Tiki Time

The Kevdo.com blog hasn’t been very active, but I’ve been blogging nearly every day on Instagram under my Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai handle.

This recent post got a lot of likes. It’s a series of shots from an episode of Three’s Company where Jack Tripper visits a tiki bar. Those drinks are pretty strong, aren’t they?

New Favorite Mai Tai Recipe

Have been experimenting a lot this year with new Mai Tai recipes and rum blends. Any of the rums I’ve included here would be great on their own, in fact the Appleton+El Dorado combo was what Smuggler’s Cove was using before they recently changed over to the Denizen’s. My blend includes the dark Koloa that I think adds even more flavor.

½ oz Appleton Reserve
½ oz Koloa Dark
½ oz El Dorado 12 year
½ oz Denizen’s Merchant Reserve
¾ oz Orange Curaçao
½ oz Orgeat
½ oz Simple Syrup
Juice from 1 lime

Mai Tai

Lauterbrunnen Valley in Switzerland

One of the pleasant surprises of our Globus Best of Switzerland trip was an optional excusion to Lauterbrunnen Valley to see the Trummelbach Falls. I had read about this valley as being very similar to Yosemite, and knew were going to be very close in the city of Interlaken. Thus, I was pleased that an excursion to this valley was added to the optional itinerary for our tour.

The photos don’t really do it justice, but this one here taken with my iPhone I hope gives you a sense of the spectacular beauty of the valley.

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The attraction we attended in the valley was the Trummelbach Falls (or, Truemmelbachfaelle if you prefer). These falls include portions inside the mountain and thanks to an elevator and stairs you can get a close-up view of these inside portions. It was amazing to see, so I took a top-to-bottom video of the falls.

European Trip Photos

Here’s a set of 191 photos from our trip to Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy, and Holland. These are from my cameras, and Julie has hundreds more. In any case, here’s the set.

Coyote Spotted Near Moffett Field in Sunnyvale

coy2This week I spotted a coyote near my work in Sunnyvale. I was exiting 11th Street on Tuesday, January 22 and saw the coyote run past me. I was shocked, but honestly not as much as I might have been had I not thought I saw a coyote run past our house a night a few weeks ago. Luckily, I could see that the coyote was running along the light-rail tracks and I could pass him and park to take a picture. He was too fast for me to get good video, though.

The coyote likely headed southwest down Mathilda Avenue and then turned right onto Moffett Park Drive where I encountered it. The coyote ran past me and then headed north on Enterprise Way heading back toward the bay mashland where it presumably came from.

I am really fascinated by seeing wild animals in this sort of context. As you can see from the map below, there are no residential units anywhere close to the location where the photo was taken, and given the look and visual appearance, this is most certainly a coyote. I am also pleased, not afraid, that mountain lions are seen more frequently in the hills around the Bay Area.

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Disneyland Ride Photos

Some fun photos from our recent trip to Disneyland. We ended up only getting a day and a half in the parks, since it was raining on the Sunday getaway day and we wanted to avoid the snow on the Grapevine. For this trip we purchased a PhotoPass+, which includes photos in the parks and restaurants along with some stock photos. It also includes ride photos, which we took advantage of.

For Space Mountain, Quinn was the one who came up with the two poses. Thanks to Julie’s parents for playing along and everyone had lots of fun.

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Nobody in our family likes to ride Splash Mountain except for me, so I took a solo trip. It’s actually really fast and easy for solo riders to get onto the ride. Just walk up the exit and enter the single-rider line where I waited all of one minute before boarding. They usually seat you in the back seat, which is nice because it’s the driest. In this case, I moved up a spot so a mom and daughter (who you can’t really see) could ride together.

You’ll also notice that the front seat gets the most wet… so if you don’t like getting wet then get seated in the back.

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Lastly, here are a couple photos from Disney California Adventure. Julie and I rode Radiator Springs Racers in the single-rider line but we still got to be in the same car. This was something we would have done on Sunday with the entire family, oh well.  The Tower of Terror is a ride I’ve enjoyed more and more each year, though I do always like to “hang on for dear life.”

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