Scotland 2015 Day 3: Hiking Cairngorm and the Lairig Ghru

4/26/2015
Scotland 2015 Day 3: Hiking Cairngorm and the Lairig Ghru

Up and at 'em! We started off the day by biking the rental bikes back to Active Cafaidh. I met Spring at the Mountain Cafe in Aviemore (NICE selection of outdoorsy clothes there!), got packed sandwiches, juice, apple and an epic Anzac square for lunch. A quick Tesco stop to check it out (I am PSYCHED to spend time shopping at grocery stores in London and get elderflower and all the tea and biscuits!)... and the back to the AirBnB for brekkie. It was SO amazing.

Lilli absolutely rocked the breakfast and it was so amazing. OMG the porridge. It was boiled with milk, WOW, WOW, WOW. Memories like in Spean Bridge with Lausch last year! Scots sure know how to make porridge better than anyone in the world. She said I could have it with either salt or sugar. Mmm. Oat Cakes! Also she made something called "Butteries" which she described were like "Quasons" (Croissants?!), Jam, Marmelade in cute containers, and amazing cheese. "Oooh, Wensleydale!" She also had Smoked Gouda, Scottish Cheddar, a tomato cut really cool, fruit, homemade yoghurt... amazing! What an incredible spread! Couldn't believe it for this little AirBnB. Amazing. We were certainly very well set-up for the hike!

We met Andy and his buddy Hugh, from Up and Doon Guided Walks. I strongly, strongly recommend Andy as he was totally incredible. We had started chatting a few months back by email, and Andy always sent such nice long and detailed messages to help us plan our trip. We were originally asking about hiking Ben Nevis, but he steered us towards the Cairngorms since the weather would be more appropriate at this time of the year and generally more enjoyable. He was an absolutel pleasure to help plan in advance and even more awesome on the big day of our hike.  We weren't sure exactly where the hike would be as Andy called it on the day-of so we'd have the best time with the weather as it was (unpredictable!) His general plan of attack for the day was as follows, and we did the hike roughly in this area that he describes!

As I mentioned depending on snow and ice Ben Macdui and Cairngorm. This walk can be shortened or lengthened depending on how you feel on the day. If snow and ice is a problem I would suggest with Meall Buachille in Glenmore. Again options to make longer or shorter. Alternatively there is another route from Glenmore going through the Chalamain Gap and into the Lairig Ghru finishing in the ancient pinewood of Rothiemurchus.  

Andy and Hugh were hilarious and sooo Scottish! Up we went to Glenmore Lodge in Andy's car and started the hike. It was such a totally awesome plan. We went up a big, steep hill to start with great views of the mountains. It was a little windy but so far no snow?! Up the top, turn left, and then way up to the top of a higher mountain!

We double-backed the way we had just come and then back up an even steeper mountain. Then the snow began, quite suddenly, and sideways! It was surprising to see how fast the weather can change on these mountains (and thus the necessity for going with a skilled guide like Andy). A funny animal was making noise a lot and Andy called it a "wild haggis", and said it had just gotten away! :) Andy at some point heard a Grouse call, "Ooh! It's the haggis again!" This one he dubbed the "Domesticated Haggis".

We got up to the top of one of the mountains and stopped for a while in a nice "Cairn", a wind barrier, for lunch. As we were eating the skies filled with clouds and the visibility went down to a very low level. "Let's just wait 5 more minutes", Andy said, and sure enough by then the clouds had all dissipated and it was completely clear. Wild how swiftly the weather changes on you up here.

From here we started the long walk down the mountain towards a "Bothy" a temporary traveler's hut kept up by the "MBA". This particular one I believe was the Ryvoan Bothy. We made some tea there and had nice lunch and a stop, and chatted about "Yes" vs. "No" -- the votes results from the Scotland separation referendum. High is from the Shetlands and had a really cool perspective on his country's scenario. It was fascinating to chat with the guys -- this is my favourite part of travel: hiking, exploring the amazing nature of a new land, eating amazing locally-sourced food, and talking to real-deal locals about their day-to-day, where they grew up, their impressions of their country now and its place in the world... this is what travel is ALL about :)

We continued on to Loch Morlich and then to Emerald Lake. It was a great walk and only in the last 5 or 10 minutes it started to SNOW like crazy! RIGHT at the end when we got back to Glenmore Lodge, it started coming down even harder. "You guys are really good at controlling the weather!" i told Andy and he grinned. It snowed so hard, it was like rain. Then it hailed 2 min before we got into the car.

