Pinot Noir

I've been pretty lucky so far with the Pinot Noir choies so far. Yesterday, while at Trader Joe's in Cupertino, I thought I'd died and gone to Heaven. The pinots were plentiful and well priced. I picked up a 2007 California Red Truck pinot from Sonoma. Loved it. Tonight, I'm sampling the 2006 Mission Point Pinot Noir from Santa Maria. Another winner. Austin needs a Trader Joe's.

Wayfinding

I interrupt this vacation to make a point about wayfinding. Over the last five days I've been able to find my way throughout Central California by feel, or probably more accurately, by way of very well designed wayfinding measures that are unknown to me. I've driven, criss-crossing well over 1,000 square vacation miles without getting lost. I found Sausalito, Haight-Ashbury, Fisherman's Wharf and Apple's HQ without a map. Haight-Ashbury was easy. You find a psychedelic store front or mural with people wearing tie-dye and then try to determine in which direction it becomes more concentrated. You have to keep in mind that smoke shops and images of Bob Marley count as well.

Wayfinding and good design is like that. It doesn't get in the way but feels right, looks right, gets the job done. San Francisco is north, Santa Cruz is south and all the other Sans and Santas are in between. Almost. Santa Cruz is my mental southern boundary. Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, etc. don't exist at least on this trip.

Wayfinding encompasses all of the ways in which people and animals orient themselves in physical space and navigate from place to place.

Wayfinding is often used to refer to traditional navigation methods used by indigenous peoples. In more modern times, wayfinding is used in the context of architecture to refer to the user experience of orientation and choosing a path within the built environment, and it also refers to the set of architectural and/or design elements that aid orientation.

My first encounter with problematic wayfinding techniques happened on the second day here when I entered the ice rink for the first time.  Kayla was to get some ice time to rehearse her routine for the competition the following morning. Kayla said she was on the yellow rink. Looking to my right, the rafters overhead were painted yellow and the trim at the top of the barrier was yellow as were the baseboards. No brainer I thought. The YELLOW rink was right in front of us. Wrong. That was the red rink. The yellow rink was in the back.

Stopping one of the San Jose Sharks hockey players I asked where the yellow rink was. "Yellow rink," he said. "All I know are the north, south, east and west rinks. No colors." Even directional navigation only works if you know which way is one direction, in relation to north. I'm sure the person that came up with the color coded method of navigation was confused with the NSEW method and decided to substitute their own for the figure skating competition. Yeah, the colors fixed e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. Over the course of the next day I heard a lot of, "You're over there! Or is it over there?" I also noticed there are a lot of skaters and coaches screaming, cussing and running through the hallways. By the way, all of the rinks had yellow rafters and yellow trim.

I encountered the second wayfinding example this morning. A simple hotel map or so it should have been. Locate the gym on the map (see below & click on the map to enlarge) and see if you think it's on the second floor or the Lobby floor, which I suppose is the first floor. Hint, the gym is on the right of the rectangular shape in the upper center of the map. The image you see there rotates with two ads for restaurants in the hotel. So if you were looking at the actual map, you would have 10 seconds to find where you are before a photo of a big steak took it's place. Good Luck!

Bye to Los Gatos and Hello San Jose

There weren't this many people on the Los Gatos track this morning but it started to feel like it was getting close. I started on the track with only three men doing 400-meter repeats. By the time I finished running some sprints on the football field there were at least three boot camps set up around the field.

Do barefoot sprints on the manicured grass was a treat. In Austin, there are usually signs stating to keep off the grass. Not so in Los Gatos and the grass was in much, much better shape. You almost felt like you had to go through a workout with such great grass and conditions. The dew and cold made the feet go numb rather quickly. I'm going to miss that track for the remainder of the trip as we change hotels to San Jose this afternoon. Given my quads are now thoroughly trashed and sore from yesterday's hill run and today's sprints, I may stay in the hotel gym tomorrow.

I tasted the best Mahi Mahi 've ever had down at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco yesterday. Fantastic food. A little too crowded in the city for my taste. Maybe I've been in the burbs too long. Too much congestion gets my anxiety going.

