Santa Cruz

We spent last weekend on a family getaway to the coast, where we stayed at a beach bungalow in Santa Cruz. Above are some surfers just down the street from where we stayed. 

Below is Amber, Ediza and Sheridan (the Australian exchange student we're hosting) walking to breakfast. We ate inside of a yellow van at a place called Paula's (I know, only in Santa Cruz).

 The reason we were in town was to cheer on Amber, who played roller derby against the Santa Cruz Harbor Hellcats. It was her team — the High Country Hellcats — who won the cat fight. They take their derby seriously in Santa Cruz (their players are even on trading cards).

While Amber warmed up, we hung out in downtown Santa Cruz.

                 Thanks again to Sarabek Images for the pics!

Summer in Sonora

I've written travel articles about the East Coast, India and beyond, but I just had to travel down the road to write my latest one -- Weekend Escape: Sonora, Calif.'s antiques, eateries and train ride.  

This picture is of "The Red Church," at the northern end of Washington Street in downtown Sonora. We've been bad with not taking pics at recent events, including bringing llamas to Sierra Earth Fest in Groveland last week and Amber skating with the Hellcats at the Tuolumne Lumber Jubilee this morning. At that event, Ediza got to sit in a convertible and throw candy to parade spectators:)

May days

Wanted to share some pics from the past month's happenings. We started it off with the May Day festival at Ediza's school. Her class got to spread rose petals on the ground before the eighth graders performed their dance around the maypole.

That was followed by the Mother Lode Round-up Parade, where Amber skated with the Hellcats (and the following week her team crushed the Tahoe Derby Dames).

In other sport news, the Amgen Tour of California, a huge professional cycling race, came through town and I got to see the procession on one of my regular runs to the end of our road.

I replaced running with partying during another fabulous Strawberry Music Festival. Here's a photo of Ediza and her friends chasing after bubbles at the beginning of the festival. Musical highlights were Brown Bird and Trampled by Turtles on opening night, headliners Joan Osborne and Alison Krauss and newcomers the Wheeler Brothers. 

And just Wednesday we celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary with a walk among some giant sequoias in Yosemite. Here's Amber with two colossal trees (and some delicate dogwoods) in the Merced Grove of Giant Sequoias. 

Pirate Derby

Amber kept up with her roller derby during our stay in Maryland. She hooked up with the Baltimore team, Charm City Roller Girls, for a practice. A few days later we discovered the Chesapeake Roller Derby league while at a local coffee shop. She practiced with them three nights in a row and was able to play in their bout on our last night in town.

What made this roller derby different than in California is that it's pirate themed as well as co-ed. Her team, the Rolling Plunder, was able to defeat the Land Hos by one point in sudden death overtime.

Amber will be playing with her regular team, the High Country Hellcats, this Saturday in Sonora (they won the season opener back in February) and at the end of the month in Fresno. Arrrghhh.

Cheers to 2012!

As 2011 comes to a close, we want to wish everyone a happy upcoming 2012!

Since I last posted, Amber has wrapped up another successful season of roller derby. She's now gearing up for the Hellcat's new season (first home bout is Feb. 25).

Ediza's lost two of her front teeth. Here she is on Christmas morning wearing some new clothes out in the yard.


As for me, I turned 30 and wrapped up my fundraising campaign. I raised thousands of dollars to help protect Antarctica and its penguins, but unfortunately I won't be going there to run a marathon.

I've learned a lot these past several months and I have some exciting ideas for the future. Here's some pics from last month's "Fire & Ice" benefit that helped raise money for research in Antarctica.

SoCal & NorCal

So far this month, our weekends have been spent at a wedding along the Merced River in El Portal, at crowded Disneyland in Anaheim and up north in Chico for Amber's roller derby bout.


We're more kind of camping people rather than Disneyland people, but we still (mostly) enjoyed this crazy experience. We took Ediza (who turned 5 this past weekend) and Shannon (one of the Circle Home gals who is obsessed with Disneyland).

Amber bid on these tickets last year during a fundraiser for Ediza's then-preschool, and she assured me that we wouldn't win them. Well, guess what? We won the tickets and ended up going a year later!

Here's Shannon and I outside of "It's a Small World"...


And Amber and Ediza during lunch (notice the birthday badge).


Ediza got this Princess hat as an early birthday present.


She spent her actual birthday in Chico the following weekend for Amber's roller derby bout. Her team lost, but apparently made up for it during the after parties (Amber rode a mechanical bull at one bar). The next day I went on an awesome tour of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. and we all went out to eat at the brewery's restaurant.