We peeled off our excess jackets and warm gear as Andy drove us carefully to the Glenmore Shop for coffee and whisky. I had a Dalmore 12. It was utterly glorious and such a nice moment to relax in a warm place with a fire going after a long and amazing hike and day out.

Since Andy is epic, he had agreed to actually drive us all the way to Newtonmore, where we were staying overnight in another B&B. We took the scenic route via Kingussie to Newtonmore, and Andy dropped us roughly right in the middle of nowhere at out new B&B, Crubenbeg House. We got lost a few times but ultimately found it. No wonder the folks at the B&B suggested a car rental made sense -- we were quite "out there" -- but that was exactly the purpose, to be in the countryside and to enjoy it and relax. Crubenbeg House was a very nice place and fancy. We stayed there for the rest of the night.

After a shower and clean-up, we chatted and then had dinner. John, the friendly host, chatted with us a bunch as we got ready for dinner. It was fancy and very tasty. John was amazingly accommodating of our various Kosher details -- he checked and double-checked all the details and was on the ball. The amuse bouche was Norweigan Cheese -- my favourite "Ski Queen" brown cheese! He was surprised I knew it. For dinner we had salmon with ginger sauce, which was so good. John also had quite an unusual collection of Whiskies, lots of stuff that was local that I'd never heard of which was awesome. I got 3 of them (as you do!) -- the first "Leinburn" was smooth and sweet, even Michal sortof liked it. The 2nd one I didn't love but it was so unusual, it was like "hay"! It tasted like this was made in a barn (and it kinda was!) John mentioned this place was part of a land deal, the guy paid £5.5 Million to buy the land, and got the distillery with it! This was called "Drumguish" and I'd never heard of it before either. Amazing. The 3rd one "Cu Dhub" was dark and rich, but with caramel colouring. Not bad, but the first one was my favourite. John also let me try Penderyn, the Welsh Whisky.

John's wife, Irene, had an amazing Harrod's Bear collection! The bears were placed carefully all around the stairwell and it was cute. There was a Welsh dragon bear which I liked the best. We chatted late into the night (10pm!) and given our jetlag and hiking that day, we were pooped. So tired, jetlagged and so much exercise... time for sleep! Needless to say, we slept very well.

Scotland 2015 Day 1-2: Pie and Biking in Aviemore

4/24/2015-4/25/2015
Scotland 2015 Day 1-2: Pie and Biking in Aviemore

Well, here we go! Another amazing trip and a whirlwind adventure. This trip encompassed a bunch of different spots, but our first stop on the map was back to Scotland. I was pretty psyched as I LOVED being in Scotland in 2014 with my best bro Matt, so it was going to be awesome to go visit again.

The day started, as it does, with an insanely early Uber to the airport. Thanks to my newfound United status, we hit up the Lounge and had a nice mini-bagel. The ride to Newark was uneventful until about 20 min before... it was a pretty insanely choppy landing and Michal and I were both looking a bit green. Upon (finally) landing after circling and diving up and down more than one might enjoy in a typical day, the pilot happily announced that we had arrived 40 minutes early! (Yeah, since you drove into the airport at a 90 degree angle!)

After walking a little and letting our stomachs settle, we arrived at the Newark United Lounge, a totally new and re-designed one! Fancy! And with NEW FOOD!!! Yesssssssssssssssss! I/we went to town on the hummus, cheese, olives, etc. Good times. I then tried to "print" something in their "business" center which was a pretty magical 1.5 hr adventure which involved Email to Fax and a variety of other fails. Oh well. We got to the gate to find our plane was delayed 2 hrs, which concerned me as we had booked a pretty tight train connection in Scotland to get up to Aviemore. Back we went to the lounge to drown our travel woes in more hummus. Spring had a great contingency plan for when we arrived in Scotland, rather than doing the complicated plan I had of going to the same mall Lausch and I went to last year upon arrival, she figured we could catch the train directly from the nearest station and also there was a train 1 hr later, just in case (though the tickets said you couldn't switch on them...).

