What's new with the Schanker's

Well, not to much really. This weekend was pretty low key as we were still resting up from our N. Cali Vacation. We managed to get some stuff done around the house. I mostly got done with painting our master bath while Dave cleaned out the garage. After going to Napa, I really want to put down the heated tile flooring in the master bath. It would be so nice on those cold winter mornings. So the time has changed and boy can we tell fall is here. I went for a 6 mile run yesterday and I loved seeing all the yellow fallen leaves on the roads. Our lows at night have been really getting down there too. Last week the thermometer on the car read 37 while I was driving into work. It's almost time to break out my winter coat and gloves. : )

So the other thing I did this weekend was a lot of thinking...about photography that is.

Since I was a little kid I’ve always had a love for Photography. I remember taking some birthday money when I was about 8 to Kmart and buying my first 35mm camera. (I had a 110mm before that). Remember those days of film and you had to choose between 35 and 110? Wow that seems so long ago. The camera I bought was bright pink, but I was so happy to have my own camera. Our house is decorated in almost every room with photos that I have taken. So I’ve decided that I want to become more advanced in my photography skills. As most of you know when Dave and I won some money off a slot machine in Vegas over a year ago, I took that money and invested in a Digital SLR. I’ve seen my photography improve over the last year, but I still have a lot to learn. So this weekend I drove myself down to Barnes and Nobles and searched through tons of photography books. When I finally found one I liked, I bought it and headed home. I figure this is my first step in the right direction. But I think I really should find some sort of class to enroll in. I know it’s going to take a lot of effort, but it’s something I am totally dedicated too. Check out this photo from Yosemite, I love the colors of the leaves and the contrast against the dark tree trunks.

And the winner is...

So I decided to enter my first amateur photo contest with one of my photos from yosemite. It's not much just a $100 cash prize. So we'll see if it at least gets picked as a finalist. I hope so. I submitted one of the photos I took at Yosemite this weekend. I think its one of the best I've taken as far as coloring goes. The finalists are supposed to be posted weekly. Wish me luck!

Check this link next week to see if I won.
http://www.quantum-leap-strategies.com/photo_contest/photo_contest_landscapes.html

Details of our Northern Cali Trip

See all vacation photos at www.schanker.smugmug.com - look under California Travels - Northern Cali Trip

Day 8: Yose-Mite National Park, Again...
To finish off our trip, we decided to spend a day at Yosemite, NP. We spent the night before at Curry Village on the Valley Floor. This time of year is kind of conflicting. It’s amazing because of tge cool crisp air and the leaves changing colors. But at the same time it’s a little sad because there is hardly any water flowing. Yosemite Falls was virtually dry, the Merced River was so low you couldn’t do any sort of kayaking, and Mirror Lake was dry as a bone. We still enjoyed the scenery of the park and spent the day hiking. We did a 5 mile loop near Mirror Lake in the morning. By the time we got done it was time for lunch. We stopped at the deli for sandwiches and then we headed over to Yosemite Lodge area for one more hike. This was short but steep. It took up to a rock to look out over the valley. I can tell I’m really improving on my photography skills. I got some great shots of the valley floor in the later afternoon hours.
After getting my photos I wanted, Dave and I headed out of the park to get home. We arrived at our house later than we wanted, about 10:30. But it was well worth it for the day at Yosemite.

Day 7: Horses, Driving, Photos, and Yosemite at Night
This morning we left San Fran, but not until we stopped for some photos of post card row. We had planned to go through Golden Gate Park, but we got a much later start to the day then originally planned. So that got put off until the next trip. We headed out of the city to Bay Meadows Horsetrack since Dave loves the hores races. It gave him a chance to see a new track and offered me opportunities to take photos. we stayed for a couple of hours and dave actually had a lucky day. We figure that made up for some of the money we spent on wine in Napa! : )
Once we left the track it was off to Yosemite. We didn't arrive there until 7:30pm. So it was dark adn we missed the start gazing show at Glacier Point. Instead we wandered around, ate pizza, and admired the stars from the valley floor. Then we watched a little bit of a movie in our tent before going to sleep. The tent was heated, so it was actually really comfortable but made us feel like we were camping. I was so exhasuted from the previous days that I slept great. But I was so excited for the next day. As I have said many times, I really love Yosemite!

