Christmas 2006
Here we are at mom's house with our Christmas headgear:
Bracebridge Dinner at Yosemite, December 15-17, 2006
The Awahnee lodge at Yosemite was completed in 1927. Yosemite park and Curry Company president Donald Tressider hired a
local pageant designer to design a Christmas celebration in the new hotel's dining room. The dinner performance
was loosely based on Washington Irving's sketchbook "A Christmas at Bracebridge Hall." In 1929, Tressider asked Ansel
Adams, a part-time valley resident who had played a part in the first two performances, to rework the event. Adams' original
script remains largely intact today. But still, at the heart, this is dinner theater. The thing
was designed by Ansel Adams, it has been around since the 20s, and the tickets for the handfull of performances around Christmas
go on sale on February 1 at 8 AM, and are sold out February 1 by 9 AM. These are all good signs. But still, at
the heart, this is dinner theater. I was worried. For a couple of minutes at the beginning of the dinner, things
were super happy, upbeat, and sincere, and I was terrified. By the second course, the jester was kicking people
out of their seats and making them move their chairs to form a platform for him to walk through the room, all while playing
Ravel's Bolero on a tuba. Ah, I can relax, this is my kind of thing.
We arrived on Friday, checked in, poked around,
then had a little mini-Hanukkah celebration in Denny and Ellen's room. On Saturday morning, mom, Noam and I went for a walk
near the Awahnee:
Before the Bracebridge dinner, we had our picture taken (just like prom!), had drinks, and sang carols in the great
room at the Awahnee.
It was a great opportunity for dad to unleash his inner Claverlad:
Saturday night, just before dinner, it started snowing! It was perfect, enough snow to be festive and pretty and fun, but
not so much that we got stranded. Noam and I took a stroll through the snow on Sunday morning:
Sunday noon, on the way out of the park:
San Jose Holiday Parade, December 3, 2006
I had planned to ride Juliet in the San Jose holiday parade this year, but I was feeling nervous as the parade approached,
then she nearly bucked me off on a trail
ride the week before, so that was the final nail in the coffin of her parade performance. Instead, I opted to ride Lukka, who was a star, besides
stealing part of a bagel and attempting to steal many kids' fingers.
Team Sorting in San Martin, Some time in November, 2006
Get up there doggies!
Venice and cruise to Croatia's Dalmatian coast, October 3-13, 2006
Kitty and I met at San Francisco airport and flew together to Venice, where we met mom at the airport. We found Paula
a short time later and walked around Venice. Here is the grand canal on that first day:
That afternoon, we embarked on the small boat Monet, soon to be affectionately known as the floating nursing home, which
would take us to Croatia.
The next day was spent in Venice in the care of the cruise people. We wandered through Venice in the morning and
met the group at St. Marks for a tour:
After lunch on the boat, we took an afternoon walking tour of some neighborhoods. The guide had written the
National Geographic Venice guidebook and was married to a Venetian man with family in Venice going back many generations.
It was a fun tour, one of those "that used to be a . . ." tours. That evening we set sail for Ravenna, city of mosaics, where we arrived the following morning.
One of Paula's talents revealed
during the trip was shopping, she can find two silk purses dispersed in 40 square miles of sow's ears. She
threatened to open a shop in Florida to legitimize her shopping. We crowned this future store "Paula's Crapola Shop" and it became a theme of our trip.
Anyway, back to Ravenna. When the crapola shop opens, these crazy MC-Hammer pants, shown here on the three wisemen on a
mosaic in a church in Ravenna, will be for sale.
