Babymoon II - north shore

We spent the second part of our trip in the north of the island. The north is famous for its beaches, and there are quite a few gems indeed. The area around Princeville is far more developped than the quaint township of Poi'pu. Mega-resorts, a few large private estates and a multitude of beachfront properties make for a less remote feeling than in the south. Access to the beaches is often tricky given the steep terrain, but once you get there the views are grand. Most of them are secluded (did I mention the difficult access?) and the snorkeling is outstanding. There are also plenty of hikes, but they require diligent application of DEET and we figured that can't be good for pregnant women. A few pictures.

Hotel critic: for this part we stayed at the Westin. The thing to note about this hotel is that rooms come with a washer/dryer and a full kitchen, which is probably really nice with kids. The hotel is on a cliff so access to the beach is cumbersome to say the least (you need to walk down a super steep, muddy, mosquito infested jungle path). There is a shuttle to the St. Regis (formerly Princeville Hotel) which has better access to the ocean and a stunning view of Hanalei Bay, so that's nice if you don't mind hanging out with the rich and famous. I have a suspicion that the Westin is full of consultants spending their Starwoods points, which may impact their "tight" management (why else is parking - $9/day - not included in a $250/night room rate?) For a more relaxed feel stay at the Hyatt.

Babymoon I - south shore

We spent the first half of our babymoon on the south shore of Kaua'i. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt in Poi'pu (I mention it because this is a fantastic hotel, it outshines any beach hotel I've ever stayed at). The developed part of Poi'pu is tiny (if you are in shape you can jog from one end to the other in 25 min) and the sights include a few beaches, an area riddled with blowholes, and lithified cliffs. The reason you need a rental car is to visit Waimea canyon further to the west, a grandiose valley with a ton of hiking opportunities. It rained everyday, albeit not continuously. Somehow rain does not really matter in Kaua'i, it feels like a welcome refreshment rather than an inconvenience. The island is beautiful, we had some great snorkeling despite the somewhat agitated seas (come in the summer months for calm water). The underwater highlight was a head-on crash into a giant turtle on Poi'pu beach, and spotting one of these alien looking flaunders in the sand.
Best of: Tidepools (favorite restaurant); Lawa'i Beach (favorite snorkeling spot when the surf is up); Pihea trail (favorite hike).
More pictures, and one clip.

Mendocino anniversary

We spend our anniversary in Mendocino, at the Stanford Inn. It was a pretty mellow weekend, and although the innkeepers failed to convert us to veganism, we were intrigued by the absolutist culture of non-meateaters.
We barely managed to beat the fog to the airport, but once there the pace slowed down to Mendocino rhythm. Culinary highlight: la Petite Rive is a french restaurant in Little River, with half a dozen tables overlooking the ocean. Very anniversary-y.
Pictures.

Fun with floatplanes

For my birthday Maureen organized the perfect weekend. We drove up to Copperopolis, an oddly developed town on the way to Yosemite attracting golfing and boating enthusiasts. I don't care much about golfing or boating, but I was there to learn learn how to land a plane in the water.
It's hard to say what's so extraordinarily awesome about floatplanes. Maybe it's the freedom to land in the location of your choice, or the fact that it seems so absolutely impossible until you've tried it, or perhaps just the bragging rights that come with gracefully gliding into a lake at 60mph (100kmh) next to a jetskier or a speedboater who until then thought they were the hottest thing in the water. The closest comparison would be between skiing a groomer vs. off-piste, but I am not sure that does it justice.
I was lucky enough to "get it" on the first try, so we got to do a lot of really fun stuff on this 2 hr flight, including river flying (picture flying a plane along a windy river, barely off the water, with the cliffs around you towering 500ft higher than your altitude), squeezing underneath power lines and even sailing under the span of a bridge. The only regret is that we couldn't take any passengers, so Maureen stayed at the dock. That's the tricky thing about Seaplanes: they are rather dangerous and insurance constraints are very restrictive.
I'd recommend hanging out in Calaveras county more, it's a great place to hike and bike, and if you have the opportunity to hitch a ride in a floatplane while you are there, do it!
I have uploaded a short video of us taking off and landing in the pond that serves a the seabase, and a bunch more pictures here.

Mount Shasta III

On memorial day weekend we headed back north for the now biennal Mount Shasta Extreme expedition. I have done this in 2005 and 2007, but this year really was the charm. Everyone made it to the top, including first-timer Misha, and the skiing conditions were absolutely fantastic. After spending the night in Weed, and picking up our permits at the ranger station on Saturday we left for the Brewer Creek Trailhead. We made it within 6 miles of the trailhead, where a single but unpassable patch of snow cut off the road. We reached our bivy site (10,400 ft; 3,200m) in the early afternoon, and as you can tell from this picture, hauling up our gear had taken its toll on some members of our party. A short thunderstorm with hail coming down hard got us worried for a few minutes (we had only brought a single 2-person tent), but this would be the last mountain weather we would see on the trip. The next morning, no wind, warm temperatures and our positive attitudes made for a very pleasant ascent, and a perfect spring skiing on the way down the Hotlum-Wintun route. Our snowboarding friend wasn't too much of a hassle, except for being a snowboarder of course ("Hold on just a sec, I need to loosen this, tighten that, readjust blah and change the geometry of blue"). You've got to think that snowboarding gear is in its developmental infancy, nothing really seems to "just work". Hat's off to Misha in any case for making it up there on his first try!
A bunch more pics from the climb, mostly courtesy of Goeric. I took a few videos and I'll post them sometime, maybe (actually I am just counting on Goeric to whip together an edited version - update: here it is - a very large video). Us at the top of the world:

Easter in San Francisco

Easter is always a busy weekend in San Francisco and we stayed home to enjoy the beginning of Spring. On Saturday I played Lumberjack and took down one of the Eucalyptus trees in our backyard. Turns out cutting down trees is dangerous, don't do it yourself.
Sunday started out pretty conventional, with our first time visit to the SF Cathedral. This is an amazing buiding and is definitely worth checking out. If you can figure out how they keep the levitating cross from swinging North/South, please leave a comment on this post. After a really long mass that reminded me of my childhood in Vienna (they are still doing the kneeling business, and the "our father" was in Latin) we went for brunch at citizen Cake in Hayes Valley with Mike & Wei. When we got home things were just getting started in Dolores park. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence had taken over the grounds, and were dialing up the music, colors and occasional nudity. The party culminated with the annual hunky Jesus contest won by a "brokeback Jesus" duo.
We then walked to Potrero Hill where the annual BYOBW race was going full swing. Misha, Andrew an Bret were competing in the scuderia Target category, which made for a rather poor performance (Target's big wheels seem to get flimsier year after year, buyer beware!).
A few pictures.