Sister's visit

My sister arrived last Thursday just in time to help me celebrate my birthday. The whole clan arrived after more than 5 days on the road- it sounded like they had fun taking their time cruising to California. That evening we ate a delicious cake that CD made from Robyn's recipe (super yummy!) and I got lots of presents (thanks for all the calls and cards).





On Friday we headed down to the Avenue of the Giants in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. We were all impressed by the huge trees- especially impressive was the Dyerville Giant that fell back in 1991. It's supposed to have measured around 360 ft. (imagine a 30-story building or 200 ft higher than Niagara Falls) with a diameter of 17 ft. When it fell the mud splattered 15ft up on trees that were 50 feet away and a man 1/2 mile away reported hearing something like a train crash. So I guess that answers the eternal question: if a tree falls in a forest.... I guess you'd hear a "Champion" redwood crashing down within a 1/2 mile radius.



The Colorado Clan


The Dyerville Giant


me and my sis

Saturday we spent at Moonstone beach. It wasn't warm enough for swimming, but it was just great to hang out and play in the sand. Here are the kids:

Emily



Helen



William, champion of the world

Clif and CD


Sunday we relaxed at home, went for a walk and out to dinner. Overall, a great visit with Connie, Clif, William, Helen and Emily. It was great to see them and I think they enjoyed their visit.

Also on Sunday, CD got a hand in the deck-building:

Summertime!

Summertime has arrived! CD has continued work on the deck and is getting closer every day to putting in all the joists. Once that is done he will be able to put all the boards on and we'll be able to hang out.


We've also been enjoying the local baseball team: the Humboldt Crabs! We saw them last weekend beat the Redding Colt 45s. Unfortunately they didn't sweep the series and the Colts came back on the last game to win. The games are pretty small, but the crowd is always fanatical. The Crabs Grass Band keeps us entertained while we drink beer and enjoy some ballpark snacks. Here's some of the action:


A couple of weeks ago while my car was parked at work, some guy's jeep rolled into it. I didn't really want to talk too much about it, but now that we have some good photos from the mechanic I figured everyone might want to see the damage. Until it is repaired I'm driving the Malibu- it's different!

Trinity Alps Wilderness: East, Middle and Upper Boulder Lakes

Yeah! Camping! Finally the season has arrived to pack up the car with sleeping bags, tent, food and warm clothes and head for the hills. The Trinity Alps seem to be the closest (and most accessible) mountains near here and we have been eager for the warmer weather to arrive to go and check them out!

CD: the trailmaster!

Although we'd had some mild stress earlier in the week, when the weekend arrived we took all that energy and drove east on 299. At Weaverville we took CA 3 north and looked for a nice spot to camp for a couple of nights. We knew we wanted to do some hiking near Callahan, but weren't sure where we might be able to pitch our tent. A girl in town pointed us to Kangaroo Lake- it was a little removed from where we wanted to start on Saturday's hike, but we got a great campsite. So, Friday night we roasted some dogs and marshmallows on a great fire before getting some rest for Saturday's dayhike.

Kangaroo Lake/ CD: the tentmaster!

We got an early start, but got a little lost trying to find the trailhead which set us back a little. Once on the trail, it was straight forward and after two miles we arrived at East Boulder Lake. It was in a very serene basin with nice meadows.

East Boulder Lake

We forged on trying to find the path to Upper Boulder Lake. We trekked through some marshy trail, but decided that we had missed it so we turned back and joined a trail heading south. We soon realized this wasn't the trail we wanted- we were going on the loop in the opposite direction than foreseen. It was still just beautiful skirting a ridge before dropping down a bit to arrive at Middle Boulder Lake. Right above it there are two "tear shaped" ponds where a couple of horses (and their owners) were taking a rest.

Middle Boulder Lake

After climbing over a saddle, we joined the Pacific Crest Trail for a couple of miles- skirting the other side of the ridge. The weather was cloudy and cool which made it really bright, but not too hot to hike- always nicer if you're not sweating (huffing and puffing-yes, but at least not sweating).

After going through some left over patches of snow and getting good views of the Trinity alps, the trail led us up over another saddle and we dropped into the Upper Boulder (it also had two baby ponds with it) and on down to East Boulder Lake. Throughout we encountered only a couple of people, so it was nice to get away and really feel the peace and solitude of the outdoors.

Upper Boulder Lake

Last week, er.. I mean awhile back

After hanging out in Seattle and going to the Sasquatch fest with Brandon and Molly (thanks again for driving us there and back, and feeding us!), we headed home. We did stop in Portland for a few more rounds of Boggle with Christian and Josephine.



