Somehowlost

Fall Road Trip 2011 - Part III - Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

2012-01-05T00:08:00.001-07:00

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, CO

Santa Clara, CA - The Black Canyon of the Gunnision National Park has been on my list of parks to visit for some time. It bugged me that it was only about 5 hours from our place in Lafayette, CO and we never ended up going. Every time we drove by Blue Mesa Reservoir on our way to the ice climbing festival in Ouray, I'd remember it and ask, "Why haven't we been there yet?" Of course it was usually closed for the season, but still. I'm glad we got a chance to see it on this trip. It is well worth the visit, especially in the Fall.

We started our tour on the less developed North Rim. The north side was very quite, had dirt roads, and small, closed ranger station with trail and climbing information on the outside. We decided to take a short three mile out and back hike on the North Vista Trail to Exclamation Point. I liked the name and frankly, it sounded exciting. Turns out, Exclamation Point actually has some of the best inner canyon views in the park, which is trickier to see than you would think.

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison is so named because the walls are so steep and the canyon is so deep that the sun has a very difficult time making it to the bottom or even hitting the walls, making it look quite dark or even black most of the time. Here are a few stats I found interesting: With an average drop of 34 ft per mile the Gunnison River's path through the canyon is the 5th steepest in North America. At Chasm View the canyon drops 240 ft in a mile. Painted Wall on the north side of the canyon is 2250 ft high making it the highest sheer cliff in Colorado (El Cap in Yosemite is about 3000 ft). The deepest section of the canyon is 2722 ft at Warner Point.

Hiking the North Vista Trail, Black Canyon on the Gunnison National Park

Panoramic View from Exclamation Point, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, CO

Fall Colors on the North Vista Trail

Although the canyon is only 1100 ft from rim to rim at Chasm View, it's easily a two and a half hour drive around if you go via Blue Mesa like we did and 2 hours, 15 minutes if you go through Delta. Of course due to fall colors, baby poop, and someone we won't mention with a photo obsession, it took us much, much longer. In any case we made it to the south rim, checked out the visitor's center and a few view points and set up camp in time for sunset. We watched the sun go down at Sunset View while devouring a damn fine pot of chili mac.

View from Tomichi Point, South Rim, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, CO

Keira on the North Rim / Camping on the South Rim / Balanced Rock View

Sunset View at Sunset, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, CO. This shot, by the way, is my first attempt at HDR photography. I'm still not sure how I feel about HDR, but it's the only way I could get this image.

We had planned to spend the next morning checking out more of the south rim and possibly dropping down into the canyon, but we woke up to rain and a strong desire for a hot breakfast prepared by someone else, so we packed out camp and headed out.

Stay tuned for more. Next up, Telluride.

There are 27 photos in the slideshow. Click below for the link

Fall Road Trip 2011 - Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

Weekend in Yosemite National Park

2011-12-28T17:48:00.000-07:00

Suwei at Glacier Point, Yosemite National Park, CA

Santa Clara, CA - This is going to be another super speedy post. Just went through the photos from our weekend in Yosemite National Park, December 17th & 18th, and well... I figured I'd stick em up on the blog.

Eng-Shien was the planner for this particular weekend. I think his hopes were for a nice winter weekend with the family in the valley, however, although the weather was sufficiently chilly it was a far cry from a typical December in Yosemite. We are currently in the midst of the 3rd driest December in recorded history and the weather that weekend was quite stunning. So, it didn't feel like winter, but the weekend was really, really nice none the less.

On Saturday, since both Tioga Pass and Glacier Point Road were still open, we decided to venture up to Sentinel Dome and do the 2.5 mile walk (5 miles RT) to Glacier Point. There was a little ice here and there and lots of downed branches, but just the fact that we were up there without skis in December was amazing.

Lunch on Sentinel Dome, Yosemite National Park, CA

Maria, Keira, Karl & Suwei at Glacier Point

On Sunday we took a long stroll around the valley floor and enjoyed the sunshine. Another great weekend! Thanks to Eng-Shien for organizing! Hope you enjoy the photos.

Group Shot at Lower Yosemite Falls.

Lunch in Leidig Meadow, Yosemite National Park, CA

There are 23 photos in the slideshow. Just click the link below.

Yosemite National Park, CA

Fall Road Trip 2011 - Part II - Misc. Colorado Including Grand Mesa

2011-12-25T11:30:00.003-07:00

Suwei walking the rails near Hotchkiss, CO

Santa Clara, CA - Merry Christmas all! I'm just throwing together a quick post, keeping the text to a minimum to save a bit of time. Busy, busy, busy lately. Plus Suwei tells me my descriptions are pretty damn boring anyway. I'll let the photos do the talking. If you want to know more about each one, check out the slideshow (link below).

These photos come from our road trip in October. We spent a few days between the front range & Keystone having a new window installed in our townhouse, buying a new mattress for the ski condo and pricing cabinet modifications & counter tops also for the ski condo. In the meantime Keira was able to visit with her grandparents and Suwei was able to pop into the Boulder office for work.

Hanging out with Ah-ma & Ah-Gong (Grandma & Grandpa) in Broomfield, CO.

On Friday, October 14th, we hit the road again. We had 12 days to get back to California and we planned to make the most of it. But first... we wanted to make an early morning stop in Montezuma. Our friends Kevin & Chica are building a cabin just above the town of Montezuma (very near to Keystone), and when I say building, I'm not talking about having it built. Kevin and his partners are putting in much of the physical work themselves. Kevin was up for the weekend (probably the last of the season before things became too snowy) and gave us a full tour. Afterwards Suwei and I had a nice breakfast at the Sunshine Cafe and then headed out to the west.

Kevin & Cabin near Montezuma, CO

Our first destination of the return journey was Colorado's Grand Mesa, a 40 mile long mesa covering 500 square miles from the Colorado River to the Gunnison. The views and fall colors were out of this world. We made a point of hanging out up there until the sun was well and gone. Anyway, enough typing... here are the photos from this leg of our trip.

Keira enjoying the Fall, near Glenwood Springs, CO

Feeding time, Grand Mesa, CO


The View from Grand Mesa, CO

Fall Colors, Grand Mesa, CO

Sunset at Grand Mesa, CO

And that's it for this post. I'm off to do a bit more eating. Best wishes to everyone in the New Year!

Here is the link to the slide show. There are 40 photos in there.

Fall Road Trip 2011 - Misc. Colorado including Grand Mesa

Happy Birthday Keira!!!!

2011-12-08T17:53:00.001-07:00

Before and After - Keira Turns One Today!

Santa Clara, CA - It's hard to believe my little girl is already one year old. I'm still shaking my head trying to figure out where the time went. As usual, I keep telling myself, "Take more photos!", "Use the video camera!", "Capture this while you can!". But then things get busy and you forget. Well, here are a few more photos from the times when I didn't forget. This post is a bit of a grab-bag of snaps from past events where I never got around to doing an actual post. In the meantime.... Milestones!

At one year old, Keira can now pull up easily on anything and crawl with great speed, but still not yet walking. When she's excited, however, she will stand straight up without pulling up on anything (even with a cheerio in each hand). She'll stand there balanced and look at you for a few counts before realizing what she is doing, then she'll quickly sit down with a startled look on her face. Also, she can use a baby walker with one hand and get around just dandy. So, as I've been saying for the last two months... it's not going to be long before she's running away from us on two feet.

Other new tricks include; holding her own bottle, crawling up stairs, and understanding some requests (Can you give the baby tiger a kiss?) She's talking a bunch, but not using any words that we can understand. We hear a momma or dadda every now and then, but we're still not sure if she is talking about us. She still loves to be chased, digs peek-a-boo in all forms, and is at times more intent on trying to sort her blocks then chucking them. However, entropy is still her specialty.

Wendy & Dustin's Wedding. San Diego, CA. May 21, 2011. From left to right: Karl, Keira, Shelley, Keira, Yih-Shiong, Keira, Keira & Wendy.

At the 19th Annual Aloha Outrigger & Polynesian Festival in Santa Cruz, CA - August 2011.

Keira at Home

Some of the most adorable photos ever (I might be biased)

Keira at Googleween

Point Lobos, Monterey, CA - November, 2011

I tried today to explain to Keira how important her Birthday was, but I'm not sure she's getting it just yet. Maybe next year. Anyway... Happy Birthday little one. We love you lots.

Also, a super big Happy Birthday to Suwei, who turned >1 yesterday!!

Birthday Girls

Bye for now

That's it for now. I'm still promising videos. I just need to find the time to sit down and work with them. Soon, soon.

Here is a link to the slideshow. There are 28 photos in there.

A Keira Fall Roundup

Fall Road Trip - California to Colorado

2011-12-04T17:39:00.003-07:00

On the Road Again Somewhere in Nevada.

Santa Clara, CA - Yep, that's right.... more road trip photos!! Are you noticing a pattern? There is so much to see between California and Colorado, that we hate to fly if we can make the time. This fall trip was originally going to be only 4 days long. I was going to fly to Colorado, let Keira visit with her grand parents while I worked at replacing the front window at the townhouse in Lafayette. However, due to my bout with giardia in September, we ended up having to cancel a holiday in Mexico which then freed up a few more vacation days for Suwei (actually the last few weeks of her maternity leave).

The obvious use for those for those days off? Road Trip! With the fall colors going wild, we figured this would be a great time to expand and enhance the trip to Colorado. This first set comes from our five day "sprint" out to Colorado. Although Keira has proven to be a great road trip baby, she does have her limits and we figured that more than 8 hours a day in the car would be a bit too much. We wanted to get to Colorado quickly so that we could get done what we needed to get done and visit who we wanted to visit and still have time for a nice leisurely return to California through the Southwest (photos coming soon!)

Keira checking out the beach, Silver Lake, CA

Learning about pay phones
Jackson, CA

Our first day on the road took us over the Sierras via 88 through Jackson, past Kit Carson, Silver Lake, and Kirkwood. We entered Nevada near Gardnerville and headed north to Carson City where we caught Hwy 50 east. We spent our first night camping on the east shore of Lahontan Reservoir, where you can set up camp right on the beach. Due to some mighty strong winds we decided to pitch camp just behind a sand dune.

Keira's Camping Duds

Camping at Lahontan Reservoir, NV


Sunset at Lahontan Reservoir, NV

On day two we made a stop in Austin, NV to check out an old west cemetery and download another podcast of, "This American Life". We took a dip in the Spencer Hot Springs. Spencer continues to be our favorite hot spring in Nevada and probably the country (I'd have to pick my brain to remember one better... it's the view that makes it). We made a stop in Empire, NV for gas and salt for our hard boiled eggs (one of the few foods that did not cause my healing stomach to belly ache). We stopped in Ely, NV to buy more eggs and make a second attempt to download a TAL episode. We camped that night at about 11,000 ft in the Wheeler Peak campground in Great Basin National Park. Keira bravely slept though most of the night, even though the temps dropped down into the 30's.

