Category: Travel

Bear Flag Republic Part II: Yosemite

Once we got away from the Bay Area the weather started getting hot, up to 100 degrees as we crossed the Central Valley. As we drove up into the mountains the weather cooled to merely hot and the scenery grew more spectacular. On the way into the valley we stopped at Bridal Veil falls, one of several that spill down over the surrounding cliffs.

We met up with our friends Wanda and Chris in Yosemite Valley where we spent a couple days camping. Wanda and Chris are really excellent people, generous, funny and intelligent. I first met Wanda at a SIGGRAPH years ago when her business card read Director of Chaos. We all became good friends when I moved out to California and now they have a daughter about Michelle’s age. We stayed in Housekeeping Camp, a campground of tent-cabins peculiar to Yosemite. You can’t leave food in your tent because to the bears, so every campsite is provided with a food storage locker built like a mailbox. Since we came by plane W&C brought a cooler with cool things as well as some extra blankets and other sundries.

It was late afternoon by the time we arrived, and it took a while to get checked in and set up. Still the girls had time for a swim in the Merced River and then we went off to dinner. I’m used to cooking our own food when we go camping, so even though I’ve been to Yosemite before, it still feels weird (but good) to go out to eat. National parks aren’t your local state campground, so there’s all sorts of lodges, hotels and restaurants. We went to the cafeteria in Curry Village, which was quite good. The kids enjoyed riding around on the bus. Finally we came back to the campsite, built a fire and talked well into the night.

The next day (technically a Tuesday but Second Saturday by our reckoning) we headed down to Mariposa Grove to see the giant sequoias. There was construction on the narrow, winding mountain road, so the thirty mile trip took almost two hours. But it was totally worth it! We took a tram ride to the upper groove figuring the hike would be a lot for the kids, but hopped off on the way back and hiked down the last half. Saw lots and lots of really, really, really big trees, many of them thousands of years old. Truly staggers the imagination.

On the way back we stopped for lunch at the Wawona Hotel, a hundred-year old wooden lodge house in the park. When we got back to camp we went for another swim in the river. This time I went in and I can tell you the water was cold! That evening we had dinner in the Mountain Room at Yosemite Lodge, a fairly fancy restaurant. Chris and Wanda are big gamers and that night they introduced us to Dominion, a card game a bit like Magic but more streamlined and without all the annoying card collecting. MIchelle lost a tooth that night!

The next day (logical Sunday) we did all kinds of activities in the valley. Checked out the nature center at Happiness Isles and then went for a nice hike among a series of rocking, branching creeks. Checked out the Indian Village and (of course) the gift shop, and wound up the day at Yosemite Falls, where the kids had great fun climbing over rock and boulders at the base of the falls. W&C had bikes with them, so we split up and took turns biking aound the valley between stops.

As we were packing to go, Jeannie discovered something had chewed a hole thru a corner of her backpack! She had forgotten the tin of chocolates we bought in Marin. Even though they were sealed in shrink-wrapped plastic, some critter had sniffed them out. We found the plastic wrapper but not a trace of the tin or the chocolates. We can only guess as to what kind of creature did such an act. Lizzy speculated it was evils squirrels, but I’ve never heard of squirrels hitting a target that big. My conjecture was Otter-Bears, a mysterious animal that is rumored to live in rocky caves in mountain creeks. Michelle said it was a deer with fingers. But Jeannie and most other sensible people think it was probably raccoons.

We left the park in late afternoon, driving over Tioga pass and getting up to 10,000 feet. On the way we stopped at Olmstead Point (named after the famous park designer; not sure what he was doing way out west) and was a view of the valley looking back from the very top. The scenery for the whole drive (another 2 hours to go 30 miles kind of trip) was unbelievably beautiful, just breathtaking. Snow still lingered on some of the north slopes of the mountain tops. We came out of the Sierra on the Nevada side, into the dessert at Lake Mead. Then it was a long but relatively flat cruise north thru endless cattle ranches. Finally we headed back into the mountains as nightfall neared, headed up to Lake Tahoe. More on that in Part III.

Bear Flag Republic Part I: San Francisco

We just got back from a fantastic and epic vacation to California, including San Francisco, Yosemite National Park, and Lake Tahoe. The California Republic always seemed like a mythic land to me growing up in the cold northeast, and the years I lived there were some of the best times of my life. I’m glad I had the chance to go back and share it with my kids, and I’m happy that the land has lost none of it’s enchanting character and charm.