Day 6 : Our Third Day in Frisco
This morning Dave and i got up early so we could get down to fisherman's Wharf to rent our bicycles. We rode the bikes along the bike trail to go over the Golden gate bridge. I stopped several times to take photos. I have so many photos of the bike trip. We really had a lot of fun. After going over the bridge, we ended up in a small town of sausalito. Where we had lunch at a cute restaurant. We then showered and changed to head out with our friends form FL, who just happened to be on vacation at the same place and same time. So all of us headed over to Alcatraz. We got to watch the sunset behind the golden gate bridge from the island. When we got back to the city we all headed to the Little Italy portion of town for dinner. after dinner some of us decided we wanted to go out. So we headed to Union Square and shared a bottle of wine in the hotel room. Then it was off to the Irish Pubs. It was a lot of fun hanging out since we don't get to see each other very often. We ended up staying out til 2am when the bar shut down. It was a nice evening and a lot of fun!

Day 5 : Touring San Fran
Today was day 5 of our vacation...I can't believe how fast it has gone by! This morning was spent wadering aroud the Union Square area. Then we spent the rest of the day wandring around the rest if the city. We walked down Lombard street, watched the Sea Lions at Fisherman's Wharf, and went to the top of Coit Tower. After wandering around the city, we ate dinner at China Town. The food was pretty good. Afterwards Dave and I ended up at a Piano Bar to enjoy some irish beer. We really like the location of our hotel. It is so conveinent. We have tons of restuarants and transporation right outside the door of our hotel.

Day 4 : Sonoma and San Fran
Today we wined and dined....again! This morning we woke up to enjoy our wonderful breakfast from the bakery at our cottage. Bouchon bakery has some gooooooddd stuff. After breakfast we checked out of the cottages, which was kinda sad. It meant Napa was over and our stay at the cottage was too. But we truly enjoyed our stay there. Se then headed over to Sonoma, for a few more wine tastings and lunch. We did wine tastings at 3 sonoma wineries and bought two more bottles of wine. We are coming back to lancaster with so much wine, I truly don't know where we are going to put it. After sonoma, we headed to San fran to check into our hotel the Villa Florence. It's not as nice as the cottage, but its a cute Italian style hotel. The rooms are small, but we are in a great location...Union Square. After checking in we walked around the city through china town and eventually ended up at Fisherman's Wharf. At the wharf we saw seals, wandered around, and ate dinner at Scoma's. Dinner was so good...we had seafood cannelloni and dungeness crab cakes. It was so good. Then we stopped at Ghiradelli's for some chocolate to take home. Come back and check our blog to see our adventures from San Fran. We will be here for two more days.

Day 3: More Napa Valley
October 17th was Dave and I's anniversary. So this was a special day in Napa. We truly had a memorable and good day. We started off with our basket of breakfast in the morning. Then we were on our way we started out at Robert Sinskey Winery, then it was on to Mumm Napa. Mumm was interesting because it was strictly sparkling wine We sat at a table overlooking the valley while we tasted our wines. when the server found out it was our anniversary she decided to give us a taste of a special sparkling wine. I thought that was really nice of them. after mum we made the trek into the hills to this place called Rust Ridge. It caught our attention since they apparently train throughbred race horses there. It was this small winery, almost kind of shady. But the wine was good and we enjoyed the horses. Next it was back to mainstream Napa. We made stops at 3 or 4 more wineries, including Beringer. However Beringer to me was just a touristy winery. By 6pm we were back at the cottage to get ready for our dinner. We ate our anniversary dinner at PJ's Steakhouse. The food was amaing!!!! What a great dinner. I had salmon and Dave had short ribs. We even ordered "our favorite" for dessert...Creme Brulee. Dinner was complete with a bottle of Dry Riesling. To complete the evening Dave and I sat by the fire at our cottage and just relaxed. We never got to drink our champagne, because we were to full. So hopefully tonight. Today we are leaving Napa and heading to San Fran. I'll keep trying to post things, but I don't know if I can access the Internet.

Day 2: Our Napa Valley Arrival
This morning we woke up to a rainy campsite. So we decided to pack everything up, change, and start driving. Our navigation system told us it would take bout 2 hours to get to Napa. So we started driving and stopped for a coffee and a small breakfast in this cute town called Saratoga, CA. Then it was on to Napa Valley. We arrived about 10:45am, and were at our first winery by a little after 11. We visited 6 wineries, and tasted at 5. We bought wine at 3 of the wineries. So we have more wine to add to our wine fridge collection. One of the wineries told us to try the Rutherford Grill for lunch. So we headed over there and have a really good lunch including a glass of Pinot Grigio. Once evening was upon us, we tracked down our lodging location. we are staying at the Napa Valley Cottages. They are so cute! We have our own cottage complete with King Bed, kitchen area, fireplace, outdoor fireplace, and heated tile floor in the bathroom! In the morning they bring us our breakfast in a basket. It is truley the cutest place I have ever stayed. A great place to spend our anniversary.