Cemetery in Austin, Nevada

Spencer Hot Springs, Nevada

Eureka,Nevada

Ely, Nevada

Somewhere in Nevada

Day three we woke up to an amazing display of fall colors just below Wheeler Peak. After a chilly start we wandered back down the mountain to visit the Lehman Caves near the Great Basin Visitor's Center. Next we made the long haul across Utah through patches of rain and sun with the goal of finding a motel in Green River before the Subway closed (we learned that day that my stomach could sort of handle a 6" veggie sub).

Breakfast in Great Basin National Park

Fall Colors, Wheeler Peak Campground, Great Basin National Park

Wheeler Peak, Great Basin National Park

Lehman Caves, Great Basin National Park, Nevada

Awkward Family Photo, Lehman Caves, Great Basin National Park, Nevada

Leaving Great Basin National Park

Dry Lake in Western Utah

Viewpoint Somewhere in Utah

Day four we entered colorful Colorado, and well... the state was living up to it's name. We made it to Vail by lunchtime and popped in to see our friends Jennifer and Brian. Brain had just had surgery on his right shoulder and was convalescing in Lion's Head. Jennifer looked great and slightly swollen as she was entering her seventh month of pregnancy. We probably well wore out our welcome by staying through dinner and leaving for our place in Keystone much later than we expected.

Visiting Jennifer & Brain in Vail, CO

Day 5, our last day on the road was a very easy one. Keystone to Broomfield takes about an hour and half if you are lollygagging. We just needed to do a little mattress shopping before heading down the hill. In any case, we had made it to Colorado and needed to start our chores. That was supposed to be the reason for the trip in the first place. It's sometimes easy to get a bit distracted when you're on the road.

Rain/Sun Shelter, Great Basin National Park, NV

There are 55 photos in the Slide Show. Just click the link below.

Fall Road Trip 2011 - California to Colorado

Peace Corps Nepal Reunion at the Lost Trail Lodge, Truckee, CA

2011-11-15T16:53:00.000-07:00

The Lost Trail Lodge, Truckee, CA

Santa Clara, CA - Towards the end of September, Suwei and I were invited to join some friends for a Peace Corps Nepal reunion up near Truckee, CA. No, neither Suwei nor I were ever in the Peace Corps in Nepal, but we have traveled there and I was in the Peace Corps and well.... it sounded fun. Plus, our friend Jen W. from Colorado, who we almost never see, was going to be there. Plus, there were going to be a bunch of little ones coming for Keira to hang out with. Plus, there was going to be a Nepali pot luck on Saturday night. How could we say no?

Some Old Blog Posts From Nepal

8/12/07 - Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

9/06/07 - Trekking The Annapurna Circuit

9/09/07 - R&R in Pokhara, Nepal

9/19/07 - Rafting the Sun Kosi

The venue was The Lost Trail Lodge. Julie and Elyah (who we met through Jen a few years ago) are from the area and had booked pretty much the entire lodge. I really liked this place. Very rustic, somewhat remote, and quite comfortable, albeit a bit pricey. The lodge is about 4 miles up Coldstream Canyon from Donner Memorial State Park. In summer this can be driven by a high clearance vehicle, but in winter you would need skis or snowshoes. There are 5 rooms (cabins) and the place can hold up to 20 people. Perfect for an event such as this.

Hanging out in the Lost Trail Lodge

Keira gearing up for the ski season

Anyway we had a great weekend. We did a little day hiking, did a lot of hanging out with the babies, meet a bunch of new folks, and learned a bit more about Nepal (thanks Stephen for the slide show). It was a perfect weekend for me as I was about a month and a half into my battle with Giardia. I had been stuck at home for the last couple of weeks and although I still didn't have all that much energy, I was dying to get out and do something. The only bummer was having to pass on the Nepali food and the tasty deserts and pretty much everything else in the kitchen but tea.

The Remains of the Nepali Potluck, The Lost Trail Lodge, Truckee, CA

Day Hiking

Thanks to everyone for including us! Here is a link to the slide show with a few more photos.

Lost Trail Lodge Trip, Truckee, CA

Baby's First Road Trip, Part 3, Colorado to California

2011-11-08T10:33:00.000-07:00

On the Road in Petrified Forest National Park

Santa Clara, CA - This is confusing even to me. I'm writing about a road trip we took last February from Colorado to California just a week and a half after getting back from yet another road trip from Colorado to California. Yep, I keep mixing up the two trips in my head.

In any case, this next set of photos are indeed all from our winter trip! I'll start working on the 1500 or so photos I took on the fall trip, ummm... later. Hopefully before spring.

In these photos Keira is now 2 months old. We rent a U-Haul trailer and fill it full of stuff we think we might need in California. We decide to drive a southern route home, to avoid any potentially nasty snow storms. We stick to our plan of seeing as many National Parks and visit as many friends as time and practicality allow. We set out on the road again on February 15th, 2011. Here is where we went...

Warning: Huge Post Ahead!

Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

Sunset at Great Sand Dunes National Park

Distances seem just a little greater when traveling with a baby. We thought we got a fairly early start, but alas, we were rushing to make it to our first destination before the visitor center closed (got to get the book stamped!)

We made it, but there wasn't much time left before the sun began to set. We thought about setting up camp and climbing the dunes in the morning, but the temps were rapidly falling and we weren't yet comfortable about exposing our newborn to that. So, we passed on the hike and chose instead to pick a great view of the dunes and wait for the sun to go down (turned out to be the right decision).

I'd like to head back to this park in the spring, when the river is flowing and climb some dunes before it gets too hot. Keira loves the sand.

Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico

Cliff Dwellings

Upon our arrival at Bandelier National Monument we were sternly reprimanded for bringing the U-haul trailer down to the visitor center, even though the ranger at the entrance kiosk said it was alright. Turns out there was a bit of a miss-communication. The parking lot is very tiny, but there are a few large spots saved for buses. If it's mid-week and no buses are expected, I guess they sometimes let folks like us park down there. Well, the guy at the kiosk obviously didn't get the memo that a large school group was coming that day. In the end, the grumpy visitor center ranger let us stay anyway.

For our hike, we took the short nature trail past the Big Kiva, Tyuonyi Village and the Cliff Dwellings. Then we headed further down Frijoles Canyon and climbed the 140 feet of ladders to get up to the very impressive Alcove House.

I didn't realize it until I started working on this post, but pretty much all of Frijoles Canyon and about 60% of the National Monument was burned in the Los Conchas Fire (near Los Alamos) that swept through the area last June. The visitor center is gone. The Frijoles Canyon parking lot and picnic areas have been closed until just last month (October). Many of ruins including the Alcove house are still off limits. We feel pretty lucky that we got to see this beautiful park when we did. Although it would be interesting to return and see the effects of such a burn.

Cliff Dwellings and Temporary Dwellers, Bandelier National Monument

Alcove House, Bandelier National Monument

Phil and Juliet's Sweet Pad, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Phil, Juliet and Family in Albuquerque, NM

Unfortunately the visitor's center at Phil and Juliet's place didn't have a cancellation stamp, but it was still well worth the stop. So nice to see those guys again and to meet their family. Phil and Juliet are friends of mine from Peace Corps Malawi and Phil was part of my group of urban growth managers (MUGers). It had been a long, long time since I'd seen them last.

Keira, however, was in rare form when we got there. She cried and cried and cried. It seemed she had had about enough of all the traveling and was letting us know... for about 3 hours, while we hung out and had dinner with Phil, Juliet and the kids. Those guys were great! They just shrugged off all the ruckus and we kept on chatting.

After that stop, however, Suwei and I re-worked our sleeping and feeding strategy. It turns out, at the time it was better to wake the little one up to eat more often, otherwise she'd get too hungry and fussy and then couldn't eat or sleep. Anyway, the new plan seemed to work for us and her.

Thanks to Phil and Juliet for hosting us with such grace. Next time we'll have to make more time and visit Rey and Robin as well.

Petroglyph National Monument, New Mexico

Boca Negra Canyon, Petroglyph National Monument

We hit Petroglyph National Monument fairly early as it is pretty much right at the outskirts of Albuquerque. It made me think about Hill Valley in the Back to the Future movies. Just beyond the mass sprawl of Albuquerque's suburbia is this rocky desert outcrop. The park is is basically a 17 mile long volcanic escarpment that winds it's way through the neighborhood. On this escarpment there are over 24000 images etched into the rocks by the APP's (Ancient Pueblo Peoples).

We too a short 1 mile hike around Boca Negra Canyon where one can find one of the largest concentrations of petroglyphs in the park and... get a great view of Albuquerque to boot.

Petroglyphs and Views at Petroglyph National Monument, New Mexico

Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

Petrified Wood at Blue Mesa

Much, much later that day, after a long day of driving, we stopped in at Petrified Forest National Park. Our visit to this park was so hurried and brief, it served as a major driving factor in the planning of our most recent road trip. In brief, we needed to slow down.

The problem we had here, was not realizing that the park closed at dusk. It seems the park has a bit of a problem with poachers taking the petrified wood. I'm not too sure what folks do with petrified wood, but it still goes missing. There is a 28 mile scenic road running north and south through the park connecting pretty much all the points of interest. We arrived at 4 pm, got our stamp, and quickly got on the road to try to do at least one hike before curfew. We picked Blue Mesa (sounded cool).

Turns out we only had like 15 minutes to hike. After 4:30 you're allowed to be in the park, but if you stop anywhere, you can be ticketed. I think we saw one piece of petrified wood, took a quick photo and high-tailed it back to the car. There just wasn't enough time. Which was a shame, as the light out there was fantastic at that time.

This fall we chose to take 11 days for the return to California.

Blue Mesa, Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

Wupatki National Monument, Arizona

Wupatki Pueblo, Wupatki National Monument, Arizona

It was cold and cloudy when we woke up in Flagstaff the next morning. It looked and felt like it could snow at any minute. A perfect time to check out more National Parks!

The difficulty we had in Flagstaff was selecting just what parks we wanted to visit. There are loads of them there! To stay on schedule, we needed to make it to Las Vegas by that evening and that meant picking only one... or maybe two.

We went with two. Wupatki National Monument and Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument are so close they even share the same park map. Perfect! And as it turns out, they are very different parks. Even more perfect.

