Quick video about our experience with Tropical Storm Hilary.
I haven’t abandoned my blog, which I renamed to ‘Reportage’.
I realized that I wasn’t sharing stories, rather I was sharing small life updates and of course there’s a harsh realization that I have zero audience.
I tried editing some videos for Vimeo of surfing and bodysurfing over 10 years ago but I had no clue what I was doing. I still don’t! But I’m trying it again just to see if it will catch on. I find that it’s easier to come back and watch a video instead of read something I wrote. Except, it means I have to listen to my voice which might actually be worse than reading my blogs. We’ll see.
If I can figure out a convenient workflow then I plan to catch up on the last 2 years of life events through video instead of written posts.
For the second half of our honeymoon we took a ferry from St Barts to St Martin and then an 8 minute flight across to Anguilla. Anguilla had a special resort called Cap Jaluca, the island is very different from St barts because it was flat and dryer and still had beautiful beaches and amazing food.
This kind of travel is more Mia’s style, but I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it. We hung out at the beach, got massages, hung out at the beach more, and checked out some other gems across the island - plus I got an afternoon to bodysurf and drink coronas.
All of the fantastic memories we now have are thanks to the generous honeymoon fund contributions from wedding guests (thanks to any of you who reads this!)
The first stop for our honeymoon was St Barts. We got to enjoy 4 days in a private rental in a regular community and away from touristy areas. We had a rental car, I got to drive on the other side of the road through the crazy streets, it allowed us to access all kinds of beaches, trails and restaurants across the island.
The host of the rental brought by fresh bread and pastries every morning, we had some large iguanas alway hanging around, and a pool with a view. It was such a fun way to explore the island and feel more immersed there - definitely my kind of travel - before we got to the even better place (next post!)
It would be impossible to sum up the weekend we got married into words. The festivities were based in Carmel, we were surrounded by family and friends for the whole weekend. Friday we stocked up on libations and drove them to the venue, Point 16, in Big Sur (the sunny photos) and then there was a great welcome party in Carmel. Saturday we drove down the coast along with our photographers and stopped at a few scenic locations and then to Point 16. It was the best day ever and so much fun, I have the best memories from the whole weekend.
Matt and I met at Bass Lake for what was essentially my bachelor party. We camped and road our mountainbikes for 3 days on different trails, it was pretty epic! After the big bike ride on Saturday we did the bachelor party move and drank beers on the shore of the lake and traded off kayaking. It was also super fun to be able to ride our bikes to the local store and restaurant for food. I never knew that my water bottle holder also fit tall cans.
We took on a more significant house project in August which was to add a gravel parking area and a privacy fence to the front yard. It also leads into an idea I had that we could leave the front door open on nice days and Finn would be contained in the front yard. The fence required a lot of research (on Mia’s part) finding high quality hardwood from Brazil and enough other supplies, some planning on my part, and a lot of short breaks during summer days to work on the project. It turned out pretty good!
We also had the pleasure of attending a wedding of my college roommate in Palm Springs - I partied like I was in college again and paid for it by Sunday.
Although I haven’t been around to update a blog in many months, it has been on my mental to-do list. Unfortunately at a lower priority than other to-do’s. I’ll share some of those here.
A couple things stand out when I think about the year so far since my post. Weekdays have been really busy and weekends have been a balance of trying to get things done and trying to still enjoy what I have right in front of me. I got a haircut after like 16 months. I got vaccinated. And yeah, some other stuff below:
My birthday was in February and Mia got me a coffee roaster - so I’ve been buying raw coffee beans sourced from small operations around the world and then roasting them at home. The cost of this works out to about 25-30% versus buying whole beans from the store and the other upside is that our coffee has been tasting super fresh and has a little more thought put into it than just picking a bag of beans with an intriguing logo. I admit that was how I was making my coffee purchase decisions from time to time. Mia also got me a metal trough/tub to take ice baths in. I definitely recommend it to anyone with physical pain who wants to endure even more for 15 minutes. It’s like icing your whole body in one go, quite peaceful though.
