I just got back from a trip to Maryland and Virginia.  I spent a half day in DC, but that doesn’t really count although I did eat a meal there.  It was a trip to visit friends.  I can’t believe that it’s been a year since I moved away.  It was great to go back.  I do miss Maryland a little bit.  Mostly the people, but it is a beautiful state and we weren’t actively trying to leave the area, but when your husband gets a job at Google, you don’t have a choice.  Not much had changed; it was beautiful and green and lush.  And humid.

It was a relaxing, low-key trip.  The nice thing about having lived there is that I don’t feel compelled to do the touristy stuff.  Been to the Washington Monument, done the Lincoln Memorial.  I was able to relax and visit and hang out with friends.  I stayed with my friend Suzie, who just finished renovating her husband’s house.  It was beautiful!  It was a year-long project and my visit spurred them on to finish.  It was the motivation they needed to get it done and they did a fantastic job.  I helped her pick out flowers and plants for the front porch, we saw Just Wright (love Queen Latifah!), tried the local coffee place, rented An Education (interesting), cooked out, ate lunch with our old coworkers, shopped for shoes, watched Grey’s (wow!) and hung out.  I was also able to meet up with a friend in Silver Spring, and we tried out a new restaurant and visited.

After three days in Maryland, I metroed to DC and had lunch with another friend.  I just found out she’s pregnant with twins so we had a lot of catching up to do!  We ate at my favorite Chinese place, Mei Wah.  Yummm…  After that I met up with my dear friend, Claudia, and we headed to her place in Virginia.

Claudia had recently moved and it was fun to see her new place and give my (solicited) opinion on the decor and accessories.  We are soul sisters and had so much fun going over projects, and looking at her stash of material, and talking over things we want to do.  We keep in touch rather obsessively over email so we know what’s going on with each other, but there was tons of show and tell.  We went to most of my favorite places for meals, including Five Guys for the most delicious and juicy cheeseburger.  Yummmm…  And we had quite a few salteñas which are  Bolivian empanadas/pot pies.  More deliciousness!!  I even brought back 16 frozen salteñas to share with Bill.  Claudia was a good sport and let me watch my beloved Blackhawks who are headed to the Stanley Cup Finals!!!!!  We did girly stuff like getting our eyebrows done, and I went to my favorite bead store (Accent Beads), we met the girls for brunch, and the only disappointment of the weekend was our inability to find fabric for throw pillows for her couch.  Fabric.com came to our rescue.  And we argued over the humidity.  She loves it, and I do not.  It makes for slightly curly, frizzy hair and a very shiny Margaret.  I have become spoiled during my year in California.

It was sad to say goodbye to everyone, but also a little easier this time because a year had passed and we were still in touch, still friends and there wasn’t the fear that it would be a final goodbye.

This trip also reaffirmed my love for my Kindle.  My flight out east was delayed by 90 minutes (and I was already at the gate 90 minutes before my flight).  I was ready to start a new book and it was so fantastic to have 73 options at my fingertips, not including the Kindle Store.  At that moment, I was in the mood for something on the lighter side, and who’s to say that’s what I would have packed had I had to choose only two actual books to bring on the trip.  Kindle, I heart you.

I just returned from a ten day vacation.  You might think I am recharged and refreshed but I am exhausted.  Bill is happy to be returning to work so he can rest.  We had a fantastic trip, it was just wasn’t as relaxing as we thought it might be.

The reason for the trip was my Mom’s 60th birthday.  (Does my mom look 60?  She’s second from the right.)  Her husband took the family (eight of us total) on a Caribbean cruise.  Bill and I also took an extra day at the beginning and end of the trip to visit Bill’s family in Miami.  It was great to reconnect with family, especially because it’s been years since we’ve seen them (both Bill’s family and my family).

We had so much fun which is why I’m so tired.  We met almost every morning for breakfast, except for one because Bill and I had an early excursion.  Bill and I would get up early to get a little exercise before our morning meal.  We were busy during the days, especially in port either hitting the beach or doing an excursion.  On the days at sea we found comfortable chairs in the shade to sit and read and chat.  We ate dinner together every night, usually meeting for a pre-dinner cocktail, went to most of the shows, and usually hung out afterwards.   Bill and I didn’t stay up terribly late except for maybe two nights, but the constant activity throughout the day tired us out.  There was a lot to do on the ship, including a water slide.  They also had games.  Mom and I played The Match Game where couples are asked a question and you are trying to come up with the same answer as your partner.  Mom and I won and were given medals!

We stopped at four ports: Grand Cayman, Carnival’s private beach in Honduras, Belize and Cozumel.  The eight of us hit the beach in Grand Cayman and Honduras, and Bill and I went cave tubing in Belize and to Tulum in Mexico.  The beach in Grand Cayman was my favorite.  I think because it was the first stop, our first visit to a gorgeous beach, and we weren’t tired yet.  Cave tubing was interesting.  Basically we sat on inner tubes in a river that ran through caves were Mayan’s made sacrifices.  I’m glad I did it, but don’t see myself doing it again.  Tulum was beautiful, but a two and a half hour trip (one way) for a two hour visit to the site.  And it was HOT.  And HUMID.  If I look unhappy, it is because I am HOT.

