August 2008 Archives
Back in July, a week after my first hike through Pescadero Creek County Park with friends, I returned for a solo trek.
After parking at the Hoffman Creek Trailhead, I started down the Old Haul Road Trail, which was the same starting point and trail our group had used the week before. The trail looked familiar until I reached the Pomponio Trail junction. Instead of taking that branch, I stayed on Old Haul Road for the next 1.5 miles and made a right onto the Butano Ridge Loop Trail.
As soon as I made the turn, the climbing began. I gained roughly 1,300 feet over two miles of switchbacks. Along the way, I saw plenty of redwoods. Some were charred.
Others had fallen.
All were impressive. The view from the ridge wasn't what I expected. I had hoped my climb would be rewarded with grand vistas. Instead, it was compensated with more redwoods. I grumbled, but only for a second since I have a tough time complaining when surrounded by scenery like this:
For the next two miles, the trail undulated. By the time I reached the junction and got off the ridgetop roller-coaster, I had unknowingly gained another 300 feet of elevation.
The descent back to the Old Haul Road Trail was steep and swift. Along the way, I passed interestingly carved rocks.
And spots that would have been perfect for more than a moment's peace (or pause).
While I could have taken the Old Haul Road Trail all the way back to the trailhead, I chose to take an alternate route, which included the Bridge and Pomponio Trails. The Bridge Trail offered this view of Pescadero Creek.
If I were being honest, I would admit that I picked those trails in the hopes of sneaking in a glimpse of the hiker's hut in Sam McDonald County Park. It was a completely unrealistic hope, though, since the "sneak peek" would have added five miles and another 1.5 hours to the hike. I kept the dream alive until I reached the Bear Ridge Trail and finally accepted the hut would have to be something to look forward to on another visit.
Last week, M and I visited Boston for a few days. She went for work. I went for fun. (Unlike M, I had to pay my way, but if one were keeping score, I think I still came out ahead (not that I'm keeping score).)
On Tuesday, I left San Jose at 9:30 AM, had a four-hour layover in Dallas, and arrived in Boston around 11:30 PM. It wasn't the ideal way to go, but it was the least expensive way. During the flight and downtime in Dallas, I managed to get some work done (unofficially, of course), so the day wasn't a complete loss.
M arrived in Boston early the next morning and after she got settled in, we ventured over to Newbury Street, which was only two blocks away from our hotel. We were only across the street from the Boston Public Library, in the heart of Copley Place.
The highlight of our Newbury exploration was the discovery of the Life Is Good flagship store (a.k.a. Jake's House). I showed some restraint and only bought a cap. It says "Get Lost" and was 30% off.
The rest of the day was spent wandering through Chinatown and the Seaport District (where M's conference was happening).
That evening, we ate at Legal Sea Foods and Palm Restaurant (early dinner and late appetizers). (I'd recommend Legal over Palm any day.)
Thursday was my favorite day of the trip. I walked down Boylston Street, past the Berklee College of Music and Back Bay Fens, to visit historic Fenway Park. It was my first time there. I can't claim to be a lifelong Red Sox fan, but I've been a big fan ever since my first trip to Boston in 1993. (I was an impressionable 19-year-old, which seemed old then, but hardly seems so now.)
During my subsequent visits to the city, it was either not baseball season or the Red Sox weren't in town, so I never got to see them play at Fenway. This was the first time when they and I were in Boston at the same time, so I wanted to make the most of it.
To start things off, I took a tour of the park. Tours are $12 a person and they start on the hour (between 9 AM and 4 PM during the season). I caught the noontime tour and it was packed. Our group numbered in the fifties.
Our tour guide was an elderly gentleman named Steve. He must have been in his sixties, but he had the energy of a man decades younger. He told plenty of silly jokes, but also plenty of great stories about Fenway. A place can be saturated with all of the natural beauty and historical significance in the world, but they only represent two dimensions. To make it real, to bring it to life requires stories told by somebody who knows and loves it deeply. Steve was that somebody for Fenway. By the end of hour together, he and the park held a special place in my heart.
The park was built in 1912. The wall in left field, a.k.a. the Green Monster, was built in 1934 by the owner, Mr. Yawkey. He built it after receiving complaints about broken windows from neighbors and discovering fans peeking over the then ten-foot wall to watch the games for free. It's 37-feet high and 230-feet long. The seats atop the wall have been there for four years and there are 275 of them.
The red seat in right field stands marks the spot where the longest home run in Fenway history landed. Ted Williams hit it in 1946. The seat is roughly 502-feet from home plate.
The scoreboard is one of three manually-operated boards in the country . The same two guys have been running it for thirteen years. Over that time, they only missed one game. (One was getting married. The other was his best man.)
Fenway has the shortest home run (302 feet to right) and the longest home run (420 feet to center). The right field foul pole is called Pesky's Pole, named after Johnny Pesky who hit 12 home runs in 12 years, just past that pole.
Steve told us that last story as we sat atop the Green Monster. From there, we got to sit on the oldest, most uncomfortable seats in the park. Personally, they are fine to look at, not to sit on.
By the time the tour wrapped up, I only had enough time to walk back to the hotel to grab a jacket before walking back to the park to wait in line for day-of-the-game tickets. I didn't even have time to stop at the gigantic Apple store on Boylston.
Getting in line four hours before the game was good enough to get a chance to buy premium standing room tickets on the left field roof (not ideal, but still tickets).
