A Little Adventure

Our time in California is coming to a close. We have truly enjoyed our stay here and have learned a lot of great things. Scott had a great internship and learned a lot. Milo and I enjoyed going to the parks, the library and other fun things.

We will miss our weekly trips to see things, but are also looking forward to being able to spend some down time at home. California and Utah are very different. We have enjoyed both places. We hope to be able to come back and visit again soon.

In the next couple of days, we will leave for our trip along the Oregon Coast. We will go home to SLC after a short visit with family in Portland. If you need to contact us via e-mail, please do so by tonight (Thursday). After today, we will not have access to internet or e-mail.

We went back to Stanford Sunday afternoon to try and get a family picture. I figured that I should take a few more shots while I was there. There are a lot of arches on the main quad. I had a fun time including a few of them in the shots. For some reason I really like the Hoover Tower shot…

A coworker had mentioned that I should visit the Rodin sculpture garden on one of my visits to Stanford. We hadn’t been there and this was our last visit…so we dropped by. Milo was tired and seemed to be a bit creeped out by the sculptures. That meant we didn’t stay as long as I would have liked, but it was still very interesting and enjoyable.

The most imposing piece in the sculpture garden is called Gates of Hell. It is an interesting sculpture in and of itself. Adding to the intrigue is the fact that the sculpture is flanked or framed by sculptures of Adam and Eve. I am not exactly sure what Rodin intended by that, but it is an interesting decision. Anyway, I won’t wax too philosophical about the art… Interesting stuff though.

Here are a few images of the sculpture…

Here is one of Eve. I wanted to take one of Adam as well, but the position of the sun made it impossible for me to get the shot I wanted…

Here is a sculpture of a big head (this one particularly creeped out Milo). I think it is a bust of the head of one of Burghers of Calais (which is on the main quad of the Stanford campus). I am not 100% sure and Google didn’t help much. If you know for sure I would like to know.

The past few weeks, we have been trying to take some family pictures so that we have an updated picture and also to remember our time in California. We finally managed to get one at Stanford this past Sunday that is acceptable to us. It isn’t the great light or cool background that Scott was hoping for, but in the end the simple lighting and easy location made it possible. We hope that you like it. I hope you enjoy Milo’s face.

We are now taking orders for what pictures you want. Please send either of us an e-mail with what size you want (yes, those of you who we always give a new picture to, we have your sizes already but a reminder wouldn’t hurt). The week we get back to SLC we’ll get them printed and we’ll give them to you that following weekend.

For our last full day in the area, we decided that we’d go to San Francisco in the evening and watch the lights come on in the city and on the Golden Gate Bridge. We went to Crissy Field which is on the southeast side of the bridge in the Presidio. It has a grassy area where you can just sit and relax. It was totally worth it, even though it was very cold and foggy.

We also decided that we’d take some food with us and have a picnic at Crissy Field. That was fun.

While we were waiting for it to get dark we called family and chatted for a bit. Milo and Scott ran around on the grass. It was a great evening.

After eating, we went over to our great spot where you had an awesome view of the bridge. Here’s a picture of the bridge before it got dark.

Here’s some pictures when the lights were starting to come on. It was really fun to watch.

I was amazed to see the lights all come on and watch the fog slowly lower. It was awesome to see the lights give the fog an eerie glow. I hope that you enjoy these pictures. We certainly enjoyed watching the night develop. It was a spectacular ending to a great summer of adventures. I guess that we just have our long adventure up the Oregon coast left…

As our time in California is drawing to a close, we’ve decided that our time here has definitely changed us. It seems that each experience we have, makes use either better or worse. This one has definitely made us better.

We’ve enjoyed all the things we’ve done. I realized that we have grown to like San Francisco quite a bit. It is a great city with a lot of fun things to do. We’ve been to San Francisco about as many times as we’ve been other places. It is also probably the only place that we’ve visited multiple times. In fact on our last Saturday to do something, we are going to San Francisco to one of our favorite places. That place is Crissy Field where you can sit on the grass, look at the Golden Gate Bridge and just relax.

Milo has grown to enjoy several things as well. He really likes to go to the park (normal parks as well as the park with water) and has asked multiple times to go to the zoo and beach again. When we get back to Salt Lake City, we are going to try and take him to the parks around there, including Liberty Park where there is water. We are going to try and take him to the zoo more often too. As far as the beach, that will be a hard one since there are no beaches in Utah. We hope he understands….

