Entries Tagged as “Trips”
Vacation With Henna
August was vacation time for Mark, Henna and me. Work has been crazy for both of us and we were headed for burnout. When we feel like we need mental therapy, the coast is a natural choice. We went camping for a few nights. Then after camping a few nights, I thought we should end the vacation by staying at a nice beachside hotel. (Pet friendly of course) The weather couldn't have been more perfect. It was sunny every single day we were there. The mornings would start out semi-foggy, and then burn off by about 10am. We couldn't have asked for more.
It was Henna's first ocean experience. Watching her play in the water was a riot. She had no fear of the waves at all. And the frigid water temperature didn't phase her one bit I think she liked it even more. She was a little freaked out about the seaweed at first. Then she decided that it smelled divine and proceeded to coat herself by rolling in its briny stench.
Mark didn't take too much video, but you can kind of get a taste of her first ocean adventure.
→ Respond NowTags: Henna · Trips
Easter In San Leandro
Today we went to Aunty Lillian & Uncle Don's house in San Leandro. It was wonderful to see everyone. We left Sacramento a little bit late and hit some traffic, so we missed the carving of the roasted pig. There were plenty of festive activities: the Easter egg hunt, the raw egg toss, and the sack race. The highlight of the day was when Alissa demonstrated her poi ball skills. Someone suggested that year we'll have a talent competition and name it "Easter Idol". Mark and I will have to figure out what our talent for next year will be. J
Of course Mark took some pictures. Click here see the Easter photos.
→ Respond NowTags: Events · Trips
Holiday Snow
Finally the chaos of Christmas is behind us and we only need to get through one more holiday – New Years. That shouldn't be too difficult. Too bad it falls on a Tuesday. :(
Well Christmas for Heather and I was a lot of fun. Not only was it an extended holiday for us, but we got to do a lot of fun things. Aside from the family gatherings we got to take Henna to the snow. We think this was the first time Henna had ever seen snow. When we arrived in our new white wonderland she was totally confused and did not want to get out of the back of my truck. With some coaxing and assurance that everything was going to be alright she finally jumped down to join us in play. She took to it like a fish to water. She buried her nose down as far as she could go, rooting around like a pig in fresh bucket of slop. She ate it, flopped about it, in what we can only describe as doggy snow angles. It was so much fun that not only did Henna not want to get back into the truck to go home, we decided to come back for a second round on Wed the 26th. The day after Christmas.
Our second snow outing was more of an ice outing than snow. The few days between or first and second trip had been sunny and bright. The nights also dropped well below freezing. This made the snow dry and hard as a rock. We could walk on many areas and not break the surface. Not exactly ideal for snow angels or toboggan runs. We made the best of it, and hope to go back again this coming weekend and try for more snow and more fun.
As usual, we have uploaded photos from Christmas celebrations and snow adventures.
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Man Weekend
This past weekend proved to be a lot of fun at least for me anyway. We made the trip back home to Ukiah for the weekend. The main reason to go home was to watch Chris play Rugby on Saturday. Chris is on the men's team, that represents Mendocino County. They call them selves the Mendocino Steam Donkey's. They are a brand new team and this is their first year. To my knowledge, only three people have ever played the game before. Despite their unfortunate disadvantage, they still did quite well against a much more seasoned and skilled Humbolt Team. They even managed to score what in football is considered a touchdown. I am not sure what it's called in Rugby but it doesn't matter… I just know they scored, and against the Humbolt team that's impressive enough for me. In case you had not figured it out yet, I posted a handful of images in the photo section of the site for your viewing pleasure. You can also hop on over to the Mendocino Steam Donkey website to see what they have to offer you for your viewing pleasure.
On Sunday the three of us boys took to the hills hoping to catch some snow wheeling. I am dubbing SnowX4 (snow by four). We had a lot of fun and our trucks did pretty well considering how ill-equipped they are. Joe just got his truck running this week, and is largely untested. Mine has street tires that are pretty bald. Not what you call optimum traction situation. Joe did have some tire chains that I placed on the front of my truck. The front pulled beautifully with the chains. Too bad I did not have them on the rear tires as well, as the rear proved useless in the snow on my bald street tires. Thats ok, because it evened the playing field between joe and I. My truck has locking differential or Locker in the front and rear. This provides more traction in off road situations. I would like to get new tires soon and have another whack at it to see if I notice any performance increase.
As you would expect I posted a few photos of our trip and a short video of our SnowX4 trip . Take a look and feel free to leave some comments here.
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Roma-The Eternal City
Writen Friday October 20, 2006 but posted late. On Thursday we arrived in Rome. The city is in a word, overwhelming. We purchased a map prior to leaving, but if you spend all your time looking at the map, you will miss all of the beauty of Rome. We've learned that you can't get too lost in Rome. Thursday evening we went out for a walk to the Fontana di Trevi. I was awestruck by the sheer magnitude of the fountain. It was more beautiful than I had expected. The only downfall of the Trevi Fountain were the crowds and the annoying flower pushers. Poor Mark was tricked into giving one of these petal pushers 6 swiss francs for a rose after I foolishly accepted what I thought was a gift. Another thing we could live without is the rain. It rained pretty hard Thursday night. I was caught without an umbrella and was forced to purchase one for a ridiculous price. It hasn't been cold here, just rainy.
Later that night (after the rain) Mark and I headed out solo for what we thought would be a "quick" stroll. We walked down to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. After that we headed up to the Imperial Fora, and Il Vittoriano. By the time we headed back to the hotel, it was already 11:30pm. We tried to find a place to eat, but even the eternal city has to sleep sometime. Today was day 2 in Rome. We woke up at 7:30 for breakfast, which was much more than we expected. The hotel's breakfast includes 4 types of breads, various cheeses, yogurt, juice and cappuccino.
Our goal today was to spend time at the Vatican. We took the subway to the Cipro-Musei Vaticani stop. I knew we would be in for a long wait, but I was in no way prepared for how long the line was. We were just about ready to abort our mission when a tour guide came by and told us we could join their group which was entering the Vatican museum in 10 minutes. Jonathan, Shasta, Mark and I decided that the cost was reasonable and we joined the tour. I am really glad we did join the tour, it was nice to understand what we were looking at. The only regret is that we did not pay attention and we exited after viewing the Sistine Chapel. Once you leave, you are not allowed back in. That was quite upsetting.
We then walked up the River Tiber and saw the Rotund Castel Sant'Angelo and the Piazza deiTribunali. From there, we walked to the Piazza Navona and saw Bernini's Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (which unfortunately was being restored – and was blocked off), the Fontana del Nettuno and the Fontana del Moro. And then we walked to the Pantheon. What an awesome sight. It rained again today, so a space inside of the Pantheon was roped off for the water to drain. We have walked so much today our feet are about to fall off. Thank god I have some decent walking shoes!!! Well, we are off to walk some more, in search of some good gellato, so I will write more later.
→ Respond NowTags: Trips