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306. Alviso Slough (02/22/03)

Hikers (15): Brin, Christina B, Cynthia, Elaine, Eugene, Gwynneth, Hoy, Janice, Jinglan, Mozhdeh, Nancy, Padraig, Russ, Sonia, Steve
Distance: 8 miles
Rating: 1 difficulty, 8 beauty
Park info: South Bay marshlands near Alviso

Write-up by Steve -- Pictures by Steve

At the last minute, Peter had to bail on planning this hike due to (literal) lameness. In honor of him, we scheduled the easiest trip that still qualifies as a "hike": Alviso Slough.

Once everyone was collected in the parking lot, it was time to get hiking.

1, 2, 3 . . . INCH!


Foggy Bottom Bunch: Russ, Cynthia, Jinglan, Nancy K, Elaine, Eugene, (far away Brin and Padraig), Hoy, Mozhdeh, Sonia, Gwynneth, Christina B. . .and introducing my car on the far left.


Whoops. As we started the cheer, we noticed Janice and Padraig had turned back (from the pre-cheer mass) to look for a ring Janice had lost. They missed the cheer! Since there was such a large group (who were cold and vocal about it), we had to set off. Hopefully Padraig and Janice did a cheer of their own.

The fog was thick at the start of the hike, giving everything a picturesque quality. You could tell it was picturesque by the click, click, click of Sonia's camera. Lost in the fog, the crowd broke into three pieces. The front group consisted of my grandest fantasy: nine ladies and me. The second group was Russ, Eugene, and Brin, who had tried waiting for the final group of ringless Janice and Padraig. {Editor's note: turns out Janice left the ring at home}

Plenty of conversation abounded in the lead group. With a 9:1 ratio, it was rather like being in What Women Want without need of telepathy. Everyone was speaking aloud about their wants and needs. I quietly took notes.

As the fog started clearing, Eugene caught up to the front group. He energetically relayed a story from the rear about Brin offering Russ a large quantity of money to marry her (odd, because most of Russ's relationships involve money transfers in the opposite direction). Seems her worker's visa is expiring soon and she doesn't have a sponsor company to extend it, so she was looking for solutions to prevent any potential legal ramifications.

We later heard the truth from the source, which wasn't nearly as dramatic as Master Thespian Dobby had relayed (for instance, no money was proposed). . .but that didn't really matter because we had already spent the last hour of the hike hypothesizing how much we would pay to remain in the U.S. if we were in a similar bind (and how much money we would require to marry someone, considering the "opportunity costs" of missing someone else during the period).


Slough View

Many of us capped off the hike with a delicious and unexpectedly efficient lunch at Alviso's famous Vahl's Restaurant, where you feel like you've gone back in time (but the staff has not). All and all, a good time was had by all.

Milestones:
Christina B's 10th leaf
Sonia's 1st leaf



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