The Coastal Trail/Hidden Beach

On Saturday, we checked out another Humboldt hiking Trail... the Coastal Trail by Klamath, CA that goes to Hidden Beach.

It was very windy, but sunny and the views were great (sunglasses doubled for sun- and pollen-protection... my allergies have been horrible these past few days!).

 

 

Pepper loved Hidden Beach!

She had a pretty good time on the rest of the trail, too!

Louisville - highs and lows!

Despite not having a very good early bracket in this year's NCAA tournament (see prior post), I ended up finishing 5th in Apurva's bracket due to Louisville men winning it all (with my hubby coming in sixth)! The championship game against Michigan this past Monday was a great Final (although I'd picked Louisville to win the tournament, there was a large part of me cheering for the underdog, Michigan and in that sense it was a great game to watch, as [as RARELY happens] I didn't really mind any outcome). Despite Kevin Ware sustaining a horrific open leg fracture during Duke earlier in the tournament (I'm a medical person and the replays were gruesome to watch!), the Cardinals rallied to win it all!

I became a fan of Lousville's women's basketball team after seeing them take out Baylor (they almost choked away large lead but hung on to win it) and then Tennessee. It was pretty heartbreaking to see them be dominated by UCONN in the Final (did I mention that I hate favored/perpetually No. 1 teams?), but they have a lot to be proud of this season.

Until next year's March Madness... here's onto April!

Don't'cha know

Kelvin recently forwarded me this funny buzz-feed: 38 Things Minnesotans Are Too Nice to Brag About.


I often don't really feel that I have a "home state." However, while I went to HS and college in Virginia and have spent the last 6 years in California, I would probably call Minnesota as "home a state" as I have. I fondly remember most summers of my childhood which were spent in MN where almost all of my Dad's family still resides, and I spent a very memorable, cold four years of med school there in Rochester, too (yeah, No. 24 [The Mayo Clinic]!).

It's easy to poke fun at the Minnesotan accents like in "Fargo," [which is actually in North Dakota, where I have other relatives, but close to the border].  However, as you can see by the article, Minnesotans have a lot to be proud of!

They are some of the nicest people you will ever meet (so nice, in fact, that in medical school we termed the polite response  [which was really NO!] to "Do you want to do..... x, y, or z?" the "Mayo-maybe." I love my MN buddies and family!

Pardon some of the language/images in the pictures; however, I still found this post amusing, and it made me a bit nostalgic. Lucky Charms really was the cereal of my Minnesota-summer-childhood.

I also love the (No. 16) tater-tot casserole (or HOT DISH), but where's the "jello salad" in this list? (MN is notorious for anything, even without fruits/veggies, being labeled a "salad").

Did you learn something new about the Land of 10,000 Lakes?

Agate hunting and a Birthday

On Saturday, to celebrate Alyssa's birthday, a group of us went out to the beach near Big Lagoon to go agate-hunting. While this is a hobby that is quite popular in the North Coast (as it is in areas south, too), it was my first time.

 Caley, Irene, Peggy, Alyssa, Amber, me

Hunting for agates requires a lot of patience (unfortunately, not something I have much of), and a very good eye. You have to crouch down and sift through lots of ocean-polished stones to find the clear, swirled rocks. I am sad to say that I was quite unsuccessful.

Here are some very large agate (sliced and polished), which are very rare.

We were looking for much smaller rocks, on the order of 0.5- 1 cm.

Alyssa, who grew up going agate hunting and tidepooling, was the real expert.  Whenever one of us found a questionable rock, we had to go to her for verification/confirmation of its agate-status (her response was, most commonly in her very kind manner, "I don't think that's an agate, but it's very pretty!).

(this photo isn't very good, but here is a real agate that Kristen found)

 Caley, Alyssa, me

After getting our soles all sandy at the beach, we relaxed a bit and got pedicures, which was an activity I enjoyed more as it had a much more favorable result (something pretty to show for it!) :)

It was Amber's first time getting her feet pampered  (check our her apprehensive expression!)

The special birthday girl!

Thanks, Alyssa, for introducing me to this new activity! I hope you found some nice stones and had a wonderful day!

more than the eggs

Easter is here!

I know it's easy to get caught up in this...

  elhadadepapel.blogspot.com

 marthastewart.com

ourbestbites.com 

(creative Easter Egg Decorating ideas from a cute site, which I really enjoyed viewing despite being the least crafty person you will ever meet and someone who never decorates Easter eggs)...

... and this:

(heavenly Cadbury creme eggs, perhaps my favorite edible item in the whole world... and which I long for most Easters like this one, after I often give up chocolate for Lent)...

However, what we need to be overjoyed about is: the resurrection of our Savior!

Here are the lyrics and a recording of one of my favorite hymns, which we sang this morning at Sunday service:

       Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia! 
 Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia! 
 Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia! 
 Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia! 

        Love's redeeming work is done, Alleluia! 
 Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia! 
 Death in vain forbids him rise, Alleluia! 
 Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia! 

        Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia! 
 Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia! 
 Once he died our souls to save, Alleluia! 
 Where's thy victory, boasting grave? Alleluia! 

Happy Easter!

not something we see every day

When returning home after a nice post-work walk with Pepper at the Marsh yesterday, we spotted this convertible parked outside the house next door, which struck us as very odd.

Convertibles are a rarity here with the awful weather! (I'm not sure I've ever seen an actual convertible, much less someone driving one, in this county!).
Sunshine is so rare!
Blue sky is almost never seen!

This (iPhone) picture captures all of that.  While we have had glorious weather in Arcata the past 1.5 days (sunny and 65-- as "summery" as it ever gets here), the forecast (surprise, surprise) calls for rain later today.  Back to the norm.

Maybe I should tell our neighbor (or a naive friend of his visiting from So Cal) that he'd better put his top up ASAP.

Bracket, busted...

... and why I probably shouldn't quit my day job (as much as I have complained about it recently).

It is (still) March. We love watching sports; we love college basketball. It has been wonderful to be off call on recent weekends and free to watch lots of the games of the NCAA tournament. However, I must say that I'm pretty abysmal at picking tournament winners. Mostly I pick early round winners based on personal/location ties (with the Spiders not in the tourney, I picked VCU [out already] to go to all of the championship game) or something other than solid research, although I feel that it is step up from choosing based on uniforms' attractiveness. I have rooted for Butler [out already] when they lost in both championship games in 2010 and 2011. I definitely like the underdogs and generally root against any team from around Durham, NC.

Florida Gulf Coast University is my new favorite team, who won me over when one of its guards in-bounded a ball off a Georgetown player's rear, when he was facing the other way, for an easy lay-up. Best highlight I've seen (even better than their alley-oop dunks!).

Thank you to Apurva, who again this year made a "POD" ESPN bracket (for fame, not money, thankfully!). Check out the screen shots below-- the first is the "un-Elite Eight." Although my chosen tournament winner is still in the tournament, I am only ahead of 5 people in the 27-person pool... a pool which includes my dear husband, who most often beats me in anything we try (not that either of us is competitive or anything :)).

Here is what it looks like at the top:

Seriously??  89.8% in this year of upsets?! We'll just see who stays up there after this weekend! We are excited for Sweet Sixteen tomorrow!