Next stop, Split, Croatia. On the waterfront in Split at the center of town is a palace built by the Roman Emperor Diocletian in the third century AD. The palace is thought to be the only Roman palace that has been continuously lived in since being built. My
favorite story was of an enterprising young resident of Split who lured women to come visit him by claiming to live in a third century
Roman palace. Imagine their surprise when they arrived to find he did in fact live in a Roman palace, however his portion of the palace was an apartment scarcely 1.5 meters
wide. We visited Split on a Saturday so there were throngs of people in the cafes lining the water in front of the palace. World class
people watching:
On to Hvar, Croatia's playground for the rich and famous. We toured a couple of churches, watched a group of men flip a boat over (isn't it
amazing how mesmerizing such things can be when you are on vacation?), poked around in some
shops, and had a nice drink at a fancy bar on the water. This is the waterfront in Hvar:
Next stop, Dubrovnik, a lovely walled city on the water, shelled by the Serbo-Montenegrin army in 1991 and beautifully
restored today. There were lots of big cruise ships in Dubrovnik but the walled part of the city emptied out quite nicely by
afternoon. We toured a couple of churches and municipal buildings with the group, then ditched them in the maritime museum,
had lunch at a yummy fish restaurant, dropped a pile of cash on coral jewelry, and followed some walking tours from
a book mom had picked up. One of the walking tours pointed out a bit of ancient graffiti chiseled on a wall complaining about
the noise caused by a local ball game. It read something like "ballplayers, may God be with you but you will die." Nice to know
some things never change. Here is Mom standing over the harbor at Dubrovnik, looking happy because we just ditched the organized tour.
After Dubrovnik we went to the wine-making island of Korcula, home of
Marco Polo. Croatians claim to have brought grapes to the US which later became the Zinfandel grape. The local white wine is Grk.
We went to a local vineyard and tasted grk and a red that I think is called Plavac Mali. There was a goat in the yard
who gave milk for goat cheese, which we also tasted. The proprietor told us his family had lived there and made wine
for generations. He makes just 250 cases each year, and sells
it all out the front door of his vineyard in the kind of agrotourism that brought us there. It was a big enough
enterprise that it made a living for his immediate family, and he was able to employ some uncles during harvest.
Nice way to make a living.
Here is a church in the town on Korcula:
Our last stop in Croatia was Pula, home of the sixth largest Roman amphitheater.
Back to Venice for a couple of days. We toured a glass blowing factory on the island of Murano, which was very cool.
The glass blowers were singing to each piece as they shaped and snipped the glass. I am pretty sure I have never
sung to a patent application while I was writing it.
I have bad luck leaving Italy. On my first trip, a train strike left me stuck in the Milan airport for hours. On my
third trip, Alitalia went on strike and I had to buy a last-minute, full-fare ticket on Lufthansa to get home (ouch!). This
trip, the airport was evacuated about 45 minutes before my flight left. Like all the other trips, I did manage to leave relatively
on schedule, but I could have done without the emotional roller coaster.
Camping in Clayton, September 22-24, 2006
My parelli group (lovingly referred to as "my cult") did a campout at the Concord Mount Diablo Trail Ride Association
in Clayton, CA. I wanted it to be a great weekend, and I am a control freak, so I planned nearly the entire thing,
food, games, everything. Through a spectacular miscalculation on my part as to how much it costs to feed people,
though we only hoped to break even, we accidentally raised $1600 for our club. Here is a Lukka-cam shot of our trail
ride on Friday in Mt. Diablo state park:
Visiting Patty, September 16-17, 2006
I agreed to drop a friend's horse near Sacramento, so I invited Darcy along to visit Patty in nearby Pine Grove after
dropping the horse. It turns out Pine Grove is nowhere near Sacramento, but we had a great time with Patty. We went on a
ride through the neighborhood. On Fig Tree Lane, we found some lovely, ripe figs. I thought I didn't like figs, but these
were really great:
Me and Darcy at a high point on the trail:
Lukka arrives! September 10, 2006
In the dark ages before the beginning of this blog (2002), Hannah and I went to Iceland. I dragged Hannah on a couple of
rides, fell in love with the horses they breed there, and have been talking about Icelandic horses ever since. While visiting my friends
Bob and Marilyn one weekend, the talk turned to Icelandic horses, since they had recently returned from Sweden where they had ridden Icelandic horses.
