A Little Adventure

Before we went to our campsite, we decided to kill a little bit of time and go scout out Mono Lake. Scott wanted an idea of what was there for sunrise the next morning. It wasn’t what we thought, but was somewhat interesting. The water is similar to the Great Salt Lake, salty. We weren’t too impressed with that. We did walk around and it was good. There were some little bugs around, so it was interesting.

After we got the tent set up, Milo had fun playing in the tent. Monica and Scott had a short nap, we all ate dinner, and we decided to head out to Bodie State Historic Park. We wanted to be there for sunset. Little did we know that the park actually closes at 7:00 pm…a little bit before sunset. We saw the sign informing us of closing time about 15 miles from Bodie, but decided to press on even though we’d only have about an hour. How big could it be? A hour should probably be plenty anyway. When we came around the mountain and saw the ghost town we were in shock because it looked actually looked bigger than a few buildings. When we pulled up to the entrance booth, the guy asked us if we were Friends of Bodie. We told him no. He said that they were having a Friends of Bodie day that day. We did get the very informative brochure for a minimal price and luckily found a parking space.

After looking at the brochure, we realized that this was a huge ghost town. It had 67 buildings for you to go around and see. We decided that we’d just see the highlights. The church, the school, the doctor’s office, the firehouse and a few other houses.

Scott had seen the Bodie church in several photos. He had to take a bit of time photographing it. It was the one shot he knew he wanted.

It was a very cool ghost town. It seems that everything was left in the same spot. Since it was Friends of Bodie day, there were a lot of people there dressed up to play the part. There was a guy who was pulling a mail carriage. Milo insisted following it around. He apparently wanted to see the horses.

We didn’t find out why everyone left the town (Scott assumes that the mine was no longer profitable), but it was one of th worst towns around in the old days. In 1879, there were around 10,000 people in the town. One little girl wrote in her diary, “Goodbye God, I’m going to Bodie.” There were more than 50 saloons in town and everyone seemed to be bad boys there.

We were told to leave when it got a little bit before 7:00. Scott did manage to get a great shot of the mill in town on the edge of the town right before the sun went down.

We decided that we definitely have to go back when we have more time to explore. It was a lot of fun.

We went back to our camping spot and went to sleep. We woke up before sunrise so that Scott could be to Mono Lake to take pictures. Monica and Milo stayed in the car, because it seemed better since it was cold, muddy, and they were tired. The things sticking out of the water are called Tufas.

Milo had quite a fun time “playing” in the tent. It was hilarious to see him dealing with the sun. His one-eyed jack picture is classic Milo. The next picture shows Milo looking through the mesh in the tent at folks walking by outside. He is a funny little boy.

While Scott and Milo were waiting for Monica to finish up in the bathroom, Milo decided it would be fun to cover his feet with the dirt. He enjoys playing and throwing dirt.

This past weekend, we took a trip to Yosemite National Park that included some destinations just outside the park, Mono Lake and Bodie Ghost Town. I think that we’ll break it down into three different posts.

We left early Saturday morning and made decent time to Yosemite. We didn’t make it there terribly early but early enough to beat some of the crowds. The goal for this trip to Yosemite was to see the stuff we couldn’t see earlier due to winter road closures.

We entered the park on Hwy 120 taking the Old Priest grade which we highly recommend. If you enter Yosemite from the northwest on Hwy 120 there comes a time when you can take New Priest or Old Priest grade. If you are in a normal vehicle that isn’t too loaded down we recommend the 2 mile Old Priest grade (be careful not to miss the turn-off as New Priest grade is the default). New Priest grade is 6 miles long and snakes up the mountain. Old Priest grade gets right down to business and gets you up the mountain…it isn’t a straight road by any means. It is just a more efficient way to wind up the mountain if you don’t mind the steeper grade. Okay, that is enough of that rant.

We entered the park and headed west on the Tioga Pass Road. There weren’t any places that we had to stop per se. We had plenty of time, so we figured we would stop where it seemed interesting. The sky was a spectacular blue. We had been on the road for a bit, so we stopped at the very first pullout, Siesta Lake. According to the sign, the lake is slowly filling in with sediment and will eventually become a marsh and then possibly a meadow. It was still reasonably photogenic and a nice stop.

We continued to climb up and eventually stopped at Olmsted Point which has a nice view of the “backside” of Half Dome. This is apparently the side you ascend when you hike to the top of Half Dome. That hike is definitely on Scott’s todo list.

