What a weekend!

5/11-5/13/12

Kelly and I had a truly epic weekend this past week. In the interest of launching the new "Pastures" page I thought I 'd post up a little debrief of what went down so that there would be a post to put on it.

Pastures will be a medium for us to share activities, events, and places that we think are a good time.
It'll most likely be kept to arts, the great outdoors, and community enrichment activities (all of which I could stand to experience a lot more of).

*I really don't want this to turn into gross, ego stroking, narcissistic, way too public journal where we constantly update the collective meat-wad as to our every bone-chillingly-mediocre daily activities... So we'll try to hold ourselves to a standard of quick, informative posts.*

Anyways.

Friday night Kel and I went to Berkley Rep and saw "In Paris," an amazingly beautiful, artistic, and humble play about an unlikely couple of Russian ex-pats in living in Paris in the 30s (I think, maybe the 20s?). Their paths cross at a neighborhood restaurant and they fall in love. The story is super charming, and comforted me with the perspective that we are all much smaller, simpler, and more human than we often get carried away with thinking we are.

Mikhail Baryshnikov produced and starred in it. Only a bit of dancing though. It was abstract (in my estimation at least-- I'm no theater critic) and performed exclusively in Russian and French with English "super titles." Really rad. We've seen a lot of great theater this year, but this was by far our favorite.



And then, on Saturday... RIDE FOR A REASON! <--follow the donations link ;)

Ian Sportz

My friend Ian is a science teacher at Claremont Middle School in Berkley. Being the great-dude that he is he had me sign up to participate in Ride for a Reason. It is a big fundraiser for his public school district that has participants ride from Oakland Tech High to the steps of the Capital to raise money and visibility for the hugely underfunded CA Public Schools.

The Trusty Steed

We started at around 6:30am, and came into Sacramento at 3ish. This was definitely a cut above other century rides I have done in the past; A perfectly planned rout through spectacular country, more than ample refreshments, and lots of friendly faces. The girls drove the rout and were waiting at all of the stops to encourage and inspire. The good company, positive vibes, and plentiful beer and cookies at the end were the icing on the cake. Killer day.


Chelse and Kel

Free Beer!

Anybody looking for a great weekend ride should make a point to check out the route and pick a section to enjoy (my favorite part was the first 40 mi. Awesome climbs, decents, and scenery coming out of the Berkley hills and then a mellow wind through vineyards).

We wrapped the day up with some tasty beers at The Trappist in Oakland. US Alive, and #7 were the crowd favorites.