Marilyn helpfully mentioned a neighbor who had several Icelandic horses, including at least one for sale. That weekend ended up costing me a lot of
money. In summary, this is Hannah's and Marilyn's fault. Here is Lukka, the Icelandic horse we bought from the neighbor. We picked her up on our
wedding anniversary, what a cool anniversary gift!
Connecticut and Vermont, August 16-22, 2006
While Noam was on a break from school, we headed to Connecticut to visit Hannah and John. We visited the usual New
Haven sites, Whitney donuts (where we encountered a wine country ghost) and the farmers market:
On Friday, we drove to Vermont to visit Nicole and Eric. We picked Calvin Coolidge state park as our base in Vermont, since it was a 2005
Vermont state park of the year winner. Hannah and John napped while Nicole joined me and Noam for a little stroll in the park.
Here is Noam, pointing out the blue blazes that mark the trails:
Check out my sweet convertible pants:
Unfortunately, it rains in Vermont. By the end of the weekend, everything was wet and dirty, so we went back to Connecticut. Hannah
went back to work on Monday, while Noam and I dragged John to the beach, to see the first nuclear powered submarine, and to Mystic.
Here is John, on the submarine, learning:
On the way to the airport Tuesday, Noam and I stopped at the coolest place, a state park featuring fossilized footprints on a dinosaur highway:
Volunteering at the Forest Service Work Center at Wishon Reservoir, July 14-16, 2006
Wishon reservoir is in the Sierra National Forest, on the edge of the John Muir wilderness. I went for the
weekend with a group of horse friends to do some volunteer trail clearing. It was my first glimpse of riding in
the backcountry with my horse, and I fear I am hooked. Juliet happily tied overnight to a high-line, plowed through streams, and
scrambled over rocks, so she seems ready as well. We rode out on our horses to the work site,
hacked down scrubby bushes and otherwise cleared the trail for a couple of hours, then rode back. Besides the
incredibly cool people running and volunteering at the work center, my favorite part was the government mules. There was one
with a very dark, delicate head and small ears. I think he and Juliet were separated at birth. Here is the mule string
that carried our clippers and other equipment, including one of those huge, long, old-timey cross-cut saws wrapped around the first pack mule like
a ribbon.
On the left is a log that I helped push out of the way of the trail. Me! Really!
A Juliet-cam shot of a trail above the reservoir:
The weekend really made an impression on me. Before we left, one of my friends told me she would pray for me to
quit practicing law and go to work for the forest service for like a $6 per diem. Ever since we returned, I have
been stalking the woman who runs the work center, trying to coordinate a time to go back. I'm hooked!
Terry Church clinic, July 9, 2006
I braided Juliet for the clinic, just to see what she would look like. Here she is, looking like an unenthused neckless
goat:
Canadian Rockies, June 21-27, 2006
To celebrate Hannah's graduation, I met mom and Hannah at the airport in Calgary and we set off for Jasper. For most of the trip we
stayed at Becker's Chalets on the Athabasca river just outside Jasper. On the first day, we hiked in the Pyramid Benchlands near
Jasper:
Starting near Pyramid lake, we followed a trail up to this view of Jasper and the Athabasca river. Mom, enjoying the view:
Though the book warned of
great concentrations of people, we decided we had to see Maligne canyon. Rather than drive up and walk 50 feet from
the parking lot to see the cool part of the canyon, we hiked a couple of miles in along the Maligne river. We were
rewarded for the effort with a glimpse of Elky McElkington ahead of us on the trail:
At least we think he was an elk, he seemed to be about 25 feet tall, a little big for a sheep or an antelope. Despite the fact
that we were a little scared of him (as evidenced by the slightly blurry picture) I was able to use my
Natural Elk-Man-Ship techniques to get him to get off the trail and head into the trees. Luckily he did so before
Hannah could get to him (See 2004 page, "Yosemite with Hannah and John, August 29-30, 2004"). After Maligne canyon, we took a dip at the Miette hot springs, stopping along the way to look at some molting bighorn sheep/pronghorn antelope/elk (I can't tell them
apart) and a mama bear and two cubs (they have great stuff along the highway in Canada).
