California

Last weekend we took a four day trip to northern California to meet up with Sam, Megan, & Eleri at the beach. It was an idyllic, relaxed few days. We stayed in a lovely beach house/cottage combination that was right on the beach and within walking distance of the small town of Stinson Beach and the Mount Tam trail network. It's so easy to see why people live there. If it weren't for the inflated real estate and the San Andreas fault lurking just inder the surface, I might be tempted.

On arrival at Oakland, we picked up the rental car and met up with Sam, Megan, & Eleri. We really wanted to see the new California Academy of Science Museum in Golden Gate Park, so headed that direction only to find a queue of people with the same thought stretching a quarter mile out the front door of this new museum! Instead of waiting in line with a toddler for hours, we ate lunch at the de Young museum and walked around their outdoor scupltures for a bit.

Short-haired Rina in this camera obscura-like interactive space at the de Young. Inside the round room you could sit and take in the space which had a perfectly round opening in the roof that contrasted the blue sky nicely.

Eleri inside the giant safety pin at the de Young.

After a stroll through the botanical garden in Golden Gate Park, we headed north across the Golden Gate Brdge to Stinson Beach to check into our beach house. VRBO.com certainly didn't let us down. This place was perfect!

View of the main house from the beach. That corner window is the eating area/kitchen.

View from the eating area right onto the beach and ocean.

Inside the main house. Lofted bedroom above to the right. Kitchen and eating area in the background. Wood stove/living room in the foreground.

Sunset looking toward Bolinas.

The Edwards' chilling on the deck at sunset.

Sam & I tossing horseshoes on the beach. The loser of each round dropped and gave 10 push-ups.

By coincidence, Jason & Diane were at Point Reyes for the weekend, so we drove the short distance north and met up with them for a little fresh air before a really enjoyable dinner in Olema on Saturday night. So much for their romantic weekend getaway!

Jason, Diane, & Rina on Limantour Beach in Point Reyes National Seashore. This is a beautifully preserved beach. Not a single house, concession, hotel or any sign of development in sight.

The Edwards on the dunes at Limantour Beach.

From the house in Stinson we could easily walk to the Mount Tam trails including the Dipsea Trail. They are some of my favorite trails for running/hiking on - hands down. Great views of the ocean, mountains, and even to San Francisco. Fantastic smells as you walk though the forest. California poppies and other little wildfowers dot the trail. Lot of ups and downs make for interesting runs. And the network of trails connects a lot of the coastal towns to each other and to the ridge trails. One day we drove to Muir Woods to take in the massive redwoods. Looking at the map of trails we realized we could actually walk back to the house in Stinson Beach via the trail network. So we did!

Megan & Rina walking home from Muir Woods on the Dipsea Trail. Yes, that is the Pacific Ocean in the background.

View of Stinson Beach from the hills above.

A relaxed bunch after 4 days at the beach.

The last day of our stay we finally made it to the new museum in Golden Gate Park in SF. It is well worth a visit. There is a great aquarium, rainforest exhibit, green roof, and cafe worth visiting. We spent a few hours there and didn't have time to see the planetarium. Next time.

You might think this is the set of the Tele-Tubbies. Wrong. This is the living roof of the museum. There is a water collection system, solar panels, automatically vented round windows, and most obviously, native low maintenance plants covering the roof. The two main humps house the planetarium and rain forest exhibits belowbut the overall contour of the roof is meant to emulate the hilly terrain of the city of San Francisco.

Atop the living roof, taking in the perfect California weather.

While in the gift shop getting souveniers, we realized that the time we meant to leave for the airport has passed by 20 minutes! After a rushed drive to the airport, needing to stop and get gas on the way, we dropped off the rental car, caught the next shuttle to the airport, checked in, breezed through security, ran to our gates and walked right onto our respective flights - just in the nick of time. Phew!

Is there such a thing as an Indian winter?

Looking over White Pine drainage to the impressive Pfeifferhorn.  A spectacular day!

HOLY COW! This spring snowfall has been amazing. It has been reported that we've had 170 inches of new snow since the the third week of March. A lot of people had started dusting off their road bikes, taking trips to the desert and pretty much given up on the pow until next winter, but it's as if mother nature is making up for the prolonged dry spell we had in mid March. On my return from our team 12 hour run in Moab, the snow in Spanish Fork Canyon was the first tell-tale sign that we weren't heading back to spring in SLC. Since then it has been huge system after huge system. A few nice warm days now, but another wet storm due mid week!

Why the hell am I grinning like this?  You'll see.

Scott, taking in the amazing view, drooling in anticipation of the light, dry pow we are about to ski.  

Oh, that might be sweat.

Scott and I ventured out into Scottie's Bowl in LCC to harvest some of the goods before it got too wet and heavy. Check out the pics. It was gorgeous.

Face shots in tax season!  Yeeee Hah!

Scott, testing out his smoke screen.