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.
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”. 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
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 Thomas Keller and since French Laundry seemed *just a little* out of our price range, I settled on Bouchon instead. It was 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 die 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 stuffed 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!
Half Dome Glory!
October 8, 2008
During the weekend of September 27th, a brave and fearless group did the unthinkable! the unimaginable! They hiked Half Dome!!
“Wait…this happened during the weekend of the 27th? It’s friggin October 8th, Heather. Why have you become such a lame and late blogger?”
Alright. I accept the criticism. But at least let me attempt to mount a defense.
First, I moved. Finally! No more creepy-land for me! So I got back from Half Dome glory Sunday night and spent Monday packing (because of course I had packed exactly nada before leaving… Naturally) and on Tuesday the movers came! And then, as if that weren’t enough, on Wednesday I had to go to an ethics and compliance conference all day. See? So busy!
So I thought I’d write this over the weekend but, alas, every time I open my blogging program on my personal computer it freezes. I tried deleting it and re-installing but to no avail. And then to make matters worse, my camera got stolen!! At, ironically enough, Lovefest! So all my Half Dome glory pictures were lost! So I’m writing today because I’ve finally come to the conclusion that no, someone is not going to respond to my craigslist lost and found post. My baby camera is gone. And I just bought that thing in June!!!
The good news is my trusty fellow adventurers took plenty of pictures. And, of course, my trusty flip is still with me.
So now on to the story…
The players. First, let’s introduce them via video (because video makes everything more interesting):
So in words you’ve got:
Eric (who you’ve met before)
Sarah (a friend of mine from way back in the day. [“the day” being junior high])
Sam (Eric’s friend. They met while backpacking in Alaska together with NOLS)
Sean (A fellow Googler who I met for the first time while getting in his car to drive up to Yosemite. Basically I sent an email out to the SF2G list saying that our campsite could hold two more and, if anyone wanted to come along for guts and glory, they were more than welcome. Sean was game and so was…)
Jacob (the second Googler to respond. I met him for the first time the day before we left while biking to work)
Me (but of course)
So how’d it go?
Well first off, it took us about forever to get there. Why? Because we got lost, oh, conservatively, about a zillion times. Jacob is a software engineer. Doesn’t that mean he should be good at directions?! Well we found out that’s just not true. Well it’s not true that he’s no good at navigating… I still contend that as a software engineer he should be. 
It’s entirely possible we drove at least 50 completely unnecessary miles. Now I didn’t really care but we all learned that Sarah gets pretty car sick pretty easily. And the idea of her puking all over Sean’s lovely car was sort of a figure-out-how-to-get-there-quickly motivating factor.
But I’m happy to report no throwing up occurred.
So after getting lost, listening to the presidential debate while eating dinner while driving, and lots of over-shares, we made our way to Tuolumne meadows. Eric and Sam, who drove up from LA (and were expecting us to arrive before them by a few hours), were already there.
At that point we went straight to bed (I think it was already passed 11pm…and the idea is to start Half Dome ridiculously early).
Well here’s some advice for future badass hikers. Tuolumne meadows is really not a good choice for campsite location. I didn’t really understand this ahead of time and couldn’t have prevented our going there anyway because:
1. I’ve only been to Yosemite twice and neither time did I actually camp there – so I don’t have a mental map of where everything is.
2. I’m told that Tuolumne was the last open camp area by the time we made reservations.
But anyway, the point is this: Tuolumne is about an hour drive away from “the valley” – which is where you start the half dome hike. So if you want to, say, start the hike at 6, you’ve got to leave the campsite a little before 5 – which means you’re eating nasty oatmeal at like 4:30.
And that’s going to be a big “no”
So instead we opted for the late start variety. And by that I mean we probably started hiking about 9:30.
Pretty much right away we knew we were going to have a problem. Sarah’s backpack weighed a significant portion of her total bodyweight and about five minutes in she said something like “Whoa. This backpack is killing me!!”
At that point I looked at Eric and gave him the “this means problems” look.
But no matter, we forged on.
Basically there were a LOT of stairs, a LOT of dirt particles in my face, a LOT of sour gummy octopi (my hiking snack of choice), and a LOT of me wanting to steal everyone else’s water.