On another day, we drove up to see Mount Edith Cavell up close, after admiring the mountain from the front lawn of
our cabin at Becker's. The high meadows were still closed to avoid damage from hikers crossing the wet ground, so
we hiked up to the trail closed sign and watched chunks of a glacier melt and fall into the rocky meadow below.
We hiked back down to the puddle and chunks of ice left by the retreating Angel glacier:
We eventually left Jasper to spend a little time in Banff and Lake Louise. On the way there, we stopped at the Columbia Icefield, where mom and I walked on
the nose of the Athabasca glacier, then
went hiking near Wilcox pass to get a better view of the Columbia Icefield glaciers:
This is Moraine lake, near Lake Louise:
We decided Lake Louise and Banff had entirely too many people, so on the last day we escaped to Yoho National Park, stopping
to see a spiral train tunnel, Takakkaw falls, and the town of Field. Here is a nice flower, unrelated to any of those things:
Horse Camping at Big Basin, May 27-28, 2006
Joann, Evelyn, Darcy, DeeDee and I planned a girl power horse camping weekend at Big Basin. We arrived with our horses at noon on Saturday. The camp sits on a hill about a quarter mile from the ocean, so you can see and hear the ocean from camp. On both Saturday and Sunday there were several colorful sails in the sky like paragliders, which some hikers told us are attached to people on wake boards. We rode parts of the Skyline-to-Sea trail out toward the Big Basin headquarters and back on Saturday and Sunday. Here is the camp, including a nice shot of my purple bucket:
On Sunday after our trail ride, we drove the 30 miles up highway 1 to the beach in Half Moon Bay and rode there. Since it was a holiday weekend and the weather was perfect, the rental strings that operate near that beach were out in full force. Several of the horses were tacked up in bridles and tight martingales made from baling twine. Evelyn and I watched in fascinated horror as one group rode by with a wrangler ponying a horse carrying a kid who wasn't more than about 3. The kid was completely unbalanced and hanging precariously off the side of the horse. I am thankful that we didn't see any wrecks, despite the many totally unsafe things we saw. I wish people would be more particular about the horse rental places they patronize, but I suppose people who have little experience with horses have no idea how to judge the safety of a rental string, or the condition of their horses. Obviously the parents of that kid had no idea. Anyway, we rode on the beach, Juliet's mood turned dark when she tried to drink the ocean water and discovered it was salty, but it was all forgotten when I pulled the saddle off so she could have a nice roll in the sand.
Trail trial weekend at Mount Diablo, May 20-21, 2006
A couple of friends and I went to Mount Diablo to camp overnight at the Concord Mount Diablo Trail Riders Association campground, then participate in the
trail trial at Mount Diablo state park. The rain held off on Saturday and we played with the ball, a seesaw, and some other toys in the arena, then
went on a great trail ride, complete with the most lovely, long gallop Juliet and I have enjoyed in a long time. Resting after the gallop:
The rain did not hold off on Sunday, so we rode about two hours of the trail trial in a pretty constant, soaking rain. I could feel little rivers running
down my legs into my boots. We were grumpy by the end of the trail trial, but once we changed into dry clothes and had some lunch, we were already saying
what a great time and a great ride it was. Look at this scenery:
Fun in Cupertino, May 13-14, 2006
I dragged Juliet over to Cupertino to take a lesson with Terry Church, a dressage and natural horsemanship instructor. I think Juliet looks tremendously
cute in this picture.
After my ride on Sunday, I went on a trail ride at Rancho San Antonio with some friends. This area sure is pretty before everything turns brown in the summer.
