Julie Visit & Stevens Volleyball [2016]

Sarah + Brian Jansen Wedding [2016]

And where we stayed, first at the Madonna Inn, then in a tree house by the Mystery Spot!

Kira + Charlie Cross Wedding [2016]

Beacon Ready to Sell!

Kristen Grad [2016]

Colorado Rockies [2016]

We had a great time meeting up with Carl & JoAnna at the Dillon Dam Brewery at the beginning of the trip, and stayed with them at their lovely flat in Denver on the last night. In between, there was lots of skiing and snowboarding with Larry & Jean at Keystone and Breckenridge! And on the last day we were able to hook up with Swede, a Sigma Nu frat brother of mine from CMU! 

Brandywine Bandits in Vegas [2016]

Steve and I drove to Las Vegas to cheer on Kristen's Brandywine Bandits in SCVA's 30th Annual Las Vegas Classic. Some videos

and pics of the volleyball action

and other sights and adventures in Las Vegas

And on the way home, Steve and I detoured through Death Valley to witness the beginning of a Super Bloom!

South Lake Tahoe [2015]

We booked this trip a few months ago, banking on El Niño giving us early snow! And the little guy delivered!! Monday We traveled all day, arriving in time to unload at our home for the week - the Stardust Lodge - and have a great Mexican dinner with Larry & Jean at a hole-in-the-wall nearby, Maya's.

Tuesday Started off the skiing portion of the trip with yummy breakfast at Red Hut of course! Went skiing/boarding for a few hours at Heavenly - the snow was not plentiful, but it was nice and there was good coverage on the groomed runs - exactly what you need on the first day of the season 🏂

Afterwards Jean and I had fun creating our first tie dye shirts! Steve and I stopped by the Tahoe Sports Ltd shop, always great, where I picked up elusive snowboard boots and Steve got new snowboard pants. Success! And then we all headed down to JJ's in Minden to have dinner with Butch and Michael.

Wednesday After a late breakfast at Red Hut, we found it was too windy and icy to hit the mountain today, so we hung out with Michael at McP's and had dinner at Base Camp Pizza. We should get a big storm tonight!

Thursday Lots of rain overnight, and at 9:30am it turned to snow! We had a great breakfast at the Driftwood Cafe, and toyed with heading on to the mountain but it would be cold and soggy and not many runs are open... so we hunkered down in town. We did a little shopping, and lunched at Azul Latin Kitchen. That night we took advantage of a free lasagne dinner at the Stardust and watched The Manchurian Candidate. What a great movie!

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Friday Powder day!! Overnight we got 2+' and so after another great breakfast at the Driftwood Cafe, we jumped on Heavenly's Gondola and hit the slopes! It was snowy with limited visibility early in the day, but that eventually dissipated.

A few runs in, we decided to go down a run that ended up being tons of deep powder. Unfortunately I got stuck a bunch of times... exhausting. But it was a great day!

We topped it off with a marvelous dinner at Azul Latin Kitchen (with margaritas) after trying to go to the Tahoe Adventure Film Festival at Montebleu, but it was too smoky in there and my asthma told us to Get Out!

Saturday The crowds have certainly hit South Lake Tahoe! Breakfast at the Driftwood Cafe was very busy, which reinforced our decision to drive to Kirkwood for the day's snowboarding. Very fun day, the roads were good and the crowds were pretty light!

One odd little incident - there was a little mouse hopping around in the snow at the top of one of the chairlifts at one point. We think she might have had a baby gripping her back... couldn't figure out how to help her, and by the time we got back, she was gone.

It snowed a bit here and there, made for a gorgeous winter wonderland.

By the time we got back 'home' the crowds were crazy, so we picked up a pizza at Base Camp Pizza and watched Pan's Labyrinth. Odd movie, but good.

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Sunday We got up early and headed down the to the valley so that we would miss the brunt of the new storm, and had brunch with Butch at Bodines. The weather was a bit gnarly so we headed to the airport early, played some cribbage and relaxed before heading home.

Great trip!

South Lake Tahoe 2015

Cousins in Charleston [2015]

Great fun! 

High School Reunion [2015]

... and visit with Mom, including my birthday with her for the first time in many years - I had a great 12 days!

Jaimi + Beau Jansen Wedding [2015]

We stayed in a lovely little house about a half mile from the ocean, and had a fabulous time with the Jansens during the wedding weekend celebrations, reconnecting with family. Such a beautiful couple!

New Orleans with Volleyball Girls Junior Nationals [2015]

Had a nice uneventful trip, taking advantage of the United Club in SAN and LAX. Got here safely. We arrived, checked into the Lafayette Hotel and went to volleyball until 9:30pm. They beat Memphis and Salt Lake City, each in 2 games, but lost to Kansas City in 3.

This morning we went to the WWII museum - wow. I learned so much, and it was a very sobering morning.

Now at volleyball - first game of Saturday, 2:30, they beat Louisiana in 2 sets. Next is Skyline (Houston),  after working this game of Puget Sound vs Atlanta. They lost to Skyline in 3 exciting sets. So they move to the next round, ranked #3 in their pool!

Sunday, 8am against Hawaii (Oahu) - should be tough! And it was - valiant effort, but lost in 2 games. 9am vs Arizona (Phoenix). Yay! Beat them in 2 games!

Hawaii vs Arizona... If Hawaii wins, Brandywine is #2 in the pool, if Arizona wins, there is a 3 way tie, and nobody has read the manual about how that should be resolved! So we are hoping for a Hawaii win. And they did win!  So we play Arizona (Arrowhead) at 2:30.

Whooee!! They beat them in 2 games, and are in the gold medal round tomorrow!!! The original goal was to get in the bronze!

Later...

Well, they lost the Gold medal game, but they were amazing! So inspiring!!