Which brings me to another point. I, when hiking, prefer to drink an insane amount of water. I brought two bottles, each about 32 oz (so that’s 8 8oz glasses for those of you keeping track) and I could have easily finished them off by lunch (which was at about 11:45). Instead, I finished them near the top and decided to take water from dear old Eric. He of course is used to this. When we bike together I’m fairly confident he brings that second bottle specifically because he wants to make sure he gets at least one bottle for himself.
[*side story* When I was young I was, let’s just say, quite plump. When I’d say something to my mom about this her response was always, “Oh, Heather. If there were a nuclear explosion and we were in some sort of food-barren post-apocalyptic setting, you’d outlive everyone! You’re just built hearty because you’re built to last!”
Beyond thinking this didn’t really make me feel any better, mainly because I couldn’t convince myself that the chances of that happening were high enough to make my then-current suffering worth it, I now know that in reality she was wrong! Even if I could live on very little food for a long period of time, I sure as hell would die of dehydration long before everyone else! So I totally lose!]
So back to half dome… the hiking continued. And then continued some more. Oh and then some more after that.
So that was exciting (in a masochistic way) – plus I really enjoyed seeing the happy proud squirrels running around.
The bad news was that we were hearing the line to go up the cables was two hours!! And, considering we started really late, that would mean not getting back until well after sunset. This concerned me because doing the Vernal fall stairs in the dark (not everyone had lights with them) is just plain dangerous.
So we had a solution. We decided to create a new top of half dome and claim our victory there. See our explanation…
So after that we hauled it down to the valley, barely breaking at all.
One thing I distinctly remember was fantasying about the water fountain at the base of Vernal Falls. We were out of water early on the descent and all I could think about was how much water I was going to drink. Like frakin gallons of water. I wanted to swim in a sea of drinking fountain water, sprout gills, and just gulp and whatever-gills-do-to-water all the water in existence.
And upon arrival at said water fountain I pretty much did exactly that. I think I drank somewhere along the lines of eight to ten glasses of water in about two minutes. Felt a bit sick afterwards, but oh it was worth it.
At the end we ended up eating at the buffet in Curry Village because the pizza line was out of control. No matter – it was delicious.
After that we got s’more stuff (I made s’more eating a requirement), drank a lot of alcohol, and had fun hanging out around the campfire.
The next day we got up, got some food (sadly by the time we got there breakfast was over!), and made the long and significantly less chit-chatty drive back.
So overall it was an intense and awesome experience. It was great to meet some fellow Googlers and it was great to finally get out for some outdoorsy goodness.
I can’t wait for our next trip!
…though I am more than willing to wait for the next I-can’t-properly-bend-my-legs-for-four-days experience.
Oh and thanks to Sean and Sarah for their photos!
Race Report: Tour d’Organics (aka: Tour d’Rolling Hill Hell )
August 21, 2008
This past Sunday I attempted my first official century ride (official because it’s the first one I’ve ever paid to do… and when you pay for something it makes it official. Attempted because, well, you’ll see shortly).
The ride: the Tour d’Organics in Sebastopol.
Distance: ~97 miles
Elevation: ~7300 feet
So how’d it go? Well, you know how sometimes when things are like seriously traumatic, people can’t really talk about them? But if you give them a box of crayons they go to town? That’s pretty much how I’ve been for the last three days. The result (since I don’t have a box of crayons) is the picture to the right.
But now that the whole rocking-back-and-forth-in-the-fetal-position thing has gotten a little boring, I’m ready to share some words, pictures, and videos.
So, my friend from UCLA was up in the Bay Area this weekend for a wedding – which means, after quite a bit of bribing and begging, he agreed to come along. I knew some Googlers were going but I:
a) didn’t want to ride 100 miles alone
b) even if someone agreed to ride with me, I totally freak out at the thought of making some poor soul wait for me as I slowly chug my lifeless body up the mountains.
c) In case of crying, I can’t have Googlers there… bad for the image. You understand.
So Eric is was!
At 6:20AM we arrived at the start area, signed in, and got a big map. The map getting business was the first surprise. We both thought there’d be giant signs all over the place telling us where to go… but the big map with lots and lots of directions suggested we were mistaken.
