I joined two of the interns for a "moderately challenging" hike Saturday at the Ranco San Antonio Open Space Preserve. We did the Wildcat Loop Trail and the trails leading to it in a little less than three hours.
Our original plan was to hike the trails at Alum Rock Park, but sadly, it was closed due to "extreme threat of fire."
Not so sadly, I found the Rancho San Antonio as an alternative.
Even though the signs at the parking entrance announced that the lots were full, we pulled in to find ample parking. The trails were a little bit crowded when we started around 11am with travellers on apparently their return hike, but as the early afternoon wore on, we found ourselves mostly alone.
There was a variety of wildlife along the trail, including a large family of quail (though some dumb Stanford students chased them off before we could get a picture!), a variety of lizards and snakes and lizards that looked like snakes or snakes that looked like lizards. One really bizarre tiny bright blue "snake" might have actually been a Western Skink. Looking at my pictures versus the California Herps website, the other lizards we saw were most likely the Great Basin Fence Lizard and a San Francisco Alligator Lizard. There were also a number of extremely bold black squirrels.
The hike wasn't too challenging aside from a few steep inclines, but my muscles are still aching quite a bit today.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Sinbad!
One of the ladies that ran my training classes yesterday is Sinbad's cousin. AWESOME
The transition to Big Kid Job has been pretty seamless thus far. Instead of planning goals for my training days and weeks ahead, now I plan *years* ahead.
Everyone gets really excited/surprised when they see I'm from Ohio. They looked at my birth certificate and driver's license as if I had turned something in from Bulgaria. What, Ohio? Where's the University of Toledo? I work alongside ivy league graduates. Personality and experience go a long way!
The transition to Big Kid Job has been pretty seamless thus far. Instead of planning goals for my training days and weeks ahead, now I plan *years* ahead.
Everyone gets really excited/surprised when they see I'm from Ohio. They looked at my birth certificate and driver's license as if I had turned something in from Bulgaria. What, Ohio? Where's the University of Toledo? I work alongside ivy league graduates. Personality and experience go a long way!
Sunday, June 1, 2008
San Francisco - More than Rice-a-Roni
Reuben gave us a great tour of San Francisco and Sausalito on Saturday. Thanks, Reuben!!
I had some awesome clam chowder in a bread bowl at Boudin's on the fisherman's wharf and caught some great shows by San Francisco street performers. We capped off the trip with a trolley car ride and a pit stop at the mall for restrooms... Guess what - the SanFran mall is a Westfield Shopping Center as well.
This slideshow is outside California and then into Reuben's tour.
I had some awesome clam chowder in a bread bowl at Boudin's on the fisherman's wharf and caught some great shows by San Francisco street performers. We capped off the trip with a trolley car ride and a pit stop at the mall for restrooms... Guess what - the SanFran mall is a Westfield Shopping Center as well.
This slideshow is outside California and then into Reuben's tour.
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