quasigeostrophy | See Palo Alto by Bike!

OK, that's the last time I leave work early with a coworker to go on a 20-mile ride without a map. It was a fun ride, and we needed it after days (weeks, months) of this mind-numbing project. We took off from the edge of Palo Alto and Mountain View, into the Portola Valley area and Woodside. Went through some very beautiful countryside and challenging hills. We came back into Palo Alto on Sand Hill Rd (gotta be careful coming down that hill not to ride right onto the entrance ramp for I-280!) and somehow missed a turn. Palo Alto traffic sucks at rush hour, more so if you are on a bicycle. We pulled into the Stanford Shopping Center to get our bearings (I knew where we were - been to that mall a lot for Boudin's and Phileas Fogg's before it closed, but didn't know the best bike route). There was no way we were going to go down El Camino. We had a plan to get back to my coworker friend's 4-Runner, but somehow still missed a turn, and ended up going down Alma for several miles. Eek!! And I wanted to avoid El Camino. Sheesh. Got back okay, and drove to the Willow Glen area of San Jose for some margaritas (and dinner). Ever try to change clothes in the driver's seat of a Ford Escort? What if you're 5' 9" 220 lbs.? I amazed myself. A great Aqi Lemonade and chicken tamale topped off the evening, though I didn't sleep well. Late rides kick in too much adrenaline.

Gotta stay awake today. Too many things to wrap up on my last full day in the SF Bay area for a while. Will miss all the folks here. Will definitely be back (though I should come back purely for personal reasons sometime). Can't wait to see