After the second surprise (that there was no “Start” line), we sort of just rolled out of the parking lot and got started. At about mile 2 I had my first (and only) near-accident. The roads were super wet and I decided to brake right on the “T” in “Stop”. My back tire did the whole sliding thing as my mouth hung open in horror. But, luckily, I didn’t crash. Peed myself, but didn’t crash.
Fast forward a bit and we had our first serious issue (as explained in the video):
So it turns out we biked the first 8-10ish miles twice. And since we’re talking about 8ish miles with hills, I was a little upset.
But the good news is I got to see the most adorable baby donkey twice! And the second time around I decided I just couldn’t go on living if I rode by without petting him.
Finally we made our way to the first rest stop and bumped into Josh and Mark from Google. I didn’t recognize them but somehow they knew who I was. This was fortunate because they let me know they rode the first loop twice, too. And what can I say, misery loves company
The rest stop people were super friendly and had loads of fruit, bread, peanut butter, and these little bottled juices. Those were delicious. And not only did they have good food, but they let us know all about how many gophers they’ve caught so far this year. And I’m telling you right now… this isn’t a catch and release situation.
So with that, we were back on the road.
Fast forward: I (and not Eric) got lost. Long story short we were finally on a nice descent when this blond chick sort of cut me off at the bottom and then zoomed off. And I, seeing some gradual hills coming up, decided I’d hop on her wheel and push it a bit. Now, thanks to gravity, I tend to go a bit faster on the downhills than Eric. And so, it was no great surprise that I didn’t see him for a while. This chick was hauling! But after a while of looking back and not seeing Eric I thought something seemed a bit off. So I went up a hill with her and decided to wait at the top. Minutes pass and there’s no Eric. I decide he’s probably been hit by a car (this has happened before), so I zoom on back. Turns out this chick led us the wrong way. She missed a turn. So poor Eric had been sitting waiting for me for something like 30 minutes… wondering if it was I who was squished by a car. hehe…oops!
Let’s just say I could see the satan flames in his eyes way before I pulled up next to him with an angelic smile upon my face. He was pissed!
After that he basically wanted to turn around and make the ride into something like 40 miles. I begged and begged and we finally agreed to go to this other shortcut – which, if we didn’t get lost and do the same loop twice, would make the ride about 70-75ish miles. But, with the first loop twice and my 30 minute extra jaunt, I would end up doing about 90 miles. And that was fine by me.
The rest of the ride consisted of trying to see ridiculously obscure green markers on the road, trying to make it to rest stops before they closed, and laughing at ourselves for pretty much failing.
The good news is that after we cut across the shortcut we actually were back among lots of bikers – which made the ride feel more like an official big thing.
Here we are at one of the final rest stops
I was pretty dead at that point. I think the lovely graph to the right explains why.
I distinctly remember going up one nameless, random, and what I like to call “rolling uphill of hell” when Eric pointed out a guy and gal going up on single speeds! And they were doing the century!!
At that point I went into fantasy mode. I thought… maybe this isn’t really a ride like I think. Maybe I’ve already died and this ride is supposed to absolve me of my sins. And maybe those two on the single speeds were just worse people than I was… and so it’s only fair that they suffer a lot more.
But then I gasped! Maybe this isn’t about absolution. What if I, like Sisyphus, was being punished…forever! But instead of having to haul a giant boulder up a mountain, I had to haul myself up. And whereas his boulder would fall back down at the last minute, they devised a new torture for me: I would make it over every hill only to be confronted with another one. And so it would go. Forever.
Luckily a few miles later it started to appear that the gods were done with their games, as a flat/slight descent seemed to be wrapping up the ride. And so, like Ebenezer Scrooge awaking on Christmas morning to find himself with another chance at a good life, I too shed all negativity and had a fun time pushing it for the last few miles.
And so we finished… sort of. In the car on the way back to SF, we decided to capture the lessons we learned from this ride.
Overall it was a challenging ride that would have gone a lot better if we didn’t do the first loop twice… and if I wouldn’t have gone the wrong way for 30 minutes.
Oh well! There’s always next time!
And for all the pictures go here.