Milo has had some great experiences here in California. We asked him if he wanted to go back to Utah yesterday and he actually told us no. He had really had a fun time. I think that he’ll probably like SLC once we get there.

We have had a great experience and have really enjoyed our time here. We think we will definitely have to come back and visit the San Francisco area again!

When Scott’s grandparents were here, we went to see Stanford University. I had not been to Stanford before. It was very cool to drive down Palm Drive. We drove around the campus and looked at the buildings. Milo was itching to get out and play on the grass so we did that near the Main Quad. We walked up to see the Memorial Church and surrounding walls. Jane Stanford built the church in memory of her husband, Leland Stanford. In 1906 during an earthquake it took out the bell tower. When they were reconstructing the church, they did not put the bell tower back in. It was amazing to see the mosaic on the church.

We also enjoyed seeing the Hoover Tower which was built for Hebert Hoover (former president of the United States and also a Stanford Alumni).

We also went and saw Stanford University when my family was visiting. It was great to see it again. We enjoyed looking around and we were all glad that we went. This time, Milo knew exactly where to go and was running all over the place with Scott. We hope that you enjoy the pictures. It has been a great Sunday afternoon spot to go.

To learn more about the history of Stanford, you can see the following link Stanford University History Page

After we got our camp taken down, we started off to go through Yosemite again. We went back down the Tioga Pass road, through a small chunk of the Yosemite Valley, and west toward Wawona/Fresno. We made the requisite stop at Tunnel View. The light was horrible, but Scott did take a picture out of respect for Ansel. It was a beautiful view, but the light wasn’t good. The one thing we did notice was how little water was coming down the waterfalls. What had been raging falls in May were now just a trickle. It was shocking! Yosemite is much more interesting in April, May, and early June. Scott thinks that we hit it about right this year.

We continued along the road and came to Washburn Point. It shows you a view of Half Dome. You are also able to see Vernal and Nevada falls as well as the infamous Mist Trail from a distance. We noticed that if you hiked the Mist Trail would not get as wet as we did when we went earlier.

We went a little further down to the end of the road and finished at Glacier Point. This point is a point that has a few little trails on top of the mountain where you can basically see all the valley and most of the waterfalls. It was awesome to see everything from above.

We then took the scenic handicap trail back to the car at Milo’s request. By this point, Milo was getting tired. When we got to the end of this part of the trail, Milo told us that we wanted to go left back the way we came. Scott told him that we needed to go right down San Antonio (the trail the way we needed to go). Milo accepted that and we headed back to the car. We thought it was hilarious that Milo thought the trail was named San Antonio.

Clarification from Scott: The reason that the whole “San Antonio” experience is funny is this. Often when we get in the car to go on Saturday and Milo asks for a map. He opens it and tells us where we are going. He usually points out a park or something similar. When we ask how to get there he says, “left, right, San Antonio.” We are walking along the trail, Milo is clearly very tired, and his parents are getting tired of his irrational demands and attitude. We are almost back to the parking lot and he decides to be stubborn and head the wrong direction. We finally get him stopped, and he is dead set on going the wrong direction. Dad takes a moment to think and decides to use Milo’s own phrase to his advantage. He doubts it will work, but at this stage we are ready to try anything. I tell him, “Milo that way is left we need to turn right and head down San Antonio, right?” He thinks for a moment, says, “Yes” and off he goes. Monica and I look at each other with big fat grins. Once we get to the parking area we decide it is safe enough to laugh and talk about it. We had a good laugh!!!

After driving back down into the Valley and a short stop to see Bridal Veil Fall, we began our drive home. It wasn’t too bad of a drive home, until we ran into a traffic jam on a small road near Chinese Camp. There were so many people who were turning around. Scott started looking at the maps for possible detours. He found one that didn’t seem too far out of the way and we’d bypass it all. We started that way. We got onto a fairly big road and we were suppose to drive straight through Modesto. Well, either it wasn’t clearly signed which way we were suppose to go or we missed the sign, because we ended up on a different road. We continued on and after a few minutes got on the right road. After we got onto the freeway, we yet again ran into traffic as we were coming into Oakland. It always seems to slow through there, either that or it is the time of the day. Anyway, we did get home safe and sound and we didn’t hit too many delays. It was a great trip to Yosemite.

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.