Yosemite

Last weekend, we took the kids to experience snow for the first time. RCP booked a "cabin" in Curry Village (with heater!), and I scoured the South Bay to find snow chains that fit the Hyundai. We got in the car on Saturday morning, put in an audio book of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" and off we went. We had some good burgers in Mariposa, and reached Yosemite mid-afternoon.

We lugged our bags to the cabin, and put on our "snow clothes." We ran around in the snow and threw a few snowballs. We took the shuttle around the park, visited the Ahwanee, and eventually had dinner near the Yosemite Lodge. Unfortunately, sometime on the excursion, my wedding ring fell off, and disappeared. (DAMNIT! -- That was the new one!)

Since our cabin had no bathroom, we were disappointed when SKGP had to go in the middle of the night. All in all, it was a pretty restless sleep, but not too bad.

The next morning, we suited up, got some hot coco and breakfast, and played in the snow. We made a snowman, we had a snowball fight, we made snow angels, and we admired the incredible beauty all around. Yosemite in white is amazing.

Then we packed up and drove home with little trouble. We had lunch in downtown Merced.

I was very nervous about driving in snow, since I have no experience with it. And I wasn't certain I could figure out how to put on the chains if I needed to. Luckily, apart from the lake that formed in the parking lot, there were no troubles with driving, and I didn't have to deal with the chains. It appears that I broke a thermometer in the car, since it now says the temperature is 140 degrees outside.

Pictures of our expedition are available.

Disneyland Photos

Pictures that I took at Disneyland.
Pictures that Aunt Erin took at Disneyland.

Dineyland Astro Blasters

10th Anniversary Cruise

In early August, RCP and I went on a cruise for our 10th (!) anniversary. It was a 4 night jaunt, from LA, to San Diego and then back up to Catalina, then to Ensenada, Mexico and back to LA. If you look at a map of California, you will see that this routing doesn't make any sense -- the harbor is 20 miles from Catalina.

When booking the cruise, I spent some time finding the cheapest fare, and Orbitz won. It was about $750 for the two of us, which I thought made the whole trip a cheap date. Our room was small, but it had a window and we weren't under water.

We left the kids with Gram and Pop, and they seemed to have a good time.

Our dinner companions were nice people. One of the couples was married on the same day as us, so the night of our anniversary was festive. Another couple was from Brazil, which is fascinating because why would someone come from Brazil for a silly cruise along the California coast? (Answer: they were here for a job thing.)

I bought a bottle of absinthe in Mexico, which is banned here. I appear to retain my sanity, so it isn't everything its cracked up to be.

I discovered that I like playing blackjack. I won about $150 on the first night (which is HUGE stakes for me), and stayed about $100 ahead for the rest of the trip.

This ship doesn't really compare to the Freedom of the Seas, which is the huge boat we took last year. The crew on this one seemed like they were in training, compared to the amazing service we had on previous cruises.

Disneyland!

We are going to Disneyland on Friday, October 5th. So if anyone wants to come, see you there!

Picnic Day

Picnic Day is the annual open house at our alma mater, UC Davis. Yesterday, we packed the kids in the van and made the trip back to Davis. It rained. A lot. On the road and on campus.

Highlights include the Doxie Derby, the race of the wiener dogs. Also, lunch at the Coffee House is still very good. EJP got to pet a tarantula, some snakes, and a scorpion. We tried honey based on several different plants. We saw cockroaches race.

We met up with Jon and Jessica, and it was, as always, a pleasure to see them. The twins are coming! It seems I'm really missing out by not watching Battlestar Gallactica.

We had dinner at Dos Coyotes. Yum. Then we drove home in more rain.

Premium Only

What are the ethics of fueling up a rental car?

The car I rented for my trip to southern California demands premium fuel only. I don't want to spend more money than I have to on a rental, but I don't want to damage the car.

I went with the medium grade fuel. What am I supposed to do?

Dividing Line Restored

Madera County is the geographic middle of the state; it is halfway between Mexico and Oregon. To mark the spot where north meets south, someone planted two trees in the median of Highway 99, a few miles south of the city of Madera. The northern tree is a redwood, and the southern is a palm tree.