Anyhoo, the flight was fast and very good. I didn't get much sleep, but we made up an hour in flight which was sweet, in by 9am, and customs was quick. We were on the move to get to the Haymarket Station for the 10:40am train! We got money quick from an ATM and took the Airport 100 Express bus to Haymarket. We were too late to get to the South Gyle Centre to get to the big M&S there... and I was kinda sad about not getting awesome snacks for our train ride up north. Of course, given my epic luck, as soon as we got off the bus at Haymarket, my first glance towards the station? "M&S Simply Food"!!!! Yes!!! How fortuitous! This was on Google Maps but not Street View, so I thought it was an error!! Yes!!!!

The ticket printing machine was funny, we were like, hurry, hurry... as it printed ELEVEN tickets?!? Not sure why :)

M&S was insanely epic just as expected. I got a HUGE box of shortbreads, weird-flavoured British yoghurt (of course), strawberries, 1/2 loaf of break, and 2 packs of smoked salmon (one Peat & Oak smoked and the other Aberfeldy 12 Year Old Scotch smoked!) Crazy. A quick coffee for Spring and on we went to the train.

On the train we met 2 crazy local dudes that were pounding beers. They kept talking about having a nice "Can of T" (as in a "cup of tea"), but the "T" stood for "Tennent's Beer". I wonder if that's a real phrase or if they made it up. They were awesome and we talked to them for ages while passing beautiful views of scenery and funny sheep. The weather changed a lot as we got up north.

We stopped at the "Ladybank" station and there was pretty much nothing there, and then we boarded the next train towards the town of Aviemore. We walked from the station with all our stuff to Lilli's place, our AirBnB for the night. We dropped stuff and showered and I packed my water backpack with some snacks. It was go time, since despite no sleep this was our main day for biking in Aviemore and I didn't want to miss out!

We walked down the main road of Aviemore to Active Cafaidh, and I met the owner and got a bike there. Spring decided to get a bike too and we got a map of the area, Lochs, etc. Our first main goal was to get to this quite legendary "Cake Shop" -- people had gone on and on about this place, and how it was one of the "best pie shops in the UK". Mountain Bikers in the UK seemed to have some sort of mild obsession with cake shops, as I must have read 4 or 5 blogs from different riders, all talking about how it was a nice long day on the hills, but thank goodness there was a cake shop close that they could go to post-ride (!!!) it was all very endearing and so insanely British, so we just had to figure out what all the fuss was about. The timing was such that my post-ride cake was actually likely to be a pre-ride cake, so we rode to the Inshriach Nursery and The Potting Shed Tearoom, one of "Britain's Best Cake Shops" as per The Observer. And boy, was it a great stop!

I was SO overexcited and SO loud (surely getting some glances of "he must be an American"!) on arrival. It was overwhelmingly exciting to be visiting this epic cake shop after reading so much about it and also just so fun to be experiencing Scotland together.  The cake shop was not really on the way to biking but we went anyway, had some tea and cake on fancy china (I got Peanut Butter, and Spring got the Lemon cake), and we sat calmly at the "Viewing Area" for Red Squirrels and Birds and tried not to disturb the few elderly visitors with their grandchildren who were also enjoying the viewing area. :)

I was also going to get a Lindt Chocolate Cake, but we already had a ton of desserts and the day had hardly begun. I was a little tired/jetlagged post-"lunch", but I had to rally.

I biked back along the Loch area and found a sign that said Forestry Scotland (a good sign, given how well they had created the Glentress Trails, I figured this area would be kept very well!) Spring and I then split off, with her taking a shorter way back to the B&B (though she ended up biking almost as long as I did!) and I went off all the way around Loch an Eilein in Rothiemurchus. It was totally awesome, excellent scenery, and the weather thankfully held up! It was supposed to snow! With my warm tea and pie having charged me up, I went exploring the trails and castle ruins in the Loch.

I saw lots of other bikers, all nodding and saying "Hi". I stopped at a cow gate at one point and made a buddy there. "Oh, I'll get that for ya!", he said before an even funnier moment, "Would you like a wee dram?!" haha so amazing. So a funny random Scottish fellow biker on my first day stopped me on the trail and pulled out his flask to share a wee dram of... Ardbeg Uigeadail! "This is a lovely dram, it is" he said, "Just having a moment away from the chaos of the wife and kids!" This part of the trail was the best, some nice features to jump over, water to zoom through and of course it all a little more free-wheeling after a sneaky dram of Uigeadail. I ran into my buddy again a little later and offered to open another fence for him, to which he said, "It's OK, I'll just hop the fence" -- he was going so fast, he was BOOKIN' IT!!! "Can't have TOO much of that Uigeadail!" he laughed and grinned as he took off like a madman. I suppose he maybe realized he was running late for returning to the "chaos of the wife and kids"?!