From there, we saw the Red Sox pummel the Texas Rangers 10 - 0, thanks to an amazing nine-run second inning and stellar pitching by Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Friday started with breakfast at Finagle a Bagel. M had to prepare for her conference, so I took the T to Stony Brook for a tour of the Sam Adams Brewery, which is free and includes, besides a lesson about beer brewing, actual beer tasting.
After the tour, I met up with M and tagged along to her conference, spending the rest of the afternoon at the convention center. Later, we had dinner at the Bull and Finch Pub (a.k.a. Cheers).
On Saturday, I only had enough time to pack before having to hop on the T to the airport. I left Boston at 11:30 AM, made stops in St. Louis and Santa Ana, and touched down in San Jose around 5:30 PM.
And that was my Boston trip.
Song on my mind... "Downpour" by Brandi Carlile
I'm like the rain in a downpour
I wash away what you long for
And I wave goodbye with the sun in my eyes
I wish I could be there tonight
I'm like the wind in the canyon
I'm there then I'm gone in a second
You're growing older in peace where you're at
I wish I could be there for that
But I moved on
Like a rolling stone
In a crowded room
I'm alone
You're like the tide in the deep blue
'Cause you're always there when I need you
And when you need someone to carry you through
I'm gonna be there for you
I listened to it a lot while I was in Boston last week and its sorrowful lyrics and melody followed me home.
I recently rediscovered the following quote from "The Elements of Style" by William Strunk Jr.:
"Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all sentences short or avoid all detail and treat subjects only in outline, but that every word tell."
Oddly, the quote wasn't used in the context of writing articles, essays, or stories, but in the context of writing web applications.
After reading it a number of times and spending several minutes thinking about it, I was suddenly curious to see if there were any other interesting quotes about vigorous writing or vigorous writers. A quick search on the web revealed this snippet from "The Physiology of Common Life" by George Henry Lewes:
"The vigorous thinker is one who thinks for himself: the vigorous writer is one who expresses what he means, and does not suffer one phrase automatically to determine another. If he has a manner, or mannerism, it is his own. Inferior minds think the thoughts of others, and write the phrases of others. Hence, as Goethe says, in this world there are so few voices and so many echoes."
Tonight's sit spot exercise will be to think about vigorous writing and how to be voice and not simply another echo.
For two days in a row, I've woken up before four, tossed and turned for what felt like forever (but was actually fifteen minutes), and finally gotten up because it seemed silly to stare at the ceiling, waiting for the six o'clock alarm. Today would have been a threepeat if it hadn't been for my new, unofficial rule: Under no circumstances am I allowed to leave the object known as the bed before 4:30 AM, PDT. It's a dumb rule, but one I apparently need.
So now I'm sitting here at the computer, a cup of hot coffee next to the keyboard, feeling in the mood to write, but not in the mood to write about things I should be writing about (like hikes or sit spots or topics relevant to anybody not inside my head).
It's a bit like arriving at a park with every intention of hiking to a specific landmark and suddenly feeling the crushing need to hike anywhere but there. And it isn't that I don't want to visit it. I do. It's that I don't feel in the right frame of mind to appreciate or enjoy it the way it deserves to be enjoyed (or appreciated) and if that's the case, I would rather not spoil the experience.
Now that you've endured those three rambling paragraphs, I thought I'd share something I found on Flickr while I was attempting to write this entry.
According to the photographer, this is looking over the Pyrenees, on the border between Spain and France. It's simply breathtaking.
I was originally looking for time-lapse videos of Yosemite. That led to this dizzying bike ride time-lapse from Housekeeping Camp to Happy Isles. Unsatisfied, I broadened the search for any hiking-related time-lapse videos. That led me to this:
While it's a beautiful photo created from a time-lapse, it wasn't what I wanted. A few more clicks led me to the video you see above and then I ran out of time.
It's past six and I'm off to work. Happy Friday, everybody.
Over the last few days, it has been impossible to write thoughts longer than 140-characters long. (That one was only 97 characters. See what I mean?) When it comes to the written word, it seems as though my brain is only willing to express itself in thought bites. Consider this post my brain's attempt to break free from the character-limit mindset. Think of it as a macrotwitter.
Since last week, work has been monopolizing my creative energy. My latest project is on my mind all of the time. Even as I write this, I can feel it tugging me back, and if it's affecting my writing, one of my great escapes and passions, then I know it's bad. On top of that, I've been sleeping less. No matter how late I fall asleep, I've been consistently waking up between 5:00 and 5:30 in the morning. The only solution I can see is to finish the project. The only problem is that it isn't something that can be finished overnight. It's going to take time (a whole lot of precious time), but if I keep going at this pace, I'll burn out long before I reach the end. I have to find a way to slow down and regain my life's equilibrium.
In addition to my work struggles, I recently ran into a snag with my sit spot challenge. I had wanted to start visiting my spot during day, but instead of breaking the night habit, I accidentally broke the sit spot habit. I finally managed to get back on track yesterday, and as soon as I finish this entry, I'll be making it two days in a row (technically, one day and one night in a row, but still...).
I think what I've truly been missing is a good hike -- a few hours of quality solitude, a few hours of one foot in front of the other, a few hours of no-tech trail time. In my bones, I can feel that it's what I really need to help me find some peace of mind. Unfortunately, that haven is still a few days away.
In the meantime, I'll have to make do, try to regain control of my creative energy where I can, and try to let go of the work that has such a tight grip on me. One thing that might help is some music, which brings me to the following video of George Harrison's "Got My Mind Set On You". I had to look it up as soon as the lyrics came to me a paragraph or two above. It's hard to believe Harrison covered the song twenty years ago.
