Filed under: Davis

Photos from the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area

Despite living in Davis for several years, we had never visited this fantastic wildlife area which is right on our doorstep. Yesterday we remedied this situation and took a few photos while walking around one of the many little walking loops that can be found.

This area is over 16,000 acres and is a (temporary) home to many migratory birds. It is easy to lose yourself in the wild tranquility of the place and forget forget that Davis is just a few minutes drive away.

 

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The sky is on fire - a vivid Davis sunset

Was so amazed by the glorious colors of tonight's sunset in Davis. Felt lucky to have my camera on me, but sad that I wasn't in a better place to capture a good shot of the horizon. Here are three pics which capture just a little bit of how magical tonight's sunset was:

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Answers to my Davis quiz

See my last blog post for a little more detail about this quiz. But otherwise, scroll down to see the answers (which are highlighed in bold face). All answers were taken from http://daviswiki.org so I make no claims as to their actual veracity (c) Andy Jones

1) Which of these streets does not exist in Davis: 
A) L St
B) M St
C) N St
D) O St

2) Which of these roads does not exist on campus: 
A) N Quad 
B) S Quad - This side of the quad is flanked by Peter J. Shields Avenue
C) E Quad 
D W Quad 

3) The famous 'Toad Tunnel' in Davis was built in 1995 to allow toads to cross from south to north Davis. But how much did it cost to build:
A) $1,400
B) $14,000
C) $140,000
D) $1.4 million

4) Prior to prohibition, the Women's Christian Temperance Union of Davis tried banning the sale of alcohol within a 3 mile radius of campus. This was to prevent the 'corruption' of young farming students. They succeeded in getting the state legislature to enact this ban in 1911. When was this ban finally lifted: 
A) 1919
B) 1939
C) 1959 
D) 1979 - I guess this is when Picnic Day celebrations started getting a little out of hand

5) In 1994 a woman was found guilty of violating Davis' infamous noise ordinance. What activity was she doing that caused her neighbor resort to calling the police? 
A) Sneezing
B) Whistling
C) Snoring
D) Clicking her fingers

6) The name 'Davis' wasn't the first name for our town. It became known as Davis in 1907...what was it known as before that? 
A) Davisville - wonder if Vacaville residents ever considered renaming their city to 'Vaca'
B) Davistown
C) Davisland
C) DavisDavis

7) Before there was UC Davis, there was the University of California University Farm and then the Northern Branch of the College of Agriculture, but when did it become UC Davis?
A) 1957
B) 1958
C) 1959 - Remember those 50th anniversary celebrations last year?
D) 1960

8) In 2007, a customer was accidentally overcharged for the Pita that they had bought at Pita Pit. How much was the customers credit card charged with? 
A) $50
B) $500
C) $5000
D) $50,000

9) On 21st July this year, a woman robbed a bank in Davis. However, she then ran into a problem when she tried making her getaway. What happened? 
A) She left the bank to find that her getaway car had been stolen
B) As she left the bank she was robbed by another robber who had independently planned to rob the very same bank
C) Her getaway vehicle was actually a bike and was arrested by the police who found her frantically trying to unlock her bike. Turns out she had forgotten the combination of the lock.
D) She found that she had locked herself out of her getaway car and the police caught her trying to get into it by breaking the window

10) In 1984 the Davis City Council declared the city to be a what? 
A) Beard free zone
B) nuclear free zone - and there is still no nuclear-waste reprocessing facility in this town to this day
C) Republican free zone
D) Parrot free zone

11) After the toad tunnel was built what problem affected the toads that tried using it? 
A) They were killed from the heat of lights that had been installed in the tunnel? - the lights had to be added to tempt the toads into the tunnel
B) The tunnel became a home for a population of wild ferrets which ate the toads? 
C) Someone forgot to move a temporary concrete wall in the tunnel, so the toads couldn't use it
D) A large number of toads that were using the tunnel to reach north Davis encountered a large number of toads that were trying to reach south Davis, and they all got stuck.

12) The Davis Police Department produce and distribute trading cards featuring what?
A) Pictures of local police officers
B) Pictures of cars that have been stolen in Davis
C) Pictures of criminals arrested in Davis
D) Pictures of their pet cats and dogs

13) Picture round. What is the name of this sculpture which can be found on the UC Davis campus
Picture

A) Stupid pipe thingy
B) Map of Davis
C) Bum, bum. You've been here before
D) Cat, cat, cat, cat, cat, cat, dog!

