Bomb, Pickle, Chocolate Factory

ScharffenBerger Chocolate Factory in Berkeley.

Before they made chocolate, they made bombs here during WWII. The walls, as well as the 30 foot ceilings, are made completely of brick, so if the bombs exploded they wouldn't catch the place on fire. Then Heinz moved in, doing some picklin'. Then it became chocolate heaven!


These are Cacao fruit on the tree. They grow to the size of a football, then you get the seeds out of the inside of the fruit. If they aren't germinated, no chocolate.The beans get roasted, shelled, ground, and then made into chocolate. ScharffenBerger have all kinds of crazy antique chocolate making machines. Pipes run everywhere, carrying the magic along!













They fed us copious amounts of chocolate during this free tour! I highly recommend it when people come to town. Just make reservations, as everyone wants in on the action. And if you're out in the world and see SharffenBerger, try the Nibby bar: Chocolate with little roasted cacao nib pieces mixed in. Yum!!

Fruit Picking (for fun)

This weekend my mom visited and we picked fruit in the East Bay. Tidrick ranch has cherry trees; apparently Cherry Picking Season is only 2 short weeks of the year. What timing we have.








I am picking cherries from standing on the ground; they fall right off into your hands, perfectly ripe.



Cherry picking ladders are oddly beautiful. I even got on one, high up into a tree, and got a little nervous. But I stayed up there until I got some amazing cherries.







Perfect Cherries.





Peach picking wasn't quite as challenging (no climbing required) so not quite as fun. But the peach cobbler we made that night was amazing.

Engaged and ready to party

We're having an engagement party, coming up June 23rd. I am very excited (Allegra suggested it, and she doesn't love parties like I do).

Ghost Towning Memorial Day Weekend

This was the most fun camping trip I have ever been on. Andy took us Ghost Towning in the gold rush country. Dirt roads, mosquitoes, off-road camping, mining towns, and lots of weird historical detritus. Crazy Cemeteries. We almost died hiking to the Yuba River on an insane trail. god it was fun!





Forest City was completely abandoned. Population 40, but no one to be seen.









People left all kinds of things lying around,


cars, snowmobiles, ovens.







Hydraulic mining in Malakoff Diggins ruined the soil, trees, water, and pretty much everything is still screwed up 125 years later. But man, it made for some beautiful scenery. Just not natural.






Kids went to school here a long time ago. There were separate outhouses for girls and boys.












This schoolhouse did not fare so well over the years. We got to go inside and it was really creepy and falling apart.
There was still a stove and an easel tho.










One of the trip highlights was finding a mine Andy and Allegra could go into (I dont do enclosed spaces well). Well, it was really a drainage tunnel, but close enough.











We camped near Woodruff Creek. Appropriately, Andy fell in.










The Yuba River is amazing. It's super cold with run off from the Sierras, but I recommend checking it out. The whole area is really pristine, remote, private.