Wet and Wild Weekend

On Saturday I took a kayaking skills and safety class as part of my preparation for my trip to Antarctica in December. I've been sea kayaking about half a dozen times before, and really enjoyed it, but I've never actually taken a class. And I figured that, although it's unlikely to happen, I don't want to have to learn how to do a wet exit for the first time in the frigid waters of the Antarctic Ocean!

The class was held at Stevens Creek Reservoir, about 15 minutes north of where I live, so that was really convenient. When I signed up a few weeks ago, I was worried about what the weather would be like, but the gods smiled upon us and it was gorgeous and sunny all day. And there were only three of us in the class because it is so late in the season, so we got lots of individual attention.

A Walk on the Wilder Side

A couple of years ago, I joined the Bay Area Outdoor Adventure Club and did some great trips with them—kayaking, rock climbing, trapeze flying... However, last year when it was time to renew, I just never got around to it, nor did I do any one-off trips with them either (you don't have to be a member to participate). And then I ended up getting out of shape again (partly because of my lack of OAC-ing), which made me even less inclined to sign up for any new activities. A bit of a vicious circle to say the least...

But I was looking at their calendar earlier this week and noticed that the club had added a new category of trips: Get Fit! These are hikes that are designed for those of us who aren't as advanced or as athletic as some of the other members of the club (although anyone is welcome to go along), and today was their inaugural trip—a hike at Wilder Ranch State Park, along the coast, a little north of Santa Cruz.

Well, this seemed like the ideal solution to my not-in-very-good-shape dilemma, so I signed myself up. The planned route was about six miles out and back, on basically flat terrain the whole way. The great thing about an out-and-back route is that if you happen to get tired along the way, you can feel free to stop and wait for the rest of the group to pick you up on the way back, unlike a loop where you pretty much have to finish it or risk having Jon Krakauer write a book about you... :)

Squirrel Watch: The Homecoming

Last Thursday I brought my first set of squirrels back home from the Wildlife Center and released them. Yay!

I actually got a bonus squirrel out of the deal. I had been down at the center a couple of days earlier. When I checked out the enclosure, I was quite surprised to see a black squirrel running around with my guys. What probably happened was that s/he escaped from one of the other enclosures and whoever caught him/her didn't know which one s/he came out of. Oh well, no such thing as too many squirrels in my mind! :)

My Emmys Series Finale

I don't know if it was the champagne or just the euphoria from my early successes, but my inhibitations seemed to have completely disappeared by this point. (I do know something must have been making me high, because my feet weren't hurting me at all yet, and I normally can't stand or walk for that long without feeling the burn...)

My first faux pas came when I was standing chatting with two of my Sherwood Oaks group. We saw Masi Oka nearby and Stoddart went up and chatted with him briefly. He then asked if I would take a picture of them together, which of course I was happy to do. Stoddart thanked him and Masi started to walk away. In fact, it was pretty obvious he was in a hurry to get somewhere. So what did I do? I jumped in front of him and asked if I could have a picture as well! RUDE! (I did say something in Japanese to him, thinking that might elicit some sort of response, which turned out to be more of a deer-in-the-headlights expression.) But, like everyone else I'd met, he was very gracious and took the picture with me.

Apparently the photography gods decided to have the last laugh—could I have a bigger double chin in this photo?!