The week leading up to the trip was busy as things tend to be. In addition to the usual work and trying to beat the heat, Denis and Sarah were in town for a visit. Jeannie and the girls and I met them for lunch in Times Square Tuesday. It was nice and the kids won a bunch of Dora schwag in a promotion and gave it to my niece Anna. I’ve been working with Blick to get our outsourced development set up. More on that in a future post. Wednesday I flew thru the week’s yardwork including pulling weeds from under the hedges, as we’d be gone the coming weekend.

We got up way early Friday to catch an 8:00 AM flight. The whole getting to the airport and onto the plane process went smoothly. I meant to nap on the plane, but wound up getting into the book I was reading. We got a great view of Yosemite from the plane, a nice bit of foreshadowing. The first thing we did when we got there was cruise down to Silicon Valley to check out our old haunts. We had lunch in a burrito place near Jeannie’s old job, drove by old house in Redwood City and in Palo Alto, past my old office and the hospital where Lizzy was born, and few other landmarks. We ended up the tour by parking near Stanford parcel B and hiking up the hill to the big radiotelescope. We didn’t make it all the way to the dish because the kids were tired but we got high enough to get a good view of the bay.

Our hotel was near the airport in South San Francisco. It was nice enough and conveniently located. The big surprise was the weather. Just as in NYC it’s been super hot, in SF it’s been cool, to the point where they haven’t really had a summer. It was in the 50’s and 60’s and foggy the entire time we were there. That evening we went into the city and had dinner at Fisherman’s Wharf at one of the seafood restaurants. The kids loved all the silly tourist trap stores – magnets, posters, socks, left handed things. We got a bunch of seashells at the place where they sell seashells by the seashore. They also dug the sea lions, although the population there is still low compared to what it’s been. I guess they’ve swum south until the weather breaks.

Saturday the plan was to go the Exploratorium. On the way we stopped at the vista point on the SF side of the Golden Gate Bridge. The kids got their national park passports stamped there for the first of many times. The Exploratorium itself was a lot of fun. An interactive science museum full of hands-on exhibits, it had lots of cool stuff to explore about geometry, physics, color, sound, light, magnetism, etc. We ended up spending the whole day there until it closed at 5:00. There was even some origami stuff including a couple models by our friend Robert, and book in the gift shop called Origami American Style by John Montroll. I have to ask him if it’s legit; I’d never heard of it and it’s not from his regular publisher.

After the museum closed we walked around the Palace of Fine Arts and the pond and gardens. Then we drove up to twin peaks (the highest point in SF) to try and take in the view. We could see the radio towers from below, but by the time we got to the top of the hill the clouds had closed in and the view was just a cold windy white sheet. On the way down again we stopped at a park near Haight-Ashbury that had a hilltop just a bit lower. This was below the clouds and so we had a great view of the city and the bay and a fun little hike.

We ended up the evening back at Fisherman’s Wharf and dined at a different seafood restaurant. On the way we happened across an arcade of antique and classic coin-op machines ranging from Pac-Man and Galaxian back to 100-year-old player piano mechanical orchestras with built-in wind and percussion sections. Those were really fun and if I ever get silly rich I’m gonna buy me one.

On the way out of that we encountered a waterfront naval museum. This was something I always wanted to check out when I lived there but never got around to it. The kids wanted to take the tour for the submarine, and so we did. It was really cool. A 300-foot long, diesel-powered WWII vessel, it was crammed from stern to stem machinery and living quarters. Unbelievable to think 80 or so men could live in such a confined space. Even the officer’s quarters were very cramped. Not a good place to be if you’re over 6 feet tall.

Sunday we drove across the Golden Gate and spent the day in the Marin Headlands. Hiked around a bunch of places with excellent view of the bay and SF. Went out to the lighthouse at Bonita Point, across a swaying footbridge on which only two people at a time are allowed to cross. The sun came out for a spell and all was deep bright azure! Went to Rodeo beach and dipped our feet in the cold, cold Pacific Ocean. Walked up another trail to look down on the ocean from the cliffs. Bought a tin of chocolate in one of the gift shops because I liked the design on the box. Once we had our fill of hiking we cruised down to Sausalito and had snack by waterfront and enjoyed the scene at the harbor for a while.

