Things Things Things in June

The month has slipped by and I'd kick myself if I didn't post *something* to record the passage of time.

First half of the month

The youngest Stecker got married. Who knows, she may be the only one of us to do so.

That's Dr. Bride, to you!
It was nice to have the family rallied up in Washington. The turnout wasn't as good as our cousin's wedding, alas, but that's what you get when marrying on short notice and later in life. We were in Wenatchee, WA (currently on fire) and endured some serious heat wave-ness. I also endured some wine tasting, for the sake of the bride. We also endured each other. In our advanced years we managed to get through a multi-day event without fighting. How adult of us. Mother spent a lot of effort wrangling a photo booth for the event, making it clear to me where I get my craftiness from. Other than the blistering heat, the venue was lovely. We got to stay the night before and after there on site in a ridiculous room. (For some reason, while I was not in attendance, it was decided that Adam and I would get the Bridal Suite)

Second half of the month

Another 4th Terminus session finally happened again. And it was breathtaking. Like... I couldn't breath. Because I was laughing so hard. So so so good. But how can I not delight in a session dedicated entirely to my character?

Adam and I went back up for Mt Tam Pancakes, which alas remains a car-based hike. For the first time we tackled the Beach to Inn and Back Again loop, hitting up a new portion of the trail this time. Highly recommend it- too bad it's nameless. We literal came out of the trees, left the (main) trail, and stomped straight up to the peek. An intense ascent- would not have been possible if I hadn't gifted Adam some hiking sticks that morning. Everything was made better by the rolling high fog of the morning. Pancakes were tasty as ever. Adam always regrets not bringing real syrup but personally I was raised on the artificial stuff and it brings back fond memories. After a 5 mile hike, who cares about the quality of sugar you're putting atop your pancakes? Another 5 miles later and we were back at the beach.




And now June is (almost) over. I am certain July will be even better, but more on that later...

Public Transportation Hike : Pacifica

This post is not about coding or crafting. But an important part of coding is NOT coding. And one of the best best ways to not code is to hike.

Enjoyed another wonderful Public Transportation hike this weekend. We caught a BART down to the Daily City station and then caught the SamTrans 110 bus down to Pacifica. The connections went well there and back, but be aware the 110 runs once every 1.5 hours. But don't let that spook you. This hike was refreshing, interesting, and totally worth the time.

We started off by heading up the Sweeny Ridge Trail. Finding it from the bus stop was easy enough. The first 1.2 miles was some steady incline, but since we were in Pacifica we were blanketed in fog the entire time and never once got too warm. It's questionable if we ever were really warm at any point during the trip. There was definitely apprehension as we watched the fog out the bus windows during the approach. We've had some disastrous hikes in the past... thankfully Adam convinced me to wear not just a thermal top for the hike but also my thermal leggings under my skirt. It would have not hurt to have brought another layer... and a hat... and my own gloves (I wound up stealing Adam's)

Have you seen the movie Stalker? It's a terrible film, don't bother if you haven't, but there is some striking imagery in it of foggy landscapes. That's what this hike looked like. We were quickly swallowed up by fog and the world stopped existing beyond the small spot we occupied. The trail was a constant surprise because it twisted into trees or behind shrubs and then out of existence. Sounds were muted, everything was covered in dew, and Adam's hair and beard quickly got soaked. (My braid was too dense we think to hold the dew). At one point we were wearing sunglasses to keep the fog from our eyes and had to repeatedly take them off to wipe clean.

We eventually stumbled across a Nike missile site that had been abandoned.

The site was at the peak of the hill we think- there was wind there at least. But still fog. After that we started to decent and eventually could see the coast. A little. Here the trail gets a little iffy. In theory there's a much more leg-friendly trail down to the church by the freeway... but we got turned around and took the mountain biker path. Insanely steep trails, loose rock, poor footing. Luckily it didn't last too long.

Popping out onto Highway 1 again, next to the church, we were DELIGHTED to see Lovey's Tea Shoppe right there, across the road! That's not a typo-- while it is related to (and shares the exact same menu with) SF's Lovejoy's, its name is Lovey's. Adam and I were able to slip into the communal table no problem and had us a pair High Teas.

Given that the bus comes once every 1.5 hours we had "just" missed one by 15 minutes, and the Colma BART bound 112 wasn't any more convenient. That's fine, there was still the final portion of the hike-- Mori Point. It winds right along the coast cliff and was absolutely bursting with wildflowers. An excellent way to wind down a hike and aid in a little digestion.

After strolling along between the beach and a golf course, we reached the bus stop with a comfortable 10 minutes to spare. Our BART connection was another 8 minutes. And then we were home.

All in all, an excellent hike and an excellent lunch. GMap-Pedometer puts it at an easy 7.1 miles. Check out the link for the exact route taken. Google Maps doesn't quite let us capture it (it refuses to acknowledge the path down to the highway) so here's the first portion & the second portion.

Looking forward to trying it again (perhaps following Sweeny Ridge trail a bit further)

Bay Area Public Transportation Hike

I've never owned a car. Adam got rid of his car shortly after we moved to our current home. Luckily SF is an excellent city to be carless these days.

Just about the one and only major draw back to lacking a car is hiking. The Bay Area is wonderful for so may reasons, and one of the top o' the list reasons is the fabulous nature surrounding the cities here. Sure, there's Zipcar- and we've definitely used it for hiking- but driving 2 hours round trip for a 4 hour hike just seems... not great. Especially given that I almost always fall asleep right after a hike and leave poor Adam alone and bored behind the wheel. That's why it's always such a treat to find quality hikes entirely reachable via public transportation.

This week's find was a lovely hike up in the Oakland hills. Took the BART to Rockridge and then the 49B bus to Derby St & Claremont Blvd. There's an excellent collection of trails there.

The area is Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve is where we started and Strawberry Creek Canyon is where we ended. In particular we hiked the Stonewall Panoramic Trail & several fire trails.

As we were approaching the peak, we kept hearing these train noises. "Can we actually hear Amtrak from here?" we wondered. No, you can't. What you CAN hear is the super awesome Redwood Valley Railway which just so happened to be open for us on this weekday. For $3 a piece we hopped the train for a delightful ~12 min ride in the FREEZING COLD. We also forgot to stop Strava so when you check out the Strava results the flat ~2m portion in the middle is us hiking off the path, going around the train, and coming back.

Taking out the 2 miles and 30 minutes for the train trip, the hike was ~7.6 miles ~2hr 20min. Felt like a lot longer... because it was FREEZING COLD for most the hike. Be sure to check the weather and BELIEVE the reports before you head out on a hike, folks! End of the hike dropped us at the Berkeley BART.