San Francisco

Last stop before home - San Francisco. Golden Gate, Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown.

From Nevada City we headed for a point north of the city, so that we could drive down a bit of Route 1. (Wouldn't want to miss the famous winding coastal road!) This meant our entry into San Francisco was right over the Golden Gate bridge. Gretchen was looking forward to this part. It was really the only thing she had mentioned wanting to see in San Francisco. Mostly I think due to her having to research the bridge for a school project last year.

Friday morning I had booked a Bay cruise that took us under the Golden Gate and arond the bay to point out the sights and give us some history of the city. After that we toured the USS Pampanito, A WWII submarine that sits in the harbor. (Again, slipping in the educational stuff for the kids).

On the FUN museum side, we visited an Arcade Museum and a Wax Museum. Gretchen thought those were "educational trips" that were vacation worthy! I have to say the Arcade Museum was pretty cool. Admission was free to this experiential museum, but all arcade machines were in working order, so you had to feed quarters into anything you really wanted to see. The old Nickelodeon and Zoetrope machines were my favorite. Also, did you know that skee-ball (sort of miniature bowling and one of my favorite arcade passtimes) was invented over 100 years ago?

We had lunch in a restaurant that overlooked the sea lions at Fisherman's Wharf. They provided wonderful dining entertainment for us as they pushed each other off the docks.

All in all, the city was great fun and some nice shopping too.

Muir Woods

Giant Sequoias vs. Coastal Redwoods. Until I got to California, I didn't know there was a difference. I learn something new every vacation. This one I learned a lot about trees like how to tell the difference between sequoias (sequoia giganteum), redwoods (sequoia sempervirens) & other cedars, and between sugar and ponderosa pines. Sequoia National Park (and Yosemite) have Sequoia Giganteum the most massive trees in the world, they can be up to 3000 years old. These trees are up to 280 ft. tall and have trunks up to 85 feet in diameter. The Coastal Redwoods by contrast are actually taller (up to 370 ft.) but have much less mass. A slimmed down version of it's Sierra Nevada cousin, if you will. Since I discovered that they were two separate types of trees whie in Sequoia, this meant I had to add a side trip to see some Coastal Redwoods (Muir Woods, north of San Francisco) in order to compare. Susan says she prefers the coastal redwoods. The taller, slimmer trees give her more of a cathedral feeling. I agree they have more of the cathedral feeling, since they grow in tight circular groups; but I still preferred the more ancient, larger sequoias myself. Lone giants here and there throughout the woods.

Nevada City

Time to take another family break in the whirlwind tour of California. My Aunt Susan lives in Nevada City, CA. We got to meet her new beau Russell. He's very nice and they seem great together. They won in the team Trivial Pursuit game, and all we Putnams know how competitve that gets!

Sue's place, even her new one, is much too small for guests, so we stayed at the Stone Cottage on the grounds of the Sierra Friends School. This place could sleep about 20 people comfortably in beds and is a gorgeous round cottage. It's got a circular fireplace in the center room, with three wings coming off of that. I thought it would be a great place for one of our Putnam family get-togethers. Susan said she's already tried to propose that. I don't recall her ever mentioning it before. But for any family members reading this, let's think about it! I've got photos of the place if you want to see them.

What's a family vacation without trains?

Well it clearly wouldn't be one of our family vacations if we didn't get to look at trains. At Yosemite we rode the Yosemite and Sugar Pine Railroad. A narrow guage Shay steam engine that takes a short one-hour trip into the lovely Sierra-Nevadas. It was originally a logging railroad and the trees we saw in all directions were all no more than 75 years old, as the railroad had clear cut the mountainside before dismantling the line in 1931.

On the way to Tahoe a few days later, we stopped in Jamestown, CA at the Railtown 1897 historic park. The little town of Jamestown is set up much like it was in 1897 and the TV & movie industry uses the railroad when needed. In fact, one of Brandon's favorite movies as a child was Back to the Future III. Because, of course, of the train that played such a big part in the movie. Now we have a photo of Brandon on that very caboose.

Lake Tahoe

The make-it-up-to-Gretchen day. What do I mean by that? Well, let me explain.

