The Hoosier Diaspora

Fresnel lens - 
Originally uploaded by khob

Marc, Matt P, and I took off to see Point Reyes park and the lighthouse there. Good times. The lighthouse has was first lit in 1870, and it’s quite a sight to see. It’s situated halfway down a cliff in the foggiest and windiest place imaginable. The “first order fresnel lens” is the only one still in operation in the world, and it’s a pretty amazing device. The park was beautiful, with grasslands and giant redwoods in different areas, as well as the coastal beach area.

We stopped off for lunch at a czech restaurant called Vladimir’s, which was a nice mom and pop shop operated since 1960.

There’s a flickr set, as always.

Slopes - 
Originally uploaded by khob

Dani and I took off for a nice stay in Winter Park. A beautiful area and a nice relaxing weekend. The hotel was really nice and had a murphy bed for some reason. I guess for hosting parties it makes sense. The ride up the ski lift was pretty terrifying, I’m not going to lie. The views were great, except for the devastation that the bark beetles are causing. I enjoy taking these nice little day trips, and this was a really good one.

As always, pictures in the flickr gallery

How they bowled in the middle ages - 
Originally uploaded by khob

I went on a quick trip back to Denver, and Dani had a wonderful surprise waiting for me: A ren fair! Good. Times. I picked up a beer horn while there, and kicked some ass in the shuriken throw game.

Pictures in the flickr gallery

The current lineup - 
Originally uploaded by khob

Matt W’s mentor Rob and his friend Fred took the Matts, Pat, and me to a tour of Anchor Brewing then to a Giants game. An awesome day and much appreciation to the cool dudes who made this possible. If you’re a beer person and you’re going to be in the SF area, it’s well worth a tour of one of the oldest breweries in the country and the only one to still make “steam” beer, over a hundred years later.

Pictures in the flickr gallery, as always

Rugged outdoorsman - 
Originally uploaded by khob

The Matts and I took off on a bike tour of San Francisco, across the golden gate bridge into Sausalito, then a ferry back. Good times. The Marin aluminum frame road bike I was riding was really nice, but definitely a pretty stiff ride. I can tell the difference between that and the cro moly frame I tried at University Bikes.

As always, there’s a flickr gallery of pictures.

I come for you, Japan. It’s Godzilla! - 
Originally uploaded by khob

Matt P, Dave and I took off for one more weekend in SF before Dave left. We toured the tea gardens, De Young gallery (just the cafe and the observation deck), and the california academy of science which as always was great.

There’s a flickr set as always.

Tower and fountain - 
Originally uploaded by khob

Pleasanton CA is a nice little town, and one of the things they do there is to sell tickets to the “wine stroll”. Basically a bunch of local wineries (there are a lot) come downtown to set up a little booth in the stores downtown, so you can buy a ticket and wander around all evening sampling local wines. Good times.

A few weekends ago, Dave, Matt P and I took off one day to wander around the Stanford campus. Matt P. had a friend that was going here, so she showed us around and gave us a personal tour of the place which was really nice.

There is of course a flickr photo set with pictures of both.

A few weekends back, Dave, Matt W. and I took off for a nice day of a tour of the Berkeley campus and a tour of Pyramid brewery. Berkeley is a beautiful campus even if all the buildings were locked. Pyramid makes one damn fine Hefeweizen among other things. The food was good too. Well worth a trip if you’re in the area. As usual, there’s a flickr photo set if anyone is interested.