Race Report: Angel Island 12k Trail Run
August 9, 2008
First, to get you in the proper mood, cue the tunes.
Alright, got that playing in the background? Good…very good
So Saturday. It was cold. It was early. It was Epic.
On this fateful day Savannah (sissy), Beth, and I made our way to Tiburon, where we got on a ferry with lots of other trail running fanatics.
Our destination: Angel Island.
Our mission: the Envirosports 12k Angel Island trail run of glory.
Beth’s mission: the Envirosports 25k Angel Island trail run of glory (+1)
(side note: I feel comfortable saying we were surrounded by “fanatics” because it was fairly obvious from the number of inside jokes and traditions thrown out by the race director that pretty much everybody there had done this race before. For instance, pause the music and check out one tradition in action: the “singing” of “America the beautiful” by a bunch of runners.)
Alright, turn the music back on. Good. I hope you’re feeling that shiat.
So, back to the story, funny thing… I had called and/or emailed and/or IM’ed sissy about a zillion times reminding her to bring water and some calories to this race because there would be no aid stations. And, let me tell you, running up and down hills for a little over seven miles without water sounds like a big dose of being in hell to me. So what happens race day morning? Savannah’s prepared. And me? Not only did I not eat breakfast, I also failed to bring water. But as luck would have it, Beth is one of those über prepared types (not surprising… she’s also an extreme-triathelete goddess who has successfully completed an Ironman! And we all know what type of personality is required to do that!) So Beth not only friggin baked and brought some delicious carrot cake (without frosting…sadly), she had extra water bottles in her trunk. So I happily ate said carrot cake and snatched said water. And again, all was good in the world.
Now, as many of you faithful blog readers know, this race was the encore to Savannah and my first trail run – which was a 10k. Since that one and this one I’ve been doing a lot of biking. Not so much running, but logging a lot of miles on the bike. As in, looking at my calendar, it’s got two runs marked. Two runs (each four miles) and ten rides (where the shortest [and most often ridden] rides are 43 miles). And, since the last race, Savannah had run somewhere between five to seven times. But with only two(ish) runs in the last week. So this race was going to be interesting!
And, after Beth zoomed off for her 25k race, Savannah and I got lined up and wanted to let you know how things were going so far…
So after that, we were off!
Now this run had what felt like a very different elevation profile from the previous run. Whereas Sequoia had some ridiculous “holy gods can I even run up/down this without going into cardiac arrest and/or tumbling to my doom (respectively)?!”, Angel Island was all about the gradual moderate uphill. Which I love love love. Your heart rate steadies and you get in the zone as you just cruise up. That and the views were gorgeous.
But of course, everyone is a bit different in their running preferences. For instance, we found out that Savannah in fact is a much bigger fan of the steep quick hills. And how did we find this out? Well, I kept accidentally speeding up and Savannah, bless her, would kindly remind me to “slow the hell down or go away”. So, after we calibrated ourselves to each other, things went a bit better for the sissy-team-spirit bit.
Here’s us after that first main climb (this, to note, was before sissy-calibration)
Savannah also had her first taste of mental games and fantasies one can play when racing. There were a few women who were doing the run hard then walk thing and Savannah was having none of it. We were running up this hill and I was totally in the zone when Savannah whispers “they are so annoying! I hate them!” So, to solve this issue, Savannah decides it’s high time we pick up the pace (much to my dismay, on this steeper bit) and get away from them. So me and my much shorter self picked up the pace and frantically tried and keep up with gazelle-sprinter Savannah. ‘Twas a success.
With Savannah leading the way, the pace was brought up again once I let her know all the uphill was over and it was downhill to the finish. A few others ended up behind us and I think this motivated Savannah to really kick it up. And so, we were zooming! Eventually we got stuck behind a lot of people and Savannah wasn’t exactly sure how to get around them so I took the lead and tried to pick up the pace again. We were making awesome time (and saw a few others sacrificed to the down-hill-tumble gods) all the way to the finish. And Savannah, with her iron will, really gave it 100%. At one point she gasped, “I’m going to cry. I just want to cry it’s so hard”. But I
a) knew how close we were to the finish at that point
b) thought, “well, she can still speak! So we’re ok!”
c) felt the pressure of the goal Savannah had set for us. When we first signed up for this race Savannah said “let’s do this 12k in the same time we did our previous 10k”. So that meant shaving off some serious time. I really wanted her to see it was possible and so, I really wanted to run her to her gazelle limits.
