Tubing Chico Creek

Last Saturday, we decided to have fun and stay cool by tubing/exploring Little Chico Creek.

So we walked to the creek and launched from our sandy beach swim hole.

The water was mighty fine and the shade was lovely. We did plenty of blackberry grazing along the way.

We enjoyed our creek from a totally new perspective.

Katya shootin' the chute.

Boulder Creek Lakes--Trinity Alps

Inspired by Scott and Jamie's recent backpacking trip to Canyon Creek Lakes, in the Trinity Alps Wilderness, Ross and I spent the weekend at Boulder Creek Lakes. BC Lakes are one the west side of the main Canyon Creek trail. The trail was steep at times, but always beautiful. We made several creek crossings, most hopping from rock to rock, but two were log crossings. It took us 6 hours to get from the trail head to our campsite at Boulder Creek Lakes. We stopped for lunch and numerous times to marvel at the views and the numerous wild flowers. Two pictures below, Ross is posing next to tiger lilies.

These next few pictures shows the Boulder Creek Lakes basin. Ross counted about six small lakes in the basin. There were several snow melt cascades feeding the lakes.

Water was plentiful and crystal clear. Although the lake was cold, we both managed a lunch time swim on Sunday, and were glad to be refreshed!

Our photos don't accurately express our surprise and delight with all we saw, or the grand panoramas that surrounded us. We hope to explore the area further in the near future1

Friday at the Feather River

Today, the temperatures hit the annual high (so far) at 103 degrees. Katya and I escaped the heat by spending the day swimming and playing around at the Feather River. Below is a good sequence of her jumping in from a low rock (my favorite low rock). She showed mercy and did not required me to jump off of the rocks that she and Ross usually jump off.

Bay Area weekend

Ross took Friday the 16th off, so we could head down to the Bay Area. Our goal was to visit San Francisco--the CA Academy of Sciences and anything else we had time for--, stay with all of my parents, and visit Mt. Diablo. The iconic photo above belies our early struggles with public transit (because I was unaware that there are BOTH Muni buses and Muni trains). We arrived at the Academy of Sciences slightly later than expected but were enthralled with the aquarium. Below is a picture of Ross and Katya in a tunnel under one of the indoor aquarium ponds (able to be viewed from various levels) and the cool albino crocodile.

We also saw jelly fish. If you can't quite tell, that is Ross posing in front of a black lit jelly fish tank; below are pictures of the Moon jellies.

This is a photo of Katya in front of a free standing tank housing Sea Dragons, a type of sea horse. The Sea Dragon is above her left shoulder and looks like seaweed.

After we finished at the Academy of Science (planetarium, extreme mammals, cafeteria, coffee shop, aquarium, miscellaneous exhibits, gift shop) we walked over to the SF Botanical Gardens. In case you are wondering about appropriate botanical garden etiquette, DO NOT FEED the squirrels.

Ross was getting his second wind, so we make our way (by trains and pedi-cabs) to Pier 39. We enjoyed a nice dinner (none of us ate any shellfish) and did a quick walk of the pier.

Saturday we went up to Rock City, on Mt. Diablo, with Phil and Sandy. We all enjoyed hiking around on the rock formations and wind caves. Phil, Sandy, and I each reminisced about previous trips to Rock City. Notice the faces of Ross and Katya in the wind cave below?

This is all of us at the "castle", built by CCC workers in the '30s, at the summit of Mt. Diablo.

After our mountain tour we retired to frolic in Phil and Sandy's pool, the perfect way to cool down. Saturday night we had dinner at Skippolini's Pizza, in Clayton, and then caravaned over to Mumphie's. As you can see, we relaxed in her spa.

Sunday, the four of us went across town to tour the Ruth Bancroft garden. It was full of sculptures from a recent art in the garden show; Katya wasn't harmed in the making of this photo.

Thanks to all of our hosts in Clayton and Concord. Next time we hope to visit Alcatraz and have Ross ride to the top of Mt. Diablo!!!

Fourth of July

Fourth of July weekend saw the Chico Ells-duchs heading in different directions. Katya went to Reno; she swam and played. Ross went to Serene Lakes (Tahoe area) with a group of friends. He mountain biked, swam, canoed, and watched the fireworks show over Donner Lake. Mumphie and I travelled to Fortuna so Scott and Jamie could go backpacking in the Trinity Alps, at Canyon Creek.

In the evenings, we would take the girls across the street to run up and down the hill (a 2 yr old sized hill) and walk on big logs. They were fascinated by the neighbor's ivy. I told them it was a fairy gate to another dimension; now I worry that they will be scared of it. You will notice that Izze never leaves home without her monkey on her back.

Mickey being the photogenic one at the waterfront in old town Eureka.

Tuesday, on my way home, I stopped in Redding to hike out to the recently rediscovered Whiskey Town falls and was quite impressed.