I continued on up to Coylumbridge, past a clay shooting centre and a reindeer centre!? Random stuff indeed. I wanted to ultimately get to the Glenmore Lodge and Shop but it was time to go "home!" I went back down the Old Logging Way towards Aviemore after a quick stop for my M&S salmon sandwich (see photo!)

Here's the video of our biking fun!



Back I went to the AirBnB, dropped the bike at the house ("Just in the back is fine, probably better than leaving it out front, I suppose!" -- funny that leaving the bike out front, unlocked, was even in the realm of possibility. Assuming not a whole lot of crime in wee Aviemore!) I took a much-needed shower and nap time, ASAP! Spring also biked for 3 hours and we did well. I biked for maybe 4 hrs, but after next-to-no sleep on the plane and super jetlagged, it was time for a wee nap. Do all the things!

After a good power nap, we took off to The Winking Owl for dinner. Lilli's son-in-law is the check and the drunk train guys also recommended it to us. The place was amazing, it was like pub food "turned up a notch". We started with a fried brie and jalepeno jam, it was so good. I have a Fine "Real Ale" (basically warm, flat beer.... haha just kidding... sortof! It was very nice and from the local Cairn Gorm Brewery. Dark and Malty!) Spring had a beer that was more of a lighter beer, with a very nice aftertaste. We were still pretty tired from the travels and biking, so we just had "1/2 pints" which was a nice way to try everything but not fall instantly asleep.

I got Fish and Chips for dinner which came with some super nice lemon. Michal had a Beef Pie with mushrooms that was marinated in Black & Gold Beer. Fantastic, both very tasty and very flavoursome! So hearty too. The chips were SO good, a little basket with half-potatoes. And there were mushy peas too. This was all really excellent and so tasty, like pub food, the food you want anyway, but "fancied up".

The dudes beside us eventually started chatting with us. Michal realized quickly but I realized only after they started having a "couple's argument" at one point, we realized they were a gay couple! About 20 min later after chatting about a bunch of different things together they weaved into the conversation, "Cause, you know, we're a homosexual couple!" By that point it was quite obvious since they talked about traveling together and so on. It was an interesting vibe, the way they mentioned this implied that being a gay couple was perhaps not as simple or as commonplace as in San Francisco, and it almost felt as if they wanted to make sure to chat with us a bunch first and test the waters before explaining their relationship to us. Certainly something folks thankfully don't need to worry about back home in San Francisco, but I got the feeling they were more relaxed speaking with us after realizing where we were traveling from (and thus wouldn't be judgement towards them). Poor fellas! Anyhow, they were great and we chatted a bunch more, talking about SF and how they had really enjoyed traveling there. We got lots of travel advice about Edinburgh too.

We finally said goodnight to our new friends and headed next door to the pub for a quick view of their "Live Music" -- it was super janked! So I had a quick £3.50 whisky (an Auchtenoshan Three Wood) and the back, home, finally, to sleep!

And that, my friends, is how you carpe-diem the heck out of your first day in a new country!

Let the mad travel blogging commence!

Hello friends and blog readers,

WOW. Yeah I haven't posted in AGES. I usually try to make time for some longer-form posts every little while but it has been a LONG LONG time. I especially tend to make time at least for travel journal posting, but I am well behind on some recent trips. You know... wedding planning is a busy event! Well, with all that amazingness a complete success, I am going back and blogging my old trip blogs from last year. Thank goodness for daily travel note taking and photos :)

Anyhow, hope you enjoy, and prepare for an onslaught of blogging madness!

Mike :)

"Na-meow-ste": Our "Cat Yoga" experience

One of the hilarious and awesome gifts we got for our wedding was 2 passes from our friends Frank and Jess to go to KitTea SF (a Cat Cafe in San Francisco) to do "Cat Yoga". It is, exactly, what it sounds like. A nice, normal, flow Yoga class... but with hilariously adorable cats wandering around and participating with you. It was hilarious, fun, relaxing, silly, and amazing. Absolutely worth trying if you're a fan of both cats and yoga. The fantastic CatTown Cat Cafe in Oakland also offers classes like this I believe!