Day 1: Camping at Big Basin Redwoods State Park

On Sunday morning Dave and I got up bright an early to finish packing and get out the door. We stopped for breakfast at Carrow’s in Lancaster, and then it was time to hit the road. We drove up to the Santa Cruz area and headed into the mountains to Big Basin State Park. This is one of the many parks in the area with California Redwood trees. We set up our campsite and went for a 3 mile hike. It was already pretty late in the day (3pm) so we figured 3 miles would be good for the day. It was really nice to just wander around on the trails through the redwoods. Although I have to say the redwoods just are not as impressive as the Sequoias. After the hike we went back to the campsite and then headed into town for dinner at this cute italian restaurant. After dinner it was back to the campsite to start our fire and roast marshmallows. By the time we got back to camp the temperature had dropped to 53, so we were thankful to get the fire started. Monday morning we woke up packed up camp and got back on the road to head to Napa Valley.

Northern Cali Here We Come

On Sunday Dave and I are off on our next vacation. We figured its a good time to take a week of of work, since it's our 2nd anniversary. This time we are heading to Northern California. Our trip will start with a night of caming in one of the Redwoods State Parks. Then we head to Napa Valley for two nights in our own cottage in Napa. We will sepnd two days wine tasting and eating at great restaurants. Then we head down to San Fran where we are staying at this cute hotel that reminded us of the places in Italy. The hotel has an evening wine reception. We will spend 3 days touring around San Fran, including sites such as Alcatraz and Golden Gate Park. On saturday we leave San Fran, make a stop at a horsetrack for Dave, and then head to Yosemite NP. At Yosemite we will be staying in a heated cabin at Curry Village. Yosemite at this time of year should she be amazing. The trees will be turning to shades of fall and there has already been some snow in the moutains. I plan to take many photos throughout the trip so stay tuned and check our website. I hope to post some while we are on the trip. Here's the link directly to the galleries
http://www.schanker.smugmug.com/Califorrnia%20Travels/241248

San Pedro

This past weekend I got to go to a new place in the LA area...San Pedro. I had never been, but it was kinda neat. A friend of mine from Florida was out there visiting family, so I went to go see her for the afternoon.

San Pedro is this cute town near Long Beach and it's right on the coast. We headed to this ocean side park and it was a blast. There were all these tide pools, and we got to see various type of sealife including starfish, crabs, and sea urchins. We had a ton of fun just walking around looking at everything and tyring not to get to wet.

After touring around there we decided it was time for lunch. We ended up at this fish market by the port area. This was a unique experience itself. We got to pick out of fish and shrimp then we took it over to the grill to have it cooked. The food was really good, although there was a ton of it. We were way to full to even think about diner later on. After lunch and some shopping, Chiara and I headed to he cousins house. We sat out by the pool on the patio and drank some champagne. It was a pretty nice day and its always nice to see my FL friends in Cali. So if your ever in San Pedro, check out the tide pools and fish market!

Our new additiion is here....

Well, after 3 hours at the Subaru Dealership last night we have our car!!! I took a few photos with my wide angle lens. The car is Swweeett! I love it. I drove it in to work today and it so nice to have a brand new car. We have to take it back in a few weeks to have the ski rack, remote starter, and XM radio installed. We are so ready for the mountains this winter. The nice thing is the car already comes with all season tires too.


LIfe in Lancaster, CA: So my second favorite season is upon us….Fall. You ask why…because it means winter and skiing are right around the corner! I do love the fall season since the leaves change and there’s that special chill in the air. Boy did I miss this stuff. We never had any of that while living in Florida. But I have to say winter is my favorite. The hope of the big storm and hitting the slopes in fresh powder! Ahh….I can’t wait. It’s so close I can feel it. Our temps have already started to drop. The highs are about 70 and the lows getting into the 40s. I can even see the leaves on the trees getting a hint of yellow to them.

This weekend: This should prove to be another relaxing weekend and hopefully productive. I plan to getsome home improvement projects done around the house. Although I will be driving the “Subz” down to Long Beach on Friday to meet with my friend Chiara. She is visiting from Florida and it just happens to work out to be my day off of work. Next weekend is when we head off for our week long vacation to Northern Cali. I can’t wait to relax and sip some wine in Napa! I just booked a tent cabin for one night in Yosemite too. WE weren't planning on going to Yosmeite, but since the new car is here that means we don't have to worry bout snow. So were going to take a day to see the valley floor in the fall. Hopefully I can get some good photos of the leaves changing in the park. Our Plan is Santa Cruz-Napa-Sonoma-San Fran- Yosemite.