Apples & Wine

Last weekend, Grandpa King and Kathy visited and took possession of Justin's car that he left with us when he moved to Hong Kong.  They had enough time to be one of the first people in the newly-reopened White House Visitor Center on Saturday, then came with us to the mountains on Sunday for a fabulous day of apple-picking and wine-tasting.

This photo appeared on the WTOP website as Nathan, Allan, and Kathy were the second group of visitors to the new visitor center.

On Sunday, we went to Stribling Orchard, which it turns out Alison and I had visited two years ago.  The setting in the mountains is beautiful and they let you use large, pointy tools.

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I gave Maddie an apple to preempt her finding one herself on the ground.

Kathy, Grandpa, & Alison

After apples, we went into Front Royal for lunch at Spelunker's, then picked a nearby winery.  It was Naked Mountain Winery whose slogan is "Drink Naked!".  The drive to get there led us along the cutest mountain road.

This was my first winery visit and we got to taste 10 wines while looking out at the mountains.  Although the wines weren't amazing, I liked the experience.  I liked it so much that I declared that we'll be going to many more wineries from this day forth.

Tasters

Vegas

I work at the world's craziest and best company.  Opower tricks you into saving energy.  We use behavioral science to get people to do what their brains tell them they should, but habits don't often allow.  We also have a really interesting culture.  Everyone is smart and works hard, but we also play hard too.  Next week, I have three company-sponsored happy hours on my calendar.

Last week, Opower held its second annual Engineering offsite in Las Vegas.  We stayed at the Aria hotel, which is right on the strip and is quite nice.  It's one of those places where the curtains automatically open and the room welcomes you to a gorgeous view of the mountains when you first arrive.

Room w/a View (sort of!)

Fountain outside Aria

We spent a day learning stuff.

Then we were supposed to participate in a hack-a-thon, but because I no longer code, my manager and I spent the afternoon at the pool bar (surprisingly, we did talk about work for a while).

Evenings were on our own, so we explored.  We explored deliciously large burgers.

I recommend the Farm Burger.  Where else can you taste duck bacon?!

We explored Paris

and Caesar's Palace

and New York, New York

Live Irish Music @ Nine Fine Irishmen

and our Ocean's Eleven fantasies.

I even learned how to pay craps and won $50.  (Granted, that's not much but I feel pretty good that I've beat every casino I've ever walked into.)

I finally realized this was not about getting work done.  Rather, it was about team-building, and maybe having a little leverage during the recruiting process (does YOUR company fly you to Vegas?).  Regardless, I had a really great time and made some friendships that slipped past security at BWI and will probably stick with me for a long time.

What a great team!

Shenandoah & the Blackberry Festival

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Shenandoah National Park is only one hour away and this year we booked just one night of camping in the Big Meadows Campground.  When we arrived, the park was having their annual Blackberry Festival, which included pulled pork with blackberry relish, blackberry ice cream and local cloggers!  Now, that's what I call a festival!

Just arrived at the Blackberry Festival!

After bumping into Ranger Kelly, who used to be our neighbor at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, we found our campsite, set-up, and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon in the fresh mountain air.

 

"Oo, a rock!  Can I eat that?"

At nightfall, Nathan and I finished one round of cribbage when it started to rain.  Then it started to pour, then thunder and lightning...all night.  At precisely 4:41am, the whole campground was jolted awake by the loudest, simultaneous thunderclap and lightning strike I've ever heard.  There was a faint electronic sound as if a car down the street had short-circuited, but then everything was OK.  Luckily, we all survived.

In the morning it kept raining, so we packed up our wet gear and went home.  We had some pretty amazing views along the way:

It's pretty awesome to live so close to such a spectacular park!

San Francisco: Part II

It took me 30 years to get to San Francisco, but in the last 6 months, I have been there twice.  The second time was much better because in February, it rained the entire weekend.  If the theme of last trip was, "You know, this would be really nice...if it weren't raining.", the theme this time was, "You know, this would be really nice...if I weren't working."  I was in Opower's San Francisco Office to do some third quarter planning with my team and, though I didn't have a lot of free time, it was still an interesting trip.

In keeping with the company's expense policy, I stayed at the historic Hotel Whitcomb, whose hallways were reminiscent of The Shining and the walk to/from work took us right along the edge of the Tenderloin, a rather shady part of town.

The first night, right before I collapsed into bed at 8:30pm PST, I toured San Francisco City Hall.  It's quite nice, but you have to walk by nearly 100 homeless people settling down for the night on the greens outside.

7-8-14 - Note the sign.  I was not allowed to play on the playground without my children.

City Hall

The second night, I took the BART train to Embarcadero and wandered around the Port of San Francisco Ferry Building.  That was neat, and I quickly spent a small fortune on three organic-local-artisan pieces of chocolate for Nathan and Alison, and then walked along the water for a bit.

Bay Bridge

Coit Tower

I was really happy to see my friend, Jossie, for lunch the next day, but wish I'd had time to do more.    Next time I think I'll bring the family and take some vacation.  Oh, and I'll also make sure that it's not raining.

Foxes Frolic

We have a den with four fox kits under our house and hardly a day goes by when we don't see the babies frolicking in the yard.

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White House Easter Egg Roll

After three years of coming up empty-handed in the White House Easter Egg Roll lottery, 2014 was finally our year!  By the end, it completely won me over.

4-21-14 - White House Easter Egg Roll

However, it started out rough.  9,000 people packed like cows in a feedlot, then some walking, then another staging area for 30 minutes in the hot sun and THEN, we were allowed onto the glorious White House lawn, which was also packed with people.

That + 2 young children = almost assured disaster

Waiting

Not quite there yet

Still Waiting

We're In!

Once we got in, we walked right up to the Egg Roll, which was listed under "classics" in the program.  While standing in line in the shadow of the Oval Office, out came a handful of staffers with none other than Sunny & Bo, the First Dogs!  Once I caught my first glimpse of someone famous, there was no going back.  This was a fun event!

Sunny & Bo

Alison did the Easter Egg Roll:

Eggcellent Technique

She also did an obstacle course, listened to someone from American Idol sing, saw an astronaut, got her picture with the Cat in the Hat, decorated a shirt, and learned about organic gardening.  Maddie hung out in my pouch just as cool as a cucumber.  She is the best baby!

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Michelle's Organic Garden

There was a lot more to do, but we'd had our fun and were hungry for more than just the free peeps they handed out.  So by 6pm we wandered out and picked up our souvenir wooden eggs.

In the car on the way home I posed this question to Nathan, "So, are we going to enter the lottery next year?"  He just laughed, which I think meant, "Of course!"  By then we'll have forgotten about the crowds and will only remember how cool it was to see two famous dogs.