The Mayans did do some pretty amazing things and the site was impressive.  The view was incredible, right off the most blue water.  It was just a long boat and bus ride and I generally like to spend more time at the site than it takes to get there.  Although it was hot and Bill and I felt we saw everything we wanted to see.  If we had more time, we would have gone to the beach, but we decided to have lunch instead.

We were on a Carnival ship, which I liked.  The focus is on having fun and I like that all age groups are represented.  The food was delicious, although we agreed that the sit down meals were better than the buffet food (although the buffet food was very good).  Carnival is known for making towel animals and I had my picture taken with our animal every day.  Our room steward even let us keep some of our animals.

The rooms are a nice size.  We had an ocean view room on the first deck, and had a lot of space for two people and three towel animals.  The service on board ship was excellent and you are really spoiled.  It is a bit of a shock to my system to be home and having to cook and clean myself.  I guess that is a small price to pay to sleep in my own bed and be with my furry babies (whom I missed terribly).

Because this is supposed to be mostly a craft blog, I will finish by letting you know that I made the teal blouse in the first picture.  My mom made the skirt I am wearing.  The skirt is made of brown/bronze (depending on the light) sequined fabric that we bought in NYC.  The blouse (which looked much better before I sat it in for two hours and stood up wrinkled) is made of Robert Kaufman Radiance fabric, which is a cotton/silk blend satin fabric.  It is fabulous material.  The pattern is Simplicity 3893, though I modified it to cross over in front and I did a pleat under the bust instead of gathers.  I wish the skirt had photographed better because it is stunning, and one of the best things my mom has sewn for me.  I also made my necklace (which is hard to see).  It is a large quartz focal gem.  I’m not sure exactly what kind of quartz, but it was practically made to be worn with the skirt.  (Here’s a picture where I’m slightly less wrinkled.)

Well, I’m impressed that I have managed to stay up until 10pm as I was ready to crash five hours ago.  Sabrina is snuggled up against me as I type and as much as I hate to disturb her, she is going to have to move because I am ready to sleep.  I guess we all should be so lucky to be exhausted after a wonderful ten days with family.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend.  Bill and I went camping at Pinnacles National Monument.  It’s our second visit to this park, and it was a tad bit more pleasant in April than in August.  Being twenty-five degrees cooler can make life more comfortable. Also, the park was in bloom and lush from all the winter and early spring rain.  And there were frogs!  Lots of ribbiting going on.

This was definitely the best camping trip that Bill and I have taken.  It was my ideal version of how camping should be.  Lots of noise, but good noise. People having fun and laughing, children playing, frogs ribbiting, occasional yells of excitement or trying to get someone’s attention, the subtle hum of miscellaneous conversations, fires crackling, birds chirping, guitars being strummed. And most importantly, no radios.  I can tolerate almost any other noise in the outdoors except for a radio, even if it’s my kind of music.

We bought a new tent for this trip. We call it the Taj. It is huge. In fact, we can fit our old tent inside the new tent with lots of room to spare.  Actually, our air mattress doesn’t even fit inside our old tent. Well, it might but you’d have to put it in the tent uninflated  and then once it was inflated, you’d be about a foot from the top of the tent. The photo above is my favorite from the weekend, and it shows how dorky we are. That’s us in our old tent on top of our air mattress inside the new tent.

It was a relatively quiet and relaxing weekend.  We set up camp on Friday, made dinner, and went to bed. Boy did I sleep well, especially with a decent air mattress. The temperature did drop at night and at one point I woke up and my face was freezing!  So I flipped my sleeping back around so that my hood covered my face.  Problem solved.  It also made it very dark and I slept soundly until 8am.

Saturday, we hiked.  We almost didn’t hike as I started to pull out my clothes and realized that I never packed my pants.  I had the pants I wore the day before and my jeans.  Ack!  There are definitely worse things I could have forgotten, and it wasn’t a big deal, just about five seconds of panic.  After breakfast, we started on our  relaxing 8.9 mile jaunt, with a 1200 foot elevation gain in the first three miles.  It kicked my butt, but it was fun.  The view was beautiful and it was nice to see a lot of green and to admire the different wildflowers.  We took our time, tried to have fun and ignore the profuse amounts of sweat, heavy breathing, burning legs and unrelenting sun.  We had a nice break for lunch around the five mile mark and gave our legs a much needed rest. Then we continued on to the caves where the “excitement” began.