Upon our arrival in California, I headed to the rental car counter to get the SUV I'd reserved. Gretchen & Brian saw a Mustang convertable pulling out of the rental lot and suggested we get one of those instead. Brian joking, Gretchen, not joking. I, of course, refused and Gretchen thinks I'm a stick-in-the-mud. Gretchen wanted a surfing lesson at the beach; we put her on a boogie board instead. Gretchen wanted to go rock climbing at Yosemite -- we missed it. By now you can see that we need to make up something to little Miss High Adventure. So... jet skis on Lake Tahoe was what we decided to do.

We got to the marina at 6:00 p.m. (it having taken all day just to drive to Tahoe) and they were closing for the day. The guy closing up said that the forecast for the next day called for excessively high winds (35 mph gusts), so to get there at 8:00 a.m. so that we could get out on the lake before it becomes impossible to jet ski.

We dutifully got up bright and early, after all, we didn't want to miss our opportunity! I put on my swimsuit and a pair of shorts over it and headed over to the office to check on the continental breakfast. Brian turns on the weather channel. As I walk back inside proclaiming it seems awfully cold outside, Brian informs me that it is currently 33 degrees in Lake Tahoe. 33 degrees!

For all the parents reading this, you can probably already guess what happened next. The answer is yes; we all put on swimsuits and went jet skiing on Lake Tahoe while the air temperature was still in the 30's.

By the way, jet skis really are lots of fun. They do bring out the kid in everyone. After our one-hour rental was up, we peeled our frozen hands off the throttle, wrapped up in towels and headed back to the hotel for nice warm showers.

Yosemite

On to Yosemite National Park...

The first day we got there around noon and headed out to Glacier Point and saw Nevada and Vernal falls. Then we made an early night of it and let the kids swim in the hotel pool.

My problem was not allowing enough time at Yosemite. I allowed us only about 1 1/2 days and we really needed another full day. Since I'd read that you could take rock climbing lessons at the park. I thought we'd do that on our one full day there. However, I didn't check into it closely enough before hand. Even the beginner rock climbing class is 6 hours long and starts at 8:30 in the morning. So when we arrived at 10:00 looking to take a class, we were turned away, and since we were leaving for Lake Tahoe the next day, we were out of luck. Gretchen was VERY disappointed.

We did our own version of rock climbing as we climbed over the boulders and up to the base of Yosemite Falls. Coming back down, the slope was steep that I pulled my quad muscle. However, later in the day, I tripped and scraped my calf so badly that I completely forgot how much my quad hurt!

We then rafted on the Merced river through Yosemite Valley. The kids did most of the paddling. There are no real rapids on the river, but I still had trouble getting them to paddle with any skill. They most certainly aren't ready to tackle the rapids on PA's Youghiogheny river yet.

Finally, at the end of the day we went up to Bridalveil Falls and spent a few minutes just staring at the rainbow created by the mist.

Sequoia National Park

The beach part of the vacation was nice, but I've always been happier in the mountains. And I was really looking forward to seeing the giant Sequoias of the Sierra Nevada mountains. What can I say about these trees? They are up to 3000 years old. They are the most massive living thing on earth. I was pretty impressed.

Day one at Sequoia we walked up Moro Rock. There are something like 400 steps , some built, some carved into the rock to take you to the top at around 7000 ft. From there you have a view of the Great Western Divide.

Here I should mention what a super trooper Alexis was. Just a few months shy of three, she walked the whole way up and down Moro Rock as well as hiking to and through some of the big tree groves, and a serious slope down to Crystal Cave and back.

We toured Crystal Cave. It was quite nice. The mountain it's under is made of marble and there's a stream inside that has beautiful natural marble sides. As caves go, it's nice, but it's not as spectacular as Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.

Saturday night Dawnielle and Brittney joined us in Visalia (where we were staying outside of Sequoia Park). Brittney is 13 and had been at her grandparents for much of the summer. So it meant that while Brandon had a great time pal-ing around with cousin Kevin in Cal City. Gretchen did not have cousin Brittney there to hang out with. At least they got a chance to meet in Visalia, but Sunday morning, we had to head our separate ways.