The work has begun in earnest for the deck building. CD got the permit (finally!) last week and the inspector came to check it out. We had already put in a couple of the concrete footings, although we were only supposed to dig the holes. The inspector man was cool- he was actually excited and gave CD plenty of suggestions. It's fun to make concrete!




I apologize that it is taking me soooo long to keep up with these posts (posts.... deck.... get it?)

The Thrill of an Image

More photos from the week before last:
Charlie
Hyewon and Emmy

Jess, Jason and Chris

Shelly earlier
Shelly later

Portland and Seattle

I started writing this entry 2 days ago and though I thought it was saved (safe!) it appears to have disappeared, so we'll try again- the story picks up where I left off two weeks ago:

CD, Craig, Catherine and Robyn

After all the camping adventures in No.Cal and Oregon we headed to Portland to see Robyn. We arrived a little early and hung out with Christian and Josephine for a couple of hours before Robyn could get off work.
We met her and Craig at the Farm Cafe for a really nice dinner. We tried almost every wine on the list before picking a bottle. The food was tasty and full of surprises (that's not a clam! it's a stone!) and the conversation plentiful.

Monday we walked around Robyn's neighborhood in search of coffee. Not only were we rewarded with great coffee, but awesome Cuban food. We caught up with Jason who was also free for the day and hung out at Dots for a cocktail before heading to the movies (it was raining!) We saw "The Namesake" which is based on a book that both Robyn and I had read for bookclub. We all agreed that it truly portrayed the hardships, not so much financial as emotional, of immigrants to the US. We all cried and loved it- recommended! That evening we ate Ethiopian food before heading to Craig's for a killer game of Scrabble.

Tuesday meant back to work for Robyn, so after getting coffee at Crema along with some delicious baked goods (I loved my cornbread biscuit with mushrooms and manchego cheese) we headed north to Seattle. We waited until the morning rush hour had died down and cruised up. We arrived around 1pm and headed straight to Bambino's for more coffee. Then we dropped in on Shelly and Charlie. King Charles is now 9 months old and getting ready to start crawling. Ruby the beagle was extremely excited to see us- we had missed her too! That evening we went to Chupacabra with Chris, Berger, Jason and Jess for some Mexican food and margaritas, of course. It was our first meeting with Jess and it was a good one. She is smart and funny (pretty much how Jason had described her)- very enjoyable company! Stefan (with whom we were crashing) joined us a bit later. We went home pretty late, but hopefully didn't wake up Sarah.

Jess and Jason

Wednesday we had a relaxing breakfast with the Lanimals and later headed for lunch with my ex-coworkers. We ate some tasty tacos and drank cold beer at Agua Verde. That place is always packed, especially because it was a sunny day! That evening we had plans to go to Bothell to watch the season finale of Lost with Brandon and Molly. We watched it at Brandon's sister Rachel's house- it was ideal: big screen mini theater and great food (not to mention the Lost lovers/fanatics).

Brandon and Molly

Thursday we gladly did our duty and had lunch at Thai Tom's (no visit to Seattle is complete without a date at the counter of Thai Tom's). It was nice to spend more time with Jason and Brandon. That whole afternoon we chilled with Hyewon and Mike and little Emmy. She's a little darling! She's only six-months old, but full of personality. That evening, Chris and Shelly had asked their friend Jill to watch Charlie while we hit the town. Sarah joined us too for a great meal at Volterra followed by a big group gathering at the Pig 'n' Whistle. It seems to have become the best meeting place for us when we are in Seattle, the fact that it is within crawling distance from Stefan and Sara's house is also a plus. They were so wonderful to let us stay with them- their house is newly painted and looks great!

Friday was a slow start, but I managed to get up to have coffee with Jen and Chris who had recently been in Europe. I was eager to see their photos and hear some stories- and catch up on their lives in general. Hyewon came over later and we got some coffee and a chance to talk- it was lovely to have some girlfriend time. The previous evening's crew managed to gather for some tasty chinese food. She joined us for the Firepot's (dare I say it) hangover lunch. It felt like a family affair with both Emmy and Charlie in high chairs probably wondering what the adults were up to.

Hyewon, Emmy and Charlie

At some point I realized that I'd better be a trooper and join my work friends for the usual Friday afternoon gathering at the Fiddler. The Fiddler is a great hangout in Wedgewood; preferred for its proximity to Sandpoint/NOAA , loved for its great choice of beers on tap and delicious pizza! On our way back to Greenwood we stopped by to visit with Elysebeth. It is always wonderful to see her- plus we usually go for walks!

The week was so exciting and loaded with people that CD and I stayed in at Stefan and Sarah's (they had left for the weekend) that evening.