On a long and fun Coastside loop drive last weekend, we stopped at a few locations noted with those tan ’Historical Site’ signs!
At one stop in Woodside, we were advised to head over to Wunderlich Park & Folger Stable, which is named after Martin Wunderlich, whom bought the land and stables from the Folger Family in 1956.
YES… THAT “The best part of Wakin’ Up” Folger Family!!

Mr. Wunderlich donated the land, in 1974, to the County and it remains a Stable and Equestrian park… with great hiking and riding trails AND Riding lessons and activites!

The second thought to tickle me was realizing that The Folger’s started their coffee biz in the Bay Area…
Knowing that the Bay Area is a huge hub of advancement and technology… I couldn’t help chuckling that even Instant Coffee Crystals were a big advancement in technology at some point!

So… 
Wake up to a great cup of morning joe in your cup and fun thoughts of inginuity!

Enjoy!

A 10min set in Nevada City on June 3rd at the Old Stonehouse Brewery!

Funnily, neither of us took into account the higher elevation and as it turns out that had a bit of an impact on Dano’s on-stage breathing… whew!
It got a little ‘unruly’ up there!
He did pull off a great set and we are so excited about future gigs!

Check it out for yourself here :

The event was put on by On the Bus Productions… Thanks Ken and Corrie!
they host a show each month on the first Tuesday.
Check out Talent Tuesday sometime!

We were at the awesome Old Stonehouse Brewery, which was featured in a ‘Ghost Adventures’ Episode.
We even got to check out one of the great locations they investigated…
the Tunnel!

#1 – It Snowed!
#2 – Less than 20days to Summer and It Snowed!
HA!

Dano had a week vacation from work due to office-construction…
we have friends who recently moved to Reno…
I found out Reno is ‘driving-distance’ from the Bay Area! 
Thus, we wondered if we should road-trip over during this vacation time.
THEN, I received a Living Social deal … a great deal… So, we knew our answer!

The Deal was for 2 weekday nights, 2 Buffet Meal tickets, AND a $25 Gambling card, all for $69 to…
Grand Sierra Resort!

Soooo…. we set out Monday morning… hitting the Sierra Mountain Range around Noon… It Was Snowing!!!!

We already knew we were going to head South to drive along Lake Tahoe and check it out… the snow disappeared…
We stopped in Tahoe City and Jake’s on the Lake for Lunch, that was YUMMY! Clam Chowder is divine here!

Then the snow caught up to us!
and it stayed with us over the high elevation route over to Reno! Whew!
That was a fun and funny surprise for us!

Grand Sierra Resort is a lovely place… It’s dated in decor, though they are undergoing renovations right now!
They have a distinction between the Smoking and Non-Smoking Slot Rooms…
The Dinner Buffet was filling and offered good variety.
I had a mini-facial at the spa… that was wonderfully relaxing.

GAMBLING! It’s fun… and harmless IF you know when to quit…
So… when I was ahead on a penny slot Max Bet play… I stopped and walked away with enough money (plus more) to get my facial!  Ah! I loved that! To boot we already had $25 of free gambling money… so we made out pretty well!

It was a great visit to see our friends and meet their sweet little girl (finally!)… we got a great deal to stay nearby… and saw a new part of the world!

All in All a fun little getaway… Followed by a drive home through Nevada City…
Where Dano performed his first Comedy Set ever!!!
(More to come on D’s Comedy!)

Thanks & Enjoy!

Last Summer, at the RWC Salsa Festival, the Peninsula Roller Girls were out in force recruiting and promoting!
It was so fun to see them in their skates and outfits w. fun names printed on the shirts!
They were in the works for securing a local rink for Home Bouts and I anxiously awaited word about it!
Since, they are on Facebook, it was easy to keep up with any news.

On March 25th at the local RWC Roller Rink they went against The Undead Betty’s… Dano & I and a few of our peeps from the Super Cool Club on meetup… went out to cheer on our local Roller Derby team!!!

Last summer, they’d asked me if I was interested in being on the team… at first I thought, ‘No way! I’m too chicken!’.
Though, now after seeing this bout, I have to admit… it looks pretty fun and thrilling!!
AND talk about the Exercise! Whewie, Awesome!

One thing I know for sure… I’m going to have to bone up on the rulebook to even be a spectator! It is a fun sport to watch… but will be that much more fun when I know what the heck is truly going on! Even though, I pretty much got the jist of it.

