Vernal Equinox

On Friday, the first day of spring, Ediza received her first haircut. She got her bangs and some curls trimmed at the place where Amber gets her hair done.


The next day we all went to a wedding. Amber and I have been to a variety of weddings (including one overlooking the Pacific Ocean and another at a Christmas tree farm) and this one was right up there as far as originality goes. They were married at a lake and the reception followed in their yurt. In the past, we had researched getting a yurt. Being inside of this one, which had a kitchen and bathroom, made us again interested in making one our home someday.

Waking up the next morning we were surprised by some of the largest snowflakes I've ever seen (and later that day we were caught in a brief snow and hailstorm whiteout). What made it so surprising was that we had been enjoying such nice spring-like weather and just the day before we saw hillsides blazed with bright orange California poppies. Looking out the window now, seeing frost on the ground and on the llamas backs, it appears as if Old Man Winter hasn't called it quits yet.

Murphys

My new L.A. Times article -- "Murphys rings in St. Patrick's Day with green wine" -- is now online at travel.latimes.com (it will also be in Sunday's Travel section). Murphys is a cool little town that's a short drive from us in Sonora. We plan on making that drive Tuesday to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in true Irish style!

Spiritual Well Being & cherry tomatoes

The other day I was cleaning off a book shelf when I found an old journal of mine from when I studied abroad in Australia back in 2001. Before these handy little blogs came about I used to write about my travels in a little notebook (and I guess I still do). Reading over what I wrote provided glimpses into that time of my life: scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef, camping in the rainforest, dancing with friends until dawn, living overseas during 9/11.

I also used the book to take notes during some classes, which included an Aboriginal studies course and Spiritual Well Being. The latter class was unlike any other college course I've ever taken. We would spread out on the floor and the teacher would lead us through guided meditations. (Keep in mind, the university I was at was just outside of progressive Byron Bay). Notes from my final lecture of Spiritual Well Being on Oct. 24, 2001: "Radical forgiveness calls upon the highest human virtues. You can forgive anyone for anything because that person taught you a lesson and made you who you are today. Nothing is wrong so there's nothing to forgive."

I passed all my classes with high marks despite taking off a few weeks in the middle of the semester for a trip to southeast Asia. My journal entries from Asia include practicing yoga at the airport in Singapore, drinking beer out of teacups in Bangkok and trying to communicate with a Buddhist monk.

On my way back to the states I took a monthlong detour in New Zealand and spent a week in Fiji. I stayed with a Samoan family in Auckland for a week before heading to a rural area to work in a greenhouse picking cherry tomatoes. Each morning I would sit on a skateboard and make my way up and down rows of tomatoes, picking and trimming them to the tune of the Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar." After working there a few weeks, I went almost two years before eating another cherry tomato!

What a different (and even more incredible) experience returning to New Zealand seven years later with my family. I guess I'm posting this because it reminds me how fun and important travel is. It also reminds me that you never truly know where life will lead you. That's the beauty of it.

Winter Wonderland

My most recent article for the Los Angeles Times travel section -- "Yosemite roars into winter action" -- is now on the Web at travel.latimes.com. The story is about all the fun things you can do in Yosemite National Park during the winter. As you can tell from previous posts, we're big fans of snowshoeing and just snow in general.

Friday the 13th (and Saturday the 14th)

Shortly after waking up yesterday morning the heavy rain turned to heavy snow. Before I knew it we were out in the female llama pasture playing and sledding.





Later that night, after the roads cleared, we made our way to a party in El Portal, a small community at one of the entrances to Yosemite National Park. All the elements for a good party were there: bonfire, music, dancing, interesting people, good food. Ediza and Maggie entertained the crowd until we feel asleep in the early morning.

On our way back home we paid a visit to Amber's dad, Valen, who was celebrating his birthday. He was born on Valentine's Day 50 years ago! This evening Amber made a fancy dinner and Ediza charmed us afterwards by dancing to romantic French music with her pink cowgirl boots. Ooh la la.

'Ultimate Guide to the World'

I wanted to say thanks to everybody for their support regarding my story in the Los Angeles Times travel section. The story -- about our around-the-world journey -- can be found online (travel.latimes.com) and in the paper's "Ultimate Guide to the World 2009" (published 2/8/09).

The goal of my story was to inspire people to turn off their televisions, quit obsessing over the "recession" and go out and have an adventure -- whether it's walking down the street or traveling around the globe. And having kids shouldn't stop you.


This weekend we went down to L.A. for a change of pace. On Saturday, we visited the zoo, which was celebrating the Chinese New Year. I've never been a big fan of zoos (they're actually quite depressing), but it was neat for Ediza to see some of the animals from all of her books come to life. Wearing her favorite color, Ediza blends in with a flock of pink flamingos below.


The next morning I took a walk down Sunset Boulevard and went to a Starbucks inside of a huge laundromat. I bought an L.A. Times and sat down to read it. When I came across my story, the opening line struck me: "My boss handed me a fortune cookie on my last day of work." Ironically, that last day of work was exactly (to the day) a year ago.

When I quit my job and was about to embark on our epic adventure I knew good things were in store. Did I think a year later I would be sipping a chai latte while watching people shove dirty laundry into washing machines and reading about our trip in one of the country's largest newspapers? Probably not.

Cleansing

Last week we tried this cleanse where you can't have any sugar, caffeine, alcohol, gluten or animal products (including eggs, cheese and milk). This week we made up for lost time, eating Ben & Jerry's ice cream for Amber's 26th birthday on Wednesday, and as I type this I'm nibbling on a chocolate truffle.

Following our hiatus, we returned to Starbucks yesterday before driving up to Pinecrest Lake. We took Maggie to the lake for her first big outing. Some people, including Amber and Ediza, attempted sledding despite the lack of snow. Lately, it has been feeling more like June than January around here.

We plan to take advantage of the weather tomorrow and return to the old railroad grade where I started my training a year ago for the Great Wall Marathon. Come to think of it, I haven't ran since the marathon eight months ago:)