Daily updates

We got through our long 13 hour flight from San Francisco to Wellington. The flight was packed, but luckily we were able to sit next to each other and Annemarie had an aisle seat. I was very impressed with Air New Zealand’s creative and gorgeous safety video – it conveyed the beauty and culture of…

Challenging Wordle on Friday morning, but I managed to figure it out, I like starting my day with this little challenge. Spent the day getting ready for my trip – doing laundry, packing, taking out items that I didn’t need,  etc. Mom and I watched the latest Jeopardy Tournament of Champions final, it’s interesting that all…

It was my last morning on the mountain, had a long leisurely time sipping coffee and watching the sunrise again this morning. And it got me wondering what sunrises and sunsets will be like when I am in New Zealand, I don’t remember much about them when I lived there. I suppose in my early…

Watched the sunrise this morning, absolutely gorgeous! The sunrise took about an hour from the initial red dawn until the sun actually came up, it was an amazing site to watch the Bay Area wake up. I sat on the deck with a few of the other guests. Hummingbirds came out and treated us to…

Today I headed to Mount Tam for some hiking on the ridge trail and to overnight at the West Point Inn. I parked at Pantoll and hiked about 2.5 miles down the Matt Davis and Coastal trails, it was so clear I could see the Faralone Islands. I only saw one other person on the…

I got up early this morning to hike on part of the Ridge Trail nearby, and what a delight! Had the trail mostly to myself. Later Mom and I went for a walk and the neighborhood, her first longer walk since she had her knee surgery. We checked out some of the houses that have…

Today I got to spend time with all three of my kids together, some thing I have not been able to do in over 2 1/2 years. We just hung out at Emmy’s house, not doing anything in particular, but it was so wonderful for me to have them all together. Emmy’s dog, Winston, was very…

Today was another Ridge Trail hike with my trail goddesses. We did the next leg of the Bay Area Ridge Trail from Bolinas Ridge down to Samuel P Taylor State Park. It was a mostly downhill hike which made the 13 miles feel much easier than last weeks hike. The drive to the start of…

Went on a couple of fantastic hikes at Jack London State Park with Julie today. In just a few miles we wandered through the ruins of the winery, into eucalyptus groves, past vineyards flashing their fall colors, then into a beautiful redwood forest. Later we checked out Jack London’s gravesite in a peaceful knoll (his…

While we were in Arcata Annemarie had a great time catching up with friends and visiting old haunts, I loved getting to explore a new place. It was gorgeous and foggy on my morning walk which made for beautiful views. Annemarie had a good time with Poncho the cat who came to say goodbye to…