We’ve done the caves before, but it was more treacherous in the spring.  There’s water running in all the springs, and there’s a spring that runs through the caves.  Water tends to make rocks slippery.  Very slippery.  I took those sections on my butt and it still required a lot of concentration.  We were almost out of the caves when we heard this horrible crashing noise.  At the time, we didn’t realize what it was, until we saw the man sliding down the rocks.  He was able to stop himself so that Bill didn’t have to break his fall, but the man was in a lot of pain.  I’ve always wondered how I would react under pressure, and I’m pleased to report that both Bill and I were calm and efficient.  I have carried around first aid supplies for the three years I’ve been hiking and until now, I have never needed them.  We were able to give him a cold compress, clean his wounds, apply antiseptic, give him some ibuprofen, keep him company, and help him out of the cave.  It wasn’t the best first aid as there were a lot of things I didn’t do that I probably should have done, but he was ambulatory and most of his wounds appeared to be superficial. Our other “issue” was that there was no cell service, we were at least 1.5 miles from the ranger station, and his car and friends were in the opposite direction of our car.  I didn’t feel comfortable leaving him to walk back by himself, but I wasn’t sure that we could add an extra three miles to our hike.  At the trailhead where we would have parted ways, we tried to find some people that were heading back in his direction so they could keep an eye on him, but no such luck.  I was concerned about him going into shock or getting disoriented, even though the man thought he would be okay, but he was in pain.  We decided that I would wait at the trailhead with our packs, and Bill would start back with the wounded hiker and hopefully, we could find someone to take over for Bill.  If not, Bill felt confident that without his pack, he could make it all the way to the ranger station and back and still be able to make it back to our car.  My first thought  was “Damn, why did I leave my book in the tent.” As it turns out, Bill was back in twenty minutes after they had been overtaken by another couple who agreed to help. I’m sure there are plenty of things we could have or should have done differently, but I think we provided that man with some comfort in a scary situation.

I wish I could say the rest of the trip was uneventful.  The remainder of our hike was, except for the five itty bitty snakes we saw.  The rest of the excitement came the following morning when we went to start the car and the battery was dead.  We should have realized the potential for a problem when Bill had trouble starting the car after our hike, but we were too tired to notice.  With all the opening and closing and in and out of the car that evening, that was all it took. We had been planning on another hike before heading home, but those plans changed. Thankfully, a family across from us had jumper cables and was able to help us out.  How quickly the tables can turn, from helping to needing help.

While more “exciting” than we expected, it was a beautiful weekend.

So guess where I’ve been? We drove to Vegas on Friday with my inlaws and flew back to California today. So much fun! Bill and I aren’t big gamblers, and we aren’t big show people either. But we do enjoy relaxing by the pool, penny and nickel slots, nickel video poker, and amazing buffets. We stayed at the Stratosphere hotel which was very nice. They have an amazing view of the strip from their tower. And crazy rides up there. For insane people.

The drive took us about 9 hours. I made some very good progress on Tessa. Saturday we rented a cabana for ultra white boy, I mean my husband. Bill parents got to enjoy partial shade and the Penn State game while Bill enjoyed full shade and his kindle. We had a nice dinner with his parents, dropped them at their show, and Bill and I headed to the Wynn. I love the Wynn. It is by the same guy who did the Bellagio and it is beautiful. I found my favorite slot machine at the Wynn, Dean Martin’s Wild Party. Dean Martin sang to me. “C’mon and dance with me. Go, go, go, go…” It was very entertaining. And good to me on Saturday, but not as good to me on Sunday. Bill would walk past me and hear me say “c’mon Dean Martin.” I played lots of other machines, but Dean Martin was my favorite. I turned my $20 into $54 on Saturday. Sunday, I made a donation to the Wynn, but it took me 6 hours to do it and I thoroughly enjoyed myself in the process.

Sunday we had the Champagne Brunch Buffet at the Wynn. It was Amazing. With a capital “A.” It had traditional breakfast/brunch stuff and prime rib and brisket, and sushi, and seafood, and then Chinese, Italian, Mexican, and Indian dishes. And the dessert room! A whole room of desserts! Bill eventually rolled me out of there. It was definitely a premium buffet at $40 a person (with unlimited champagne), but that was our Sunday meal and our big splurge. So worth it!!

We played more machines at the Wynn. And had some free drinks. Yup, the drink ladies walked the penny slot areas. The highlight of the night was the guy who gave us a $120 slot voucher. He was having a good night and decided to share the wealth. He happened to walk past us, asked us what kind of night we were having and Bill responded with “a good night.” They guy asked “really good, or just okay” and Bill and answered with just okay. The guy’s response was “here, have this” and he walked away. I asked Bill what he had been given and Bill showed me the $120 voucher. I went “seriously?” They guy turned and came back and whispered that he was having a great night and up $64,000 and then he practically skipped away. Bill cashed out the $120 and we practically skipped away. It doesn’t hurt to be friendly.

