Weekend Ride in Yosemite Valley
With the drought in full swing here in California, Yosemite was snow free in March with only a few patches showing in the high country. Karen and I took advantage of the nice weather to ride around the valley and view the waterfalls in what will likely be the only reasonable flow conditions of the year.
While there, we saw something quite unique – a adult male bobcat hunting in one of the meadows.
CheddarOski!
Andrew and Stephanie have a new member of the household.
Introducing Cheddar; Cheddar Biscuit; CheddarOski!
CO Ski Weekend
With the drought creating problems with local ski conditions, Karen and I set out to find some good snow in Colorado with our good friends Beth and Colin.
A few days at Copper Mountain and we were in good spirits after some excellent snow.
Bob Mosier – Patriot of the Year!
Bob Mosier, my maternal grandfather, was awarded the 2014 Laguna Beach Patriot of the Year.
Congratulations Poppa Bob. I’m very proud to be your grandson.
A Jump Across the Pacific
The 2013/2014 holiday season bore witness to a vacation across the pacific. First to Bhutan, then Myanmar, then Thailand and concluding with Cambodia.
In Thailand Karen and I met up with the Kramers; Tim, Elaine, Julia and Chris.
Here are some photos to enjoy.
Thanksgiving in D.C.
This year Grant was generous enough to host Thanksgiving at his and Evelyn’s house in Washington D.C. Mom and all the brothers and girls attended. It was a grand time.
As family activities we played with Legos, toured the town, performed a Bollywood dance, and enjoyed good food and drink.
Of course, Kelly and Rory are adorable, and we enjoyed playing with them immensely.
DC Marathon
Grant recently determined that since he was moving to Washington DC, he had a great opportunity to compete in the Marine Corps Marathon, a.k.a. D.C. Marathon, a.k.a. The People’s Marathon. So, naturally he asked his older and crazier brother to run with him. And I, of course, agreed to run with him. So, after months of training and comparing times online, Karen and I flew to Washington DC a few days before the race.
The Saturday before the race Kelly had a soccer game that we attended, then off to the race packet pick-up, and then to a massive block party thrown by one of Grant’s and Evelyn’s friends from Edwards. The weather turned cold this day.
Race day came up quickly the next morning. 5am wakeup. 6am depart for the race. 7am warmups off and to the start line even though the temperature was somewhere around 40 degrees. 7:45am sun rise, thank goodness. 8am start time, time to get warm.
Grant and I trained to complete this thing in three and a half hours. He was at the top of his game. I was not. So, it was real clear from about mile two that Grant would be finishing ahead of me. We kept up about a 7:30 min mile for the first half of the race. From that point forward, Grant kept up the pace and I dropped to 8 to 8:30 min miles. After another several miles I ran into a problem and dropped to between an 11 and 20 min mile for the remainder of the race.
Grant succeeded. He completed his first marathon in three hours twenty-eight minutes. An amazing time for multi-race veterans, let alone a first timer.
Mokelumne Wilderness Hiking with the Kramers
After a weekend of watching Karen and I race around Santa Cruz, the Kramers felt it was high time they spent some time hiking with us. The initial plan was to spend the weekend in Yosemite. Hotels were booked, trails were selected. Everything was set. Then the Federal government shutdown happened. Yosemite was closed to the public and we were looking for a contingency plan.
Ultimately, we choose to spend our time in the Mokelumne Wilderness, up by Kirkwood. We spent two days hiking; the first day we walked from Carson Pass to Lake Winnemucca, and the second day we hiked around Caples Lake up to Emigrant Lake. The hikes were 5.5 miles with 700 feet of climbing, and 8.9 miles with 1,100 feet of climbing, respectively.
Having hiked the trail to Lake Winnemucca previously, I was expecting that mother nature would have nothing exciting in store. Oh, how wrong I was. As we approached the lake, it was apparent that there were a tremendous number of spiders flying through the air. Apparently it was spider migrating season, or as we came to call it, “the Great Spider Migration.” It was something akin to the Great Wildebeest Migration in Africa. There were thousand, if not hundreds of thousands, of spiders migrating on the end of webs, flying through the air as high as the eye could see. Trees were flocked with spider webs abandoned by their passengers after becoming entangled. It was a strange and incredible sight.
The hike to Emigrant Lake, while not having the same arachnid excitement, was a unique view of the back side of Kirkwood. Having skied the resort many times, this was my and Karen’s first visit during the summer.
Overall, I think all four of us had a great time.
Santa Cruz Triathlon
Karen and I competed in the Santa Cruz Olympic distance triathlon this year. With her foot surgery this past winter, our race schedule in 2013 has been rather light. We did, however, get in this one race. Excitingly, the race was in John’s and Kira’s town. In fact, we were able to stay at their place and walk to the start line. I have to say, this is the way to go. Race morning was the most relaxed morning I’ve experienced for a race day.
The course was an Olympic distance, which is to say it is a 1.5k (.9 mile) swim, 40k (26 mile) bike, and a 10k (6 mile) run. A good time is under 3 hours. A solidly competitive time is under 2:30 hours. A division winning time is just under 2 hours. For the swim, the race was in the ocean, looping out and around the Santa Cruz municipal pier. The bike course extended north from town to the small village of Davinport, and back. The run proceeded along the very scenic bluff between the boardwalk and Natural Bridges State Park. The weather was mild and still, making for ideal conditions.
Both Karen and I had not competed in this distance race since 2011, when we completed the Black Butte Triathlon. Both of us dropped significant amounts of time from our previous personal record. Karen finished in an impressive sub-3 hour time, placing 12th in her age group. I finished in just under 2 and a half, placing 17th in my age group.
Considering we have family in Santa Cruz, and it was a fun race, we’ll likely keep it on the race schedule for future years.
Biking Around Lake Tahoe
An activity that has been on Karen’s and my bucket list for a while now is bicycling around Lake Tahoe. This year, it finally made it to the top of the list. We booked a room at Basecamp in South Lake Tahoe, and at a bright and early time embarked on a 73 mile ride with roughly 3700 feet of elevation gain.
The sunrise weather was brisk – 33 degrees and still. The previous afternoon and evening had seen an unseasonably cold storm roll through the area. Evidence of its uncharacteristically cold temperature was that the morning found a solid few inches of accumulated snow on the peaks, and dustings as low as Emerald Bay.
Having bundled up with just about every piece of our cycling clothing, Karen and I set out. We made the climb up past Emerald Bay without incident. This climb was Karen’s largest worry. The road at this point is very narrow and includes several tight uphill turns. The cars that typically drive this section of road are not necessarily bike friendly. Due to our early departure, however, we encountered very few cars. The views were wonderful and the watching the sun rise above the mountain ridges from the top of Emerald Bay was quite a nice sight.
Our path up the west side of the lake was without incident. We took our time and stopped on occasion to enjoy the scenery. We took brunch at Tahoe City. Here our path began to overlap with the Ironman Tahoe race course. The racers were inspiring to watch. These competitors jumped into a lake in 33 degree weather, only to get out and fly around the mountains at 20+ miles per hour on bikes, then run a marathon.
Having made it around to Sand Harbor on the Nevada side of the lake, we took a stop for lunch and some stretching. Then, it was off for the last climb down the east side of the lake before descending into South Lake Tahoe and our car. This descent, as many of you may know, took place on a 4 lane highway without a shoulder or bike lane. It was time to “sack-up,” shall we say, and take on the traffic. So, down we went, taking up the right-hand lane. Through a tunnel and we popped out in South Lake.
