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.

Grammy FEST 2010

Happy Birthday Mumphie-Grammy-Sande!!!! The last weekend in June, the Fisher's hosted everyone at their home, in Davis (7 adults & 5 kids). We celebrated Mumphie's birthday (and impending retirement) with a day at the city pool and a big birthday dinner potluck topped off with cake and pie. After dinner, we seized the opportunity to get a picture of Grammy with all five of her grandkids (Kurt, Karl, Katya, Izze, and Mickey). Everyone played hard and ate hearty, leading to early bedtimes for all that evening.

Here are a few pictures I took at the pool. The pool is an example of Davis's commitment to city parks/recreation; it has a swirly water slide/lap pool, a little kid water park, a large kiddie pool, and pool with a high dive-low dive. Not all in our group were brave enough to go up into the "death zone." High dive photos: please feel free to vote on who has the best form. Photo 1=Dr. Adventure; Photo 2=Katya (click to enlarge); Photo 3=Jamie (click to enlarge). The little girls really took to the water; I was with them alot so didn't get any photos.

Amanda and Karkleberry

Sunday early morning craft time--pens, paper, glue=paper airplanes. Later followed by connecting 2 linear miles of glow sticks. Topped off with deluxe waffles.

Jamie and the girls at breakfast

Sunday morning, Amanda and Ross went on a road ride out Putah Creek and enjoyed the day before temps hit 100. After Scott, Jamie, and the girls headed out, Amanda-Ross-Kurt-Katya-E biked over to Hamster-Wheel Park. I took a photo of Katya and Kurt on the barf pole.


As usual the time together was a hit. You can see that Kurt and Katya were not keen on being split up when it was time to go.

Thanks Mike & Amanda. Looking forward to the next get together.

Avenue of the Giants 5-2-10

Last weekend, all of us (Mumphie, Fischers, and me) drove to Fortuna to spend the weekend together, celebrate Amanda's birthday, and participate in the 10k/half marathon Avenue of the Giants run. The photo above is the three of us before the race; Amanda ran the 1/2 marathon, while Jamie and I were happy with the 10k. As you can see the morning began overcast, breezy, and a bit cool. The temps were perfect for running, and as you can see from the post finish line photo below, the sun came out. The course is beautiful and winds through the redwoods with views of the Eel River, but it is uphill to the finish line! Jamie, Amanda, and I definitely want to make this an annual event.

Every finisher is awarded a medal (so please don't think that we are super special;). The race results are at http://www.theave.org/ I am happy to report that I placed 4th in my age group, a respectable showing at a popular event.

Most of the weekend was spent in the pursuit of kid friendly activities such as: visiting the beach at Trinidad harbor, the CR plant sale, the HSU stadium and community forest, playing in Scott and Jamie's backyard, visiting Six Rivers Brewery, and playing on Mickey & Izzie's birthday trampoline. All of the kids played well together; Kurty was good with the little girls, and the girls were great with Baby Karkee. I look forward to our next get together, hopefully Uncle Rosser and Katya will be there. Cheers!

Your tax dollars at work on the mountain....

Last Saturday, my favorite ski patrol guy took me on a back country adventure to Ridge Lakes at Lassen. The sky was azure blue, the temps were fairly warm, and the snow was nice (but heavy on the way back in).

Ross skinned over to Diller to meet two friends and ski the Diller couloir.

This was strictly "work" for Dr. Adventure, so he headed to Squaw Valley with Mark the Florist on Sunday:)

Springtime in upper Bidwell Park

For the past few weeks we have been experience unsettled spring weather, bringing snow to the mountains and rain to the valley. As a result, upper Bidwell park is lush with grass and wildflowers and many season rivulets and waterfalls are flowing. The following is a few shots from some of our evening strolls.

Ross standing next to a small waterfall, that was creating a lush grotto of ferns, moss, succulents, and flowers.

This is a shot of lupine (purple-blue color) and vetch (violet color) through the split rail fence near the entrance to upper park.

Cloudy skies and leafing oaks in the background. Delphinium in the foreground.

Paraglider enjoying the weather.

A view looking up towards North Rim. Yellow dwarf stone crop and glassy white hyacinth border the lava cap.

Lush grasses as we descend and head back to the car.

Skiing before Easter

The Saturday before Easter we hit the slopes at Mt. Shasta for our last visit of the season. The conditions were amazing, espescially for April in California. We posed for a photo with the Travers, who spent most of their winter weekends coaching or skiing with the MSST. (Katya, Elaine, Ross, Debbie, Jesse, Ben, and Bill--Jasper was off skiing).



Katya and Jenna skiied together. Jenna managed to set several land speed records during the day. Katya and she were skiing like champs!!

From here on out, the skiing will be at Lassen.