perfect weekend
I just had the PERFECT weekend. I know that my whims and wants change with time, but for where I am right now, this weekend was just right!
My friend M, who I knew in high school, got in touch with me a while ago saying that he'd be doing some training at Vandenburg Air Force Base about 3 and a half hours drive from me. We'd talked about getting together since he arrived, but I finally got to see him last weekend as I was in Santa Barbara for a conference. We had such fun catching up during the brief time I could spare from the conference, that he decided to come up to visit this weekend before heading back to his hometown, so that he could see redwoods before leaving California.
Boy did I show him redwoods! Seriously, this weekend was all about walking through the woods, beer, and pinball. In terms of entertainment value, I'm not sure that there is a better trio.
M arrived on Friday night, calling me to say he was hitting town just as I was finishing a 2-hour metta meditation/yoga workshop. We were both starved, so we plopped down at my kitchen table, plugged my iPod into its dock, and gobbled up the leftover chili with kale and yams that I had made earlier in the week. Now I know that he's been eating military institutional food, but I still love it when house guests praise my cooking, especially my leftovers. After a quick meal we headed down to the Santa Cruz Mountain Brew Co., which was the most crowded I'd ever seen it. M got to sample all of their organic brews (7 in all), and pronounced the IPA very drinkable (to which I say bleeeech!, but their brown ale is amazing).
After the pub closed at 10, we headed back to my apartment and I found out that the man hadn't seen more than the first 2 episodes of Firefly. We remedied that by watching the next two while drinking a growler full of amber ale from SC Mtn. Brew (a good compromise between the IPA he likes and the darker ales that I favor).
Saturday morning I woke up in time for an early yoga class, and managed to prepare a pot of tea and two bowls oatmeal with cranberries and goji berries before heading off. Generous M managed to compliment my cooking, even though it was just porridge (and my porridge is a rather nice example). Yoga went well, and then I made a quick stop at the farmers' market for a week's worth of veggies and some bread for sandwiches. The chard and kale are so beautiful here, I just can't stop eating it.
After throwing together sandwiches and fruit for a quick picnic lunch, M and I hopped in the car and headed up to Big Basin around 11 a.m. It was a lovely drive, and I got to show him his first redwood trees; it was so dear to watch him staring gape-mouthed out the window at the huge trees and the sunlight filtering through the branches.
It only got better as we got to the park, found easy parking, and headed off on the trail. We did the Berry Falls Creek Loop, which is either 10 or 11.5 miles, depending on which trail map you refer to. To do the loop, you set off on the Sunset trail from park headquarters and climb through groves and groves of beautiful ancient trees, then take the Berry Falls Creek trail down through a series of falls--seriously, part of the trail is actually walking on notches cut into the rock that the water is cascading down--and then head back via the Waddell Creek trail and finish up back to headquarters on the Skyline-to-Sea trail. It took us about 5 hours, and we stopped for a nice lunch at the viewing platform for Berry Creek Falls. It is a somewhat strenuous hike because of the length and the little bit of steep climbing through the falls, but for the most part it was so pleasant and quite doable (I'm also proud that M was more sore that I was the morning after). The forest in that whole section of Big Basin is just majestic.
After getting back to the car with sore feet but peaceful minds, we drove into Boulder Creek to go to the brew pub there. We didn't feel the need to drink quite as heavily as on Friday night, but I did have a pint of their San Lorenzo Porter, which was mighty fine, and M ended up with their pilsner that was tastier than I ever imagined a pilsner could be--light and lemony like a hefeweizen.
We finished up Saturday night by resting our tired feet with a pot of tea and more firefly, and calling it an early night.
This morning (Sunday) we woke up and had a leisurely breakfast. I LOVE making breakfast for people, and I went all out on this one. I'd picked up some indulgent cheeses that we hadn't yet sampled, so I made a cheese and lox plate to start with, including Cabot extra sharp cheddar, a Dutch sheep's milk gouda, and cambozola. Then I made my typical whole wheat pancakes (full of organic goodness and soy milk), turkey sausages, and stewed cinnamon apples. A pot of Yunnan gold tip tea was the final touch to our morning of food porn.
