Review: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Today, I saw "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" for the first time at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts in downtown San Jose.

The show started slow and tedious but picked up in the second half. The costumes and sets were amateurish, but many songs were memorable and enjoyable. This is not a favorite among Andrew Lloyd Webber's musicals - as I much prefer his other creations, such as Phantom of the Opera.


According to Wikipedia:

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a musical with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The story is based on the "coat of many colors" story of Joseph from the Bible's Book of Genesis. This was the first Lloyd Webber and Rice musical to be performed publicly

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Biking Joseph D. Grant County Park

Today, I decided to sample multiple mountain biking trails at Joseph D. Grant County Park. When I arrived, I parked at the parking lot on Hamilton Road, a few hundred feet past the park's entrance (near Grant Lake).

I shot a short video on my GoPro Hero 3 Black here of my ride from Halls Valley Road to Canada de Pala and returning by Yerba Buena trail.



Most of the video shows the flat and downhill sections (as the ascent is not entertaining to watch).

From there, I assembled my Specialized Ground Control mountain bike and started riding toward Halls Valley trail. The tail started out flat, but it began to ascend slowly. There were a lot of bugs buzzing about and a lot of horse dung on the trail. I continued toward the junction with the Canada de Pala trail. From there, I took a right turn and stayed on the Canada de Pala trail.

The trail flattened out here somewhat, and the view of east San Jose was nice. Most of the trail has minimal tree cover, so it quickly gets hot. I was sweating a lot just to stay calm.

Most of the vegetation is looking instead of burned out.

The ride down to the parking lot along the Yerba Buena trail was a lot of fun (after all the exertion getting up here). On the trail, I only encountered one other mountain biker, so it's a relatively secluded park section.

I saw plenty of road bikers on Hamilton Ave, as this is a favorite section of the road for a steep climb to the Lick Observatory.

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Biking the Coastal Trail in Half Moon Bay

Today, instead of visiting Lake Tahoe, we decided to visit Half Moon Bay. We had never been there before, so we were curious about the trails and beaches.

When we arrived around 10:00, I discovered that the front tire of my Specialized Ground Control mountain bike was flat and would not stay up. I decided to have it repaired at the local bike shop - Bike Works.

After my inner tube was replaced. We decided to park our Sienna minivan at the bicycle store and bicycle to the Pacific shore, where we could take the coastal trail to the Ritz-Carlton hotel.

The Coastal trail is flat and runs south from Kelly Street toward Ritz-Carlton. About half of the trail is paved, and the other half is unpaved. We enjoyed riding the trail. Along the way, we spotted 3-4 rabbits and many birds. The trail is very scenic, with many views of the surrounding bluffs.

As we approached Ritz-Carlton, we ran into a beautiful golf course. Many golfers were out playing golf.

As we rode on the trail, we saw many wildflowers blooming.

The Coastal Trail runs by Ritz-Carlton and ends at the end of the Golf Course, at hole 17. The view is truly spectacular here. We turned around and rode back to our minivan, following the same Coastal road back.

After returning to our minivan, we drove to Flying Fish Bar & Grill for lunch. We liked the food there - especially the "Crabby Cheesy Bread."

My Salmon Tostada salad was also quite tasty.

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Hiking Point Lobos State Reserve

After seeing the Living Social offer at Briarwood Inn in Carmel, we decided to take the plunge and try it. We enjoy visiting Carmel, which would give us extra time to visit the nearby beautiful Point Lobos State Reserve.

Our room at Briarwood Inn was very nice and clean and was a good value for the price. It even had two queen beds, which we did not expect. We were tired after arriving late on Friday and went to bed early.

May 10, 2014

On Saturday morning, we woke up and ate breakfast. The breakfast was elementary - some bagels and muffins with oranges and apples. This was disappointing because we are used to much better breakfasts from other B&Bs.

We changed into our hiking gear and drove 10 minutes south to the Point Lobos State Reserve. We were surprised at how busy it was already around 9:15am. We had to park at the next parking lot and walk on the shore for the 10:00am nature hike around Allan Memorial Grove.

