Californ-I-A

Whew - so I didn't think the 3 hour jet lag would be that big of a deal... but a person gets used to waking up at 7 PST after a day or two and it takes longer than that to wake up at 6:30 EST!

But I had a great time! Work-wise, we were able to answer some big questions that had been holding us back on the Puerto Rico project, but the coolest part was hangin' with Tanner Saturday and Sunday.

First, on Saturday we drove to Napa Valley and hit up a couple wineries for some ultra-classy wine-tasting. The coolest one was Sterling Winery because it had a gondola that took you to all the way up to the Sterling winery on top of a hill overlooking much of the valley area. Pretty sweet view!

Then on Saturday we went to San Francisco, visited the foggy golden-gate bridge and then hung out down by the wharf and ate a crab right out of its shell. Yah - pretty cool if you ask me. It made me realize that sea-crustaceans are really just big bugs. Sure, maybe not insects, but bugs. They have the creepy crawly legs, the tentacles, and the shifty eyes. I mean, I bet if you found a ginormouse grasshopper the size of a lobster, he'd have some pretty darn tasty legs. Sure, there's the exoskeleton to deal, but I bet the meat would look the exact same inside. So, eating sea food is really like eating a bunch of big bugs. I know you'll think of me next time you have a tasty lobster-tail. Oh, and you know that brown line on the shrimp? Yah, that's poop.

Ahhh... yum.

The CITYn

Wow - the last couple days have been a whirlwind. I just dropped Amber off at the airport, so forgive me if I'm a bit down in the mouth...

But did we have a blast before she headed out! Check out these pics

We found a parking spot right on Central Park West Ave! That meant that we spent 0$ instead of $20 for the first hour and $10 every hour after that.

NBC Studios

Rockefeller Center
Time Square
World Trade Center Ground Zero
Promenade Walkway on southern-most tip of Manhattan
Amber ;)
Amber with our friends Dave and Katrina
The "Comic Strip" where Seinfeld did his standup before all the "Seinfeld" episodes. And the comics sucked - real bad... oh well, it's NYC.

And then we hit the newest craze - spent almost 45 minutes in line waiting for "Pink Berry" ...which is a hyped up ice-cream that tastes like yogurt that you add breakfast cereal and fresh fruit to ...uh... make Pink Berry. Pretty tasty and pricey.

Sorry, I gotta run - but all-toll it was an incredible experience. I'll be in touch!

AT - That stands for Appalachian Trail :)

Wow - I never thought I'd ever be that close to getting lost in a forest - but we didn't and we're back! Albeit sore and tired, but bettered by the experience.

See I don't think the folks here have ever heard of "switchbacks" before, so when they see an incline they just tumble some rocks down the hill and Ka-zam - you have your trail.

Well - I'm goin a bit far. The trail was very well marked for the most part, but with no trail map and no prior experience in the area, Amber and I spent 4 hours hiking into the Delaware Water Gap only to find trails that led to unmarked roads that led to other unmarked roads. And I got that eery feeling that if we kept looking for the next trail that would loop us back to the start that we might end up on the evening news.

So we doubled back - and man are we glad we did! It's now leftovers, popcorn, and hot chocolate for us!

Alrighty - here's some sweet pics from the day...

Blogger is stupid and wouldn't let me rotate this sweet pic of me snacking on the native fungiThis is how the "AT" marks its trails


So I took this one facing the sun...And then composed ourselves for another shot...

Made friends with the locals


And so we conquered the mountain
Arighty, I'll leave you with a last picture of the Buttermilk Falls - the beginning and end of our adventure