Ed Levin Park, May 13, 2006
Since Sonny looks like a humane society case despite the piles of nice food we throw at him constantly, since my friend Joann excells at putting weight on horses, since Noam hasn't been riding much
because of his MBA, and since Joann's husband Dennis was looking for a horse to ride, we sent Sonny to what Noam is calling "summer camp" at Joann's house
until Noam finishes school. Before he went, Noam wanted to get in one last ride, so we saddled up and headed into the park. It rained pretty late this year
so the wildflowers were still blooming. Just before Evelyn snapped this picture of me, Noam, Juliet, and Sonny surrounded by white and purple flowers, while
Juliet was wolfing down the flowers with so much gusto that she was barely pausing to breathe, Sonny
slowly tilted his head to the side and oh so gently rubbed his cheek on the flowers, like he was petting them. That horse cracks me up.
Noam and Juliet hanging out after the ride.
Woodside May Day Parade, May 6, 2006
Why the current fascination with parades, you may be wondering? Normally I have little interest in parades, but I just cannot resist the opportunity to
ride Juliet and to let her crap in places where we are normally not allowed. Plus, as a way to test how well-trained and confident one's horse
is, parades really can't be beat. Juliet did okay in San Jose holiday parade, which was huge, but I was leading her, not riding, so I wanted to take the next
step and ride in a parade. I was assured that Woodside was appropriate, even for the largest of wusses. Sure enough, the Woodside parade involves riding
three blocks down main street, turning around in a parking lot, and riding three blocks back. Here we are in the parade, all duded up with flowers:
After the parade, my friend Becky, who lives in Woodside and is in possession of one of the mythical "woodside trail keys," an impossible-to-obtain key that grants you access to a network of
equestrian trails in Woodside, took us on a ride through the trails to her house for lunch. Wow, those are nice trails, just behind the houses, but through the trees and next to a babbling brook.
My favorite part was walking through a gate that says "no hikers." Horses only! I love it! Here is DeeDee, on the trail in Woodside:
Japan for Yehudit's 60th Birthday, April 24-30, 2006
We spent much of our time in Kyoto, a city with a much different feel than Tokyo. The hotel we selected in Kyoto did not include breakfast, so we took to
carbo-loading in our rooms in the morning before heading out, a strategy that required multiple trips to convenience stores, often rich sources of hilarity. Here is my personal favorite, a jar
of Creap, which appears to be a powder coffee whitener. Cream + powder = Creap = Awesome.
Our first day, we tromped across town to a shrine having its
once-a-month flea market. There, being the only completely non-restricted eater in the group, my traveling companions fed me with all kinds of yummy market-stall food which I was to inspect for any traces of non-vegetable
matter, particularly pork. That was a good day. Kyoto is geisha central in Japan, so our trip would not have been complete without a Hawaiian luau-style
geisha performance, which was actually quite interesting (not a surprising thing to hear me say, considering that I LOVED the luau that mom and I went to,
and often find myself heartily proclaiming the awesomeness of luaus, no matter how cheesy and Waikiki Hilton they may be). The instruments all appeared to be put together
from tin cans and scrap wood. Some of the women played drums with strings on the side which were squeezed by hand with varying tension, presumably to change
the tone of the drum. This tuning was all done from memory, without the benefit of first checking to make sure the tone of the drum was correct before
launching into a number. Try that timpani players, you big weenies!
On day 2, Noam and I walked around the neighborhood of our hotel in the morning, visited some shrines, and found a nice bakery with these great green tea
muffins with black beans. After breakfast the whole group took the train to Himeji to see the castle there.
That evening we returned to Kyoto, ate large
quantities of sushi, and walked around the entertainment district with the hosted bars, which all of our guidebooks assured us we could not afford, even if
they did let white people in, which they do not.
On our third day we visited the Kinkakuji and Ginkakuji shrines in Kyoto, the gold and silver pavilions. I particularly liked the story behind the current
Kinkakuji building, which dates only to 1955 because the last building was destroyed in 1950 by a monk who so loved the shrine that he burned it to the ground.
