Vancouver, British Columbia

The past couple of weeks, T and I had our first real vacation since our Paris honeymoon, a ten-day excursion to Vancouver and the various small islands off its coast. I say "excursion" with some purpose here. We wanted to "backpack" across the lower coastal area of British Columbia relying only on foot, ferries, and public transportation to get around. We even purchased a mountaineering-style pack for our trip and pared down all of our clothing and travel items to that one pack. Definitely a freeing experience, traveling on foot with only one backpack to worry about.

Terrorist Scare

We had some drama early this morning in the San Francisco financial district. Apparently, there was a large explosion at the Crocker Galleria, a popular shopping arcade in the heart of the area. The blast was so large that it shook skyscrapers within a three to four block area. T phoned saying she could see smoke blowing downwind to the Citibank Center. While on the phone with her, I could hear the emergency sirens whizzing by our offices headed in that direction. Since a bomb could not be ruled out, all of the neighboring buildings were evacuated including Schwab's headquarters. Now that the smoke has cleared, literally and figuratively, it appears the blast may have been the product of a blown underground electrical transformer. Thank you PG&E for the Friday morning drama. With echoes of the recent London bombings, you could definitely sense the nervousness and anxiety on my floor and across the whole of the financial district. Here is a news account in the San Francisco Chronicle of the explosion (including a photo of the now burned and gutted Ralph Lauren store) (link): "...Among [the evacuees] was Tom McGibben, who works at Thomas Weisel Partners at 120 Kearny, which evacuated its employees. 'We saw the lights flicker at 9:50 a.m. We felt a pretty good shake. At first, we thought it was an earthquake. We saw smoke. The alarms in our building came on. At around the 20th floor you could smell something. At that point, we began to think it could be something worse than a quake. There were flashes to 9/11.' Tim Keenan, an employee at Charles Schwab, said he was evacuated from the 17th floor of the same building. 'I saw a flash of light. I looked out of the window. I saw people running and screaming,' he said. 'Our floor warden then asked people to begin to evacuate. To me, it sounded like a big boom of thunder.'" Hard to believe the fourth anniversary of 9/11 is just around the corner. Judging from the collective jitters felt throughout the financial district this morning, September 11, 2001 was apparently not that long ago.

Suisun Valley and Larry's Produce

This past weekend, my parents pointed us to a hidden little pocket of the Suisun Valley, located on the eastern slopes of the mountain ridge dividing Solano and Napa counties. It's a real gem of a place with acres of working farms surrounding a dusty hamlet of matchstick community buildings. One building had an aging wooden sign above the front door with the words "Nissei Club" barely visible, evidence no doubt of the area's long history as a Japanese-American farming community. Our destination was a rustic but thriving roadside produce market, Larry's Produce, at the northern end of the valley. The seasonal selection was immense and the prices were incredibly cheap. Apparently, all of the produce is sourced within the valley and oftentimes on that date of sale. We purchased a large crate of fresh veggies and fruits for a meager twenty dollars. Definitely a well-kept secret amongst the locals here and in the neighboring wine country. I suspect more than a handful of the chefs in Napa come here to source their "locally-grown and seasonal" ingredients. If you're interested in an offbeat alternative to Napa or Sonoma, here is the Suisun Valley community website (link).

Crashing the Tour de Peninsula

Needing a break from my studies, I convinced, or more aptly, suckered Wag into riding from my place in San Mateo, down the Mid-Peninsula through Woodside, Palo Alto, and the Stanford campus, all the way to downtown Los Altos. Early on, riding up Crystal Springs Road to the Half Moon Bay turnoff near I-280, we encountered a massive throng of riders. There must have been three to four hundred, all with race numbers tacked to their backs. It soon dawned on me that we were riding on the same day and for the most part, on the same route as the annual Tour de Peninsula (link). While the race organizers were busy distributing water to the racers, Wag and I snuck past the cones and into the mass of riders. Yep, we crashed the race. No, we weren't trying to pull a "Rosie Ruiz" (see here). Merely trying to avoid having to ride through a longer detour route. Unfortunately though, we jumped in at a less than ideal spot, at the base of the climb up to Sawyer Camp Trail. A long tiresome climb that gets steeper as you get further along. More than a handful of riders had to stop midway to take a breather. I was very close to being counted amongst the casualties. It only got harder from there. Two equally nasty climbs on the way up to the Canada Road approach. My upper legs were burning with lactic acid, my heart was pumping at full throttle, my lungs were panting for oxygen. The sweat from my brow was dissolving the sunscreen lotion into my now stinging eyes. Mental note, don't apply sunscreen to the forehead before a ride! With all the pain and effort, I still got a high from riding with so many cyclists around me. Maybe that's why marathoners get a performance boost on "race day". Group pressure. It definitely helped me through a tough stretch of the route. The best part of the day was lounging on a chair in the shaded streetside cafe along Main Street in Los Altos on a pleasant Sunday afternoon. By then, I was numb to the pain.

Canada, Oh Canada!

Several weeks ago, I finally purchased my first road bike ever, an entry-level Raleigh Cadent (link). Didn't want to blow the bank account by going overboard on a two or three grand commitment. Fairly happy with the purchase given the entire bike weighs less than my laptop bag. For the past couple of weeks, I have been cajoling T into riding with me along Crystal Springs Reservoir. Our first ride from San Mateo down to Woodside along Canada Road and the Reservoir was actually very pleasant (link). Sixteen miles roundtrip with moderate climbs, amazing scenery, and very light traffic. It's no wonder the route is popular with road cyclists. On weekends, Canada Road is a colorful parade of jerseys emblazoned with various corporate logos, all moving in unison in rapid pacelines. It's quite a sight. On reaching our destination in "downtown" Woodside, T and I planted ourselves in the parking lot at Roberts Market (link), the local cyclists' watering hole and rewarded our efforts with a hearty roast beef sandwich. Between that and the buckwheat flapjacks across the street at Buck's (link), we may be biking this route more regularly.