Check us out and "na-meow-ste" :)
https://ripple.co/watch/san-francisco/kittea-is-the-most-bay-area-thing-ever-16fabok2

Mark Zuckerberg's incredible, world-changing plan

A most incredible and inspiring move. Mark Zuckerberg's incredible, world-changing plan. Just announced that he and his wife will be creating a foundation and giving away 99% of his Facebook shares (currently valuated at $45 Billion) over his lifetime.

Magnificent.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-zuckerberg/a-letter-to-our-daughter/10153375081581634

Live-Photographing my Engagement

As I mentioned in my previous post, wedding planning is a very exciting and a very busy time, so it's been a while since I blogged. But I wanted to write this down so I can recall it in the future and also to share with you, dear blog readers, my fun and exciting experience of live-photographing my engagement as it happened.

The setup
Already a lot of secrets were in motion for the engagement day. This was a long time in planning because I had spent about 3.5 months custom designing her engagement ring. During that time I also had the chance to plan a few other fun things for the "Engagement Weekend". I dropped the question on the day before her birthday, on August 8th, 2015. This then allowed us to have a whole weekend of fun activities surrounding the engagement, all of which I planned (or, helpfully, SHE planned!) under the auspices of this being her "Birthday weekend".

The location
It was very important to me that we get engaged at the same place where we had our first date. This is on "our bench" at the Ferry Building Farmers Market in San Francisco. It is a beautiful spot -- and it's a complete and utter description of me as a person. It's just on the outskirts of the Ferry Building. For 10 years now I have been picking up some tasty local produce and baked goods and coffee in the midst of the madness and swarms of "localvores" and over-energetic tourists (of which I was one in the past). I am undeniably in love with this place. It is magnificiently meaningful. While the market is amazing, the bench is even more -- it allows you to take part in the bustle and the fun madness and then to withdraw from it, and people-watch it from a safe distance. I go on a Saturday, so in a way it's my "Shabbos" -- it's a place where I can turn off my iPhone, be relaxed, and slow down for a moment. Also in bright white letters, the title "Port of San Francisco" is there, reminding me always after a busy or hectic week at work to be grateful. To remember that I am so lucky to live in San Francisco. To remind myself that I had always dreamed of moving from tiny London, Ontario to epic California, and how somehow I have managed to achieve that in my life. This place means everything.

Since our first date, "my" bench has quickly become "our" bench. We take the time to enjoy it, to "sip and savour" as they say, and to sit back and relax and enjoy the magical and crazy world of San Francisco. Of course, we are crazy. As my buddy Alex wisely said, "You are the only person I know who would go to the busiest place in the city to get some peace and quiet." This, of course, is spot-on. We are busy, bustling, locally-integrated, excitable, hectic people. But yet, we know how to step back, how to pause, how to be calm and to stop, smell the roses, and appreciate what we are so lucky to have in our lives. So this is what the bench means. As you can see, we obviously had to get engaged there.

Planning the photography
As well as being blessed to live in this epic city, we are also blessed to have so many amazing friends who are incredible photographers. Since I work in Visual Effects, most of my friends have at least a Canon 5D Mark II camera, and are only called "Amateur Photographers" rather than "Professional Photographers" because they have another job already. I see them all as being absolutely stellar at their photography skill, and my buddy Sean Wells was the obvious choice.

"Have you ever photographed an Engagement before?" I asked Sean. "Well", he said, "I have photographed a lot of Weddings before and also done Engagement Photo sessions -- but I have never shot a live Engagement, AS IT HAPPENS before!! I am as nervous as you are!"

Of course, I knew he would do an amazing job and since we are colleagues at ILM/Lucasfilm, that implies a certain amount of artistic obsessiveness and perfectionism -- generally a trait in all of my friends and colleagues. :) This was, of course, a perfect and necessary skill to pull of this kind of photography "heist" as I called it.

In true form, after sending Sean a Google Maps pin to show him the exact location of the bench, he went out to "location scout" the place and to photograph it with his girlfriend Crystal in place of where Michal might be standing on the actual day-of. This was perfect and he tested out some lens options and generally made some great planning decisions in advance. Sean, you are epic.

He sent me these "proofs" and I was very pleased with the style of the photos -- getting the "Port of San Francisco" sign in frame as well as capturing the action. Approved!!