Explain that logic to me. Both shrines were packed with school kids on assignment to practice their English, which was so cool. Either we looked more non-threatening than the other white people there, or there weren't enough white people to go around, because we were asked the time about a dozen times in a conversation that always seemed to veer
in the same direction. I kept trying to deviate from the script; Noam was more generous and calmly followed along. The Ginkakuji also had a demonstration
area where they showed the good, desirable moss, labeled Very Important Moss (like VIP) and the evil, lazy, undesirable moss. Here is the VIP moss:
In the afternoon, we left Kyoto and took
a couple of trains and a ferry to Miyajima island, famous for its big, picturesque, orange torii, which sits in the water.
On Miyajima we stayed at a traditional Japanese inn, complete with a bazillion course kai-seki dinner served in your room after you bathe in the communal bath.
The kai-seki was amazing, each dish was so beautifully and artistically presented it made you want to cry. Just like at the olive garden. Unfortunately, I
think the vegetarians and the sushi-beginner in our group did want to cry, because between oysters on the half shell, a perfectly transparent raw fish that we thought
might be a jellyfish, and a strange fishy omelet-like dish, this was post-graduate level Japanese fish eating. Here we are at dinner:
After a hip-bruising night sleeping on the futons at the inn, we poked around a couple of the shrines on the island, took a cable car to the top of the island,
and I fed some of the tame deer that wander everywhere. One deer with clipped antlers kept head-butting me in the thigh, which really hurt, so I used my
excellent natural horsemanship animal psychology and kicked it. I hope that didn't cause a geopolitical incident that you heard about on CNN.
Just before the deer-kicking incident, while we were waiting in the hotel lobby for our arranged ride for which we arrived terribly late, I accidentally knocked
a plant over. Figuring after all this we were no longer welcome on Miyajima island, we took the ferry back to the mainland and headed for Hiroshima.
On the tram from the train station to the peace park, Hiroshima is a modern, non-descript, mid-size city that could be anywhere. The peace park is a powerful
place. At one edge of the park is the remains of a municipal building that was only hundreds of meters from the hypocenter of the detonating atomic bomb.
After walking around the peace park and visiting the museum there, we returned to the train station and left for Tokyo, where we spent about a day and a half before
going our separate ways.
Hannah and John visit, March 22-26, 2006
Hannah and John dropped by over spring break. On Thursday we drove over to Half Moon Bay to visit Brendan, who joined
us for lunch and a visit to the tidepools at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve just north of town. The seals were in the
house breeding, so big parts of the reserve were roped off, but they forced us down to pools further away from the
parking lot which seemed even better than the ones close to the parking lot, based on my ability to carefully search
for and find a starfish before some five year old finds one by tripping over it about ten feet away from me. For me, that is
the mark of a successful trip to the reserve. Usually, I am not successful. Apparently the starfish recognize Brendan
as a local, because with him with us, there was no shortage of starfish this day, pink ones, orange ones, purple ones, and those dingy ocean colored
ones. Speaking of starfish, did you know that like prunes, pardon me, "dried plums," they have recently hired a better PR
team? Brendan tells me they are now "sea stars," which I admit has a nicer ring than starfish. One of my finds, all the more precious
to me because it was NOT found first by an oblivious miniature person:
After the Marine Reserve, we drove down the coast to take in the sights and taste wine at Bonny Doon. Hannah and
John, in front of Duarte's in Pescadero:
It was a good thing we made it out of the house on Thursday, because the weather for the rest of the week was nasty. Friday
we planned to hike on Angel Island, but a good dose of fog and rain doused those plans, so we stayed in San Francisco
instead, where we ate cheese and bacon buckwheat pancakes at Kate's in lower Haight, then walked up the hill to have
a beer at the Magnolia pub in Haight Ashbury, a great place despite the brewery underneath that makes the place smell
faintly like feet, at least on a rainy day such as ours. Hannah and John in front of some victorians on Haight.