We were stuffed, so it was obviously time for pinball. M was a comic book nerd even 15 years ago when we knew each other in high school, and I was pleased to find that we currently have so many overlapping geekdoms. He thought that spending the afternoon at the Casino Arcade on the boardwalk was a great idea, which endeared him to me like nothing else. This boy kept up with me at the arcade too! He and I both got $5 worth of tokens, and although we have different taste in pinball boards and video games (though we both fed quarters to old school Tetris and Family Guy pinball), we managed to run out of quarters at the same time. Our first $5 lasted a little over an hour and I was so happy when M looked at me and said "if you're ready to go, I can go, but I'd like to play so more if you're having fun." Hurray! We both got another $5 in tokens and set off on another 90 minutes of arcade goodness.
We finished up the afternoon with lunch at the Seabright brew co, and exercised further moderation (having one pint each), since I had to drive back to my apartment and he had to drive back to Vandenburg. I had their Chocolate Milk Stout, which wasn't as creamy as my favorite stouts (Boulder Creek's Mudslide is probably my favorite local examples), but it was complex and smooth. M had their Blur IPA, which I wouldn't even taste. After a filling lunch, we heading back to my apartment and he packed up his stuff and headed back to his base, leaving me with the afternoon to prepare for my upcoming hectic week.
What a wonderful house guest, what a wonderful friend, what a wonderful weekend!
I'm so grateful that I have friends that come back into my life after over a decade and bring me so much joy. Hopefully I won't have to wait another 15 years before we get to hang out again.
This weekend was an object lesson in indulgent, simple pleasures. Nothing was terribly expensive and nothing took too much effort. All of my energy was focused on just enjoying the moments of wondrous trees, delicious cheese, good company, excellent beer, mellow tunes, and easy conversation.
My friend M, who I knew in high school, got in touch with me a while ago saying that he'd be doing some training at Vandenburg Air Force Base about 3 and a half hours drive from me. We'd talked about getting together since he arrived, but I finally got to see him last weekend as I was in Santa Barbara for a conference. We had such fun catching up during the brief time I could spare from the conference, that he decided to come up to visit this weekend before heading back to his hometown, so that he could see redwoods before leaving California.
Boy did I show him redwoods! Seriously, this weekend was all about walking through the woods, beer, and pinball. In terms of entertainment value, I'm not sure that there is a better trio.
M arrived on Friday night, calling me to say he was hitting town just as I was finishing a 2-hour metta meditation/yoga workshop. We were both starved, so we plopped down at my kitchen table, plugged my iPod into its dock, and gobbled up the leftover chili with kale and yams that I had made earlier in the week. Now I know that he's been eating military institutional food, but I still love it when house guests praise my cooking, especially my leftovers. After a quick meal we headed down to the Santa Cruz Mountain Brew Co., which was the most crowded I'd ever seen it. M got to sample all of their organic brews (7 in all), and pronounced the IPA very drinkable (to which I say bleeeech!, but their brown ale is amazing).
After the pub closed at 10, we headed back to my apartment and I found out that the man hadn't seen more than the first 2 episodes of Firefly. We remedied that by watching the next two while drinking a growler full of amber ale from SC Mtn. Brew (a good compromise between the IPA he likes and the darker ales that I favor).
Saturday morning I woke up in time for an early yoga class, and managed to prepare a pot of tea and two bowls oatmeal with cranberries and goji berries before heading off. Generous M managed to compliment my cooking, even though it was just porridge (and my porridge is a rather nice example). Yoga went well, and then I made a quick stop at the farmers' market for a week's worth of veggies and some bread for sandwiches. The chard and kale are so beautiful here, I just can't stop eating it.