The lead-up
Leading up to the day-of, on the Thursday (we got engaged on a Saturday), I talked with Sean at work and hashed out the "action". We decided that it made more sense for Crystal to come along as well as that would both add Crystal's lovely personality into the mix, as well as being a great distraction to Michal for a moment as I would need to futz around and get the ring box out of my shoulder bag. We made a rough "script" and test out our Improv Acting skills, "Oh, hey, is that Sean??! Hey man! What are you up to?" "Oh, just trying out some new lenses..." haha. So cheesy. But so good. I figured by the time Sean was almost set up for the photos, Michal would likely click into the idea and realize I was about to ask her to marry me... and almost on-cue on the day of, that's exactly what happened. :) But I figured it would be a good enough distraction that I could get prepared, into the right location and down on one knee just as she was piecing together what was just about to happen.

The big day!
The big day arrived and I texted Sean well in advance. First from Michal's place as I secured the ring (side note, why the hell are ring boxes so damn large?!??! It makes it near-impossible to secretly put it anywhere if you're trying to keep a secret!). We then headed off on a walk (as I had set up) to the Ferry Building as we usually do on a Saturday. The Saturday before I had declined a trip to the Ferry Building (claiming "Oh, I REALLY want to go pick up my new bike today!") so that I would make sure there was no discussion of to whether or not we should go to the Ferry Building this week "since we just went last week". So that all worked out like a charm. I had to take my shoulder bag, which is unusual since I never take it (to secure the ring), but I figured it might be sortof an OK sneaky plan. She thought it was a bit odd, but I did skirt around it carefully so she wasn't too suspecting of it. Of course she had SOME idea the engagement might be somewhere around then (notice her perfectly manicured nails!) so she also gave me the benefit of the doubt if I was being particularly odd compared to usual.

We headed to the Ferry Building and I texted Sean again on arrival with a 30-45min out warning. He got prepared somewhere else downtown and then said he'd wait for my final "NOW!" text which would be a 5-min warning.

We picked up some food, and I ate next-to-nothing as the butterflies in my stomach would not allow it. :) We went to the bench and sat nicely for a bit, talking about I-have-no-idea-what. I had planned to ask the question sometime around 12:30-1:00 and at about 12:23 it started spitting rain, just a tiny bit. I literally looked up to the skies and thought ("Please, just give me 5 minutes!") It was good motivation. :) I actually was hoping for grey skies because the contrast is really nice and there are no harsh shadows on your face like you would have in bright sunlight. The Ferry Building bench is usually in bright sunlight so this was very lucky... but the rain was no good! So I went to "throw out the garbage" in a bin and texted Sean "NOW!!!!!". Michal told me later she thought it was odd that I was texting from the Garbage Can, but didn't piece it together yet.

3-4 min later, Sean and Crystal started walking towards us. As expected, eventually Michal noticed, "Hey, is that Sean?!" "Nah, I don't think so", I said oh-so-slyly. Of course I was trying not to look over there constantly and nervously for the previous 5 minutes straight. :)

They got closer and Sean used his great line, "Oh just trying out a new Lens!" haha. Awesome. I got into place, and down on one knee... and the rest, as they say, is history. :)

Sean captured some incredibly amazing photos, all live and as-it-happened. I am so grateful to him and to Crystal for helping with my crazy idea, and for helping make these photos just perfect. They are amazing. You'll see in some of the photos I am down on one knee but she already has the ring on -- this because I had a 2nd "ring" proposal for her. I had promised we would move in together only after we got engaged, so my first act as an Engaged man, immediately after she said "Yes" to the ring, was to get back down on one knee and to make true on my promise -- the 2nd "ring" was a "keyring" to my apartment, along with the phrase, "Will you make my apartment our home." Success. :)

Thank you to Sean and to Crystal for putting up with my insane amount of detailed emails in advance, and to Sean for capturing this incredible moment as it happened.

Thankfully, the rain held off and we spent the next 3.5 hours sitting on the bench and reveling in teh joy, and personally calling all the close family around the world. I had planned a block of time right after the engagement time (before we had a "birthday"/congratulations on your engagement party for Michal later in the day) because I knew she/we were going to want to personally call a bunch of people. It was awesome. And it worked out perfectly.

Hilariously, the sun came out in full force at exactly 1:00pm. The photos were done (and were not shot in direct harsh sunlight, wahoo!!!), everything was a huge success, and we got to bathe in the glorious sunlight as we called so many important family members from our glorious Ferry Building bench. :)

What a day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!