Here's Ediza with her birthday sundae. She sure looked stylish in her dress made from an old Sierra Nevada Bigfoot T-shirt.

Spring update

Thought I'd post some pics from the most recent Strawberry Music Festival (held over Memorial Day weekend). Like the fall festival, I helped build the stage again, and like last spring's festival it was very chilly (even with frozen precipitation again)!

Just before arriving at Strawberry, Ediza graduated from preschool. She started gymnastics class this week to help keep her active during the summer (not that she really needs any help with that).


Memorial Day was mine and Amber's fifth wedding anniversary. Apparently you're supposed to give your spouse something wooden on a fifth anniversary so I stopped at Mountain Sage in Groveland on the way home from Strawberry and bought her a candle holder made out of manzanita. It's made by a talented local artist. Check out his blog at yosemitegoat.blogspot.com

Amber is still nonstop roller derby. Her team, the High Country Hellcats, continue their 3-0 winning streak. They have another home bout coming up Father's Day weekend.

On the home front, we continue working on projects (inside and out). We now have some llamas living full-time at the ranch!

I'll end with another Strawberry picture (because I think it's funny). Ediza was more traditional with her olive pizza, while Amber was experimental with some tasty pesto pineapple pizza!

Goodbye winter, hello spring

After almost three months, we're getting more and more settled into our new home. We still don't have the Internet and we don't have any plans to get it installed (as usual, we don't have a television either). Surprisingly, we've been getting by just fine without having the Internet at home (after all, it's available just about everywhere else). Instead of being a distraction at home, we've found more time to read books, practice yoga, and just hang out.

Speaking of going online, please check out my new L.A. Times travel article, "Where to stay when visiting Yosemite."

Above is a family pic of us in Yosemite that was taken by my parents when they were visiting last month. In addition to ice skating in Yosemite Valley, we went wine tasting in Murphys (we highly recommend Presidents Wine Weekend) and worked on some projects around the house. Below is a picture of Amber in the backyard with our rooster (named "Mike" by Ediza).


Amber had her first roller derby bout of the 2011 season this past weekend, where she made her debut as a jammer. Her team, the High Country Hellcats, beat the Monterey Bay Derby Dames before singing karaoke with them later at the after party. Next month they travel up to Redding to take on the Angry Beavers!

Well, spring has finally arrived although it feels more like the dead of winter with cold temps, strong winds, rain and even snow. Hopefully March showers will bring April flowers.

Weekend getaways

We spent last weekend up at Lake Tahoe because Amber played against the roller derby team there. It was a good bout, but the slippery outdoor track and altitude gave the home team the advantage to win. We stayed at a nice time share, got to explore the lake's shore a bit and had some amazing food (including toasted coconut french toast for breakfast)!


This weekend we plan to head back to the Eastern Sierra and camp at some hot springs. Speaking of the East Side, please check out "Hiking the Sierra with three llamas and a baby" online at travel.latimes.com and in this Sunday's L.A. Times Travel section. Thanks:)

Hellcats & Guinea Pigs

After four months of training, Amber has officially become a High Country Hellcat. She had a roller derby scrimmage a week ago, where she proved her skills and was able to join the team. Congratulations Amber for setting a goal and accomplishing it!




I have been busy working and hiking (both new outings and classic ones like Half Dome). Meanwhile, Ediza has been spending her summer playing "glitter and glue" and taking care of her friend's guinea pig named Ethel. Here she is dressing up the very patient guinea pig.

Battle Wounds

This is a close-up of Amber's leg following a recent roller derby practice. If you notice, the rug burn is in the pattern of her fishnet stockings. Ouch. Amber has been going to roller derby practice three times a week for several weeks now. The local team is called the High Country Hellcats. She's referred to as a "kitten" until she passes a written and skills test and officially joins the team. When not skating, Amber has been playing softball, ultimate frisbee and she even took a belly dance class. Oh, and she just got a new car to take her to all of her practices!

Ediza has been staying busy playing with her friends and attending preschool. Amber and I were just elected to the preschool's Board of Directors, although the future of the school is up in the air due to budget cuts that are forcing the layoff of the school's teacher:(

Lately, I have been doing all kinds of different writing — from a dentist newsletter to travel articles. As part of the cultural exchange I was involved with in India, a group from Delhi was supposed to come here to California in mid-April. The group's leader had a delay in getting his visa and the volcano in Iceland just added to the problem. So we had to cancel our elaborate "welcome to Sonora" party for them this past weekend. Also canceled was yesterday's trip with them to Yosemite. Hopefully they'll arrive by this weekend, when they're expected at a Rotary conference up at Lake Tahoe.