[Super Duper Fantastic] ISFP/INFP. 4w5. World Explorer. Super Hero. Rose-colored Glasses.

I love long weekends, especially the sunny ones. My nose and lips are sunburned though. I hope they heal soon because I have a passport photo to take soon. The fees are going up next week, and I’m heading to Toronto in August courtesy of Klout and Virgin America. In the meantime, I’m vigorously applying the aloe!

Saturday: It was a day of BBQing in the East Bay.

For BBQ #1 in Walnut Creek, I prepared a white wine pineapple sangria and a rum-filled watermelon. It was my first time making both, and they turned out pretty tasty. The sangria was red, white, and blue with the addition of apples and blueberries! The not-so-secret ingredients : fresh pineapples and peach sparkling wine. They made all the difference.

In the evening, we headed to the Richmond marina for BBQ #2. I had prepared burger patties [again, first time!] for the grill, and again, success! The onions, garlic, chives, and feta I’d mixed in made the burgers extra tasty. We also combined the sangria and rum-infused watermelon remaining from the first BBQ for the second one.

There was a small fireworks show over the water after the sun had set too.

Sunday: Because it was a license-free fishing day, I agreed to go ocean fishing with RV and Victor. The water was choppier than usual, but we were still able to catch a few fish. We didn’t catch the limit like our previous fishing trips, but we came out with better fish.

My prize fish was a 3.5-lb. Vermillion Rockfish, which is probably the largest rockfish that either of us has caught. RV finally caught a Lingcod that he could keep. It was 5.5 pounds! It was Victor’s first time out there, so he was still learning the ropes. He was able to catch two for the day, so that was pretty good, considering how bad the conditions were.

Monday: We drove up to Tomales Bay Oyster Company for oysters and another day of BBQ goodness with the sister and RV’s coworker + his girlfriend. There were a lot of people who had the same idea, so it was a good thing we arrived earlier in the day [before noon!]. We ordered a bag of 50, eating some raw and grilling the rest.

I didn’t shuck any oysters, so I’m very glad I went with a few people who were willing to take over the shucking duties. We also brought other goodies to grill! So tasty and so fun!

An update to the 101 in 1001 : 003 – Go on a crabbing/fishing trip.

This was on both my list and RV’s list of things to do. So rather than just grab some bait and a line and bring it down to the local pier, I decided to make it part of his birthday surprise.

After exploring Fort Bragg and Glass Beach the first day, most of the second day was spent on a boat out in the ocean. Armed with Ugly Stiks [haha!], we tried out fishing for the bottom feeders [mostly cods of all kinds] for the first time. It wasn’t so easy, and I [along with most people] was surprised by how well we did!

I had trouble figuring out when the line hit bottom, and so on many occasions, my line would get stuck. :/ Very frustrating, but finally we were able to get the hang of it. Unfortunately I never took photos of the larger fish we caught, but I did take one of the very FIRST fish that I caught. It was smaller than my hand. RV’s first fish was a little bit smaller than that.

It was encouraging enough for me to keep trying, and by the time we left Fort Bragg, we had thirteen fish [various cods ranging from 2 to 5 pounds] in our ice chests and some crab too! Totally worth the money, time, and experience. The crabbing portion of the trip was really taken care of by the crew of the boat. It was made a little interactive by them telling us to help measure the crabs or to help reel the lines in.

Anyway, a good time! My car smelled of fish for a little while since I had to transport the goodies back to SF. I wrote a fairly useful review of Telstar Charters – check it out on Yelp!