwarves working away in them like I imagined… sadly) and the muscat was my favorite tasting there. Chris really enjoyed their cabs… I just haven’t gotten to the point of red-enlightenment yet.
Food
Oh dear gods we ate so much food. So. much. food. The gluttony! The glory!
Highlights
Bouchon: Chris took me out for one fancy schmancy dinner and I got to pick the restaurant. I’ve heard so much about this Thomas Keller guy and since French Laundry seemed *just a little* out of our price range, I settled on Bouchon instead. You can see all the food pictures by checking out my web album but let me tell you right now: soooo good. I started with a goat cheese salad followed by steak frites (we were told that the fries are cooked with duck fat and were “must haves”) and finished with an almond pot de creme for dessert (which we split…because we were about to throwup from eating so much that day).
Chris started with a sweet creamy garlic soup (that I wish he would have shared more of!) and had the lamb t-bone (which was seriously yummy and lean). I also ate more than my fair share of the 
warm Bouchon bakery bread and sumptuous butter that was served at the start. Oh! And Chris spoiled me by bringing one of his best bottles of merlot! It was a Blackbird and was actually on the wine list for almost $200! (but don’t worry, while bringing a wine that’s on the list is a faux pas, Bouchon (tragically) post neither their menu nor wine list… so there was no way to know!)
It’s true that we probably would have liked the meal even more if we weren’t seriously over-full but whatever! It was fantastic anyway!
Oysters: The next night Chris and I felt like we needed to detox so we decided to venture back to the Oxbow market for a light clean oyster dinner! Now I haven’t really had oysters before (just literally one at Google back when one cafe used to do that in the evenings) so I was a little nervous. But, thankfully, it turns out I find them quite tasty. We got a sampler of a bunch of different kinds, which was fun. We also had the best clam chowder. It was chock-full of clams and the base was simultaneously creamy and broth-like. Just what I wanted!
Bouchon Bakery: As many of you know, I don’t have a sweet tooth… I have sweet teeth. And so I’m sure it comes as no surprise that I 
found it my duty to try out as many sweet treats at Bouchon bakery as possible. I’d say their best treats were their chocolate chip cookies and macaroons. The TKO (“Thomas Keller Oreo”) didn’t really do it for me. It’s like music – if the original is better than the remake, why are you remaking it?! The macaroons, though, must really be tried by everyone. Oh and their sandwiches are quite yummy, too. But their chai was really bland and generally garners a “meh” rating. Overall I still think Tartine is better (except in the chocolate chip cookie category, Tartine’s are too crispy and thin)
Other
Biking! Chris and I went on two bike rides. The first, on Friday, was supposed to be the full Ink Grade loop (~50 miles) but we were feeling sluggish (this was the morning after the I-feel-overly-full-and-super-ill night) and had to turn around early (~30 miles) to ensure we arrived at Palmaz on time for our tour. I’ve got to say, the roads for that route aren’t paved very well – and there are parts where the cars are driving a bit too fast for biker-comfort.
On Saturday, however, the gods smiled upon us! We biked from Yountville to Calistoga and back (~45 miles) on the Silverado trail and it was fantastic! We ended up eating lunch in Calistoga (I love eating lunch mid-ride) and really sped it up on our way back. 
Chris said there was a straight away section where I was maintaining 23 mph! Go aerobars! Unsurprisingly, Chris caught me on the hill. Dammit! Anyway, I definitely recommend biking up there – Silverado trail is a great road for it. The rollers get noticeably bigger as you near Calistoga but it’s very tame.
The Fundraiser-Concert: I got to get all fancy (which is always fun) and Chris looked dashing in his new Van Gogh-esque tie for this. The opera singing was ok but I wish the kids would have played more. The final song was quite lovely but the Opera singers totally overpowered the orchestra, which is so sad!
So overall we had a super great time! Yountville was adorable and I had my first Napa/Yountville wine tasting experience!