February 3, 2010 at 5:40 am · Filed under Hiking Club
Hiking Little Yosemite Falls in Sunol
Sharon, Aleta, Shirley, Muff and Angelika joined me for the hike to Little Yosemite Falls in Sunol. As you can see I don’t have a photo of the falls but Sharon took some good ones and I know she will be sending them on.
We stopped at Bosco’s in Sunol for lunch to say ’so long for now’ to Jacky as she leaves for southern California. Bobbi and Celia joined us for lunch. Our group photo was taken at the restaurant’s bar with Bosco behind Muff in the picture. We well all miss Jacky and hope she comes back to the area.
January 30, 2010 at 8:06 am · Filed under Gad-Abouts
San Ramon Gad-Abouts Visit Walt Disney Family Museum & the Presidio
What a blast we had at the Gad-Abouts outing on January 28,2010. The group went to the Walt Disney Family Museum and took a shuttle tour of the Presidio.
We started the day setting up five car pools for all 21 of us to carpool together. While driving in caravan formation with cell phones constantly ringing between cars, we discovered there are two – 104 Montgomery St. addresses in SF (our intended destination). The maps were wrong and the GPS’s had us going all over town, which was all part of the fun, but we finally ended up at the right place.
The exhibits in the museum are arranged in chronological order, recounting the history of Walt Disney’s life and career…very interesting. We had lunch at the Museum Café operated by Wolfgang Puck…very tasty!
January 12, 2010 at 11:12 am · Filed under Hiking Club
Trekking the Wilds with Friends
On the Friday hike, Sharon, Bobbi, Muff, Lois, Angelika, Shirley, Aleta joined me for a vigorous, we believe 6 mile, hike. It was a foggy day so we could not see across the Strait and during the last mile we actually had light drizzle. It was refreshing to be out hiking, getting our grove back for our weekly exercise and catching up with each other. What a wonderful group of women! Its a privilege to help lead the hikes with Sharon.
November 30, 2009 at 8:28 am · Filed under Hiking Club
Hiking Around Lake Chabot
I hope your Thanksgiving was as nice as mine. We enjoyed our Turkey and the works and afterwards my husband and I took a walk out along Finley Rd. It was a beautiful day for a walk.
Here is the recap for our last hike on Nov. 20th. Five of us, Shirley, Aleta, Fran, Angelika, and Sharon hiked around the far side of Lake Chabot. The skies were dark but the rain held off until the very end of our hike.
We saw a lot of birds along the lake including a blue heron, egrets, and swans. We crossed a bridge and continued around the lake until we got to a small dock. We turned around where the trail starts to climb up into the hills. The skies told us it was time to head back to the cars. We hiked for 2 hours.
November 22, 2009 at 5:20 am · Filed under Hiking Club
Hiking Point Pinole
Nov. 13, we had a beautiful day for a hike at Point Pinole. The hike took us along the shoreline for most of the 5/2 mile hike which we accomplished in 2 hr. 15 minutes. Along the way we stopped to see what remained of a large explosive manufacturing industry that was in the once remote area from 1880-1960. We saw sunken bunkers, a black powder press, and a the foundation of a dynamite packing building.
Most of the area has been restored to beautiful marshes where we saw egrets, herons, and shorebirds including sandpipers. The area is home to several endangered shorebirds. A “birder” pointed out two peregrine falcons to us and let us look through her binoculars at them. We only saw one monarch butterfly so we were too early to see them in mass like we did when we went in 2005. We also saw one hummingbird.
There were quite a few fishermen fishing for striped bass on or near the pier.
Hikers were Angelika S., Aleta S., Muff C., Bobbi J., Judie B, and Sharon K. AFterwards we had sandwiches at Kinders in Hercules.
November 13, 2009 at 5:38 am · Filed under Book Club
2009 Holiday Luncheon for the Book Club
Date: Dec. 8- Tuesday
Time: 12:30
Where: Esin Restaurant – 750 Camino Ramon – Danville
The book club will meet at a delightful local restaurant in December. The menu is varied and has something for everyone. The club will not select a book for December, but I ask you to share one interesting nonfiction book and tell the group about it. Please RSVP to Suzanne Ziarnik at 830-8339 by Sunday, Dec. 6, so I can notify the restaurant. If you have any questions, please call Suzanne Ziarnik.
November 9, 2009 at 2:16 pm · Filed under Hiking Club
We had very good weather, sunny most of the day and dark clouds gathered only at the end of the hike.
This wide service road took us by Balancing rock, great for our group photo. Shirley, Muff, Sharon, Angelika, Bobbi, and Marie joined me on this up and down hike, not as easy and level as I believed from the hike description, giving us a little workout.
We took the trail to the fence line and then a short right spur to a rock outcropping. Angelika and I climbed around the rocks finding a sandstone cave like section.
October 24, 2009 at 12:10 pm · Filed under Wine Club
A Good Time Was Had by All (who received the change in venue!):
The Wine Appreciation Group met at Tracey & Craig Harper’s house this month on October 9th due to a mix-up at Corks Wine Store where it was originally planned to be held. Seems that their manager left them “high and dry” (no pun intended…well, maybe a little one). Anyway, lots of tricks and treats were had by all with Craig making his ghoulish turkey chili and Tracey’s sumptuous corn muffins not to mention numerous other tasty tidbits brought by all who attended, including a bottle of Bent Creek’s finest provided by Gil as a pre-tasting wine.
And the winner is…
The biggest treat of the evening was our third tasting, Satyrs’ Pond Winery, 2005, Meritage. So you may want to pick up a bottle and treat yourself. It’s available at Corks Wine Store (www.corkswinestore.com).
Only 275 cases produced
Suggested Retail: $56.00
Composition: 51% Merlot, 39% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petite Verdot, 4% Cabernet Franc
Sharon, Aleta, Shirley, Muff and Angelika joined me for the hike to Little Yosemite Falls in Sunol. As you can see I don’t have a photo of the falls but Sharon took some good ones and I know she will be sending them on. 
The Wine Appreciation Group met at Tracey & Craig Harper’s house this month on October 9th due to a mix-up at Corks Wine Store where it was originally planned to be held. Seems that their manager left them “high and dry” (no pun intended…well, maybe a little one). Anyway, lots of tricks and treats were had by all with Craig making his ghoulish turkey chili and Tracey’s sumptuous corn muffins not to mention numerous other tasty tidbits brought by all who attended, including a bottle of Bent Creek’s finest provided by Gil as a pre-tasting wine.