We meandered on a bit farther until we hit the top of Tuolumne Meadow. Scott had read about a nice, short hike to the top of Pothole Dome. It was supposed to be easy and provide great views of the meadow. We were also hoping for some good wildflowers in the meadow. The wildflowers were…well…nonexistent. Pothole Dome was great. We quickly hiked to the top and proceeded to just hang out and look around for quite a while. Milo seemed to have fun playing while Dad took pictures. This is apparently a glacier formed valley and reminded us a lot of Little Cottonwood Canyon.

By the time we decided that we couldn’t hang out on Pothole Dome and wait for the sun to set it was past our lunchtime. We hopped back in the car, found a picnic table near the end of the meadow, and ate our lunch. Milo was getting tired and kept asking if we were going to setup the tent soon. We figured that was a good idea so we drove the rest of the road without any major stops. We arrived at the campground and quickly set-up our tent (which is actually not too bad to setup…it almost doesn’t annoy Scott…almost). Instead of taking a nap Milo became excited and hyper. We were all shocked at that development… Monica and Scott did manage to grab a quick nap before we headed off to Bodie Ghost town.

This is a book that a lot of you probably know about. It is by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle.

**UPDATE: For those of you who haven’t read the book here is an explanation of how it goes. It is very simple. It goes like this “Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? I see a red bird looking at me. [Next page] Red bird, red bird, what do you see? I see a yellow duck, and so on through 10 different things. It teaches animals and colors. It is a very simple, great little book!**

Last time Milo and I were at the library, I saw it and picked it up. Milo has wanted to read it before naptime and bedtime for about a week now. After we had read it several times, I ask him to help me tell the story. He has only told me what was on that particular page.

Today before naptime, I asked him yet again to help me read the story. I was amazed at how well he knew the story. It has an animal on one page and then it sees another animal. I thought that Milo would only tell me what he saw on the page we were looking at, but no, he knew what was coming next. I can’t even remember the order of the animals, because I don’t think he can quite read yet.

It is amazing to me how well he remembers his books. Needless to say, Milo has progressed a lot this summer.

This post is an update to Milo’s fascination with the parks. After the two visits last week to Mitchell Park, I knew that we’d be there a few more times. I didn’t realize that we’d go there 3 out of the 4 days this week and possibly tomorrow as well. I did take the camera one day and got some great pictures.

We always do the same thing. When he wakes up from his nap he tells me, “Mom, me done map (that’s how he says nap these days).” A few minutes later he says “Mom, me ready….go park with water.” When we get to the park he starts taking off his shorts so that he can put on his swimming suit and he starts running in the water. After a while, he comes over and wraps up in his towel and tells me he is cold. I tell him that once we change clothes and get dry, that he is done with the water. He usually goes and runs through the water one more time.

After he is done with the water, he goes over to play on the playground equipment. There is some fun stuff here. They have a couple of fun slides.

They have the classic captain’s wheel you can turn and some binoculars you can look out.

They have this fun little wooden car that Milo loves to try and drive. I have been asking him where we are going in the car. He tells me that we are going home or to the store. He then tells me he is going “left, then right, and down San Antonio (a road here in Mountain View).” He also gives me those directions when we are in the car and it doesn’t matter where we are headed.

He also has been enjoying playing in the tunnels or holes. There are several things in this park to do and Milo quite enjoys going there.

I’m sure that we’ll go there quite a few more times before we go home. I would not be surprised if he asks to go to the “park with water” when we get back to SLC. At that point, I’ll just take him to Liberty Park….

We are beginning to really love San Francisco. We have had such a great time going to see things there. We had checked the weather Friday night and thought it would be foggy and cold all day, so we prepared for that type of weather. When we got to San Francisco, it was sunny and slightly warmer. We had a great day, but weren’t planning on the sun.

We started out the day at Pier 39. Scott and I wanted to get some San Francisco T-shirts. We had a coupon for a Pier 39 store, so we were headed there. After we got the shirts, Milo stopped to watch the carousel. We then headed over to see the seals again. Milo liked those very much. This picture is a fun one of Milo watching the seals.

Scott took some more pictures of the sailboats on the bay. There were a lot out on Saturday, probably because it was sunny.

We then started walking down the street so that we could go take some pictures of the Bay Bridge. We passed the Farmer’s Market, which looked very fun. We didn’t stop to get anything.

We were able to see the Bay Bridge, some really cool sculptures of people made out of metal, and the Ferry Building Clock Tower.

Scott got a great shot of the harbor. We were able to walk out of one of the piers. There were several fisherman there. Here is a picture.

