Yosemite Weekend

Hi all,
We just returned from a fun long Memorial Day weekend up in Wawona, on the south side of Yosemite National Park. We stayed at the Wawona Hotel with about 10 other families from the neighborhood, some of whom have been going to Wawona for Memorial Day for like 20+ years! We were novices since this was our first time! We arrived on Friday afternoon, and it was snowing!

Nice cozy fireplace on a cool spring night

The front of the Wawona Hotel, built in 1879.

 The snow quickly disappeared and after a nice breakfast in the beautiful bright hotel restaurant on Saturday, we took a group hike through the meadow, panning for "gold" along the way. 

The "Kid's Table"

Panning for "gold"

Beautiful view across Wawona Meadow

Time for a quick soccer game

 On Sunday we took the bus down to the valley to walk the Mist Trail. The kids had a great time, although by the end of the hike Maggie's feet were very tired. The new backpack/water bladders worked great! On the way up, we walked through the mist of Vernal Falls, and on the way down we walked through the "mist" of pack horses...Carson and Maggie got a big kick out of the play on words. "Mist" being German for "manure".

See the rainbow of mist?

A bit too much mist on the camera lens!

Looking over the edge - 317 feet down!

Beautiful view of the roaring falls.

Up at Clark's Point, around 5,800 feet, with Nevada Fall and Liberty Cap behind.

Back at the hotel, time for a glass of rose in the sun!

Then a barbecue with the gang down by the south fork of the Merced river

Maggie and Caitlin found a rock

Liz ane Emma "baked" "pies" - jelly-filled bread like pop tarts.

On Monday we headed back down the mountain and somehow avoided traffic both directions. I think staying out of the valley with a car was the key! But the clear air, beautiful pine trees, and peaceful quiet was a nice break from noisy Silicon Valley. Hope you're enjoying springtime!

Miscellaneous Mountain View Madness

Hi all,
My paucity in posting lately means I have some catching up to do! We've been so busy, the photos have been building up. So I will go back in time a bit to fill you in on the madness, this time it's mostly Maggie:

Choral Fest at Shoreline

Maggie participated with the Bubb School Choir in Choral Fest, along with other schools from the district. They sang a cute song (excerpt below) and then in the end-of-show extravaganza. We all sat in the audience and clapped. The music ranged from fairly poor to quite good at the high school level!

Mother's Day at Hakone Gardens

After a nice brunch at church, we spent Mother's Day afternoon at the nearby Japanese gardens in Saratoga, Hakone. The property is a small but interesting Japanese garden built about 100 years ago by a local couple in conjunction with a famous Japanese landscape architect. Now it is the site for local Japanese cultural events and some beautiful gardens.

The main gate, or Mon

The Waterfall bisecting the garden

The Moon House, originally built without nails

Williamsbubb 

Later in May, the Bubb school 5th graders stage a day in the life of a colonial revolutionary. Maggie dressed in her colonial finery. Most of the 5th graders were dressed in period attire, but Carson decided to save his tricorner for next year.

The military camp

Kids can buy stuff at the apothecary and other places like the tavern

Here comes the militia!

Maggie's First Piano Recital

Maggie has been taking piano lessons since October, and this was her first recital! Unfortunately we didn't get the full video, but I've included a snippet below along with the Choralfest piece.

Maggie and teacher Jeff

 Solar Eclipse Party

Last weekend was the partial annular solar eclipse in the Bay Area, so I made a pitcher of Pimm's, took out my telescope, projected the image onto a screen, and invited the neighbors to take a look. The image of the sun is projected onto the shadow of the telescope. We could see sunspots, then gradually watched the sun disappear until something like 85% of the sun was covered. The light became eerily dull, but the sun stayed surprisingly bright throughout. All the shadows lost their crispness, and some smaller objects like tree leaves projected a crescent-shaped shadow!

About halfway there....

Here it is at maximum eclipse.

So that summarizes the action of the month...I'll do another posting soon with our Memorial Day trip to Yosemite. Hope all is well!