Today was checkout day but we didn’t have to leave for the airport until 5. The weather was beautiful and we sat by the pool and read for the afternoon. It was comfortable in the sun, but a little cool so we didn’t swim. Then it was the airport and home.

As Dean Martin would sing, “Don’t stop. Don’t stop. Just go, go, go, go, go…”

Bill commented that he was taking a lot more photos of Claudia and I goofing off on this trip, and I think he was right. I think that the three of us were a lot sillier. Not sure why, not sure it matters.

One of the ways we goofed off was with my flip video camera. Last year, I had so much fun shooting little videos with our kodak camera, except that I had a great propensity to crash the camera. For Christmas, Bill bought me a flip recorder and I love it.

I made videos on all of our hikes which start “Hi, this is Margaret Napier, amateur hiker.” Or sometimes it was novice hiker. Or amateur novice hiker. I couldn’t really decide on a title.

There’s a video of me:
Almost at the top of North Dome
After finishing the North Dome hike
Almost at the top of Lembert Dome
After hiking to the top of Lembert Dome
Before hiking to Taft Point
At Taft Point

Check them out in HD, if you can. And the ones where Bill held the camera turned out better than the ones where I held the camera. I didn’t post the one where I was basically shooting my right eye because I had accidentally hit the zoom.

They are short; the longest is 52 seconds. I admit that I am a total dork. I also wish I could tell you that I was trying to be very dramatic, but it just happened. We laughed so hard after watching them. I think my “favorite” line is when I breathily say “the last bit was as hard as I thought it would be.”

There’s also a video of one of the fire fighting helicopters filling up its water tank. This one is a about 2 minutes, 20 seconds.

We had tons of fun on our trip. I’m proud of all the hiking I did. And a little less proud of my videos, but it was all about having a good time.

We had a great vacation, but it was a really strange week. Looking back, it started on Saturday, August 15th when Claudia lost her wallet. Nothing like losing your credit and debit cards 4 days before leaving on vacation. Her bank told her she would get her cards the next day, so she was expecting them on Tuesday, at the latest. But they actually didn’t arrive until Thursday, after she was already in California.

The weirdness continued on Friday. When we got home from our Joann shopping spree and fun afternoon at Google, we found that my new hiking backpack, ordered from Amazon, had been stolen from my front porch. Someone opened up the box, left the box and packing materials, and took my new Camelback pack with the built in water pouch. As soon as I got in the house, I got on the phone with FedEx and Amazon. While on the phone, I had trouble getting on the internet from the desktop computers in the kitchen so I pulled out my laptop to work and talk in the living room. And then I noticed that the dog was outside and our screen door off the back patio was completely off the track. I finished up my phone call and was a little creeped out. I thought maybe Claudia had trouble with the door and was going to ask me to fix it. But that was not the case. I had left the back door open while we went out, a silly thing that I have done on several occasions. I checked the house for uninvited people and then called Bill. He asked if his laptop was still on the desk in the kitchen. It was not. And that’s when I noticed that my mac mini was pulled out a little and I remembered that I had straightened the PC monitor. Commence the freaking out. I called the police and they said they would send a car out. That was at 4:45. Of course I called my dad next. He made us realize that maybe the dog scared the crap out of the burglars. Our house is sort of L shaped with our bedroom in the top part of the L and the patio door where they entered in the bottom right part of the L. The dog tends to sleep in our bedroom and sometimes you can get to the elbow of the L (also known as the kitchen, where the laptop was) before she hears you. Bill was of the opinion that the burglars would probably not come back to a house where they knew there was a dog. I tried to do a mind meld with CJ to find out what happened, but it didn’t work. I dont’ think she was concentrating enough. It was all “where’s my treat for scaring away burglars” and not enough “let me tell you what happened”. Sabrina was useless, I don’t think she moved from the futon. I take that back, she may have yawned and stretched. We continued to get ready for vacation but I admit that I was pretty nervous that we would come home and find all our stuff gone.

The police arrived around 11:00pm. They were awesome! Very friendly, very thorough. They had little CSI kits and tried to get some fingerprints, took photos, took the info on Bill’s laptop. It was as pleasant an experience as you could expect. We think that after they took my backpack off the porch, they looked in the kitchen window and saw a laptop sitting on the desk, and tried to find a way to get in the house. Like the door I left open in the back. In looking at the positives, there was no damage done to the house because I left the door open. Maybe they would have been deterred by the locked door, maybe they would have broken it. We didn’t lose Bill’s kindle which was sitting on top of his laptop, but in a cute case (that I made) which probably made it unrecognizable. The kindle is likely worth more than his laptop. The other good news is that Amazon offered to ship my backpack to our hotel so that I had it to use on Tuesday. I am super thankful that we did not lose CJ. The fence door didn’t close all they way after the burglars made their escape and it would have been so easy for it to have blown open and for CJ to have run away.