There are some pretty wickedly fun names out there for these girls…
Take-Out Dinah,
Moose-a-rita (whom has named her booty, Moose Caboose!! classic!),
Fibonacci Sequins,
L.L. Mean,
Fightmaster Flash,
And SO many other great chicks and coaches!!

Makes me wonder…!?!? What would I pick as my Roller Derby name… hmmmm!?!

(though…  I’ll have to wait about 9-12mths more before I could Roller Derby… that’s a ‘sneak peek’ of a future post, wink wink )

So… When we flew into Portland from SFO to visit family… I was excited to know that we’d get to see the location of Nick’s house on “Grimm“.

With family in the ‘know’ … we asked them to show us  ’the Grimm house’…  there was confusion about if we meant Nick or Monroe’s house! I thought that was cool, since we really like Monroe, the Blutbad, and he’s become such an important part of “Grimm”.
We headed off to Nick’s place… it’s located in a beautiful neighborhood of Portland and it’s actually inhabited, must be quite an event to deal with when your own home is transformed into the set for a TV show!

I’ve always been in awe about how camera angles and set-dressing can transform a location… i.e. where I expected to see a driveway, there was a street… and that the house was at a higher elevation than it looks to be in the show. So Fun!

So… that was a fun trip celebrating with family over new to be born babies… and getting a little Hollywood in… Or, actually, I’ll say Portlandwood!

If you’ve had a chance to explore the place spoken about, then you, yourself, may have fallen in love with Portland!
It truly is a unique and interesting place… and, not to be missed, city!

One of my favorite things about going to Portland is flying into PDX… it is the best airport I’ve ever encountered so far… and I’m not biased here just because Portland is my hometown… it really is a great, comfortable, and welcoming airport! And, yes, I have been to a number of airports, so my experience is not limited either!

I always love walking through the Alaska Air terminal upon arrival and seeing what new and beautiful artwork will be welcoming us. Dano and I flew in on March 2nd, 2012 and I was blown away by the current installments that I had to stop to take a few photos! Please see the artistic beauty below!

The Artist exhibits were :
~ Brenda Mallory’s  three-dimensional  ”Mechanics of Hither and Yon”
and
~ James Dupree’s very colorful “Evolving Elements II”

THEN… as one walks into the main terminal, where, of course, you will encounter a Starbucks welcoming your sense of smell… your ears will also be welcomed with live musicians! You might hear a pianist, or a guitarist, once we heard a harpist!
Where o’ where, will you be enchanted by delightful piano tunes played by a gentleman wearing a simple Oregon Hoodie!? PDX, That’s where!!

The wonderfulness of  PDX does not just stop at the Artwork and Music… No Way… You may also shop for Made in Oregon gifts or hit The Real Mothergoose for artistically crafted goods, don’t forget shopping for good ole’ Oregon staples at Nike, Columbia Sportswear, and Powell’s Books!

Don’t forget your tummy… there are some great eateries in PDX… some Portland favorites that can be found within the Airport are Pizza Schmizza, Stanford’s, and Gustav’s Pub & Grill!

NOW… if they would just add a Burgerville to the Arrivals gate… all balance would be restored!!
(since, there is not yet a Burgerville within PDX, don’t forget to find one… yum!)

Enjoy! You’ll have a blast before you even leave the airport!
Bring a hoodie, but leave your umbrella at home… as that’s a sure sign of a tourist!

Dano and I (and a group of our Super Cool meet-up friends)  attended for the first time in conjunction with SF Sketchfest… apparently, this was a VERY popular theme and all passes to Greg Proops’ podcast & the Tom Lennon/Ben Garant panel were taken by the time we got in the building…   ah pooey!

Nevertheless, we made a great night of it and it turned out AWESOME!!

~ We listened to a few comedians on the Stand Up! Stage.
~ We had freaking awesome food in the Cafe, with great dietary options…
so look forward to hitting The Moss Room restaurant in the future!
~ We caught a glimpse of an albino alligator named Claude… COOOOOL!
~ We watched the Convoy Improv Troupe from LA.
~ We Met Ben Garant!!! Nice & Sincere guy! (and saw Tom Lennon)

So, in all, our night turned out wonderfully!

I look forward to future NightLife nights!