Wupatki National Monument protects a number of scattered settlements built by the Ancient Pueblo Peoples, including the massive, 100 room, Wupatki Pueblo. The reason there are so many settlements near Wupatki is thought to be the Sunset Crater Volcano nearby that erupted in the 11th century, spewing soil improving volcanic ash over the entire area.

In our short time there, Suwei, Keira and I visited the Box Canyon Dwellings, Lomaki Pueblo, and of course, Wupatki Pueblo.

Lomaki Pueblo, Wupatki National Monument

Box Canyon Dwellings, Wupatki National Monument

Wupatki Pueblo, Wupatki National Monument, Arizona

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, Arizona

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument is just a hop and skip from Wupatki. Actually, to get back to the highway you pretty much have to go through Sunset Crater VNM.

Even though the wind at this point was blowing quite hard and getting quite chilly, we decided to do the 1 mile Lava Flow Trail. I actually did it twice. Once with the camera and once with Keira and Suwei. Lava flows usually make wish I could have been around to seen the craziness happening, but they also make me feel quite glad I wasn't.

Sunset Crater & Fissure / View of the San Francisco Peaks from the Lava Flow Trail

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, Arizona

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Nevada

Hiking to Calico Tanks, Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Nevada

Bill, Jeanya, Eng-Shien, and Henry had rented a house for a weekend in Las Vegas to use as a sort of base camp for a climbing trip to Red Rock Canyon. Las Vegas was on our way home, so... we decided to crash the party. Unfortunately for the climbers, those clouds we were seeing in Arizona, dumped a little snow and rain on Red Rocks and the cold and the wind were sticking around.

Suwei, Bill and I decided to head into the park and do a hike up to Calico Tanks (2.5 miles round trip). As we made our way up to the saddle, things just kept getting windier and colder. Upon reaching the view out over Las Vegas, we took a very quick look and quickly retreated to the shelter of the rocks to get out of the wind and to feed Keira. It didn't take us too long to retreat the rest of the way down to the warmth of base camp and the hot tub.

Bill, Jeanya and Keira at Base Camp

Don & Cathy's Sweet Pad in Snelling, California

Sunrise along side the Merced River at Don & Cathy's Place, Snelling, CA

Again, no stamp, but great company. Don and Cathy were also friends from Peace Corps, Malawi and were kind enough to help me get settled into the central valley when I moved to Merced many years ago.

Unfortunately, Suwei and I arrived to their place much later than expected, so our time was short. (typical of this trip as we were still very much trying to figure out the baby's needs). Cathy however, cooked up a very nice meal and was even able to chat with us a bit before scooting off to bed. She had needed to head out quite early the next morning, which is why I didn't manage to get any photos of her with Keira.

Don however, took good care of us in la mañana. He even pointed us to his favorite roadside breakfast burrito, which by the way, was quite excellent. Thanks D & C!

Don & Keira / Morning Dew / Don Fetching the Morning Paper, Snelling, CA

A little more than 3 hours later (still slower than usual), we were back home at Arturo's house, thinking about what our next move would be.

Thanks for joining us, stay tuned for the photos from the fall road trip. I took tons!

Here is a link to the slide show. Lots more good stuff in there.

Baby's First Road Trip Part 3, Colorado to California

Baby's First Road Trip, Winter 2011, Part 2 - Colorado

2011-10-13T12:42:00.001-06:00

Keira in Keystone, CO

Boulder, CO - Today is the last day in the Front Range for Suwei and I. Tonight or early tomorrow we'll be heading up the hill to Keystone to accept delivery of a new mattress for the condo. After that we're hitting the road again and heading back to California via a southern route (hopefully warm and dry). Today, I've got to get the truck packed up, sell some snow tires, get rid of a old TV, have dinner with Tim & Michele and possibly get this post published. So, here I go.

This next set of photos are from Part 2 of our winter road trip to Colorado last January & February. Part 1 covered our trip out to Colorado (here's a link: Baby's First Road Trip, Winter 2011, Part 1 - California to Colorado). Part 2 covers our time in Colorado, which is to say, it's a bunch of photos of Keira and folks visiting us to see Keira.

Basically, our plan for this portion of the trip was to hole up at our ski condo in Keystone, get used to taking care of an infant, ski, ski, ski, and to see as many Colorado friends as possible. Since I never take my camera skiing with me, all the photos are of our new baby and the folks visiting our new baby.

Keira and Friends.

Frost on the inside of the window

At one point, however, the temps up at Keystone dropped enough to make skiing a little less than desirable. When it gets down to -10F, I tend to rethink a day on the slopes. When it got down to -16F we decided to head down to the front range, visit Suwei's parents, and sort through our storage unit for apartment furnishings.

Suwei's Dad's Birthday Lunch at Hapa in Boulder.

Sorting through storage in Longmont, CO.

Our one little hiccup for this portion of the trip was due to the altitude. Our ski condo is located at an elevation of about 9000 feet. Our first couple of nights there we noticed that Keira was having a hard time getting to sleep and was quite lethargic during the day. When she started spitting up milk we decided to head into town and see a pediatrician. The doc tested her blood oxygen level and all was normal. However, she suggested that we rent a small oxygen tank set a the lowest setting (1/32) and have Keira use that at night. She said even the local babies usually need a little extra oxygen. As the doc was fetching the tank, Keira fell asleep and we watched her blood oxygen level drop instantly below the recommended levels. Tank on, and it started coming back up. Scary. Anyway, for the rest of the time we just made sure she was plugged into the tank at night and all was good.

Night out with friends at the Southern Sun / Cutest Bunny Ever / Keira doing what babies do.

Eventually, we ran out of time and had to think about going home. We rented a U-Haul trailer to take some of our necessary items back to California with us, planned another route home and hit the road again. But, that's a story for Part 3. Stay tuned.

Here's a link to the slide show:

Baby's First Road Trip Part 2, Colorado

Baby's First Road Trip, Winter 2011, Part 1 - California to Colorado

2011-10-10T15:51:00.003-06:00

On the Road Somewhere in Utah

Keystone, CO - This post may confuse some folks as Suwei, Keira and I are currently in the middle of Baby's Second Road Trip, Fall 2011. If Keira looks a little small in these pictures, it's because they were all taken last January when she was a little more than one month old. I just figured that I should post the photos from trip #1 before I get overwhelmed by the new ones I'm taking now.

Let's back up to last January. Suwei had almost 3 months of maternity leave left to burn through. What better way can you think of than to hit the road and head to Colorado for a month or so of skiing? Anyway, that's what we came up with. Our plan was to minimize each days driving time as much as possible, visit as many friends along the way as possible, and to keep the baby from freezing to death. Were we a little nervous? Hell yes!

As it turns out the trip went off without too many hitches.

In Truck Diaper Change

For the trip out to Colorado, we chose to stick pretty close to HWY 80 as that is by far the fastest way across. Frankly, we chose that route because we were not too sure how things were going to work out and wanted to be able to b-line to Colorado it if needed.

Mark & Wendy in Grass Valley, CA

Our first stop was only about 3 hours away from the Bay Area in Grass Valley, CA where we stayed with the Nelsen Clan. Mark and Wendy are good friends of mine from way back in high school and... they have a spare room! Moki, a friend of Suwei's from her early Colorado days, also lives in Grass Valley. We ended up meeting her and her son Aonghas for breakfast in town. Next was a night at a typically awful motel in Elko, NV. Then before reaching Utah, we veered north of HWY 80 to see the Golden Spike National Historic Site.

Breakfast with Moki & Aonghas in Grass Valley, CA

It was during out Northern Route Road Trip last summer that Suwei and I had talked about getting Keira a National Park Passport. Actually there was a lot of debate about whether or not we could get one early and start stamping it while Keira was still in the belly. Anyway, Golden Spike National Historic Site was Keira's first National Park and that's where we got her her passport and her first stamp.

Northern Nevada

Golden Spike National Historic Site

Description: The site commemorates the completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad where the Central Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad met on May 10, 1869. The final joining of the rails spanning the continent was signified by the driving of the ceremonial Golden Spike.

Location	Box Elder County, Utah, USA
Nearest city	Brigham City, UT

Area	2,735 acres (1,107 ha)
Established	April 2, 1957
Visitors	40,156 (in 2005)
Governing body	National Park Service

Logan, UT

Our third night on the road was spent in Logan, UT with Edi and Donald. Edi is Jackie and Jenny's Mom. Jackie and Jenny are friends of ours from Colorado. Although this is the first time I have met Edi, Suwei has stopped by and visited a number of times. Edi was kind enough to send us tons of cute clothes for Keira including a pink tutu that matched the one she bought for her dog. Way too cute.

Anyway, Jackie was in the area for work and we had hoped that we could meet up at Edi's place. As it turns out, it snowed quite a bit that night and Jackie couldn't make it down the hill until the next morning. So, we met up with her for lunch in Ogden, UT.

Edi & Donald's Place in Logan, UT / Edi & Keira / Baby's First Brew Pub, Lunch in Ogden with Jackie

Jennifer and Keira in Moab, UT

Our last stop on the tour before reaching Colorado was at Jennifer and Brian's place in Moab, UT. Jennifer is a friend ours who has joined us on a number of very cool backpacking trips. Brain is her other and owns Pagen Mountaineering in downtown Moab. Even though Jennifer had just blown out her knee in a skiing accident and was not feeling all that spry, she joined us on a gorgeous winter tour of Arches National Park.

It was so nice out there, I decided to get up early and head out to Landscape Arch for sunrise the next day (sans baby). Turns out there wasn't much of a sunrise as it was quite cloudy out there. However, I did manage to get a few shots that I'm proud of.

Arches National Park

Park Avenue Viewpoint, Arches National Park, UT

Description: Arches National Park is known for preserving over 2000 natural sandstone arches, including the world-famous Delicate Arch, in addition to a variety of unique geological resources and formations.

Location	Grand County, Utah, United States
Nearest city	Moab, Utah
Area	76,679 acres (31,031 ha)^[1]
Established	April 12, 1929, as a National Monument
Visitors	1,014,405 (in 2010)^[2]
Governing body	National Park Service

North Window Arch, Arches National Park, UT

Skyline Arch / Keira's Cozy Carseat / North Window Arch

Sunrise, Arches National Park

Early Morning View of the La Sal Mountains, Arches National Park, UT

Panorama from the Courthouse Tower Viewpoint, Arches National Park, UT

One last shot from Utah. This was taken near Fisher Tower's where we stopped for another feeding and a diaper change.