Saturday morning, Bill was at the Home Depot buying extra security bars for our sliding glass doors and installing them before we left. (Sliding glass doors that I am super vigilant about closing and securing now). And I told one of our neighbors so that she would be on the lookout. She also knows everyone on the block so I figured she would be a good person to let others know to be careful.

The weirdness held off until Wednesday when we saw the fire. The three of us love nature and the national parks and it was really sad to see it burning. Maybe it was all the smoke, but for the last two days of our trip we were kinda blahsy. And there was the rock slide that we heard and kinda saw. They do happen, it was just an unusual experience for us.

We made it home on Friday and found that all our belongings were still in the house and the animals were fine. That night, around 11pm, we decided to check Claudia in for her flight. After a few very confusing minutes, we found that she had actually missed her flight which had been booked for that day. She was on the phone with American at 11:30 trying to figure out her options and was able to get on a flight Saturday, which was when she thought she was going home. She has no idea how that mistake was made and we were both kicking ourselves for not catching it. But she did get to stay for another two hours and we didn’t have to rush breakfast, and we even got in another trip to Joann.

So that was vacation, the weird stuff. It was more excitement than we needed, but it wasn’t anything really bad.

Tomorrow we will do Vacation, The Silly.

Vacation was fantastic. Every year, we take a hiking trip with our good friend, Claudia. She is my unofficially adopted Bolivian sister. A few people have thought it a little strange that our single friend would enjoy hanging out with two smug marrieds for over a week, but it’s worked out well for us. She and Bill get along, she and I get along, Bill and I usually get along. My biggest anxiety over traveling with her is that she is very fit and healthy, and I am not as much so. It leads me to worrying that I am holding her back on the hiking, but I think that’s just my issue.

Claudia kindly agreed to fly out to California from DC and spend a week at Yosemite. With my being out of work, it was great for us to be able to not have to spend money on airfare. We all saved money on not having to get a rental car and Bill and I agreed to cover all the gas and hiking beverages, snacks, and supplies. It balanced out, I think.

Claudia flew in on Thursday and we hung out. On Friday, we went to the big sale at Joann. Claudia is a great sewist and it was very fun to have a friend to fabric shop with. We saved so much money! Between the two of us, we spend $130 and saved $150 (roughly). The big savings came from patterns. We got 5 patterns for $5, and they normall cost about $15 apiece. They also had thread at 50% off, and a lot of fabrics at 50% off too. We didn’t pay full price for anything. We were having so much fun we lost track of time and almost missed out on lunch at Google.

We made lunch just in time, and it was delicious (pizza, brisket and mac and cheese and a banana cream dessert). Bill gave us a tour of the campus. We even took two bikes for a spin to get back to our car.

On Saturday we left for Yosemite. We stayed in Lee Vining for 3 nights, a town on the east side of the park. Sunday was our first day of hiking and it rained. The rain did not stop us though we weren’t thrilled about it. We hiked to Devil’s Postpile (a national monument) and to Rainbow Falls (which I have dubbed NonRainbow Falls since there wasn’t a rainbow in the rain). This area used to be part of Yosemite, but isn’t anymore. Devil’s Postpile was really cool, especially from the top where they were almost perfect hexagons. I hadn’t seen anything like it. The weather did clear up in the afternoon and it ended up being a nice day. We stopped for dinner and then went to see the Tufas (mineral formations in Mono Lake). We saw then at sunset and it was beautiful. I was obsessed with the angry clouds hanging over the mountain. We hiked 6 miles in total.

Monday was our first day in Yosemite. Our plan was to hike North Dome. We hiked about .73 miles trying to find the trailhead and ended up getting in the car and driving to a different spot where we picked up the trail right way. I noticed that we were heading downhill at the beginning of the hike and knew that was going to be extra tough on the way back. It was a beautiful hike, and we had the trail to ourselves for the most part. We got to the point we thought was North Dome and Claudia had taken off her backpack thinking it was time for lunch and then we saw we still had a half mile to go. It actually turned out to be a mile and was downhill. It took us about 40 minutes but was worth it. The view was spectacular. We sat and ate lunch. Took lots and lots of pictures. Rested. And then headed back. It was tough going. The very beginning was uphill and then was downhill for a good part until the final .7 miles which was uphill and very tough. The hike to North Dome was about 10.4 miles total, plus the .73 miles we spent looking for the trail. It was a long day on the legs and we were exhausted. That is the longest hike I’ve ever done.