We ate lunch at Fog City Diner. We had a pretty good lunch. After lunch, we decided that we’d walk into North Beach to try and find a pastry shop. We found the pastry shop that we had gone to before. Scott and Milo got cannolis and I got some spumoni. On the way we walked past Washington Square. It is the park that we went to last time we were in that area. Milo remembered that there was a slide and insisted that he wanted to stop and go down it. Milo went down the slide while Scott took a few more pictures of the Saint Peter and Paul Church.

After we had dessert, we decided to take the journey across the Bay Bridge and over into Oakland to go see the temple. Milo had been pretty excited about going to see the temple. We were surprised to be able to see the temple from the bridge. It was great to be able to see it.

After we went to the temple, we decided that it would be easier to just go home. While we were coming over the Bay Bridge, there was a huge traffic jam of people trying to cross over into San Francisco. We didn’t want to wait in that. The problem was, that we only had brought with us an Oakland map. We really didn’t know where to go. We had left our altas in the house. Oops! We made some good choices though. We got onto a freeway that was taking us to San Jose, and then we found a freeway that would take us to Mountain View. We made it home safe and sound. We might not have come the best way home, but it was a way home.

We are planning on making one last farewell trip into San Francisco the week before we leave. We want to go see Crissy Field and the Golden Gate Bridge, one last time. We have really enjoyed San Francisco. There are several things that we’d like to do again, but they will have to wait for another time.

We have a front patio that has a little dirt section. Milo has taken it over as his play area. He plays out there most days. As you can tell in the picture, it has a fence very high up, so we feel that he is okay to go out there. It is kind of like a really small front yard where you really can’t run much and it has no grass.

On the day of this picture, he had gotten something on his pants and so we’d put on his pajama bottoms. Scott was making smoothies while Milo played a little. We hope that you enjoy the picture.

Milo has been enjoying the parks in the area this past week, even more than he normally has.

On Monday, we went to Cuesta Park for park day. Milo enjoyed this park a lot. They have some great playground equipment. There was a ramp, which Milo enjoyed running up and down. He would then go down the slide. He was pretty tired, so we left a little early. He wasn’t happy about that.

A couple of days later, Milo asked to go to the “new park” again. I said, sure thinking he wanted to go back to Cuesta Park. When we got outside, Milo had changed his mind and wanted to go to the park next door (Rengstorff Park). He had a great time there. At Rengstorff Park, he goes down the slides and plays with his sand toys.

Then yesterday, we went to park day at Mitchell Park. The cool thing about Mitchell Park is that it has a water section where the kids can get wet. Milo seemed a little hesitant to go to the park, but we went anyway. After we got there, he said he wanted to go down the slide. I said sure. I finally got out of him that he was afraid of the water because he thought a troll would get him. As explanation, we have been reading “The Three Billy Goats Gruff” quite a bit the last week or two. The troll falls in the water and Milo thught that the troll would be in this water as well. I told Milo that the fence would keep the troll out. I’d be there with him and he’d be safe. He seemed okay with that answer and decided we could go over to the water. I got him changed into his swimming suit. He finally, with the help of a friend, started running through the water. He had a great time. He cried again when we left.

This morning when he got up, he said that he wanted to go to the park. I asked which one. He said “new park water.” I said sure. We went to Mitchell Park again this morning. He had a great time. He also played on the slide and in the little tunnel and everything. I’m sorry, I neglected to take the camera so I don’t have pictures. I’ll try to remember to do that next time. I’m almost positive we’ll go to Mitchell Park a few more times.

This afternoon, after Milo’s nap, he again told me “Mom, go park.” I asked which park. He said, “new park water.” I said we already went to that park today. Can we go to the park next door? He was like sure.

It has been quite the exciting week!

After our visitors came, Milo decided that when he woke up in the morning that he needed to bring his pillow, blanket (penguin blanket) and pip downstairs with him. He would lay in front of the TV and tell you that he was tired and wrap up in his blanket. It didn’t matter if it was warm outside, he still insisted on wrapping up in his blanket. He did this for a few days straight. He is such a fun little boy!

There were still a few things that we wanted to see in San Francisco, so we decided to make yet another trip. We started out the day in Golden Gate Park. On the way in we stopped at the windmill. It was very fun. Scott didn’t take any pictures because he really hates plain white skies. Plain blue skies aren’t much better, but they are at least tolerable.