Next stop Colorado! Stay tuned for Part 2.

As usual there are a lot more photos in the slideshow:

Baby's First Road Trip Part 1, California to Colorado

Keira - August Edition

2011-09-21T11:42:00.000-06:00

Santa Clara, CA - It's that time again! Time to post a few more photos of the nugget. I don't have all that many photos this month. It's getting harder and harder to remember to pick up the camera and use it. I blame the problem on her being so damn cute all the time, that one tends to get used to it. Also, she is at this stage where every time I point the camera she tends to crawl towards me and grab the lens. I have to learn to move faster.

Speaking of moving faster... Keira has now officially mastered crawling and can move quite quickly across a room, over obstacles (like dad), and if she is headed towards any object you might deem unsafe of dirty, her speed can sometime double or triple. A favorite game of her's now is to get Mom or Dad to chase her around the couch. She is also able to pull herself up on just about anything now and is working on walking while holding on to stuff.

Favorite games right now, include banging blocks together, peek-a-boo, and pulling stuff off the shelves. The top of the coffee table is no longer a Keira safe zone.

Suwei and I have finally bought a small video camera and should have some videos to post next month. I'm having the same problem there as I have with the film camera. Each video is about 15 seconds long as she crawls towards the camera and grabs at it the instant I start filming. I just need to get a little more sneaky.

Anyway, here are some photos from August:

As usual there are more photos in the slide show. Just click the link below:

Keira - August Edition

Backpacking Trip to Merced (Chiquito) Peak, Yosemite, CA

2011-09-19T11:30:00.000-06:00

Santa Clara, CA - Suwei and I have kind of dropped off the map in the last month or so. We were supposed to go camping up near the Sierra Buttes in August and we had planned to go to Mexico for 10 days in September, but we didn't end up doing either of those things. Instead, since late August, I've been a bit house bound with a somewhat severe case of tummy trouble.

This is your bile duct on Giardia

Anyway, just last week, after seeing a bunch of doctors, going through a tons of tests, and eventually having a biopsy done on my bile duct, we finally figured out what it was that was causing me so much pain. I have Giardia. I don't recommend it. It kind of sucks. Basically I have not been able to digest any fats, grains, roughage, or pretty much anything else that needs bile to break it down, for the last month. The good side of this is that I'm losing weight. The bad sides are that I'm losing weight at a very unhealthy rate. Then there is the pain, the nausea, fevers, low energy, and a bunch of other things that make each day a little less pleasant.

I figure I must have picked it up on my last backpacking trip to Yosemite early in August. It was one of Arturo's trips, which meant we were going to walk a long way and up a fair amount of elevation. I had decided to go ultra-light and wanted to try out my new SteriPEN that Brian and Andrea got us. The SteriPEN is proven 99.9% effective for giardia. Either something went wrong or I'm in that lucky 0.1%.

Besides picking up a case of giardia, the worse mosquitoes I've seen in years and years, and the fact that we missed the peak we were aiming for, the trip was still a heck of a lot of fun. I'll still recommend it, just don't skimp on water filtration and bug spray. Here are a few photos and details from the hike:

Trail head: Chiquito Pass Trail Head - Elevation 7200 ft
Planned Destination: Merced Peak - Elevation 11,726 ft
Actual Destination: Merced Chiquito - Elevation 11,558 ft.
Distance: ~ 15 miles each way

Driving Directions: Here is a link for much better directions than I care to give (http://climber.org/driving/chiquito.html#chiquito). Please note that we started at the Chiquito Pass trail-head instead of the Quartz Mountain trail-head. Starting a Chiquito Pass ads a couple of miles to the hike, but significantly shortens the drive.

High Water at Chiquito Lake

Trail Description: I must say the first 7 miles or so of this trail are not all that interesting as they are mostly wooded and offer no significant views. However, it goes by quickly as the elevation gain is so slight you hardly even notice it. At mile 2 you reach Chiquito Lake and at mile 3 you realize you just walked past Chiquito Pass. Aptly named, Chiquito Pass is pretty much a non-event and you wouldn't even know it was there if there wasn't a sign just beyond it marking the southern border of Yosemite National Park.

Chiquito Pass and the Border with Yosemite National Park

After Chiquito Pass, the trail climbed steadily, but not significantly, to the Chain Lakes Trail intersection at Mile 7 (8700 ft). The next 2 miles offered a few ups and downs and a stream crossing or two, but before we knew it, we had made it to the very pretty Moraine Meadow and another trail intersection at mile 9. We took the trail east keeping our eyes out for a use trail heading up the left side of the South Fork of the Merced River. As it was, we missed the use trail, found the river and followed that upstream. The trees were beginning to thin enough that travel off trail was not difficult. On the way back the next day, we found the use trail and saw how easily one could miss it. It's much further north of the river than we expected.

Following the South Fork of the Merced River

Off trail we followed the Merced River up to another very pretty meadow at about 9600 ft. (mile 11.5?). The Mosquitoes were quite bad at that point, so we sprinted across the meadow and up to a rock shelf on the north side hoping to avoid them. No such luck. It was a little better, but not much. Anyway that is where we set up camp.

Johannes Makes his way up a very Scenic Ridge, Merced Chiquito Peak, Yosemite National Park.

Climbing the Peak: The next morning we set out across a frosty meadow to the granite slabs just east of the river. We followed the gully up past the point where the river petered out. We continued up a series of slabs to the left of the now dry gully until we reached a large bowl. This is where things got tricky. Up to this point we really couldn't see the Peak. As it was, what we thought was the peak actually wasn't. Honestly, we didn't know we had made this mistake until we were standing atop the wrong peak. From the bottom of the bowl Merced Peak looks like a high spot on the ridge. The point we aimed for looked very peak like, but was actually a heretofore un-named high spot on the ridge (see fig. what-the-#$Y*! below). Arturo, who is usually well stocked with GPS, maps, etc. was not happy. Although I think the spectacular view and the fact that it was still a very cool spot cheered him up a bit. We liked it so much we dubbed it, "Merced Chiquito Peak."

Arturo atop Merced Chiquito with Merced Peak Directly Behind Him.

Unfortunately although we were only 168 feet below the actual peak, there were still a number of snow fields to cross and a tricky ridge to follow before we could reach it. After a great deal of discussion we decided against an epic and headed back down the way we came. I predict a return trip soon.

More photos:

We Camped on the Rock Shelf to the right of this Meadow.

We Learned that Mosquitoes Love Orange / Dinner on the Shelf

Alpenglow Above the Meadow

Climbing Merced Chiquito / Johannes Navigates Part of the Ridge Between Merced Chiquito and Merced Peak.

fig. what-the-#$Y*! - Can you spot Merced Peak? Hint: It the one to the left of the photo.

The Hike out through Moraine Meadow

Thanks again to Arturo for organizing! We'll try again soon, maybe from a different direction. Preferably one with less Giardia.

Here is a link to the slide show:

Backpacking to Merced Peak, Yosemite National Park, CA

And here is a link to Arturo's slide show: https://picasaweb.google.com/105936391269677850066/MercedChiquito?feat=content_notification

Burning Man 2010, Black Rock City, NV

2011-09-01T14:51:00.001-06:00

Bliss Dance in a Sand Storm, Burning Man 2010.

Departure Dinner

Santa Clara, CA - As I write this, other folks are busy getting their gear together for Burning Man, 2011. It's taken me over a year to go through, process and label these pictures. Not that I'm been working on them for that long... far from it. It's just that Suwei and I have managed to keep very, very busy as always, and well, baby pictures have kind of trumped all else. Anyway, I figured I better work on the BM 2010 photos before BM 2011 comes and goes, or I might never get them posted.

First off, I have to thank my amazingly understanding wife for putting up with my Burning Man fetish. The last time I attended was in 2008, a month before our wedding. In 2010 Suwei was 6 months pregnant and starting a new job when I skipped off to the desert. I think I went well into a deficit points wise on that one. I'm not sure if there will be a "next time" in my future. 2010 was my 6th year at Burning Man and probably my last one for a while. We'll see. Never say never.

2010 started off like all of my previous years, with the arrival of Gary from the old world. We wandered around town gathering up his dusty gear from dusty corners of dusty garages. We went out to dinner with burner friends from the past who wouldn't be making it out to the playa. We stuffed the truck to brim, stacked more stuff on top and finally set off towards Reno.

Setting up Camp the First Day on the Playa.

Stormy Monday on the Playa and a Spectacular Double Rainbow at Camp

Our camp this year was again a much slimmed down version of past years. We never did really come up with a decent name for the camp as everyone seemed to like, "Gary's Tent Camp", except for Gary. Camp not to be called Gary's Tent Camp was made up of Gary, myself, Matt, Dawn and Tom. Hilda was also an essential part of camp, although she never stayed for too long, choosing to share her love with other well deserving camps.

Camp Not to be Named Gary's Tent Camp with Gary, Matt, Hilda, Dawn & Tom

As always, it's hard for me to write about Burning Man. First off it's an event that's incredibly difficult to describe. I've tried. Yes, it's a music and arts festival, yes it an impromptu community of sorts, yes it's a drug fuel orgy of hedonistic pursuits, but.... and here's where it gets difficult. It's more. But that sounds lame. So, I'm going to stop right there and say what I say to most people who ask me what Burning Man is like. Go. Check it out. If you like it, go again. Try to describe it in a blog post.

I have found that the best way to share my experiences at Burning Man is by taking photographs. And even that misses the mark by leaps and bounds. The last couple of times I've attended the event I've gone for a full 8 days. I figure if I'm going through all the trouble of getting out there, I might as well experience all of it. In those 8 days I spend very little time actually wielding a camera. I tend to make a few trips out of camp specifically to take pictures. The rest of the event I don't want to be burdened by trying to document what's going on. Because of that, my photos are mostly about the art. It's easy to point a camera at a piece of art. I also try to capture some of the emotions I've felt at other times during the event, but that is much, much harder. I'm not really that good of a photographer. So, you get mostly art. Here are some of my favorite art shots:

The Honey Trap by ANIMUS with the Disorient Art Car behind it.

rePIANOproject by Dave Aiazzi, Dolores Aiazzi and Leah Chubb

Intersection by James Reagent, Charles Fields, and company

Dragon labyrinth by Sharon Strong.

Random art at Center Camp

Cultivated shoe tree by Merrilee Proffitt.

OINK by Laura Kimpton, Jeff Schomberg and Celtic Forest Crew

Wish by Rob Buchholz.