Last winter, the redwood fell down during a storm. Southern California appeared victorious in the eternal struggle.

Now, the North will rise again: CalTrans has planted a new redwood tree.

(Who would have guessed that CalTrans would be party to something that this? Do they have a personality, or even a soul? I never would have guessed.)

We Want Our Highspeed Rail!

According to this article, we Californians might have to wait another couple of years to decided if we want to think about having a high speed rail system from LA to SF. For anyone who spent last weekend (like we did) slogging across the state (and you must have been there; the roads were packed), it should be obvious that this rail line would be a good thing.

(And this, coming from a card carrying libertarian, [if not a completely dedicated one].)

Travel Tip: Security Wait Times

If you're worried about how long its going to take to get through the airport, TSA has a website that shows the average and maximum wait times at security at each airport.

Better yet, I recommend flying in chartered planes, since you then bypass security altogether.

We're Back

We have returned from our cruise. Among the highlights were the rock wall and skating rink on the ship, and the careening through the treetops in Jamaica. It was also great to see some of my long lost family.

The lowlights mostly center around children not making the right choices.

Pictures and videos in a bit.

Freedom of The Seas

Tomorrow the family is flying to Miami, FL to board the Freedom of the Seas (the world's largest cruise ship) to tour the Caribbean for a week. We are having a family reunion of sorts; there will be 17 people in all. Aside from the locals, we will be joined by some of my Canadian relatives, who I haven't seen in a long long time.

And with EJP being potty trained, we get to hand the kids over to the daycamp style service they have for kids, which SKGP enjoyed a bunch on our last cruise.

(Please no hurricanes; please no hurricanes)

Wild Kingdom

We had a nice visit in southern California.

On Saturday, we went to the La Brea Tar Pits, and the (world famous) Farmer's Market. It has been a long time since I've done the tourist thing in LA (other than Disneyland), and there really is some cool stuff. The tar pits are impressive. We got to see some volunteers actually digging out a pit, which was very cool. Someone tell me why we shouldn't clone some of those long gone mammals.

On Sunday, we went to Orange County to be part of Baby Eva's dedication (sort of a baptism / christening thing without water). Eva was a great performer and it was a nice ceremony, with a mighty fine lunch afterwards.

We drove home. It wasn't fun, but we made it back by 9 PM. SKGP survived the last stretch even though she really had to go.

Which brings us to the wild kingdom.

A cricket was lounging in the foyer; over the kids objections, we put it outside.

In SKGP's bedroom, we discovered that a cat had exploded. There was vomit in three separate piles on the floor. In one of the piles was a swarm of ants. Why had the ants decided to avoid the kitchen and go upstairs to feast on cat puke? It just doesn't make sense. I hate ants.

There was another cricket in our bathroom downstairs.

(Are we living in the next Coalinga?)

Puke!

Act I

On Wednesday, a couple of us went to Sinaloa in Morgan Hill for a margarita after work. Then I met the family at the new restaurant Ragoot, also in downtown MH. I've never been impressed with Sinaloa's food, but everyone told me that you go there for the margaritas. Well, the margarita I had sucked. Their chips and salsa isn't very good either, but that never stops me from eating ton of it. Ragoot's is the right restaurant for Morgan Hill -- its pretty good and hip, but still casual. I had a nice salad.

After I went to bed, I tossed and turned for a long time. I dozed for a while, but I was feeling worse and worse. Then I made the mad dash to the toilet.

Act II

Thursday passed with me in bed. Friday I returned to work. After work, the family drove to La Canada to spend the weekend with RCP's family.

After a brutally tiring drive, we arrived around 11:30 PM. After a struggle, we got the kids into bed. We fell asleep.

At 2:30 AM, SKGP yells for us. We go to check on her, and EJP is swimming in a horrible white mucousy sludge.

We change the sheets and go back to sleep.

Act III

3:00 AM. Another yell from the kids room. Another change of sheets.

We bring SKGP in with us so she can make it through the night undisturbed. An hour or so later, EJP comes in and squishes in with us.