Go Ape [2015]

Zip lining and adventure course with Lauren's Girl Scout troop! 

New York City + the TriBeCa Film Festival [2015]

Steve was in NYC for work, so I decided to join him for the weekend! I arrived Thursday evening, took the Q70 bus to the E subway, got off one stop too far, at the Port Authority Bus Terminal/42nd St and got a nice brisk walk a few blocks to the hotel - Hilton Garden Inn Times Square.

We went to dinner at a Diners, Dives and Drive Ins recommended spot, just around the corner - Don Antonio by Starita. Pizzas were sooo good, and the Barbaresca vino wasn't bad either! We shared a fennel+orange salad and Steve had the no-sauce Siciliana: lemon(!), basil and smoked mozzarella. I had Pizza del Papa (Pope's Pizza): butternut squash spread instead of sauce, basil, red+yellow peppers, zucchini and that amazing smoked mozzarella.

Afterwards we braved the chill to the convenient and always entertaining Lillie's Times Square for some Moscow mules. They don't use copper mugs anymore, switched them out for steel I think, but the drinks were just as good as ever!

Friday Steve had a bit of work to do in the morning so we got a late start, heading down to Soho around noon. We found yummy kale salads with crunchy chickpeas and cranberries at Bistro Les Amis.

Shopping was next, in the very cool Soho neighborhood - I picked up a cute "Greek Fish" hat at The Hat Shop to keep my noggin warm in the too-chilly weather. It's supposed to be spring! Next we stopped by the G-Shock Soho Store - where Steve finally got the watch he has been looking for!

We ended up seeing 5 films through the weekend at the TriBeCa Film Festival, all enjoyable.

Saturday walk around Battery Park was chilly but refreshing, and we were able to warm up in the Poet's House - a very cool spot right on the river. Sunday found us at St Patrick's Cathedral for church, lunch at Rockefeller Center, and a walk in Central Park before getting in to see a live taping of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver! Very fun! And then back to the film festival for one last movie.

Monday Julie was able to hang with me while Steve did some work, so we toured Radio City Music Hall and then I was on my way home.

Here's the Pinterest board I created about NYC!

Pacific Crest Trail - #1 [2015]

Inspired by the book and movie Wild, we decided to check out some day hikes on the 2600 mile Pacific Crest Trail, close to home in San Diego County. Here is a great website that has detailed maps - Halfmile's PCT Maps. Our first foray was a short hike out of Warner Springs, Eagle Rock.

Eagle Rock - 6.6 mi out and back, elevation gain/loss 967', @ mile 106.2 (Eagle Rock) - mile 109.5 (Hwy 79) on the PCT (S->N)

Park City [2015]

Had a great time in Park City, even though the snow didn't cooperate! Spent time with Larry and Jean, and Julie came out too! 

Mom's Birthday [2015]

I had a nice visit with the family in chilly January.

Santa Fe [2014]

We took a quick trip to Santa Fe to check in on Susan's pieces in the Karen Melfi shop and explore a bit! We stayed downtown at the Inn of the Anasazi - great suite with 3 bedrooms!

Highlights were the Museum of International Folk Art, the food at La Plazuela in La Fonda and the Shed!

Leaf Peeping - Day 9: Montreal -> Boston -> San Diego [2014]

We had planned on leaving at 8, hopefully getting to Kevin's at 1pm, so we had 3 hours yo socialize before Steve & I left there at 4 to comfortably return the car and catch our flight home at 7. That was the plan. We left the pavilion at 8:30, stopped at the souvenir shop and got on the OAS at 9. Not terrible. The main bridge out of Montreal was closed and there was no detour. And we didn't have any detailed maps, and if we used our iPads it would have cost like $300 (international data roaming). And all signs were in French. So we (anxiously) meandered and asked (3 workers until one understood English) at McDonalds and eventually got to where we needed to be, close to the other end of the bridge, at 10. We crossed the border at Falls, stopped for a few bathroom breaks and to pick up Subway in spectacular Montpelier and got to Kevin's at 3:45. In the car 6h45m. It was an absolutely gorgeous drive, or should I say ride - Steve drove the whole way.

Steve and I had some marvelous veggie chili Kevin had prepared and scooted at 4:15. At 5:30, thanks to Kevin's stellar directions, we made it to the car rental return, through security by 6:10, they were loading already so steve got on and saved me suitcase space (he has status) while I went to the rest room and immediately loaded when I got out. On the plane by 6:40 EDT flight of 5h30m

Long day

Looking forward to seeing our little girl :)

Leaf Peeping - Day 8: Montreal, Québec [2014]

Arrived an hour or so late in Montreal since we had a late start from Quebec City. Once during the night the ship rolled left and then rolled right... And we saw something go by very close and very fast... Not sure what that was! We had a lovely porter at the port, and decided to all go together in a taxi to pick up the rental car. Good decision. I had thought maybe I would walk to the rental place and then drive back and pick up everyone. It would have been quite a walk, and I think difficult to even pick folks up! And we scored - had reserved a full size car but ended up with a nice big minivan.

We drove straight to the St Joseph's Oratory and quickly decided to make it our only Montreal tourist destination. We explored until about 3:30, then checked into our room on the grounds, freshened up and headed back up the hill for 4:30 mass in the basilica. It was a special once a year mass for the Knights of Columbus con celebrated by 2 cardinals plus a gaggle of priests. Did I mention it was in French? And the Knights had plumage/capes of all different colors - the normal white/red, green, yellow, purple... Not sure what they all mean. It was visually and aurally stunning :)

We went in search of food, and found an Irish pub - McGouls. Good stuff - single malt scotch, snakebites, rum+coke! fish+chips, pout ills++

Finishing the night, we are playing cribbage at the John XXIII Pavilion at the St Joseph's Oratory.