There are tons more photos in the slide show (164 to be exact). If you care to check it out, the link is at the bottom. In the mean time I'll share a few more of my favorites. These next photos were all taken at the Temple of Flux:

Tom at the Temple of Flux

Some shots from my Wednesday Night Photo Ride

So, it's been like 5 days since I've started this post. I've been working on it here and there when I get a little time. The results I think, are a rambling mess. I really need to either write something intelligent or just hit publish before I end up posting all 164 photos up here. Blame starvation!

T-Shirt Shelter / Bliss Dance by Marco Cochrane with Balloon Chain by Robert Bose / Feet up in Deep Playa / Flurry on the way to Megatropolis / Superman Gathering at the Man / The Honey Trap by ANIMUS / Dawn's Birthday Gathering

360 Degree Panorama of Center Camp

2010 like most years, blew me away. I love it out there, and honestly, I think you savor it a bit more when you miss a year. As always Saturday crept up on us way too quickly and before we knew it the Man was all set to burn. That day we had a lot of dust storms and the wind was still blowing as the sun went down. Everyone was waiting to see if the dust and wind would die down enough for a 100 ft. bonfire. We hung back a bit from the madness, much like we did in 2008.

Well, sometime between twilight and dawn the fireworks started, the man was lit, and all hell broke loose. We had a decent view at the beginning. We saw a good deal of the fireworks. But, just before the Man caught fire, the dust went mad! Visibility went to zero as the sand and dust gave us the exfoliating of our lives. I felt sorry for the poor camera, but each time the dust cleared enough to get a glimpse of the Man, I quickly took of the lens cap and snapped another shot. Fire, wind, dust, repeat... What a rush!

After a while we lost sight of the Man completely. Then the crowd began to appear from the glowing cloud in front of us. Time to wander off into the night.

Burn Night

Sunrise after the burn

On Sunday night we all gather up for the burning of the temple. This time we got there early and got in close. The weather was much better and the mood (as always with the temple burn) much mellower. It's my favorite way to end the week.

The Temple Burn

Matt, Gary & Hilda. I'll miss you guys this year!

Well that turned out to be a major post. I love, love, love taking photos at Burning Man. If you liked these photos, please check out the slide show for tons more. Also, here is a link to my post for 2008 for some older photos: http://somehowlostagain.blogspot.com/2008/10/burning-man-2008-black-rock-city-nv.html

Burning Man 2010

Backpacking to Upper Velma Lake in Desolation Wilderness

2011-08-18T12:50:00.001-06:00

The Before Photo at the Bayview Campground Trail Head. From Left Eric, Ken, Eric, T, Phil, John, Rob, Scott and Karl

Santa Clara, CA - This set of photos come from my first backpacking trip of the year, July 14th to July 18th, 2011. Actually, I hadn't been backpacking since doing the West Coast Trail last July. So, needless to say I was ecstatic when John, Phil and the rest of the crew invited me to their annual trip to the Desolation Wilderness and was even more ecstatic when I realized Suwei was somewhat cool with me taking off for almost 6 days.

Eric preps for the hike

If I understood correctly (and there's a good chance I didn't), it was John Romweber and his buddies from Piedmont High that started the tradition of an annual trip out to Desolation Wilderness. It has since morphed into a bit of a Peace Corps Malawi mini-reunion trip as Phil O'Neill, Eric Bone, & Ken Shockley became regular attendees. This year they managed to bring myself and Rob Westra into the fold. I hadn't seen most of these guys in years and years and was looking forward to catching up.

The Hike In - Bayview to Upper Velma:

Trail head: Bayview Campground
Destination: Upper Velma Lake
Distance: 4.2 miles
Starting Elevation: 6800 ft.
Highest Point: Maggie's Saddle at ~8400 ft.
Ending Elevation: 8000 ft.
Heaviest Item in Pack: Either the sack of apples or the bottle of whiskey

View of Lake Tahoe from the Bayview Trail

Trail Description: The two main trail heads for Upper Velma are Eagle Lakes or Bayview. We chose Bayview, one, because we camped the night before at the Bayview Campground, two, because it saves you a few hundred feet of climbing, and three, because the view from Maggie's Saddle is spectacular. From the Bayview trail head you start climbing right away through a series of switchbacks ravaged by the dreaded pine beetle (looking on the bright side, less trees mean more glimpses of Lake Tahoe). About 1 mile of this and 880 feet of elevation gain brings you to Granite Lake. After the lake the trail gets a bit steeper for another 700 feet of elevation gain, but you are soon rewarded with a great view of Eagle Lake and beyond from Maggie's Saddle.

Phil takes in the view of Eagle Lake from Maggie's Saddle

From there the trail flattens out offering views of Mt. Tallac, Azure Lake and Snow Lake. At 2.7 miles from the trail head you reach another saddle and the intersection with the Eagle Lakes Trail. It's another 0.6 miles to the next trail intersection. Left takes you to Dick's peak & right leads to Upper Velma. From there the trail drops about 300 feet and before you know it, you are at the Lake.

After Maggies Saddle the trail flattens out as it follows the contours past Azure and Snow Lakes

The Hike in to Upper Velma

River Crossing at Upper Velma

Our Plan: We crossed the river at the lower end of the lake and made our way around the Northwest side. We set up camp atop a rocky outcrop just above the squeeze point between the upper and middle parts of Upper Velma. There was plenty of space for our 9 tents, a good jumping rock, and even a little pond complete with icebergs within view of our kitchen. Pretty much a perfect spot. Our plan was to stay there for 3 nights and explore the area sans backpacks.

Panorama of our campsite at Upper Velma

Day Hike #1 - Fontanillis Lake, Dick's Lake & Flem Nubbin

On Saturday we decided to follow the cascade at the southwest end of the lake up to Fontanillis Lake (8360 ft.). The north side of the cascade was almost completely free of snow, whereas the south side was almost complete buried. Fontanillis Lake was still very much snowed in. About a third of the lake was still iced over. We toured a camping spot from previous versions of this trip and decided that the leaping from the old jumping rock was not such a good idea this year. Although, Eric did manage to make his way across the ice and go for a very fast and furious swim.

Crossing the Cascade above Upper Velma

The View from Fontanillis Lake

Panorama of Fontanillis Lake

From Fontanillis Lake we followed the trail southeast to Dick's Lake. No one swam in Dick's Lake. By this time half the group had returned to camp for more whiskey. A few of us in Team Over Achiever (Phil, Scott, Ken, Eric & I) had our eyes set on Dicks Peak, but... because of the amount of snow and the time of day, we decided to revise our ambitions and just head up to the relatively snow free ridge to the east to see what we could see and re-evaluate. We ended up climbing up to a rocky pinnacle on the ridge at an elevation of about 9200 feet. We dubbed it Phlegm Nubbin after the copious amount of mucus coming out of Phil's head. Despite the name it was quite a wonderful place to be, offering great views of Dick's Lake, Dick's Peak, Mt. Tallac, Azure Lake, Snow Lake, Lake Tahoe, all three Velmas, Fontanillis Lake and pretty much everything else we saw on this trip.

The View from Phlegm Nubbin. From left: Dick's Lake, Fontanillis Lake, Upper Velma Lake, Middle Velma Lake

From Phlegm Nubbin we followed the ridge down to the west, glissading down snow patches when possible. After crossing the Dick's Lake Trail we continued north cross-county to Upper Velma and back to camp. Don't ask me about mileage. I have no idea.

Ken and Scott Glissading

Day Hike #2 - Lower Velma & Middle Velma

On Sunday we followed the river down the hill to the northeast to Lower Velma Lake (Elevation 7700 ft.) The high granite cliffs at the south end of the lake offer great views of what I consider the most appealing of the three Velmas. We made our way around the west side of the lake to a prominent, granite peninsula for lunch and a little leaping into the lake.

Lower Velma Lake

Ken Dries out after a swim / Deciding where to go next

After lunch we made our way up between a few cliffs at the west side of the lake. A little further east of the steeps we arrived at Middle Velma Lake. This lake had no steep sides and looked pretty shallow. There were lots of camping sites around it, but the whole place way quite buggy. The mosquitoes we going nuts. Strange especially since the mosquitoes at the other two Velmas weren't bad at all. We made our way counter clockwise around the lake, then aimed back for camp at Upper Velma.

Middle Velma Lake

The Hike Out - Upper Velma to Eagle Falls

On Monday it was time to head out. We basically followed the same trail out until we reached the Eagle Lake junction. From there we decided to exit the wilderness via the Eagle Falls Trail. From the saddle/junction the trail drops pretty consistently for about 600 vertical feet, taking you past Eagle Lake and Eagle Falls and finally to the Eagle Falls trail head off Hwy 89.

From the Eagle Falls trail head John and I had planned to hitch hike back to the Bayview Campground to fetch the cars. However, I guess we might have looked a bit too scruffy to warrant a ride. Although there was a constant stream of traffic heading up the hill, we ended up walking the whole thing. Luckily it was only another half mile to a mile up Hwy 89.

Hiking out Via the Eagle Falls Trail

After loading the cars we quickly made our way to Cantina Bar and Grill, (one of the first eating joint on the way back to town) for lunch and brews.

And that pretty much sums up our Desolation Weekend. Although we did spend one more night at the Mont Bleu Casino at State Line and a few of the guys did quite well at the craps table.

Thanks to John for coming all the way from Germany to put all this together. Eric, Rob, Ken, John, & Phil, it was great to see you guys again! Eric, T, & Scott, very cool to meet you guys. I hope I'm invited back next year.

Here is a link to the slide show:

Backpacking in the Desolation Wilderness, CA

Russian River Canoe Trip - 2011

2011-08-15T19:33:00.000-06:00

Russian River Canoe Trip, 2011!

Santa Clara, CA - It seems our Annual Russian River Canoe Trip is starting to get big again. This year we had 59 people (and one dog) out on the river, and close to 70 folks there for the BBQ Saturday night, and all that after we made an emergency date change.

We've been doing this trip some 18 years now and I've almost always planned it the 1st weekend in June. In those some 18 years it has never, I repeat, never rained on us. Oh, it's been cold some years, windy others. It's been cloudy, but it has never, never rained. Well, first time for everything I guess. This year June 4th, our original day of departure, had a black cloud floating over it. As the date got closer the cloud got darker and more ominous. It soon became evident that that particular June 4th was going to be one of the wettest in history. As the last minute cancellations came pouring in, I was beginning to think it was only going to be Brent and I out on the river.

Anyway... just as it started raining we moved the whole extravaganza to July in the hopes that summer would rear it's pretty head by then. In the end it truly was the right decision. We only lost about 10 people and gained a few more than that... AND... the weather was perfect.