Savannah with mom, Roberta, Ellen, and Denny, March 10-13, 2006
Mom sent me an email late last year saying she wanted to take a long weekend in March, and listing the cities I must
choose from for this trip. There was lots of good stuff on the list, including Mexico City and London, but for some
reason Savannah just jumped off the page at me. I love a good walking city. I think Savannah is one of the best in
this country. You can find nearly infinite good eats, antebellum mansion tours, museums, and shops on foot, then have dinner, get
toasted on wine and ultra-heavy local cuisine like grits cooked in cream, and still be able to drag yourself with your
lips back to the hotel room, all without getting in a car. Here is one of Savannah's lovely squares:
Savannah has an enormous St. Patrick's Day celebration. Included in the elaborate preparation process, which was already
going on when arrived a week before the day, is dying all the local fountains green:
Roberta, mom, Ellen, and Denny in front of the Mercer house, of Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil fame:
Very cool spanish moss design on some iron on a house:
We stayed right on the river, where periodically a huge freighter would blow through the really narrow passage at
what seemed like incredible speed, for a freighter:
Portland, February 25-26, 2006
For several years I have said as soon as the bay area pisses me off, I'm moving to Seattle. Jim once helpfully
commented, have you considered Portland? The weather is every bit as bad as Seattle, but real estate is more
affordable. He may be on to something, what a great city. I stayed with Greta and we met with Dana, a friend from high
school, who married Todd, a friend from chemical engineering in college.
Though we did pause briefly along the way to walk through some neighborhoods
Greta and Dana consider suitable for me and Noam when we move there, mostly Greta and I ate our way across the city. She, being pregnant, has a good excuse for this behavior. As for me,
well. Highlights included an awesome sushi lunch (Portland may have the most reliable sushi in this country), a place with these awesome French glazed cream puff thingies, (I have to figure out how to make
those), and a drug store where I bought the liter and a half of water that saved me from horrible carsickness resulting from too much coffee and too many
cream puffs. Here is the Bagdad theater, in one of the neighborhoods where we ate:
Greta and Che, the duke of enormity:
Play Day at Thorson's Arena in San Martin, February 19, 2006
When I went to retrieve Sonny from his pasture, there were about eight tom turkeys with their feathers all fluffed up, with no female turkeys in sight. Its tough these days to be a turkey:
Chris from our group brought this giant ball to kick around, that was way fun. As usual, Juliet was initially a little concerned, then once she figured out she could kick the crap out of the ball, she enjoyed doing that.
Albuquerque, February 11-12, 2006
I left 70 degree and sunny weather behind to freeze my butt off in Albuquerque. I had a great time despite the weather because Heather was there and showed me the sights, and even though she has an absolutely giant house that must cost a fortune to heat, she cranked it up to toasty for us. Saturday morning we went to the old town to the Albuquerque museum to see the exhibit Picasso to Plensa: A Century of Art from Spain. These sculptures are right outside the museum. Of COURSE the pioneers brought missiles with them, there are scary things in that desert, like snakes and chapped lips.
We walked around old town and crashed a wedding in the plaza in the middle of everything. Here are some fine old town chilis:
After old town we headed to Sandia peak and took the tram to the top. There was not really any snow to speak of up there, but the wind was fierce and could only be tempered by coffee-with-liquor-augmentation drinks available at the restaurant at the top of the tram. Here is Heather, under 40 layers:
Henry Coe State Park, February 5, 2006
There are not tons of places to ride when it has been wet, so I went back to Henry Coe just a week later to ride with Sally, DeeDee, and Joann. Here are
Joann and DeeDee, fearless explorers:
Henry Coe State Park, January 29, 2006
Darcy, Deb, Craig and I rode the Hunting Hollow road at Henry Coe State Park. There was a lot of water in the stream, so Juliet's feet got very clean. There were also a couple of charming little waterfalls along the way:
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