Unusual meats and cool caves

Our summer adventures have taken us from cities to the mountains. On a trip to Mammoth, we passed through Yosemite and had to wait an hour in the car at the entrance station. That reminds me:

Want to avoid Yosemite-size crowds? Sample other national parks in California

Ediza and Gus enjoying a hike in Mammoth.

Some other travel pieces from this summer include:

If yak and other unusual meats elicit a ‘yum’ from you, check out these restaurants

Exploring Calaveras County caves keeps you cool, puts your imagination in high gear

We recently passed by Moaning Caverns on our way to Utica Reservoir. What made this camping trip different was we took kayaks out to camp on an island! Here’s a photo of us hauling our gear back to the boat launch. 

More travel topics

Here's some more L.A. Times travel articles I wrote just in time for summer:

How to safely share the highway with semis 

Heading to Yosemite? Consider a weekend escape to historic Groveland

Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is hidden in Yosemite National Park's northwest corner.  

Wapama Falls

Eat your way up and down California 

These luxe places take the ‘ugh’ out of camping 

Take the plunge in these California swimming holes to keep your cool

Sonora and Shakespeare

Washington Street in downtown Sonora

We didn't have to travel far for A weekend escape to Sonora, Calif., where the charm of the Old West remains. Also, this upcoming weekend Shakespeare's 'Midsummer Night's Dream' comes to Yosemite — for free.

Exploring the property at Indigeny Reserve 

Anniversary

We celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary back at the beach (notice the ring pop).

For Father's Day weekend we headed into the mountains and back to Mammoth. Below are some photos from a stop up near Tioga Pass. President Obama was in Yosemite Valley at that time so we didn't end up running into him (unlike when we came across Bush eight years earlier in Paris).

Summer fun

Granite Dome

Here are some photos from a trail run/hiking adventure through the Emigrant Wilderness over Fourth of July weekend. 

And here are links to recent Weekend Escapes for L.A. Times travel:

What's shaking in San Andreas? Plenty of California history

Unwind naturally at Yosemite National Park

Snow in July!

Update

Well, the year is almost half-way over and this is my first post of 2015. So here’s the quick update: I got promoted at the local newspaper, Ediza just finished second grade and we have another baby on the way — nine years later! Here are some photos from the past two weeks:

Amber (and baby) and Ediza in Yosemite for a friends wedding.

My friend Sarah (we first met studying abroad in Australia, then worked together at a summer camp in Missouri before she moved to the Bay Area) got married at Sentinel Beach along the Merced River. Their reception was held at the nearby Yosemite Bug Rustic Mountain Resort and featured great food, live music and even a tea lounge. Ediza got an early start with some costumes (props from the dress-up photo booth, of course).

The day before we hiked around Pinecrest Lake with her class.

And here she is with a cat she knitted for her end-of-year puppet show: Meow!

What are you doing this weekend?

Here are links to recent "What are you doing this weekend?" features I wrote for the L.A. Times:

Hiking Yosemite's Mt. Hoffmann

Visiting historic Mariposa

I returned to work at our local newspaper the same day the Rim Fire took off so it's been a crazy month. Here's a pic of a smoky Sonora Pass coming back from Reno (another weekend getaway).

Mt. Dana

I traded in the Andes of Peru for the Sierra of California. We went with friends to hike Mount Dana — the second highest point in Yosemite National Park. Here's a view of Mono Lake from the top.

Ediza, who needed some help up the snow, didn't make it to the top of the 13,061-foot mountain.

As we went higher, it got cold and windy. This marker at the top has certainly weathered many storms.

Spring forward

Looks like I took the winter off from posting anything, but now that it's spring I guess I'll share some new pics. My parents were in town (visiting from Maryland) last week and we did all the usual tourist outings. Here's a family shot at Lower Yosemite Fall.

On Easter, the bunny at Columbia State Historic Park handed out real carrots to the kids (and they hunted for real hard-boiled eggs)!

During the past few months, I've visited the four state parks in our region — Columbia, Railtown, Calaveras Big Trees and Indian Grinding Rock — for an upcoming story in Friends and Neighbors magazine due this summer (for the new spring issue I wrote an article about the benefits of tai chi). Here's a pic of Ediza and her friends inside the Pioneer Cabin Tree at Calaveras Big Trees State Park.

We had never been to Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park in Amador County, but we really enjoyed our trip there — walking around and imagining life as a Native American. These holes in a stone slab are where Miwok women pounded acorns into meal.

Let's see, what else have we been up to? Amber is continuing her second year as team captain of the local High Country Hellcats roller derby team (their next home bout is April 27). We helped with a huge Bollywood-themed fundraiser for Ediza's school, the Sierra Waldorf School's Rites of Spring Auction. And in two months I will be running a marathon along the Inca Trail in Peru. More on that one later.

Winter Wonderland

We took a spontaneous trip to Yosemite Valley on Christmas Eve and the park was a Winter Wonderland as you can see...

We went to the Curry Village Ice Rink, where Ediza took a break to say that all she wants for Christmas is her two front teeth:)

Merry Christmas and here's to an incredible 2013!!

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. 

Where's Winter?

This past weekend we headed over to the eastern Sierra, taking advantage of the mild winter weather that has allowed the highway passes to remain open.

Saturday was Amber's birthday and she wanted to go to Mammoth Lakes so we went there via Tioga Pass. On the way up, we stopped at Tenaya Lake. The lake is completely frozen over and we walked across it. Other people were ice skating, playing hockey and even pushing strollers across the frozen lake.





On the way down the pass, we saw some people ice climbing. This reminded me of trips in college where we would climb a frozen waterfall in New Hampshire.


After spending the night in Mammoth, we headed to our favorite park at Mono Lake. We then went back home over Sonora Pass, stopping to run up the frozen streams. What an incredible (and rare) experience!