I also got a great pic of a quote by scientist, Wallace Broecker :
“Climate is an angry beast and we are poking at it with sticks”

We visited in Mid-December to go on a tour of the Eucalyptus Grove when the Monarch Butterflies spend their time in their Over-Wintering Phase… have a peek at the 1st part blog here :

http://sfonewb.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/adventurin-monarch-butterflies-ardenwood-farm/

After our butterfly tour, we went on the tour of the historic Victorian, the Patterson House.
Originally built in 1857 as a Farm house  in which that last Patterson resided until the mid-1960′s…
thereby housing three generations of the family!!
The home and surrounding land is now a Park!
It is a wonderful setting for picnicking, lovely strolls, interacting with animals and touring the home.
As well, during the ‘active’ Summer season, they have many activities that include little train rides AND an active blacksmith workshop!! I’m very excited to visit during the ‘season’! (That will likely be a part 3 blog post!)

George Patterson came out to California to take advantage of the gold rush… that didn’t work out quite as planned… so after working a bit, in other ventures, he’d gathered enough money to buy a farm and home! The farm was very fertile. He and his wife were able to expand onto the small farmhouse and create a gorgeous white Victorian.

The Docent was super informative and fun, she really took on as much of the persona of the home as possible… and was able to interact with all ages of group!

The land itself is home to chickens, goats, cows, and more which we did not see during this visit. Though there are certainly peacocks… we saw a lovely one milling about the front lawn while were were there!!

Of course, Dano did pull out his EMF meter to take a few readings to see what activity there might be… not really much except for a great old house.

My favorite photos below are of the Exterior of the home itself, an artist’s painting of the home, AND in the kitchen was a a list of foods from Way Back When… I had NO idea Welch’s Grape Juice has been around since 1872!!!!! WOW!!!

Some other food surprises :
Jello 1897
Animal Crackers 1902
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups 1917

The tour starts out at Four Seas Restaurant on Grant Ave… Our Tour guide was Ruby… she was super-duper great, really funny, and very informative!

Not only did we learn about the areas of Chinatown that are meant to have activity and why, but we received a wonderful historical tour as well!
Most fun, was that we were deep in Chinatown (with a guide) on a late Saturday night… this gave us such a fascinating view of ‘true’ Chinatown!!! The hidden secrets of what games take place in the alleys and special events in the parks!

So amazing were the bricks used in the buildings! After the time of the earthquake and big fire… there was not enough money or material around to completely rebuild from scratch… and there were remaining bricks that were still OK to use, but were just a little fire damaged… well, basically MELTED, but still in ‘brick shape’… so they reused these beautiful melted bricks… this gives the buildings such a delicious and characteristic facade!!!

Though we had our ghost investigating equipment… we did not get much activity… or rather we got a TON of EMF activity… Dano’s meter was constantly at the high end (in the red)…  though it just seems that there is a great deal of truly electrical energy running though Chinatown.

One point to note… while Ruby was talking about her late-mother in an alley way that housed a beauty salon, in which a photo of Ruby’s mother in a Beauty Pageant hung, my EMF meter flicked back and forth numerous times!!

Afterwards, we were treated to a fun, little magic show!

It’s a fun tour… worth a visit!

http://sfchinatownghosttours.com/home.html

Since we’ve moved to the Bay Area my cousin has been helpful in providing us with info about great things to do around here! As, she herself, prepared to move up here after her wedding.

Thanks to her we learned that the Monarch Butterflies have greatly increased in numbers, as counted, during their Over-Wintering phase!
They only lay their eggs in, and subsequently only eat as babies, the plant Milkweed… by adding a plant or two in your yard as an Eco-Friendly measure you would also get these wonderful butterflies visiting your yard during their West Coast Migration!!

We learned that there are a number of locations in the NorCal area to see the beauties in person! One such place, with about 6,000 butterflies at their peak, being the Ardenwood Farm in Fremont… Such a great place! Along with the Butterfly Preserve they many animals and a beautiful old Victorian home (The Patterson House), on the land, which I will write about in an Ardenwood Farm Pt.2 post.

We will also visit another Monarch Butterfly Preserve at Natural Bridges State Park in Santa Cruz later this month… this will warrant a separate blog post as well!

We learned that, like me, the Monarch Butterflies enjoy a warmer, sunnier climate in which to frolic!
They prefer temperatures of above 55degrees and sun… this warms their leaves and bodies enough to allow them to fly… otherwise, they will remain clustered together, for warmth, high above the ground within the leaves of eucalyptus trees.

When we visited Ardenwood Farm on Dec 11th, the weather was just a tad too cool for them at about 53degrees!

We did see a few butterflies in the air… though we mostly just wondered at the beautiful clusters of butterflies in the trees… we were also able to see a little, tiny baby butterfly egg!  It was all truly amazing to see!!

Please enjoy the accompanying photos… as we enjoyed taking them!