For dinner we met up with friends Japantown. There was a street fair with Cuban bands going on when we arrived. We went by the Paper Tree, an amazing origami supply store, but it was closed. We walked around the Japantown mall, and we checked out the various stores, with the kids looking for hamster erasers (I don’t know, they’re some thing from Japan) and me looking at anime robot kits and samurai swords. The kids bought some Totoro dolls and I got a neat little paper robot kit. Not exactly origami, but related. Had an excellent dinner that included sushi, tempura and fried baby octopus. Finished the evening the hotel hot tub.

Monday we began the bear-oriented part of the trip. After stocking up on supplies we lit out for the famous Yosemite National Park. Jeannie and I had been there a few times while we lived in California, including one unforgettable trip in the winter in which we cross-country skied Badger Pass the whole time. We’d also been there a couple times in the fall, but this was our first trip in high summer and the first time for the kids. It’s a really fantastic place with just mind-boggling scenery, perhaps number one of any place I’ve ever been (or maybe a close second to the Grand Canyon) in terms of sheer geological grandeur and epic scale. More on that in Part II.

Bear Flag Republic Part I: San Francisco

We just got back from a fantastic and epic vacation to California, including San Francisco, Yosemite National Park, and Lake Tahoe. The California Republic always seemed like a mythic land to me growing up in the cold northeast, and the years I lived there were some of the best times of my life. I’m glad I had the chance to go back and share it with my kids, and I’m happy that the land has lost none of it’s enchanting character and charm.

The week leading up to the trip was busy as things tend to be. In addition to the usual work and trying to beat the heat, Denis and Sarah were in town for a visit. Jeannie and the girls and I met them for lunch in Times Square Tuesday. It was nice and the kids won a bunch of Dora schwag in a promotion and gave it to my niece Anna. I’ve been working with Blick to get our outsourced development set up. More on that in a future post. Wednesday I flew thru the week’s yardwork including pulling weeds from under the hedges, as we’d be gone the coming weekend.

We got up way early Friday to catch an 8:00 AM flight. The whole getting to the airport and onto the plane process went smoothly. I meant to nap on the plane, but wound up getting into the book I was reading. We got a great view of Yosemite from the plane, a nice bit of foreshadowing. The first thing we did when we got there was cruise down to Silicon Valley to check out our old haunts. We had lunch in a burrito place near Jeannie’s old job, drove by old house in Redwood City and in Palo Alto, past my old office and the hospital where Lizzy was born, and few other landmarks. We ended up the tour by parking near Stanford parcel B and hiking up the hill to the big radiotelescope. We didn’t make it all the way to the dish because the kids were tired but we got high enough to get a good view of the bay.

Our hotel was near the airport in South San Francisco. It was nice enough and conveniently located. The big surprise was the weather. Just as in NYC it’s been super hot, in SF it’s been cool, to the point where they haven’t really had a summer. It was in the 50’s and 60’s and foggy the entire time we were there. That evening we went into the city and had dinner at Fisherman’s Wharf at one of the seafood restaurants. The kids loved all the silly tourist trap stores – magnets, posters, socks, left handed things. We got a bunch of seashells at the place where they sell seashells by the seashore. They also dug the sea lions, although the population there is still low compared to what it’s been. I guess they’ve swum south until the weather breaks.

Saturday the plan was to go the Exploratorium. On the way we stopped at the vista point on the SF side of the Golden Gate Bridge. The kids got their national park passports stamped there for the first of many times. The Exploratorium itself was a lot of fun. An interactive science museum full of hands-on exhibits, it had lots of cool stuff to explore about geometry, physics, color, sound, light, magnetism, etc. We ended up spending the whole day there until it closed at 5:00. There was even some origami stuff including a couple models by our friend Robert, and book in the gift shop called Origami American Style by John Montroll. I have to ask him if it’s legit; I’d never heard of it and it’s not from his regular publisher.

After the museum closed we walked around the Palace of Fine Arts and the pond and gardens. Then we drove up to twin peaks (the highest point in SF) to try and take in the view. We could see the radio towers from below, but by the time we got to the top of the hill the clouds had closed in and the view was just a cold windy white sheet. On the way down again we stopped at a park near Haight-Ashbury that had a hilltop just a bit lower. This was below the clouds and so we had a great view of the city and the bay and a fun little hike.