Tuesday we checked out of our hotel to hike and then drive to the west side of the park where we would be spending our last three days. We did one more hike on the east side, Lembert Dome and Dog Lake. Once again, we thought that we had made it to the top of Lembert Dome only to find we still had another .5 miles, this time uphill. Steeply uphill. More like light rock climbing than hiking. I was determined to make it to the top though. I told Claudia that the last bit was hard for me on so many levels – mentally, physically, emotionally. My fear of heights wasn’t too bad because it was wide, but I was afraid of falling backwards and rolling off the dome. There was one part that I almost couldn’t do, but somehow I found the strength, got a handhold and made it. Claudia offered me her hand but I was afraid of pulling her off her perch and seeing her roll off the dome. Rolling off the dome was a BIG concern for me. But I made it. Bill’s vertigo kicked in and he stayed back from the final climb. After Lembert Dome, we hiked to Dog Lake. It was beautiful and we found a spot to have lunch and rest. Claudia and I put our feet in the water (brrrrrr…). It was pretty much all downhill on the way back and a pleasant day in all. This hike was a total of 6.6 miles.

Wednesday we spent our first day in Yosemite Valley. There were definitely more people and it was a little more crowded, but not too bad. We decided to do a strenuous hike of 7.4 miles and an elevation change of 2700 feet. We figured that we wouldn’t have a problem after all the other hiking we had done, and that it would be similar to a hike we did at the Grand Canyon. Ha! We definitely started strong, but it was truly a strenuous hike. It took us over 3 hours to get about 2.5 miles and 1900 feet up and I decided that I had gone far enough. I could tell I was getting tired as I made quite a few questionable foot placements and started thinking how easy it would be to break an ankle. I offered to wait for Claudia and Bill to make it to the top and back but they had enough too. We were at the perfect spot for lunch and a little rest and lots of pictures. While we were on our way up, we heard what sounded like thunder, or a low flying jet, and then a minute later saw a huge plume of dust. We figured it was a rock slide and it was as we saw on the news. Our trip downhill was very challenging. It was very rocky and required our full attention. We met up with some people with 1.2 miles left and they told us to be careful of a bear in the trail. We didn’t see the bear, which was a good thing though we were a little disappointed. It was an exhausting day, having hiked a total of 5 miles.

On the way out of the park, we saw a little light on El Capitan. It was people climbing El Cap. At night. In the dark. It was crazy. I wonder if it is less forboding at night when you can’t see how high up you are. Or how far down it is. A few miles and minutes later, we saw the fire. It was mesmerizing in the dark. The sky was orange and pink, and then we saw the flames. It would have been beautiful if we hadn’t known the devastation it was leaving. Last year, at Yellowstone, we saw an area that had been burned 30 years earlier, and it was still very obvious that there had been a forest fire. Even after 30 years.

Thursday we were heading into the park from El Portal when we came across a fire helicopter that was hovering and filling up its water tank. It was cool, but again sad because we knew what it meant. Our highlight of the day was the bear we saw! He was about 100 feet from the road, taking a walk in the woods. He looked young, maybe 1 or 2 years old. Not a cub, but not full sized. Unfortunately we didn’t get a good picture, but I have a picture in my head. We went to Wawona in the southern part of the park. We stopped at Glacier Point and had a great view of the valley. It filled up with smoke, but then cleared up 45 minutes later. While hiking, we did see two fighter jets in the sky, probably on maneuvers. Bill wondered if they were checking on the fire while they were out. We also saw other smaller airplanes dropping water and flame retardant on the fire. I think we spent more time watching fire related activities than we did hiking, but it was hard not to watch. We did a hike to Taft Point which triggered my vertigo. My stomach did somersaults the entire time we were up there. There were also these fissures, little cracks that had gotten really big and I couldn’t look at them. We did see a chipmunk who showed us his belly. I love the bellies. Before we headed back to the hotel, we stopped in Yosemite Valley to check out the Visitor Center, and we saw two fawns and a momma deer. I love the babies!! We hiked 3 miles in total.

Friday was our last day. We woke up to find ask on the car, and it was pretty smokey. The fire was about 2 miles east of us. We checked out of the hotel and drove into the park, again heading for Wawona. We stopped at a little Market and Gas Station where 9 fire fighting vehicles were stopped. Most of them were coming down from having fought the fire all night. Two were stationed there as backup. That team was from Los Banos and had gotten the call at 10pm, making it to El Portal by 3am. The helicopter was making faster rounds; it filled up 6 times while we were sitting having our bagels for breakfast. They were definitely trying to hit the fire hard. We did a short hike to Bridalveil Fall. It was very pretty and there were lots of people so we didn’t stay long. Then we got in the car and drove down to Mariposa Grove to see some Giant Sequoias. To say they were huge is an understatement. It was really amazing. They have bark that is 1 to 2 feet thick. I was a little disappointed that you couldn’t get close to them, but apparently they have fragile root systems. I do want them to be around for others to see so I got over my disappointment. And after that we got in the car and headed home. We ended up hiking about 3 miles in total.

So that was vacation, the great. We hiked almost 29 miles in the first 4 days, and then only 6 in the last two. A little unbalanced, but our feet were tired, and the smoke was bothering my asthma. We saw what we wanted to see, and left some things to see for future visits. It was really, really beautiful.

Tomorrow I will cover vacation, the weird.