I'm a big lover of Tex-Mex so it was interesting eating in a Cal-Mex restaurant today. The Aqui Restaurant treated us to some fantastic organic Cal-Mex which was similar to organic, up-scale Tex Mex. The salmon taco was exceptional, dressed with some cabbage and nuts and a variety of salsas. The margarita swirled with sangria quenched my thirst, although it's difficult to build up a thirst when the temperature varies from 57 degrees to a high of 77.

Kayla beat out six other ice skaters in her first solo competition this morning, winning second place. This was the last time she skated to the theme song from the Titanic. She'll select a new routine and outfit for next year.

Missed It By _______ Much!

In search of fish tacos yesterday, I missed them by ____ much. they were just next door to the Whale City Bakery, Bar & Grill. I discounted the dive next door to the Bar & Grill. It's ok as the food at Whale City was good, the Corona Lights were cold and the view of the Pacific Ocean was spectacular.

The day was spent winding our way to San Francisco by way of Route 1. Lots of beach stops. Lots of fog banks. Lots of fun.

Driving through San Francisco was interesting. We went over the Golden Gate Bridge twice. Once, to get to Muir Woods and it was clear and sunny. Going back it was foggy. It was amazing to see people on July 27 wearing coats. I couldn't believe it was that cool. In fact, watching the Weather Channel last night it looked like San Francisco was the coolest spot in the nation, except for maybe Alaska.

Muir Woods was an amazing experience. I don't know if I was more fascinated with the size of the giant redwoods or how clean the air was. It definitely had it's own unique scent. The winding drive up the mountain almost had Kayla blowing dumplings in the back seat.

I decided for this morning's run I'd play it by ear and not go back to the track. My gut said to do a neighborhood run easy for an hour. The easy neighborhood run turned into a tough hill workout as I climbed to 1200 feet at the top of 16448 Eugenia Way. I started at 500 feet so a net gain of 700 feet of running uphill made for a great workout. So although I missed the fish tacos, I found just the right running trail for the day. Off to San Francisco for more exploring.

Los Gatos

This was the first time in as long as I can remember that I didn't get sick after getting off the plane. Maybe it was the extra water I drank, the extra helping of Emergen-C powders. Who knows. No lie. As soon as I turned on the radio in the rental SUV Jeep they were playing Hotel California by the Eagles. Maybe it was a sign of things to come and that I won't be able to leave. Want to hear something even more strange? The next song played was the theme song from Titanic, which is what Kayla is skating to in two days.

I hadn't found a trail for my running workouts. Everything looked too urban or too far to get to by foot so I left that part of the trip planning alone until I got to Los Gatos. Los Gatos is a small community of 24,000 outside of San Jose. Once I got to the lodge the workouts were already taken care of. Next to the lodge was the high school track and enormous baseball field next to the track.

I got in some speedwork this morning and finished up on the track as the local bootcampers made their way onto the field. I then went over to the baseball field and did some sprints on the cool grass barefoot. My feet were numb, as it was that cold on the ground. The temperature was in the low 60s and the humidity was around 81%.  

When I first got to the track, there was heavy fog in the hills nearby. It reminded me of Hawaii. All that was missing was the rich smells of Kauai.

In terms of wine tasting, I tried the Bogle chardonay while at Opa's Greek restaurant and it was good. Later I bought a bottle of Castoro Cellars 2006, Pinot Noir from Whole Foods Market and it was sensational.

Link Friday

FOOT SMART: Even your everyday shoes can prevent injuries.

Where can we swim when Barton Springs closes?

Running barefoot mixes emotions

The Claim: Red Wine Is Better for You Than White

Are Indoor Pools Bad for Your Lungs?

To Run Better, Start by Ditching Your Nikes - A WIRED Magazine article that continues the controversy. Barefoot running anyone?

The Atmospheric Dishwasher Has Arrived

Good rain coming down right now in Austin. I'd go run in it but there is quite a bit of lightning associated with the storm. The pollution levels are dropping so everything should be scrubbed clean for a morning run. I have scheduled a stationary bike tomorrow evening but I have to get out in the clean air. It's all about being a reed in the wind. Right? Even the pool will be cooler with the rainwater. Loving it.