We ended up the evening back at Fisherman’s Wharf and dined at a different seafood restaurant. On the way we happened across an arcade of antique and classic coin-op machines ranging from Pac-Man and Galaxian back to 100-year-old player piano mechanical orchestras with built-in wind and percussion sections. Those were really fun and if I ever get silly rich I’m gonna buy me one.

On the way out of that we encountered a waterfront naval museum. This was something I always wanted to check out when I lived there but never got around to it. The kids wanted to take the tour for the submarine, and so we did. It was really cool. A 300-foot long, diesel-powered WWII vessel, it was crammed from stern to stem machinery and living quarters. Unbelievable to think 80 or so men could live in such a confined space. Even the officer’s quarters were very cramped. Not a good place to be if you’re over 6 feet tall.

Sunday we drove across the Golden Gate and spent the day in the Marin Headlands. Hiked around a bunch of places with excellent view of the bay and SF. Went out to the lighthouse at Bonita Point, across a swaying footbridge on which only two people at a time are allowed to cross. The sun came out for a spell and all was deep bright azure! Went to Rodeo beach and dipped our feet in the cold, cold Pacific Ocean. Walked up another trail to look down on the ocean from the cliffs. Bought a tin of chocolate in one of the gift shops because I liked the design on the box. Once we had our fill of hiking we cruised down to Sausalito and had snack by waterfront and enjoyed the scene at the harbor for a while.

For dinner we met up with friends Japantown. There was a street fair with Cuban bands going on when we arrived. We went by the Paper Tree, an amazing origami supply store, but it was closed. We walked around the Japantown mall, and we checked out the various stores, with the kids looking for hamster erasers (I don’t know, they’re some thing from Japan) and me looking at anime robot kits and samurai swords. The kids bought some Totoro dolls and I got a neat little paper robot kit. Not exactly origami, but related. Had an excellent dinner that included sushi, tempura and fried baby octopus. Finished the evening the hotel hot tub.

Monday we began the bear-oriented part of the trip. After stocking up on supplies we lit out for the famous Yosemite National Park. Jeannie and I had been there a few times while we lived in California, including one unforgettable trip in the winter in which we cross-country skied Badger Pass the whole time. We’d also been there a couple times in the fall, but this was our first trip in high summer and the first time for the kids. It’s a really fantastic place with just mind-boggling scenery, perhaps number one of any place I’ve ever been (or maybe a close second to the Grand Canyon) in terms of sheer geological grandeur and epic scale. More on that in Part II.

Camping 2010 Pics

Last weekend I went camping with bunch of friends. It’s become an annual tradition and the group grew so big we split into to two groups a few years back. We this year both groups came back together for the same weekend, so it was a huge, great time. Best camping trip so far, in fact. The kids are old enough now we can pretty much let them run around without worrying too much. Saturday I slept in, and when I got up went to my brother’s site, asking if my kids were there. No, but would you like some coffee and eggs? Went down to the next site where my friend Nick was staying. Same thing, no kids, but here’s some breakfast. Finally caught up to them across the road at Erik’s site. Best thing of all: no rain. We stayed until Sunday evening and until finally few drops convinced us to finish packing the car.

There and Back Again

Last week we took a trip upstate to visit friends and family, staying with my parents for a few days. It was pretty low key as far as these things go, nice and relaxing. Went up to my brother-in-law’s house one day and went swimming in his pool. Enjoyed a parade and fireworks on the 4th of July. Saw a nice handful of classic cars, and great fireworks show right in the field behind the local school, right over our heads as spread out on the lawn. Best fireworks I’ve seen in years.

Now that we’re home I wish we’d stayed longer and did more. We have a long list of things we’d like to do and see there with the kids. Fort Niagara, Toronto, etc. Maybe next year we’ll take a tour of upstate NY and Ontario as our main vacation. We did get to the Albright Knox art gallery, which I hadn’t been to in maybe 20 years. It has a pretty excellent collection of contemporary and modern art and I was happy that some of my favorite pieces were still there, including the mirror house. On the other hand the upstairs halls including the sculpture court were mainly empty, which was disappointing. Walked around the lake at Delaware park too.