I really want to like camping. I camped with my parents when I was a kid, but I’m pretty sure I liked it because mom and dad told me to like it. I haven’t really camped as an adult, until last year when I decided to try it again. We went to Assateague and I got eaten alive and did not have very much fun. Bill didn’t think we would be camping again.

I read an article in Sunset Magazine about the 50 best campsites in the West with a list that were local. So I made us a reservation at Pinnacles National Monument, about 100 miles south of us. This past weekend, we went camping.

It was one of the best weekends that Bill and I spent together. Especially so because it had the potential to be horrible. We had incredibly inconsiderate neighbors, I got a a blister within the first mile of our first hike, I was really struggling at the beginning part of the hike (which was the hardest part and pretty much straight uphill), it was HOT (95 on Saturday, around 100 on Sunday), and did I mention we had incredibly inconsiderate neighbors? But it was actually great.

We did a 9.25 mile hike on Saturday. It was a loop, with the hardest part in the first 2.9 miles. After the first half mile, we hit the intersection with High Peaks Trail which basically went straight up. As I mentioned, I got a blister shortly into the hike, but it really only bothered me when we were going uphill. It was a long stretch going uphill. My lungs were on fire. For every minute we spent hiking, we rested. And took in fluids. It was hard to remember to look around to take in the view. Reaching the top felt like a major accomplishment. It was also short lived because as soon as we hit the top, we started the descent. It was nonstop switchbacks on the way down. While it was easier on the lungs, I felt it in my legs and glutes. There was a ranger station at the bottom of our descent, and it was a great spot for a rest and some lunch. We were also able to fill up our water and use the rest rooms. The rest of the hike was mainly flat, and a little bit easier (although after you’ve been out for 4 hours, easy is a relative term). The highlight of the hike was our trip through the balconies cave. This was another potential problem spot because Bill is claustrophobic. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was amazing. We had to scramble and duck and crawl and scoot and it was dark so we needed headlamps. Bill was great and actually enjoyed it.

After being on the trail for 6 hours, were were unbelievably hot and tired and dirty. You can check it out here, and those aren’t tan lines. The cool (and I mean this literally) thing was that there was a pool at the campground. We rinsed the dirt off, put on our swimsuits and took a dip. It was so refreshing. I cannot even tell you how good it felt. Plus, I got to stretch out my muscles a bit. We showered and then headed back to our campsite and had a relaxing evening.

While it was 95 during the day, in the evening it was quite comfortable. We had dinner and played cards and read and made smores. We also did some stargazing and saw a couple of shooting stars. Really beautiful. We slept very well that night. Or I did until I woke up because I think our neighbors had raccoons in their campsite all night. That’s what it sounded like; I was too tired to check. On Sunday we packed up our gear, ate breakfast, and hit the trails.

We did a shorter hike, 4.5 miles. The first part was up to an overlook and it was very pretty. What made it worthwhile is that there was a park ranger at the overlook (she actually passed by us on the trail) but we got to ask her questions and she sold us on the second half of our hike which I had considered not doing. The second half of the hike went up to a cave and then UP through the cave. Lots of stairs. This cave was somewhat developed whereas the balconies cave was natural. By developed I mean stairs and handrails. It was necessary though, because you were going up and quickly. It was neat to see. About 5 minutes past the cave, we saw the reservoir which was unexpected. It was so dry everywhere and then suddenly, this beautiful water. A perfect place to take a short break. We finished our hike, ate lunch, and headed home.

All in all, it was beautiful.

But I have to briefly vent about our horrible neighbors. Bill summed it up best when he said they made an awful lot of noise for two people. Things did not start well when they pulled up at 11pm ( we were snug as bugs in our sleeping bags) and started talking at full volume. So that we could hear every word of their conversation. Including when they talked about their cup sizes and why one sleeps in her bra… And then they turned on their radio. This is the Cliffs Notes version and may not seem that bad, but if Bill thought they were obnoxious, they were obnoxious. Bill had no problem asking them to turn the radio off because it was quiet hours. I do admit that radios in nature is my pet peeve. I hate it at the beach, I hate it while camping. When I’m in the outdoors, I want to enjoy the outdoors. Hearing the trees rustle in the wind. Hearing murmurs of conversations and occasionally bursts or noise either from laughter or kids having fun. To me, those are the sounds of camping. First thing in the morning, they had their radio on but we left for our hike. When we came back to our campsite after hiking all day to hear their radio blaring, I was really unhappy. I mean Really Unhappy. So unhappy that we came very close to going home. But maybe they heard that we were back and out of consideration they turned the radio down and it was tolerable enough. And they turned it off around 9 so I was very happy. And they learned volume control for their voices. Maybe I’m overreacting with the radio thing, but it’s how I feel.

I figured out why I don’t like camping and it’s because so much of it is out of my control. Bugs. Inconsiderate people. It’s a lot of work for an unknown result. But maybe that’s also why it’s worth it. Because even with all the potential for problems, it can be really really great.