We went to the Conservatory of Flowers first with the hope we could beat some of the crowds and find parking near the conservatory. That plan seemed to work well as we easily parked within a 5 minute walk of the conservatory and were able to see what we wanted to see without elbowing too many innocent bystanders.

We went to the “Butterfly Zone” exhibit first. Scott and I were a bit excited to see this exhibit as they remembered something similar at the Boise Zoo. It was an excellent exhibit with many butterflies…so many in fact that a number landed on us during our visit. The exhibit at the Conservatory of Flowers was disappointing in comparison. They did have a few butterflies, but none of them were particularly exotic. Milo loved the exhibit and spent a lot of time there. According to Scott, the best part of the exhibit was the cocoon/chrysalis house where you could watch butterflies being “born.”

We then walked through the potted plants and the lowland and highland tropics. Milo didn’t seem too interested in these. I did like the potted plants as there were some pretty flowers. The exhibits here were nice, but not spectacular. Scott expected to find more flowers at the Conservatory of Flowers…

Scott and Milo enjoyed the aquatic plants exhibit. Milo walked around and around admiring the water in this exhibit. Scott enjoyed the amazingly beautiful lilies in the exhibit. They were a bit hard to shoot without a tripod, but he did get a few nice images.

We walked around all the exhibits a few more times before Milo got tired and was ready to leave. It was quite enjoyable. We all had a great time.

After the Conservatory of Flowers, we left the car parked and started off in the general direction of the botanical gardens. We weren’t sure if we would make it to the gardens or just have an interesting walk. We found these really cool houses nestled in the nice San Francisco fog and wanted to take a picture.

After taking the picture of the houses, we were considering heading back to the car when we saw the botanical garden. It is quite large and surprisingly cool. It has trees and plants from all over the world. Scott kept the camera in his backpack, so we don’t have proof of the coolness this time. You will just have to believe us…

We decided to go back to the windmill so Scott could take some pictures. After looking at the pictures I had taken with my cell phone, he decided he could do some different things with it. On the short drive over there, Milo fell asleep. I stayed in the car with him while Scott went to take the pictures.

When Scott came back from taking pictures of the windmill, Milo woke up. We ate lunch on a nice little grassy area near the windmill.

From that point we headed into the Presidio in an attempt to explore that area a bit more. The hope was to find some different vantage points and eventually end up at Crissy Field. We visited Crissy Field with Scott’s grandparents and wanted to drop by again. We stopped at Baker Beach for a really great shot of the bridge. It is a beach on the southwest side of the bridge.

After we went to Baker Beach, we stopped at another vista point. We saw some great views of the bridge. Scott followed a trail and was able to walk on the bridge for a bit.

As we continued down the road, we stopped to see the bridge near Fort Point. This turned out to be exciting. We parked within a few feet of the ocean. The waves were so big, that several times they got the car and us wet. Milo had a fun time there. He was yelling “big splash!” whenever the smallest wave would hit the rocks. Good times!

In between waves, we were able to get a fun family picture with Milo showing his great love for his parents. I guess he must not hate the travelling too badly

We ended the bridge watching by going to the grass lawns at Crissy Field. Scott got some great pictures. We were able to watch some huge boats go under the bridge (the lettering on the boat in the photo says “China Shipping Line” and was the biggest boat we have seen go under the bridge). It was amazing to see them. We had a great time! Milo had called Aunt Jill to tell her about the big waves and Scott snapped a photo while he was on the phone.

Scott also took a great photo of the skyline.

To end the day, we went to Ghirardelli Square for sundaes. They were good. You can tell that Milo enjoyed the one he had very much. He was trying to get every last little bit. The people at the table next to us were even laughing at Milo “licking” the sundae glass…now that is a shocker…other people laughing at Milo and frowning at his irresponsible parents.

We had a great time in San Francisco. We have always seen something new along with some of our favorites. We have grown to really enjoy seeing the sights in San Francisco. The weather is great and there is plenty to do.

Here are the movies that my sister took. Each one is between 5 MB and 8 MB, so they might take a while to download.

The first one is a movie of the surfers we watched last Friday. If you listen with the sound, the noise you hear in the background is Milo, I think. Then at the end (if you listen closely) you can hear Milo say “Yeah, guy!”

Surfer Movie

Now for my favorite. Milo eating the lemon at Mel’s Diner in San Francisco last Thursday. This was classic Milo. It made me laugh so hard. If you listen to the sound on this one, you will hear my sister laughing and talking to Milo in the background.

Milo and the lemon

I hope that you enjoy the movies as much as we did!