We left the kids with my parents for a few days. Had a stopover in Albany on the ride home to have dinner with Martin. It was a nice enjoyable trip home, listening mainly to hippie rock. We crossed the Hudson up near Albany and took the Taconic home, avoided the traffic on 87 and the Tappen Zee. (I hate every Tap I see from Tappen A to Tappen Z.) We thought we’d have time to relax and hang out, sans kids, but no. It was a busy, busy workweek. My project is under alot of pressure these days. On top of it we had a major heat wave with temperatures getting up to 104. I worked at home that day and only went outside to move the sprinkler around the yard, but even being out for a few minutes was pretty intense.

At last on Friday evening the weather broke and it was merely in the upper 80’s hazy and muggy. Jeannie and took an epic walk around Manhattan, starting in times square, doing downtown. We went along the High Line, in Chelsea, which is a really cool thing. It had once been a network of elevated railroad tracks that supplied butchers in the meatpacking district with carcasses to carve up into meat. It has been abandoned for many years and overgrown with weeds. The city has turned into a long, narrow park, basically a pedestrian walkway that runs from 20th street down to the west village. On either side of the boardwalk are gardens of wildflowers — basically the same weeds, but well tended. It’s a surprisingly effective setup and the whole feels really peaceful and special.

When we got to the end of that, we weren’t too far from the waterfront. When I worked at Radical Media there was a pier nearby I used to walk to sometimes. It was a bit run down and in later days it was fenced off. Well the city as turned this into a park too, and you can walk out the end and see the Verrazano Bridge and Statue of Liberty, and even a tall ship. When we were done there we got dinner are a Mexican restaurant, and the walked thru the NYU campus and to the East Village. We finished off at St. Mark’s place, which is where I lived when I first moved to NYC many years ago. At that time it was all bong shops, but the city has become so upscale that I wondered if it’d be all changed now. It was refreshing to see it was just as seedy as it had always been.

The kids home again, all nice and tanned. They had a great time with all the grandparents, aunts and uncles. I guess they did lots of swimming. Ah summertime, and the living is easy.

Summer’s Here and the Time is Right

The season has progressed to full on summer. Finally made it to a long weekend, a much deserved and needed break after rather chaotic spell at work. Been trying to get our software release out the door, filling in for my boss who was on vacation, as well as running things since our project manager was gone too. Dealing with uncooperative directors of other projects, and that all-time favorite of software development, fixing other people’s bugs. Well all’s well that ends well I suppose and we met our deadline.

We went upstate to see Martin and Kathleen and Charlie over the weekend. Very nice hang. Went swimming, which was great for my back; the first time since the winter it really felt good. Unfortunately the car ride home undid that. We also watched the Queen open the British parliament on CSPAN. This was pretty random, but the girls are Anglophiliac these days because of Harry Potter, so we thought they like to see a real Queen in action commanding the Lords and Commons. The weirdest part was when the chief constable shouted “Hats off, strangers” before the Queen entered Parliament, predicted beforehand by a very blasé announcer.

I did some research into the wacky traditions of British government, and learned some interesting factoids. There is a movement afoot to replace the phrase “strangers” with “visitors” to be less anachronistic. The word strangers dates from the time of Cromwell. Smoking in parliament was banned in 1696, although snuff is available to all members at the public expense. Wearing of armor was banned in 1313. There’s a list of words banned from discourse that includes “blackguard”, “git”, and “traitor”.

Here’s some pictures from my yard and garden from 2 or 3 weeks back. The roses and fig tree are doing awesome, and we even have some ripe strawberries.

Californigami

I just got back from a great trip to San Francisco for the Pacific Coast Origami Conference. It was Jeannie’s idea for me to go, and I must say I was kind of ambivalent about the whole thing until I actually started the journey. But it was great and she deserves a big thanks. The conference went from Friday to Sunday and was a ton of fun. I lived in the Bay Area from the mid-90’s to the early 2000’s, but haven’t been back for a few years, so I also spent an extra day visiting old haunts and catching up with friends.

I must be getting older. Old people are famous for getting up early. It didn’t really bother me to have to get up at 4:30 to get to the airport in time. It felt like getting up for a normal day of work. A few random skipped meals didn’t bother me either, nor did the time zone change or lack of sleep. I cashed out the last of my frequent flier miles from the 90’s when I flew 100,000 miles a year and got an upgrade to business class. It was awesome! The seat was like a living room recliner chair. Since I’m well over 6 feet tall it made a big difference for me being able to nap on the plane.