Frazier Park

After Ventura, we cruised up to Frazier Park to Greg & Lydia's cabin. I can see why Greg loves this little cabin. It has to remind him of our old family cabin at King's Mountain. Lydia's dad and uncles built the cabin at Frazier Park; just like my grandfather, father and uncles built our family cabin. The interior has the same pine paneling and pine kitchen cabinets that the Welsh cabin had. Lydia's dad still owns the place, but Greg & Lydia have worked hard to fix the place up in the last six years. While there they got a quote for a new roof. It was about three times what they thought it would be. I'm sure they'll be pondering that for a while!

Beach Bum - Ventura, CA

Tuesday and Wednesday we spent at Ventura Beach. Brandon & Gretchen had a great time at the beach. Lydia brought along boogie boards so they could ride the surf in. By the second day they were getting pretty good. Still not quite ready for actual surfboards, but getting closer.

Tuesday, Alexis amazed me by entertaining herself for hours in the sand, while not fussing once. The second day she wasn't quite as good, but it still went pretty well. Alexis had a huge wave wash over her and she swallowed a bunch of seawater. We thought she handled it pretty well.

Tuesday evening we hit the Ventura County fair so the kids could hear the group All-American Rejects. While there, they also climbed the rock wall. One of Gretchen's favorite fair activities.

Wednesday we vistited the San Buenaventura Mission founded by Father Junipera Serra. I wanted to see a real Spanish mission, just to say I'd been there.

Finally, some more relaxing at the beach and a walk on the pier and we were ready to head into the mountains.

California Adventures

Well, since my brother has lived in California for 23 years, and I've never been to this state, it was WAY PAST time. So we flew in August 5th and the first stop was my brother's house in Calfornia City.

We had a great visit with Brian's aunt Vivian and uncle Chet in Lake Los Angeles last Sunday. We had a great roast beef dinner and then hiked it off in a natural area called the Devil's punchbowl.

Monday was spent hanging around my brother's house with family. I hadn't seen Greg, Lydia & Kevin in 7 years! Kevin is now 6'1" - he towers over everyone else in the family. Kevin is also playing football this fall, so he was off to football practice in the evening in the "cool" 93 degree heat. He tells us that's nothing compared to the 110-degree heat they had to practice in the week before. Boy, am I glad we don't live in the desert!

More on the family front-- I got to meet Lydia's daughter and her family. And bonus, when we left for the beach and Sequoia on tuesday morning, we got to bring my 2-1/2 year-old grand-niece Alexis along. She's delightful and quite entertaining.

Summer Running

Well running this spring and summer has been a challenge. Since my breast cancer diagnosis, I've been trying to continue to run but it's been difficult. Surgeries in March, April, and May meant some time off after each one. Now the chemotherapy makes me feel so badly after a big treatment that I don't run for about a week after each one. Leaving me with a one week off, two weeks on, running schedule. It's not enough to keep up with my former fitness level. As of June, I can no longer run an entire 5K without walking part of it. This doesn't bode well for my Spring 2007 marathon plans. My planned Disney marathon in January of 2007 went out the window in May, when I was told I'd do six months of chemo followed by major surgery some time in November.

SUMMER RACES - the Longest Day 5K was the last race I ran (June 21, obviously). As I mentioned earlier, I walked part of it, so my time was four mintues slower than even my previous slow time in a 5K. It was a hot, humid night which didn't help. Half way through I changed my goal from under 31 minutes, to just finishing!

For the Firecracker 4K race on the 4th of July, I stood on the curb while both kids ran the race. Brandon in 20:33 and Gretchen in 23:47. Brandon improved in the Arts Fest 5K where is time was 24:10, getting his per mile time down to eight-minute miles. It makes me wonder what he could do if he actually trained instead of just running races now and again.

Baseball's Over for Me!

Gretchen's Little League season is done. Brandon has umpired his last Little League game for this season. My husband has purchased season tickets for the new minor league baseball team the Spikes. Only two tickets, not four, he'll take turns taking the kids and leave me out of it. Yeah! I've had enough baseball for the season.

Brandon has started to his summer job at the Park. Gretchen is playing basketball all summer.