DC Revolution

Outside the front of the Cathedral

Hi all,

Well this post is a long time coming, but better late than never! We spent a week over Easter back in April in Washington, DC and Williamsburg, VA, and we had  a great time! 

Annett and I hadn't been back there since a friend's wedding in 1998, so we were very excited to see how things have changed and to see some old friends and relatives. 

We started the weekend off at National Cathedral for Easter service. Janet, our rector here in California pulled some strings and got us tickets to the "sold-out" service, and it was worth it! Easter was beautiful, the cathedral was magnificent, and the service, sermon, and music were all wonderful. We even got to meet Janet's friend, the bishop!

Beautiful stained glass windows and state flags hanging

After the service

The window with the moon rock in the middle

After church we met Uncle David and Aunt Kathy at  the Beacon Bar and Grill for Easter brunch - an extensive buffet and bottomless mimosas!

This is just the salad bar, there was salmon, omelettes, and pastries!

David and Kathy and the gang

We stopped at a playground

Carson shot baskets and we gave the homeless guy some money

Looking as young as ever!

Then we took a walk along the National Mall

Maggie playing drums on my head!

On the Mall

Holding up the Washington Monument

Visiting the WWII memorial - bronze casting of B-17's

The next day, on Monday, we went to visit our congresswoman, Anna Eschoo's office. The Congresswoman was on Easter leave, but the office was open and welcomed us heartily! We got a tour of the office, including several bills that she had introduced (along with pens the President used to sign them), and Maggie got to sit in the Congresswoman's chair.

This one signed by Barack Obama

Anna Eshoo's office

We then got some tickets to the Capitol galleries and went to tour the Capitol building. It was amazing and much more interesting than the last time I remembered.

On the East steps

The rotunda - with George Washington looking Godlike at the top

Then of course a visit to the Air and Space Museum. We nostalgically went to see the first IMAX film ever made, "To Fly", but it was disappointing! The new ones about Hubble and the space program blow it away!

We did get to see the REAL Wright Flyer!

And the REAL Spaceship One!

Then a stroll to the White House - but tickets were sold out 6 months in advance so we couldn't go in :-(

We took a tour of the monuments the next day (Wednesday), starting with Jefferson. Nowhere in the world are there so many amazing monuments to great thinkers, and their ideas - freedom, justice, and equal rights.

Jefferson Memorial

The Roosevelt Memorial

We were joined by Carolyn and walked around the new MLK memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Then a stop at the Museum of Natural History, where we saw the Hope Diamond and many interesting rocks and minerals. Here, for our dear friends in England, the Franklins:

Franklinite!!!

Some big gold nuggets from California's El Dorado and Amador Counties

We also visited the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, watching the $100 notes being printed!

We visited the International Spy Museum, focusing on Cold War espionage!

Carson, Maggie, and I went on a Spy Mission to defuse a nuclear bomb!

 The last couple of days we went to Williamsburg, VA where we participated in the revolution against the English! The whole town had been immaculately restored, including the Governor's "Palace", the capitol building, and lots of shops and taverns. We met some neighbors of ours in California in the tavern in Williamsburg, they were also there at the same time we were!

Declaring the militia needs to be ready to defend the territory

Maggie visiting the wig maker

The Continental Congress declaring independence from the Capitol Building!

After our two days in Williamsburg we drove back up to the Washington area and stayed with friends, the Chamberlains, before heading to Dulles and home on Saturday. We stopped for a quick visit to the Dulles extension of the Air and Space Museum, and it is amazing! Brand new and full of great specimens, including the Space Shuttle Enterprise (now enroute to New York City - we missed Discovery by a week!) and the Enola Gay.

In the Shuttle Hangar

The Shuttle is surprisingly huge!

The infamous Enola Gay

Anyway, we had a great time seeing David and Kathy and Scott and Laura and Carolyn, as well as all the sights. We didn't scratch the surface on many of the museums, so we'll have to go back and do the White House tour and other museums next time!

Hope all is well! More postings to come in a more-timely fashion. Sorry about the long delay!