14) Every March 1st, Davis Farmer's market observes what important day?
A) National Pig Day
B) National Vegetarian Day
C) National Lactose Intolerance Day
D) National Mountaineering Day

15) What is the Social Sciences and Humanities Building on the UC Davis campus better known as?
A) The Moonbase
B) Battlestar Galactica
C) The Death Star - that's no moon!
D) The Starship Enterprise

16) David Pyles, is a post-doc in the UC Davis Biometeorology program but how is he better known?
A) Scooby Doo - he dresses in full Scooby Doo costume on the first day of every month
B) Tarzan Guy - he regularly dresses as Tarzan while walking about Davis
C) The Beard - he claims to have the longest beard in Davis (it is below his waist)
D) Fluffy toes - he wears pink fluffy slippers *all* the time

17) In 1870, what was the approximate population of Davis?
A) 4
B) 40
C) 400
D) 4,000

18) In July 2003 what was found in a dumpster at Slatter's Court Mobile Home Park on Olive Drive?
A) 25 lbs of stolen cheese
B) 58 lbs of stolen bacon
C) 93 lbs of stolen yogurt
D) 157 lbs of stolen human body parts - Very gruesome. Stolen from the autopsy department at UCDMC as I believe

19) Which country keeps it's diplomatic mission to the California State Government of California based in Davis?
A) Mexico
B) Paraguay
C) New Zealand - technically it's in El Macero
D) North Korea

20) In 2006, someone erected an April Fool's Day sign in Davis that proclaimed that *what* was coming to Davis soon?
A) A Super Walmart store
B) A maximum security prison
C) A nuclear waste processing facility
D) An amusement park that would have a Richard Nixon theme

The diversity of the Davis restaurant scene

 
I noticed today that Davis will have a new restaurant opening soon. Hooray! I love trying new places to eat. I then noticed that it will be a Thai restaurant. Or should I say, another Thai restaurant. Boo. Don't get me wrong, I love Thai food and I've really enjoyed eating at what was the new (Thai) kid on the block, Taste of Thai. It seems like only yesterday that Taste of Thai opened (in fact it was just two months ago) so I was surprised to see yet another Thai place choose to open. This made me think a little bit about the diversity of the Davis restaurant scene.
 
The Davis Wiki has an excellent page that lists all of the eating establishments in our great town. I took that information and looked at the numbers of ethnic/regional restaurants in Davis. I then focused on just the non-American cuisine (i.e. excluded US and Californian as types of cuisine, and also pizza for that matter), and ignored any places which were take-out only. From the resulting list, I made a pie chart of our restaurant diversity:
 
Pie
We are dominated by the 17 Chinese restaurants that account for almost a third of all restaurants in Davis. I was not surprised to see that Japanese and Thai take the next two positions. Collectively these three type of foreign cuisines account for over half of all non-US food eating establishments in Davis. I appreciate that this partly reflects the ethnic diversity of this region, but even so I am surprised that there is sufficient demand for eight different Thai restaurants. Maybe such demand does not exist and the arrival of the new Thai place will put a strain on the existing restaurants. Only time will tell...or should that be 'only Thai-me will tell'?

Update
Here is a map showing where to find all of the Thai restaurants in Davis. Seven of them are all in downtown Davis, so no more than 5 minutes walk from each other.

Davis Restaurant Quiz

How well do you think you know the Davis food scene? All of the answers to this quiz are places where you can eat a meal in Davis. But the clues are all cryptic! An example might help...if the question was ‘Where an amphibian might relax, perhaps?’ then the answer would be ‘Froggy’s’ (frog - ease). Answers follow below

1) Fruit insect

2) Maybe Dustin Hoffman would eat here?

3) No longer approved by the International Astronomical Union

4) I would say 'Autumn', an American would say 'Fall'

5) Pad see ew & massaman curry, for instance.

6) 2012 Olympics. Blue-fin tuna. Bag of Dorito's

7) Where you might find Han Solo?

8) Snoopy would probably eat here

9) To which the answer might be: "Si, il penne arrabiatta per favore"
10) Where many academics would gather to eat?
11) Infinite Tekka Maki?
12) You skip. He jumps...
13) This is the place where you should question those who don’t say yes
14) Second place for Smaug perhaps?
15) 28 (admittedly this one is now out of date I think)

Now scroll down for the answers...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the answers are:

1) Applebees

2) The Graduate

3) Pluto’s

4) Seasons
5) Thai Recipes

6) London Fish & Chips

7) Starbucks and Cantina del Cabo (now closed) were good guesses (I gave a half point for Cantina) but the answer was Chuy’s Taqueria (Chuy’s = Chewies = Chewbacca...obviously!).

8) Woodstock’s

9) Pasta?
10) The Graduate was a popular guess but the answer is Symposium
11) Sushi Unlimited
12) IHOP
13) Quiznos
14) Silver Dragon
15) 21 and 7 Chaat Cafe (sort of depends on how you read the name of this place, it’s unclear whether it’s meant to be 217, 21/7 or 21 & 7) - this is now Agave restaurant and tequila bar