I was flying alone and wanted everything to fit in my carry on including the models for my exhibit. For my exhibit I made a new batch of models from the designs I know well; sort of a greatest hits collection. These included my Elephant, Moose, Lizard, Turtle, Balloon, UFO, Luv Bug and Loon.

The Pacific Coast Origami Conference (PCOC) is smaller than the New York convention, but a bunch of friends showed up, including some NYC people like Jan and Tony, and the M.I.T. crowd including Brian, Jason, Aviv, Andrea and Tian, who are smart and geeky enough to be fun to hang out with, and others like Eric G, Jared, and Nathan. Brian makes lots of puns and Jason quotes Monty Python enthusiastically and inaccurately and sings contagiously. Andrea has moved to San Mateo and is working for Oracle and Aviv was out there for an interview. Nathan is done college and living in SF working as a school teacher. And so it goes.

I stayed at the hotel where the conference was, which made it pretty convenient. We had some really good Thai food in Japan Town after wandering around in an indecisive group looking for a place Robert Lang recommended, but knew neither the name or location. I bought some really nice origami paper and won a sheet of handmade origamido paper for participating in a folding challenge.

While I was there I folded (among other things) a new original model: an Eve robot to go with Brian’s Wall-E. I taught a class which was a hit. I’m working on a book and brought a whole stack of diagrams, hoping people would fold them and give me feedback. Everyone wanted to fold my Turtle since it was in the model menu, and so I taught that from memory while a few people folded from diagrams on the side.

I’d forgotten what a beautiful city SF is. So mellow and picturesque, especially compared to New York. Saturday morning I took an epic walk. I went from the hotel across town, down the crookedest block of Lombard Street, up to Coit Tower, and then down and around to the waterfront, Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf. I had planned on riding the cable car back to the hotel, but when I got there the line was way too long and there was a bad guitarist playing guitar and singing badly to try and get tips from the people in queue. So I walked back up to the hotel.

Monday I rented a car and drove down 280 to Silicon Valley. I had lunch with my friend Wanda in Palo Alto. It was great to see her and catch up. It was a beautiful day and fun to see my old neighborhood. I went for a hike at a place called Windy Hill, which is just up at the top of the hills from there. The ride up is a crazy switchback road thru redwood forests. From the top you can look down and see Stanford, Moffett Field and the whole bay, and even San Francisco off in the distance. Turn around and you see the Pacific Ocean out over the hills to the west.

Ah, my heart is torn in two. I loved living there and love the land and the climate and the culture and people and everything about the place and would love to go back.

In other news, Lizzy got her cast off the day I left. She was born in California and fantasizes about going to college at Stanford as her destiny. I tell her get good grades. She’s with me in pining to move back. I suppose if the right opportunity comes up. But then there’s reality of there here and now.

The last thing the happened at work before I left was that I packed up my office. My whole project moved to a new floor. I flew the red eye overnight Monday and worked at home yesterday, so today I got in to see my new space. It’s much nicer than my old one. It’s a corner office with windows on three walls and a view of Hell’s Kitchen and Times Square. The movers didn’t take my chair (which was a nice one that I brought with me from Nick when I joined the platform group), and my colleagues told me the chairs all were gone and lost. But I went up there and another guy had appropriated it, and gave it back without me having to get too insistent. Another thing, my company just announced extra days off for everyone for the holidays, so it looks like I can take a good long xmas vacation this year.

Coming soon: pictures!

Home Again

We were away last week on vacation, visiting family upstate and then spending a few days at home to rest and get caught up on things. Spent a whole week wearing no socks and shoes.  We visited Denis and Sara for Anna’s first birthday party. Everyone in Jeannie’s family made the trip of from NYC. All the grandkids together in one place, a rare event. We all went swimming in Denis’s pool, and Lizzy learned how to do a proper dive off the diving board, which was a big thrill. The next we shuffled off to visit my parents. One highlight was a family picnic for all the cousins on my mum’s side. Another was a trip to the zoo. One evening Jeannie and I took a visit to our old college for a walk around the campus. On the last day we caught up with Martin and Kathleen. Little Charlie is getting big!