We became annual members of the South Coast Botanic Garden which is a huge arboretum that also allows dogs to come in once a month for walks. Some photos from there are included.
For a long time living in this house I felt like the garage lacked decent looking and functional storage - so I got cabinets and a table top and installed it all myself along with some other shelves over the laundry machines.
We’ve upgraded the garden from version 1 to version 2 this spring by adding another 6” wall of board and soil to the garden boxes so that some vegetables will have more depth to grow. I also had to throw a quick chicken-wire fence around it to prevent the local animals from digging at night. In the past few months we’ve harvested a ton of dill, cauliflower, lettuce, tomatoes and peppers. Looking forward now to artichokes, zucchini, different kinds of lettuce and peanuts (PEANUTS!).
Also on the subject of the yard, I’ve spent a lot more time cleaning up the abandoned mess beyond our immediate backyard fence. I used left over decomposed granite (fancy dirt) and left over wood from the fence and created a more formal outcropping/walkway with step pads. I also sawed down about 12 large invasive trees and am clearing the next section of the hill of dead leaves and ivy. Slow and steady progress. I also peaked into the spooky hut and discovered more retaining walls and noninvasive trees further down the hill.
Back to biking. I quit my gym membership at the beginning of covid so to workout I have a little creative at-home set up and more importantly the gravel bike. A couple memorable rides was one 82 miler from the house to Will Rogers beach and back. Barely made it home and learned that I need to pack more snacks. Another was an attempt to go south to Huntington Beach and back, however I fell a couple miles short. The major goal is a clean 100 miles and I have my sights on it, but may wait until summer is over for cooler weather. Another fun ride was up in Big Bear in June. I went riding from the lake and up to the summit of some mountains and back, all on sand/dirt fire road. It made for a good ride with sight seeing and it was 95 degrees that day so it was a lesson in how much water to bring as well as how much slower miles are met when riding on dirt instead of pavement. I hope you like pictures of a bike in front of random scenery.
Finally, just last weekend I went to the bay area for the first time in 7 months and hung out with my family, got to see my older brother’s house in San Rafael, enjoy time with friends and homemade pizza in Oakland and also allowed for Finn to get accustomed to more road trips and different situations and people. Success!
Between the extremes of road cycling and mountain biking are a lot of alternatives and right in the middle is gravel biking. Best of both worlds. Lighter than a mountain bike, sturdier than a road bike, with tire sizes and tread meant to go quick on pavement and provide grip on loose dirt. A happy medium that provides a lot of versatility for the rider. Gravel biking (in my opinion) is less defined and restricted than other cycling extremes, there doesn’t seem to be a type of person out of place who is participating in it. It’s just the thing I was looking for. The other day I was able to leave my doorstep and ride 20 miles around Palos Verdes on paved roads and then turn off onto the mountain biking trails and get around them easier than on my mountain bike. Another 6 miles on steep dirt trails and I can go back to the road and comfortably ride the last 4 miles home. It feels like the right gear for the trip as a whole. Anyways, it’s just a lot of fun and opens up opportunities for different types of exercise and recreation without too much compromise.
The bag can attach where it is on the frame, or up on the handlebars (which is the better position).
There’s 3 water bottle holders, 2 of them carry water and the lowest one actually carries a spare tire tube and tools (the water bottle leaks so it was a perfect candidate for it).
The bike is also designed to carry more on the front and back if I needed to.
The drop-bars are what you would find on a road bike, except they are wider for better stability off road. The hand positions are more comfortable than the regular mountain bike flat bars.
The tires are narrow enough to still be fast and easy to pedal and they can vary in tread pattern to handle dirt trails. I have a wider and more aggressive tire on the front (because of the dry and loose trails I ride on) and a slightly narrower and less aggressive tire on the back.