Thanks to everyone for making this another stellar year. Thanks to Doug, Erhhung and Eng-Shien for sending me photos (I don't take my camera down the river). And finally, thanks to Tyler, Tyler, Scott and Andy for expertly maneuvering the kegs down the river and for providing libations to all.

Here are a few photos from this years trip (for additional photos be sure to check out the link to the slide show below):

So, ummm.... where'd everyone go?

If you are interested in joining us next year, here are some links you should check out:

Here is the link to our brand new Google group: http://groups.google.com/group/RussianRiverCanoeTrip?hl=en
Here is the link to the facebook invite: https://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=134686879935950

Here are some links to photos from past years:

2010 - http://somehowlostagain.blogspot.com/2010/11/russian-river-canoe-trip-healdsburg-ca.html
2009 - http://somehowlostagain.blogspot.com/2009/06/russian-river-canoe-trip-healdsburg-ca.html
2008 - http://somehowlostagain.blogspot.com/2008/07/russian-river-canoe-trip-healdsburg-ca.html
And a big miss mash of years on Facebook going back to 2001 - http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=109770982368574#!/album.php?aid=83062&id=649406713

If anyone has any old pictures from past years that they would like to send I'll thankfully accept them. If you know the year they were taken, even better!

If anyone is reading this and would like to plan their own trip, I highly suggest calling Lollie at River's Edge Kayak and Canoe in Healdsburg. They have been very good to us!

Camping info can be found at http://www.alexandervalleycampground.com/

Here are some pics from the BBQ:

Thanks again! See you all out on the river next year!

Here is a link to the slideshow:

Russian River Canoe Trip 2011

June Lake Camping Trip Including a Visit to Devil's Postpile National Monument, Sunrise at Mono Lake & Other Fun Stuff

2011-08-11T22:11:00.002-06:00

Mono Lake at Sunrise

Santa Clara, CA - This next set of photos comes from our July 4th weekend. We wanted to get out of town but had not made any plans. A last minute search of the campground reservation sites showed that we may just be out of luck. However, with a little work Erhhung and Suwei finally managed to dig up one site out at June Lake, on the eastern side of the Sierras. Doug, Laura, Alyssa & Stacy, also late planners, decided to join us.

Because we had Monday and Tuesday off, we didn't get moving until Saturday morning. That still gave us three and a half wonderful days in the Sierras, and we managed to stay pretty damn busy. So, without further ado here are some of the photos from Keira's second camping trip:

Camping at June Lake:

Dinner at our Tiny June Lake Campsite

Because this trip was sort of a last minute decision and because we got one of the last available campsites in the state, we weren't too, too surprised to see how small the site was. It was quite tiny. It seemed even smaller after we set up massive new car camping tent. It also didn't help that we had one extra car and 4 extra people (ok, one extra adult, one extra kid, one extra toddler, and one extra infant). Nothing a couple of extra bucks couldn't fix.

Stacy Chilling at June Lake

Morning play time in the new tent / Alyssa shows off her anti-mosquito wear / Doug, Laura, & Alyssa in the Taco / Vera back at camp / Stacy loses the, "does a watermelon float?" bet. / Vera demanding a snack!

Biking to Silver Lake:

Biking to Silver Lake

On Sunday we decided to test Keira out in Erhhung's sweat bike trailer. We decided on a short 4 mile ride from June Lake, past Gull Lake and down to Silver Lake. Keira did great! Vera, however, wouldn't let anyone but her dad ride the pulling bike. We had lunch down at Silver Lake then rode back up the hill in the afternoon (thoughts of ice-cream & iced coffees keeping us going).

Keira and Vera ready to ride / Lunch spot at Silver Lake / Panorama of Silver Lake from higher up

Dinner at Crowley Hot Springs:

That evening we decided to avoid the mosquitoes in camp by heading out to Crowley Hot Springs to enjoy our dinner with the mosquitoes there. I've just got photos of our dinner spot and the sunset as it was dark by the time we made it out to the hot springs.

Hiking in Devil's Post Pile National Monument:

The Devil's Post Pile

On Monday we drove out to Mammoth Mountain to catch the shuttle to Devil's Post Pile National Monument. We chose a 4 mile hike from the Ranger's Station past the Devil's Post Pile then out to Rainbow Falls and back to the Rainbow Falls trail head to catch the shuttle again.

I found it interesting that Devil's Post Pile used to be a part of Yosemite National Park. However, in 1905 they found gold in the Mammoth Lakes area, prompting a boundary change that left the Post Pile unprotected. Not long after that folks were already making plans to blow up the Pile and send it tumbling to the river to form a new hydro-electric damn. Luckily there were a few people watching out for this sort of thing and they talked Taft into forming the Devil's Post Pile National Monument in 1911.

Map of our Hike / Erhhung and Vera at the Post Pile / Hexigonal Shapes at the Top of Devil's Post Pile / Keira Experiencing the Joy of Dried Mangoes / Vera Checks out the Top of the Pile / Vera Makes A Run for it! / Dad & Daughter Take a Break / Heeeeere's Stacy!

Rainbow Falls

Sunrise at Mono Lake:

Early Tuesday Morning Stacy and I went out to Mono Lake to take a few pictures of the Sunrise. I ended up taking quite a few. It was amazing out there! We parked ourselves at the South Tufa Area of the State Nature Reserve and wandered around looking for the perfect spot to watch the sun come up.

Lunch in Yosemite National Park:

Our Lunch Spot at Olmsted Point.

By Tuesday it was time to head home. However, we weren't in too much of a hurry. On the way back through Yosemite we made a few stops including: Tuolumne Meadows, Tenya Lake, and Olmsted Point. We wanted to check out the effects of the massive spring melt, and we weren't disappointed. The meadows were almost more lake then meadows, Tenya Lake was as high as I had ever seen it and there was about 3 feet of snow still on the ground in the picnic areas. Olmsted Point was the pretty much the same as usual (buried in tourists).

Toulumne Meadows

High Water and Lots of Snow at Tenya Lake

Keira's First Yosemite Free Solo

Lining up at Olmsted Point

Last Stop! Knight's Ferry State Historical Park:

We made one last stop to feed Keira and to get out and stretch our legs a bit in the 105 degree heat. We stopped in Knight's Ferry and walked out to the historic covered bridge, the longest covered bridge west of the Mississippi. I was thinking of taking a dip in the Stanislaus River, but the water was very, very cold and moving very, very quickly.

The Historic Covered Bridge at Knight's Ferry

And that is pretty much it for our long weekend. Hope you enjoyed the tour. I know I posted a lot of photos up here, but there are even more in the slide show. Check them out here if you are interested:

June Lake Camping Trip Including Visit to Devil's Postpile National Monument & Sunrise at Mono Lake

Keira - June/July Edition

2011-07-28T10:25:00.002-06:00

Santa Clara, CA - So here it is the end of July and I'm just getting around to the photos from June. I'm getting used to that being the norm now. We're just way too busy. Now, I'm just posting trip photos when I get around to it. I'm finding it easier to skip a trip here and there with the hopes of maybe returning and posting something when Keira goes away to college. In any case, I'm still really enjoying the photography and having such a cute subject as Keira, makes it all the more fun.

This month Keira is officially mobile! Although it's tough to truly call it crawling, she definitely gets around. I really need to video her for you to get the full effect, but basically she manages to get up on all fours (hands and feet with knees pretty much straight), then she rocks forward doing a sort of face plant. She'll repeat that move all the way across the room just to get you to pick her up.

She is also doing great at sitting. It's just that she still cannot go from a laying down position to a sitting position without help. Although, she is getting very close to going straight to standing. I really want to find some sort of camcorder very soon!

Also this month, she has learned to scream. I'm not talking about the bawling, crying scream that she has been able to do since birth. This one is a little more sophisticated and is done when she is very happy. She really seems to like when I scream back at her.

Every month it's just more, more, & more from her. She's more verbal, more curious, she's able to use her hands more, and she eats more. She's started eating solids and likes just about everything we feed her (even paper, although we try to keep that at a minimum). Anyway, enough babbling about our perfect baby. Here are some more photos:

That's it for this month. Here is the link to the slideshow:

Keira - June Edition with a little July

Hiking the Estero Trail, Point Reyes National Seashore

2011-07-08T01:11:00.001-06:00

Hiking the Estero Trail, Point Reyes National Seashore

Santa Clara, CA - On June 18th we were planning on doing a Minus Tide Hike up in Point Reyes National Seashore, however the required 4 a.m. start time persuaded most of the group to request an alternative (I actually liked the ideal of wading through the chilly ocean water at sunrise as long as little Keira was being babysat by her grandmother). Arturo, our instigator, quickly came up with a "Plan B", a hike out to Sunset Beach along the Estero Trail, with the possibility of going further on to Drakes Head or making a loop via the White Gate Trail. So, instead of 4 a.m. we all met at the visitor's center sometime around 9 a.m.

From the visitor's center its another 20 to 30 minute drive to the Estero trail head. Here are the directions if you are interested in checking it out:

From the visitor's center head north on Bear Valley Trail for 0.2 mile to Bear Valley Road. Turn left on Bear Valley road and go 1.7 miles to Sir Francis Drake Blvd. Turn left onto Sir Francis Drake Blvd. and go 7.6 miles. Then take a left at the "Estero Trail" sign and drive 1 more mile to the trail head.

Because we set out with a very adjustable plan, I'll break up the trail description into segments as we added to the hike.

Estero Trail Hike, Part 1 - Estero Trail Head to Sunset Beach

Length: 4.45 miles
Start and End Elevations: 153' - 0'
Max Elevation: 190'


Monterey Pine Forest at mile 0.65

From the parking lot the trail starts out meandering south through rolling hills of grass and scrub until it reaches a wall of Monterey Pine (0.65 miles). As you enter the pine forest the trail drops down to the edge of Home Bay, where the trail crosses a narrow isthmus and a foot bridge (1.2 miles). From here you follow the edge of the bay as you climb the west side of Drake's headland. The trail works it up and down rolling hills offering view of Home Bay and Drake's Estero.

Bridge at Home Bay at mile 1.2

Hiking up Drake's Headland

An Estero, Spanish for Estuary, is a partly enclosed body of water with one or more or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and ocean environments and are subject to both marine influences, such as tides, waves, and the influx of saline water; and riverine influences, such as flows of fresh water and sediment. Drake's Estero encompasses about 2000 acres of sea grass beds and mud flats. When we were there the tide was slowly moving in and just starting to cover the area with sea water.