After throwing together sandwiches and fruit for a quick picnic lunch, M and I hopped in the car and headed up to Big Basin around 11 a.m. It was a lovely drive, and I got to show him his first redwood trees; it was so dear to watch him staring gape-mouthed out the window at the huge trees and the sunlight filtering through the branches.
It only got better as we got to the park, found easy parking, and headed off on the trail. We did the Berry Falls Creek Loop, which is either 10 or 11.5 miles, depending on which trail map you refer to. To do the loop, you set off on the Sunset trail from park headquarters and climb through groves and groves of beautiful ancient trees, then take the Berry Falls Creek trail down through a series of falls--seriously, part of the trail is actually walking on notches cut into the rock that the water is cascading down--and then head back via the Waddell Creek trail and finish up back to headquarters on the Skyline-to-Sea trail. It took us about 5 hours, and we stopped for a nice lunch at the viewing platform for Berry Creek Falls. It is a somewhat strenuous hike because of the length and the little bit of steep climbing through the falls, but for the most part it was so pleasant and quite doable (I'm also proud that M was more sore that I was the morning after). The forest in that whole section of Big Basin is just majestic.
After getting back to the car with sore feet but peaceful minds, we drove into Boulder Creek to go to the brew pub there. We didn't feel the need to drink quite as heavily as on Friday night, but I did have a pint of their San Lorenzo Porter, which was mighty fine, and M ended up with their pilsner that was tastier than I ever imagined a pilsner could be--light and lemony like a hefeweizen.
We finished up Saturday night by resting our tired feet with a pot of tea and more firefly, and calling it an early night.
This morning (Sunday) we woke up and had a leisurely breakfast. I LOVE making breakfast for people, and I went all out on this one. I'd picked up some indulgent cheeses that we hadn't yet sampled, so I made a cheese and lox plate to start with, including Cabot extra sharp cheddar, a Dutch sheep's milk gouda, and cambozola. Then I made my typical whole wheat pancakes (full of organic goodness and soy milk), turkey sausages, and stewed cinnamon apples. A pot of Yunnan gold tip tea was the final touch to our morning of food porn.
We were stuffed, so it was obviously time for pinball. M was a comic book nerd even 15 years ago when we knew each other in high school, and I was pleased to find that we currently have so many overlapping geekdoms. He thought that spending the afternoon at the Casino Arcade on the boardwalk was a great idea, which endeared him to me like nothing else. This boy kept up with me at the arcade too! He and I both got $5 worth of tokens, and although we have different taste in pinball boards and video games (though we both fed quarters to old school Tetris and Family Guy pinball), we managed to run out of quarters at the same time. Our first $5 lasted a little over an hour and I was so happy when M looked at me and said "if you're ready to go, I can go, but I'd like to play so more if you're having fun." Hurray! We both got another $5 in tokens and set off on another 90 minutes of arcade goodness.
We finished up the afternoon with lunch at the Seabright brew co, and exercised further moderation (having one pint each), since I had to drive back to my apartment and he had to drive back to Vandenburg. I had their Chocolate Milk Stout, which wasn't as creamy as my favorite stouts (Boulder Creek's Mudslide is probably my favorite local examples), but it was complex and smooth. M had their Blur IPA, which I wouldn't even taste. After a filling lunch, we heading back to my apartment and he packed up his stuff and headed back to his base, leaving me with the afternoon to prepare for my upcoming hectic week.
What a wonderful house guest, what a wonderful friend, what a wonderful weekend!
I'm so grateful that I have friends that come back into my life after over a decade and bring me so much joy. Hopefully I won't have to wait another 15 years before we get to hang out again.
This weekend was an object lesson in indulgent, simple pleasures. Nothing was terribly expensive and nothing took too much effort. All of my energy was focused on just enjoying the moments of wondrous trees, delicious cheese, good company, excellent beer, mellow tunes, and easy conversation.