Ice House Camping

So,
   On Monday we set out for a high sierra camping trip. We loaded up the van to entirely new heights and weights, packed in the fam and the dog and set out for our 7.5hr (googlemaps) 9hr (actual time with potty breaks and such) drive up to Ice House Reservoir. Google told me to take the I-5 so we did. I regretted it the entire way. It's more crowded, looks like dung and sucks the soul and the life out of CA. I'm strongly considering banning all interstate driving for vacations. Any who, we arrived just in time to set up camp, check out the lake, cook dinner and put the kids to bed. It was a challenging day.

You could see the storm brewing before sunset.

The drive up was at least great driving weather. It was cloudy and cool-ish. That night we had a CRAZY high sierra thunderstorm that lasted for an hour or so. It was late enough that we were all in bed and I'm not sure it rained much at all but the lighting was frequent and the thunder rumbled and echoed from peak to peak.

The next morning we woke up in better spirits, breathed the fresh mountain air and explored our surroundings. The lake was really quiet the whole trip. It is located 11 miles off of a pretty isolated road, off of a pretty isolated road so it isn't a big boating destination. Mostly older folks in the campground and fishermen on the water.

The kids rediscovered their love of throwing things at water.

We played by or in the lake almost all day ate some good grub and hung out. The day went much more smoothly than the previous.

Water guns are good fun.

So are rocks.

And inner tubes loaded up with the whole family.

I threw Sam in the lake a few times and he wasn't a fan but it kept him cool. I'd never seen him swim until this trip.

That tiny yellow spot out there is me on a tube. It was a great floating lake since there were no waterskiers.

That night the campground was visited by a bear who banged around a few trash cans and shuffled through some of our neighbors stuff. The kids slept through all of it and for the second straight night T and I didn't sleep much with all the noise. Still it was a calming and relaxing day.

Wednesday we set out to explore South Lake Tahoe about 1 hour away. I didn't get very many pictures of that but Tahoe was a really cool laid back town. Kind of like Jackson Hole with a lake, a mix of dirty hippies, hitchhikers, and crazy rich folks.

We got back to camp in time for another swim, and more fishing. I caught a really large brown trout (at least 14 inches) in the spot that T told me to try right as we were about to head back for dinner. It got off of my hook right as I pulled it to shore I tried to grab it with my hands for a picture with T's phone but it slipped out and back into the water. I have my whole family to vouch for the size of the fish and the catch. I was planning on letting it go anyways but it beat me to it.

That night we had another nice campfire and told princess/ dinosaur stories.

No bears that night and a significantly better nights sleep for everyone. The trip got progressively more and more relaxing to the point that I wished we were staying camping for another day or two. We weren't.

Since the drive there had been so terrible with kids and traffic and scenery I figured I could at least improve the scenery. We drove home along the Eastern Sierra past mono lake, some amazing high country passes, mammoth and Mt Whitney. We spent a long time between 7,000 and 8,500 feet on some windy roads but everyone held it together until lunch. We stopped in Bridgeport at a local burger joint.

You can see another storm brewing. Also of note: how low the van was sitting and the enormous overstuffed bag a top it.

The food was actually really good and I think everyone but me was happy to be off the windy mountain roads.

We made it home in time for clean up and dinner. It was a good trip, we are already considering our options for next year and maybe a desert destination (Grand Canyon) in the fall. The kids weren't great in the car but once we got there and they could entertain themselves with rocks and sticks they really liked camping. They didn't seem to want to be home.

RTSZA

San Francisco

So,
   It has taken me a while to get around to this post. We went to San Francisco last week. We drove up on Monday. The drive was uneventful. We arrived at a downtown hotel. This was good in 2 ways. 1) we could walk to almost any food/shopping imagine-able. 2) We were right next to a major transportation hub so we could hop on busses or cable cars with swift ease. This was also bad in 2 ways. 1)The room was small. 2) The crazy traffic and screaming homeless people at night made sleep a bit difficult. San Francisco seems to have a few extra crazy folks. I've been to my share of big cities but San Fran weirdoes seemed to be less threatening and much more plentiful than in other cities.
   Anywho, the first day we went and hopped on a cable car first thing in the morning. They are kind of awesome. The hills are crazy steep but they all operate on a cable and manage to do the job even when you can smell the brakes burning on the way down. The kids love public trans so they were quite happy.

Most folks got off at Lombard st. We did not we were headed to Fishermans' Wharf.

We walked around a bit but most things weren't open yet. Our kids get up early.