I just got back from an awesome vacation. Bill, Claudia and I went on vacation to Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton National Parks. It was awesome! We were gone for a total of 9 days. It was supposed to be 8 days but we missed our flight coming home and got “stuck” in Chicago. Poor us… Yeah, right! We were so excited to be delayed. I called my dad and he picked us up and took us to my favorite pizza place. Yay! It was a wonderful night. We got to spend a few hours with my dad, serendipity! And I got to have one of my favorite meals. Deliciousness!

As for vacation. It was amazing. There were two parts to it. Part I was Glacier where we spent 3 days. Then we had a travel day and drove to Yellowstone. Yellowstone and Grand Teton were Part II.

Here’s how we spent Part I:

Day 1: Travel

Day 2: Glacier (Logan Pass)

Highline Trail to Haystack Butte (6.8 mi)
Sheep sighting
Goat encounter

Day 3: Glacier (Avalanche Creek/St. Mary)

Bill almost hits a deer
Trail of the Cedars (0.7 mi)
St. Mary and Virginia Falls (3.6 mi)
Sunrift Gorge
Baring Falls (1.2 mi)
Sun Point (1.2 mi)
Pie at Park Cafe

Day 4: Glacier (Logan Pass)

Hidden Lake Overlook (3.0 mi)
Hidden Lake (3.0 mi)
Pie at Park Cafe

Everything was amazing. The park is huge. We only saw half of it, but the half that we saw we did a good job of exploring. We did day hikes, and they were beautiful. The weather was perfect! It would be cool in the mornings (low 40s) and would warm up to the upper 70s by the afternoon. Perfect for hiking! We found this great place to eat in St. Mary that had the best pie. We tried to find a way to get pie on our way to Yellowstone but it was too far out of the way. We saw lots of goats. I wanted to make them into sweaters. We were totally disconnected from the outside world. No cell phones, no internet, no tv, and no national newspapers. It was crazy, but in a good way. We’d read or knit in the evenings, but we didn’t have that much down time by the time we’d showered and changed. The one night we were done early (which was around 7), we hung out by the Lake MacDonald and knit and read and enjoyed the view.

I was surprised by how green and lush it was. We were told that they had a good snowy winter which helped. There were wildflowers everywhere! it was quite colorful. You could trace streams from a snow patch at the top of a mountain, all the way down the mountain. It was amazing.

I loved Glacier. We have to go back. There’s so much more to see and do.

More on Part II later.

I’m back at work after a wonderful long weekend! Bill, CJ and I drove up to visit my mom and Jacob and Jacob’s parents for the 4th of July weekend. We left Thursday after work and the drive wasn’t bad. Maybe an hour longer than it should have been, but that was bearable. CJ was well behaved in the car. I saw at least 5 different towns setting off their fireworks. It was fun. We arrived late, but to my favorite homemade cake (yay, Mom!).

The weekend was a great balance of busy/relaxing. We spent the 4th relaxing on the beach, reading, eating… That evening we had a wonderful barbeque dinner a la Chef Bill. Saturday, we went shopping in New York City while Bill saw Spamalot. Mom and I checked out fabric stores in the fashion district (talk about overwhelming) and then took the subway to Purl. Bill took the subway and met up with us, then we walked from Purl to Pier 17 (about 3 miles) which gave us a great opportunity to check out the waterfalls. We sat outside and enjoyed beers and dinner. Then it was the subway back to Grand Central Station and onto another train and back home.

Sunday was relaxing. I found a quiet spot to read while Mom and Mrs. Jacob cooked an Indian feast. We had aloo gobi at my request and chole and some other yummy goodness that I can’t remember the names of. The best thing about the meal, was that we got to bring the leftovers home with us!!! It was so delicious. Bill took a long nap while Mom and I did arts and crafts (making recycled paper books) and then he helped us. In the evening, we sat around the table eating popcorn and playing Ticket to Ride (Europe Edition) (very fun game for the family).

Monday was drive home and get settled. The dog was exhausted. She slept from the moment we walked in the door (3pm), through the night. She was a decent house guest. Jacob’s parents aren’t dog people and they were very patient with our hyper pups. She is cute and friendly, but if you’re not used to a wet nose and a drooly dog, it can be tough and we appreciated them putting up with her. She was pretty well behaved considering the circumstances. Mom may be cursing us in 9 months though, when she’s still finding CJ hair in her house!

It was great to visit with Jacob’s parents, Jacob and Mom. Bill actually had some time to relax and rest. I got to spend quality time with my mom. We got to read, shop, go to the beach. CJ got to play outside in the yard… Suffice it to say, being back at work is a shock to my system. But on the plus side, I got to sleep in. On vacation, CJ had us up starting at 5:30, then 6, then 6:30… Too much excitement for her to sleep.

Hope y’all had fabulous fourths too!

P.S. I finished 3 books this weekend.