The Sunset Beach Trail as it drops to Drake's Estero

Arturo faces down the cows

At 2.55 miles you reach the Sunset Beach Trail. The trail then drops between two hills and passes to the left of a small lagoon. There are a number of free range cattle that may give you a dirty stare, but tend not to charge unless taunted (Arturo's fault!) At 4.00 miles the trail seems to end in a patch of Poison Oak next to a wood bench. If you work your way through sedge grass and pickleweed you can make your way down to the "beach". Yes, there is sand here, but it's well mixed with mud and rock.

Finding our way through the grass to Sunset Beach

Hiking along Sunset Beach to the Point

You can follow the "beach" southwest along the edge of the Estero another half mile or so to a rocky point with views of Limantour Spit, Drakes Beach, Drakes Estero, Estero de Limatour, and the Pacific Ocean. At low tide you may be able continue around the point a bit further. We didn't as we had a lot more hiking that we wanted to do and didn't feel like getting cut off by the tides.

View from the Point

Estero Trail Hike, Part 2 - Sunset Beach to Drakes Head

Length: 4 miles
Start and End Elevations: 0' - 148'
Max Elevation: 243'

Most trail descriptions I've read list Sunset Beach and Drakes Head as separate out and back hikes. We were feeling quite light footed without the baby in tow and decided to link the two. Arturo also read that there is no way to hike directly from Sunset Beach to Drakes Head without returning to the Estero Trail. I think if you timed it right with the tides, this may not be true (however it does look very difficult and we weren't willing to risk being wrong). So, we returned the 2 miles to the Sunset / Estero Trail intersection and turned right to continue along the Estero Trail again.

At this point the trail just seems to take off across the cow fields. In 0.25 miles you reach a cattle tank where you must head left. It's a little confusing here because there are cow trails heading off in many other directions. Most intersections like this were marked with arrows, but this one seemed a bit fuzzy. Following the cattle fence and the arrows for another 0.5 miles will bring you to the Drakes Head Trail. Note here that the sign pointing to Drake's Head was easy to miss as it was obscured by tall grass and facing the other way.

Wild Flowers on the Drake's Head Trail

The Drake's Head Trail follows well worn cattle trails through amazing fields of wild flowers for about 1.5 miles. You know you've reached Drake's Head when the ground in front of you abruptly falls into the the Estero de Limantour.

View of Limantour Split, Estero de Limantour, and Limantour Beach from atop Drake's Head.

Personally, Drake's Head was the high point of the hike. Great views of the Estero de Limantour, the Limantour split, Limantour Beach (all named after French explorer Jose Yves Limantour, whose ship and crew were stranded on the spit in 1861), Drakes Estero, Drakes Beach, and Drakes Bay (all named for Sir Francis Drake who stopped here in 1579 for repairs and replenishment before continuing his circumnavigation of the world).

Snacks, snaps and naps were in order.

Estero Trail, Part 3 - Drake's Head to the Estero Trail Head via White Gate Trail

Length: Approx. 5.5 miles
Start and End Elevation: 148' - 153'
Max Elevation: Unknown

Still feeling pretty good we decided to press on along the Estero Trail to the White Gate Trail and return via the Estero Trail Road. I can't recommend this route as the 2 mile section along the Estero Trail Road passes through one of Point Reyes' historic ranches and is actually off limits to hikers. We didn't know this at the time. The problem was that we were using a map from Map Adventures instead of using the National Park Map. The difference being that on the National Park Map, the Estero Trail Road is shown to end at the trail head parking lot instead of continuing on to the White Gate Trail. All we could say at that point was, "oops."

In any case we hiked back the 1.5 miles along the Drake's Head trail to the Estero Trail then turned right. Another 0.7 mile brought us to the White Gate Trail. At this point we made another mistake, instead of following the White Gate Trail along the west side of the lagoon, we ended up following one of the cattle trails up the hill to the north. We just followed the contours and cow paths north until we hit the Estero Trail Road again (keeping the lagoon and the White Gate Trail to our right).

Trail marker along the Estero Trail, Point Reyes National Seashore

It wasn't until we hit the Estero Trail Road that we realized our mistake. There were, "No Hiking" signs posted there. It being after 5 pm at this point, we decided as a group to eat crow and hike the 2 miles along the road passing through the ranch, rather than return the 5 miles via the trail. Prepared to apologize to the ranch residents we tip toed rather inconspicuously through the complex. Only the fierce guard puppy seemed to notice us. I think others have probably made this mistake before. Once pass the ranch we only had a short climb up a paved section of road to return to the car. Overall a great hike.

Hiking Cross Country with the Estero de Limantour behind us

Thanks to Arturo for putting this all together! And thanks to my mom for babysitting.

For a lot more photos follow the link below to the slide show:

Estero Trail Hike, Point Reyes National Seashore

And here's a link to Arturo's Slide show: https://picasaweb.google.com/acrespo/PointReyesEsteroTrail

Montara State Beach, CA

2011-06-28T16:43:00.000-06:00

Montara State Beach, CA

Santa Clara, CA - June seemed to be quite the month for Colorado visitors. They just kept coming.

We started off with a visit from Kevin and Chica and their brand new daughter (about 3 months younger than Keira). Kevin was in town to run/bike/swim the Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon and had finagled a sweet pad right above the Buena Vista in Fisherman's Wharf. We headed up to the city to catch the end of the race and hang out with the family. Kevin did fantastic, the baby was super cute, and Chica even got to pass out on the couch for a bit. So, it was a good day all around.

Next up, Jenny came jetting in for the WWDC2011 . Somewhere in between parties, she was able to catch a train down to Mountain View and meet us for lunch at Google. I'm not sure what impressed her more, the creative college like environment or the dinosaur poo with chunks of pink flamingo in it.

And our final CO visitors were Tanya, Glen and Keenan. Tanya and Keenan were in the middle of an epic road trip all over the west. Glen was in San Francisco for a few days for work.They all met up at Glen's cousin's place in the city. We saw them Sunday the 12th, when they all came down the coast and met us in Pacifica, for a day at Montara State Beach.

Here are some of the photos:

Keira, Suwei, Glen, Keenan, Tanya and Josh at Montara Beach.

Our attempt at Burying Keenan Alive, Montara State Beach, CA

Washing up in a very cold ocean.


It was Keira's first time to the beach. She loved the sand, but was not too sure of the surf.

Our day out at Montara State Beach with Tanya, Glen and Keenan

And one final shot before we return to our pineapple under the sea.

That next week, Keenan and Tanya came down and stayed with us in Santa Clara. We were able to do a little mountain biking up at Waterdog Lake and little hiking up in Huddart County Park and a little swimming at the pool. None of which I managed to take pictures of. Anyway, thanks to all those guys for dropping in. We miss our Colorado peeps!

Here's a link to the slide show for more photos of Montara State Beach:

Montera State Beach, CA

Keira - May Edition

2011-06-20T12:02:00.000-06:00

Santa Clara - I know it's already mid-June and my May addition is a bit late, but heck, it's summer. We're busy people.

As usual there have been stunning big changes for the little nugget this month (At least for Suwei and I... I mean everything Keira does is pretty stunning for us.) This month she has definitely mastered rolling over. She has gone so far as to roll herself half way across a room to get at something interesting. Her sitting up is getting much better. She can go unsupported until she looks up or leans back, then if dad or mom are not around, she gets a pretty good head thumping.

Every day we are seeing more facial expressions and hearing more coos and squeaks and giggles. She still doesn't like being abandoned with grandparents, but doesn't mind being passed around at dinner parties. Suwei and I are calling her a very good baby.

Coming soon... crawling.

Here are the photos from May:

Baby's First Haircut, Before & After. I know it looks almost the same! But it did manage to get rid of her mullet for a little while.

Stay Tuned for the June pics, coming sometime in July.... maybe.

Here is the link to the slideshow:

Keira - May Edition

Tour of California, Stage 4 - May 18th

2011-06-14T11:02:00.000-06:00

Stacy Introduces Keira to the Tour

Santa Clara, CA - Just doing a very quick post of some photos I took near the finish of the 4th Stage of the Tour of California. Stacy, Keira and I made the trek up Sierra Road in San Jose on May 18th and found a nice uncrowded spot with great views. This was my first time as a spectator at a bike race, and although I know nothing about the sport, I found the excitement quite contagious.

Stage 4, begins in Livermore, takes the riders up and over Mt. Hamilton, then down into San Jose and finishes with a brutal climb up Sierra Road or as their website puts it, "Stage 4 is short, at just 81 miles, but what it lacks in distance it makes up with three grueling climbs. Two of the climbs are legendary in California lore." The Sierra Road Portion is 3.5 miles at a 10% grade (1759 ft climb). Fun to watch and honestly, these guys didn't look all that tired. Just another ride in the park.

Race Profile

Thanks Stacy for taking us out! Here are the photos:

The folks out front. The photo to the left was taken just after Chris Horner took the lead.

And the Rest!

and... that's it. Time to cruise back down the hill.

Here is a link to the slideshow::

Tour of California, San Jose, CA

Stacy's Springville Cabin & Giant Sequoia National Monument Trip

2011-06-09T15:51:00.002-06:00

Group Shot with Christy, Suwei, Keira, Stacy, Dawn, Michael, Tom, Nancy, Ashley, Karl and Gretta. The only one missing is Bailey.

Santa Clara, CA - Thanks go out to Stacy for using her 40th Birthday as a great excuse for gather up friends at a sweet pad in the mountains!

For the Memorial Day weekend, Stacy rented out the Dennison House at The Three Springs Ranch, just up the hill from Springville, CA. Springville is about an hour and a half south of Sequoia & King's Canyon National Parks and about an hour and half north of Bakersfield, putting it in an sort of California no man's land that was perfect for the busy holiday weekend. Not only that, but it was about the same distance from Orange County as it was from the Bay Area which made it just about perfect for our group.

The Road to the Dennison House on The Three Springs Ranch

Our main goal for the weekend was to eat, drink and be merry amongst friends, anything beyond that was just gravy... and we had a fair bit of gravy even thought the weather didn't really want to cooperate. On Saturday it was cold and overcast, so we figured a long and twisty drive up Hwy 190 to visit Giant Sequoia National Monument and the Trail of the 100 Giant might just do the trick.

Our Lunch Stop on Middle Fork of Tule River

Giant Sequoia National Monument is another one of those kinda-sorta National Monuments that Bill Clinton created (This one was established in 2000). It has no visitor center and no signage. It is managed by the Forest Service as part of the Sequoia National Forest and is completely indistinguishable from the rest of the forest, except that the Forest Service charges five dollars to park near the Trail of the 100 Giants and has stationed a ranger there to let you know that your National Parks Pass doesn't actually work there. You can find it on Google maps, however, if you follow their directions, you'll end up at a tin shack near the Porterville Airport. Anyway... as with pretty much all of the Sierras it's still well worth a visit.