We had a lovely nature walk around the park, mainly in the wooded section, starting at the Cypress Grove trail.

We walked on the trail, marveling at the beautiful Monterey Cypress pines and other trees.

We saw a few birds, wildflowers, and sea otters. Other people have spotted humpback whales, but I saw no spouts.

Some wildflowers were in bloom.

In the bay below, we spotted a sea otter. It was pretty windy, and the ocean was rough. There was a lot of white spray in the surf below.

The trails through the Alan Memorial Grove are covered mainly by Monterey pines.

Some trees are covered by rust-colored lichens and algae. These organisms don't hurt the trees but give them that rust-colored look. Algae don't usually grow on trees, but they do here at Point Lobos because of the humid air from the Pacific Ocean.

Point Lobos used to be occupied by native Americans, and there are remnants of seashells discarded by the natives (some kind of a native garbage dump).

We enjoyed our walk around Alan Memorial Grove in Point Lobos and hope to return again soon.

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Biking Almaden Quicksilver County Park

Today, I decided to try mountain biking at my nearby Almaden Quicksilver County Park in south San Jose.

The entrance to the park is pictured below.

I started at the Mockingbird Hill entrance (the park's Northern side) and took the Virl O Norton Trail, heading east toward the Hacienda trail. Norton Trail is very steep, and I had to walk my bike several times.

I shot a GoPro Hero4 Silver video here of my Almaden Quicksilver County Park ride:



The Norton trail eventually runs into the Hacienda trail. Although there are a lot of trails, few allow bicycles, making it easy to navigate.

From the Hacienda trail, I proceeded toward the Randolph trail. There are many beautiful overlooks of the surrounding valley.

At the end of the Randolph Trail is a beautiful overlook of the Guadalupe Reservoir. Even though we had lots of rainfall in San Jose, the reservoir looked primarily empty.

After the reservoir, the Randolph trail gets relatively steep for a few miles. I was huffing and puffing the whole way up.

It took me about 2.5 hours to bike around the park. It was excellent, and I especially appreciated the trees that give a lot of shade on these trails.

None of the trails were very technical (no jumping rocks), so it is an excellent beginner trail, except for some steep sections.

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Biking Santa Teresa County Park

Today, I decided to try mountain biking at Santa Teresa County Park in San Jose. The park is nearby, and I was surprised to learn I had never been there.

I got up early in the morning and researched all of the trails. There are a lot of different trails at Santa Teresa, and it's easy to get lost. I followed the recommendations posted by the MTB Project.

Starting at the North end of Santa Teresa County Park, near Joice Bernal Ranch, I parked my van and started riding on the Joice Trail. Once on the trail, I took a left to get onto the Norred Trail. I didn't expect Joice to be so steep. The ascent was quite challenging. Fortunately, it did not last long, and I was quickly on the Norred trail, which is far more level.

I shot a video on my GoPro Hero3 Black for parts of the ride here:



Once the Norred trail ended, I switched to the Mines trail. Mine's trail is partially paved, but it was still very steep in places, and I had to do the walk of shame. Mine runs past Santa Teresa's parking lot, where there is a Y intersection.

I took the left and climbed steeply up to the Hidden Springs trail, followed by the Coyote Peak trail. These very steep trails eventually led me to the famous Rocky Ridge trail.

This is the very top of Santa Teresa and affords a beautiful view of the surrounding valleys.

Rocky Ridge is quite rocky and requires some technical riding skills. There are lots of rocks to jump over. A full-suspension mountain bike is necessary here to deal with the jarring.

After Rocky Ridge ended, I continued onto Mine Road, heading North/West toward Bernal Hill Loop. After the loop, I took Joice's trail back to the parking lot.

This ride was fun, with steep ascents, beautiful scenery, and a few joggers.

Despite the hugging and puffing on some of the steep ascents, I enjoyed the trail. A map is essential because there are so many trails here (some unmarked).

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