Here we are coming in to the finish (you can see she was a little feisty)
For our previous run we finished that 10k in about 1:31:06. And what was our time on this race?
drum roll please
1:29:19!!!! So that’s a huge improvement. To be fair, this course was much more runner friendly, but still! I was so so happy that we made it!
And it wasn’t long at all after our finish that I spotted Beth, running goddess, coming in for her own 25k kick ass finish! Here she is
Turns out she won for her age division! (now she of course didn’t tell me this, I had to do my own investigative reporting). I’m just bummed I didn’t get her autograph! 
So that was the race! I really loved it and highly recommend this course to those who are into the gradual continuous climbing style. But, I would not really recommend this as a first-time 25k course. The 25k course people run the 12k loop twice, which means they have to run right down to the finish line and then run right back up that hill – and I think that’s very mentally challenging. Especially for a first timer.
The best ending to this day was sitting on the ferry going back to Tiburon and watching as Beth took off her shoe and revealed a totally bloody sock (and, seconds later, foot). We aren’t quite sure where the blood is coming from (I voted nail-skin area), but I sure know all the other runners near us sure appreciated that special share!
After that I went home and went back to bed. The end!
To see all the pictures, go here.
7000 feet of quad-and-booty-burning glory
August 2, 2008
On Saturday the cycling sirens sang yet again. And this time the call had a “climb epic heights” ring to it. And, since we all know how siren calls go, I had to oblige.
The ride was a from-somewhere-between-Burlingame and Woodside, up Old La Honda, through Pescadero, out to Half Moon Bay, and up and over back down to Canada road-loop. For written directions of what we did go here. And, if you’re more visually oriented, you can see a very rough gmap of it here instead. Suffice to say, the ride was truly one of great glory. Having never climbed anything like that before, I was super proud of myself. Looking back and seeing countless hills in the far distance, and then knowing that you’ve climbed them, makes for a pretty awesome moment. Plus, it’s just such a gorgeous ride. Zillions of redwood trees, isolated little towns, wildflowers, the ocean — it’s just fantastic.
Step one: find purportedly delicious coffee place (Philz - in the Mission)
Step two: buy and taste test said purported deliciousness
(note to other caffeine/coffee junkies: ’tis quite delicious. They add their sugar and homemade cream for you…and it’s heavenly. And, since it’s not like you added the sugar and cream yourself, it totally doesn’t count as bad for you!)
Step Three: Stock up on emergency fuel (this ride I went with the jelly beans… errr… I mean extreme sports beans!)
Step Four: Size up the competition. I’m obviously victorious on three counts: shoe style, sock choice, and for actually having a tan… at all
Step Five: Ride!
Step Six: Climb epic hills
Step Seven: Relish in hill-climbing glory (perhaps prematurely, but go on! relish!)
(that’s Eric — he rides for UCLA Triathlon)
Step Eight: Whenever possible, fulfill and/or rekindle childhood memories and fantasies. (I used to go to Camp Loma Mar when I was a kid. Back then, Loma Mar seemed like a million miles away, hidden away in magical redwood forests. Now, I can bike there!)
Step Nine: Climb (and descend!! oh yes descend!!) about a frak-load more
Step Ten: Find deliciousness and never ever let go of it
Step Eleven: Get slackers up
Step Twelve: Appreciate nature (and by “appreciate” I mean kiss flowers)
Step Thirteen: Bike a LOT more… over a LOT more hills. And then, enjoy the view
Step Fourteen: Take more pictures with childhood landmarks. This will help you show off to friends and relatives later on. (Every Christmas, my dad would take us to Santa’s Tree Farm in Half Moon Bay to cut down our own tree. After, we’d usually stop by the Flying Fish for lunch.)
Step Fifteen: Finish!! And, though not recommended, optionally: try and look like a badass while dripping in sweat and clothed in bright spandex.
Step Sixteen: Get together with great homies and eat lots and lots of hamachi sashimi!