Photos from the Trail of the 100 Giants, Giant Sequoia National Monument

The Trail of the 100 Giants... ehhh. Ok, I guess. I mean how can you miss with 100 or so giant sequoias around and it's nice that there is a trail that is fully handicap accessible, but it's looking a little over-used and definitely doesn't give you the sense of getting away from things. I guess it's hard to get away when you are only walking a half a mile. We got some decent pics and well... the trees are very cool.

Chilling out at the Dennison House

On Sunday it rained and we hunkered down and lazed about until mid afternoon when the sun peaked out for a bit. A small group of us headed into town looking for a honey farm. We never did find it. Instead we ended up at the Springville Historical Museum where we found a very interesting selection of old and odd items on display. The highlight though, was chatting with the proprietor about everything from the odd stone castle at the town's edge to the "new" folks that have come into the area within the last 15 years (and built odd castles at the edge of town). She kept the place open an hour after closing just to chat a bit more about Springville. Very nice.

The Springville Historical Museum

Eventually Monday rolled around, the sun came out, and we all had to head our separate ways. Thanks again Stacy for putting this whole thing together! We had a blast.

Home Keira!

Here is a link to the slide show:

Stacy's Springville Cabin & Giant Sequoia National Monument Trip

And here is a link to one of the videos that kept us all laughing through the weekend:

Castle Rock State Park - May 7th

2011-06-01T16:10:00.001-06:00

Hiking up the side of Goat Rock

Santa Clara, CA - Just a short post with some photos from a day trip to Castle Rock State Park that Suwei, Yin-Yin, Vera, Keira and I took a few weeks ago.

Suwei got out there very early to deliver Arturo, Bill, Jeanye, and Eng-Shien to the Skyline to the Sea trail head. She then proceeded to do a 7 mile trail run (off the couch... ouch!) followed by a nap in the Volkswagen while waiting for Yin-Yin and I to come up with the tater tots.

Climbers at Goat Rock

We decided to try an easy 3 or 4 mile loop down the Saratoga Gap Trail, past Goat Rock and the interpretive center to the waterfall overlook and eventually back to the car. Very easy with nice views and few challenging sections (if you're two and your legs are shorter than most adults' arms).

Anyway, we had a great day. Here are a few of the photos.

Keira decked out in her hiking gear.

Vera Mastering Her Hiking Skills

More Photos from our day in Castle Rock State Park

Vera and Yin-Yin at the Waterfall Overlook, Castle Rock State Park

That's it for now. Still have tons of photos to work on! Parenthood really doesn't allow for the amount of photos I need to go through. Oh well, I'll keep working on putting up what I can. Stay tuned.

Here is a link to the slide show (best way to view photos):

Castle Rock State Park, CA

Keira - April Edition

2011-05-10T10:17:00.000-06:00

The Many Faces of Keira

Santa Clara - Keira just turned 5 months old on May 8th. It's really hard to believe how fast the time goes.

In the past month she has mastered her back to front roll and throws in a front to back roll every now and then. She likes sitting up, but tends to want to reach for things, which in turn causes her to either tip over or fold in half. Hand eye coordination is getting better and she is now well aware of her feet. Anyway, if you haven't seen her for a while you should come over and give us a visit.

Here are some photos from April:

Here is a link to the slide show:

Keira - April Edition

Mount Diablo State Park - April 22nd to 24th - Baby's First Camping Trip

2011-05-05T11:37:00.000-06:00

Erhhung and Vera up early at the Juniper Campsite, Mount Diablo State Park, CA

Santa Clara, CA - About a week or so ago Suwei and I took Keira out for her first camping trip. We joined up with Erhhung, Yin-Yin, and Vera for two nights out at Mount Diablo State Park. We figured it's only about an hour away from home so if anything went horribly wrong we could get back fairly quickly. Well, nothing went wrong and the little nugget did great. Although the little bit of rain we got Saturday night did wake her up for a short bit. Here are some photos from out trip:

Hanging out Saturday Morning at the Juniper Campsite, Mount Diablo State Park

After a slow start, a big pot of oatmeal, and a good nap, we were ready to take on the Devil, the peak of Mount Diablo, looming a daunting 900 ft above us. The trek was planned out to the most minute detail. Diapers... check. Potato Chips... check. Squeaky toy... check. We had over 1 mile of terrain to cover (in each direction. Remember reaching the peak is only half the journey) and we needed to make it back to base camp before dark (a mere 7 or 8 hours of climbing time).


Mt. Diablo Hike

As you can see Suwei and I are learning to re-adjust our pace. It was great to be out on the trail with Erhhung, Yin-Yin and Vera as we got a nice dose of fore-shadowing showing what it'll be like hiking with a 2 year old. You definitely learn to see the trail in a different light.

Both Keira and Vera did great. Keira, in the Baby Bjorn, still sleeps most of the way. Vera is in her independence stage, where she wants to do things for herself. Most of the time she refused to be carried, but then would get tired and distracted. A few potato chips however, strategically inserted at the correct intervals, helped keep her going.

Hiking up Mount Diablo

If you some how manage to complete the entire 1.25 mile walk from the Juniper Campground (3000 ft) to the peak (3864 ft) you will be rewarded with great views, a massive parking lot and the Summit Museum. Ok, the parking lot is not much of a reward, but the other two well worth the wander. We got up there a little after lunch and the place was bustling.

The View North From the Peak

The Summit Museum

While strolling through the museum I learned a few things about Mount Diablo that I didn't know. The most interesting to me was the bit about its name. Before Mount Diablo became Mount Diablo it had a few other titles. The Ohlone Indians from the San Jose and East Bay area, called the mountain 'Tuyshtak', meaning 'at the day', while the Nisenan Indians of the Sacramento Valley called it 'Sukkú Jaman', and the southern Miwok called it 'Supemenenu.' Most of Mount Diablo however, lay within the homelands of the Volvon Indians and as early as 1811 it was called 'Cerro Alto de los Bolbones' or 'High Point of the Volvon'. Ok, not so interesting so far, but it gets better.

It has been suggested that another Indian name for the mountain was Kawukum or Kahwookum, but there is no evidence to support it. Supposedly the name Kahwookum was completely made up in 1866 and had no Indian connection what-so-ever. The name resurfaced in 1916 as a real estate gimmick with the translation of "Laughing Mountain", attributed to the Volvon Indians.

Views from Mount Diablo

Why Mount Diablo you ask? As if to say, "Get to the point." Well, as with many names in the USA, it was due to a bit of a screw up. In 1805 several Chupcan or Bay Miwok Indians escaped from the Spanish and hid in a nearby willow thicket. Well, they were incredibly hard to find in that thicket so the Spanish named the area, "Monte Del Diablo" or "Thicket (or woodland/forest) of the Devil". That name was also applied to the Rancho Monte Del Diablo,with later became Todos Santos or All Saints, and then eventually Concord. Monte Del Diablo become Mount Diablo when English speaking new-comers mistakenly attributed Monte to the Mountain rather than the settlement.

Mount Diablo State Park

This is where the story gets silly. In 2005 there was a petition to the federal government to change the name of the mountain due to its current name offending those with Christian beliefs. The petition also claimed that Diablo was a living person and thus the name was banned under federal law. The name proposed? "Mount Regan," which was quickly rejected on the grounds that a person must be dead for at least five years before a geographic landmark can be named after them. The proposed, Mount Regan, was brought up again in 2009, spurring a unanimous vote by the council against changing the name, citing historical significance.

Afternoon view from the Juniper Campground

Campground on a rainy Sunday Morning. We opted for breakfast down in Danville.

By the way, "Concord" comes from the Latin for, "Harmony". Ok, Enough with the names.

Here is the link to the slide show:

Mount Diablo State Park - April 22nd to 24th

Yosemite National Park - April 2nd & 3rd, 2011

2011-04-21T16:18:00.001-06:00

Rainy Afternoon in Yosemite National Park

Santa Clara, CA - Ok, I'm totally caving on my resolve to attack my oldest photos first. I'm way, way too far behind and I can't see a way to catch up. So, I'm going to use Arturo's method and work from the most recent backwards. It's just much, much easier to remember things and actually make the slide shows somewhat interesting. I'll finish up last summer and fall eventually. There are a lot of good memories in those photos. I certainly don't want to chuck them into a shoe box and forget about them.

Anyway, this is going to be a fairly quick post from a trip we took the weekend before last to Yosemite National Park. Eng-Shien, Bill, Henry, and Arturo reserved a tent cabin in Curry Village for the weekend and had been planning to do a bit of climbing.

Blowing Snow in Yosemite West

After a long period of half committal, Suwei and I finally decided to go for it and joined in at the last minute. The only problem being that last minute lodging was hard to come by and a bit pricey. We ended up working a out a deal with friend to use his family's place up in Yosemite West. We just needed to do a bit of snow removal and checking on the house. It had just snowed about 4 feet in the valley the week before and he was anxious to know how the place had fared.

Happy Birthday Eng-Shien

The previous week's storm and continuing unsettled conditions changed the focus of the trip from climbing to cross country skiing for the Curry Camp crew. Suwei and I changed our focus from snow shoeing to just plain hiking when we saw that the warm weather and rain had greatly reduced the amount of snow in the valley.

That said, the valley was just spectacular. The amount of water flowing everywhere was amazing. I don't think I have ever seen that many waterfalls in Yosemite.

Saturday we spent the afternoon up at Yosemite West and the evening down at Curry Camp for Eng-Shien's Birthday Dinner. Sunday we all took a short hike out to Mirror Lake. Suwei and I are still testing out how long Keira can stand being toted around in her carrier. This trip she lasted just about 4 hours. However, we had a little bit of a melt down when we caught the shuttle bus back to the lodge. Keira really seemed bothered by how fast the trees and everything outside of the bus were moving. We realized then, that she had never been in a vehicle and not been strapped into her car seat. She didn't like it one bit. Either that or she didn't like the driver's "bear" jokes. Jokes so bad, they were on par with Arturo's arsenal.

In summary...a nice weekend, wish it was longer. Here are some photos:

Hiking out to Mirror Lake, Yosemite National Park, CA

Mirror Lake and Half Dome

Yosemite Falls at Full Flow

Here is the link to the slide show. Thanks to Eng-Shien and Arturo for sharing photos.

Yosemite National Park