The island in the back is Alcatraz. Not as far out there as I had believed. I could totally swim that.

A made this face a lot in the pictures. PUNK ROCK!

This is the best view we ever got of the Golden Gate Bridge. Did I mention San Fran is cloudy and cold even when it was 105 degrees across the bay.

Solution for 2 kids tired of walking and 1 stroller.

Z CAN DO IT!!!! Just not quite tall enough to DO IT!!!

Did I mention we never really got a good look at the Golden Gate Bridge? It's out there in the muck somewhere.

San Fran was really pretty.

Next we stopped at Boudin Bakery where Sourdough bread was invented.

There's a window where the bread artist can talk to you. She had made an alligator a few teddy bears and she was making crabs at the moment.

The foreground is A thoroughly enjoying free bread. The background is the bakery and cafe.

Next we walked over to the Aquarium. It was a really cool place. They had tunnels under the fish.

And 3 rescued river otters

The divers were there to feed the sharks.

More quality A face.

The kids actually got really engaged and asked a bunch of questions about the otters.

7 ft shark eating right above our heads.

This fish had a crazy mouth that unhinged downward to eat.

At the end of the tunnels there was a room where the kids could pet baby sharks and rays.

A really liked it and was soon touching everything.

Turtles too.

Z really wanted to touch the PINK starfish.

After that we ate lunch at the wharf. T got fish and chips and was in heaven. Then we walked to the Ghiradelli Factory.

A fell asleep on the stroller ride over and wouldn't wake up for a hot fudge sundae so Z got to eat a LOT of it.

You can't eat that much Ice Cream without BRAIN-FREEZE!!!! OUCH.

The brain freeze eventually subsided.

We made our way back to the wharf for some dinner and the famous PIER 39 SEALS!!!!!!

Yeah, there was only one left. Apparently he's beyond mating age and doesn't have to leave as early in the season to get the ladies.

We also got another view of Alcatraz from there.

More Punk Rock Sneer.

Then we ate some dinner and the kids hugged the aquarium otter.

To get back to the hotel we walked back to Ghiradelli square to catch the cable cars. They don't run very fast so we were greeted with a 1 hour wait to get on the car back home. During that hour our kids started playing tag like some other kids who were around. Z was chasing A and tagged a bit too hard so he face planted on the cement.

Blood on the pavement! Blood everywhere!

At least this time he has a good reason for that curled lip.

The trick it seems is to walk up the street one or two stops on the cable car line and they will just let you right on. When you wait at the end of the line (us) they don't fill the cars all the way in preparation for picking up people during the route.

The next morning we set out for Golden Gate park. It's a larger park than Central Park in NYC and has a bunch of museums and such.

Z lets out her operatic voice!!!

Not to be outdone A puts on a thespian display.

We cruised around the park for a bit and decided that it was such a nice day we should go on a self propelled tour of the enormous park. There were two options.

 One was the awesome Segway tours where you hardly work at all but there are no kids seats on these things and they can't drive themselves. The other was a pedal cart/ bike. There were kids seats up front and T and I could do all the work pedaling that thing around. Once we had rented it the guy told us "oh and don't go that way" (pointing towards the ocean) "there is a huge hill that you won't make it back up". Thanks for reserving that info till after I'd paid. We set out the other way in the glorious sunshine!

 We soon realized these things aren't very easy to pedal around. One of us needed a rest...

And one of us couldn't get her helmet to work right.

We saw the conservatory and Japanese Tea Garden (from the outside) had some lunch from a hot dog cart and an Indian Food truck (mmmmmm mango Lassi) Then took the bus back to the hotel for naps. The kids crashed for a while. When they woke up we decided to head out on a walk through Chinatown.

We ate at a respectable authentic chinese restaurant in the normal white people way. Sweet and sour chicken and beef with bean curd. The waiter/ owner made light hearted jokes about whether we could use chopsticks and whether or not I knew what bean curd was. The meal was super delicious. Then we did a bit of shopping.

It was a long walk so when we put A in the stroller he crashed. When we got back to the hotel we dumped him on the bed. Then messed with him. He's under there somewhere.

The next day was the 4th. We checked out and began the drive home which was interrupted by a brush fire, a large auto accident and at least 12 bathroom stops. (we're potty training A and Z wants to see every gas station bathroom in the country)
    It was a super fun trip, we'd never seen San Fran and it seems like a cool city, lots to do, easy to get around and lots to see. We didn't stay long enough to see much but it was fun.

Finally got a smile out of him.

RTSZA