Leakage from a Cluttered Mind » Family

Eileen’s birthday

Phil — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 06:17:42 +0000

We visit with the family in southern California too rarely, so when we got an invitation to Eileen’s birthday party in Riverside we decided to make a quick trip—down and back in a long weekend. We had a good time, and Karen enjoyed time with her brothers and cousin and nephews and nieces.

The Bloom kids and spouses

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Christmas dresses

Phil — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 05:28:53 +0000

Carolyn and Elizabeth were over in their pretty Christmas dresses. I tried, with some difficulty, to get them both in focus in the same shot. I didn’t succeed often.

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The pumpkin patch visit

Phil — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 20:23:42 +0000

We had a lot of fun accompanying Dan, Janet, and the girls to the local pumpkin patch farm. I took about 100 photos and got one shot of the two girls sitting together. They may be twins but they are independently minded.

Elizabeth & Carolyn sitting together for a change

This one is really heavy, but I like it

I like this monster one, but I need a little help holding it

Dan, Carolyn, Janet, Elizabeth

Annual back to school tea party

Phil — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 04:20:17 +0000

And this year their teacher came too.

Dressy

Yummy

Sisters

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Saxonia and Tamarack Lakes

Phil — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 04:27:48 +0000

Saxonia Lake

Looking for a short day-hike the kids could manage and that would have a view of Sierra Buttes, Mark chose a hike to Saxonia Lake starting at the Packer Lake trail-head. It turned out to be a good adventure, but no view of Sierra Buttes.

Starting at Packer Lake we followed a dirt road to Dugan Pond. There is a nice cabin built on the shore of the pond, but we stayed on the far side of the pond away from the cabin. The trail crossed the creek right at the outlet of the pond, and with the high water it was mid-calf to knee deep—a bit more than the kids could manage. Mark found a log across the creek, although it presented a bit of a challenge just to get down the bank to it. Since we don’t do logs, we took our boots off and waded the pond right at the outlet. It turned out to be a bit deeper than it looked, and despite rolled-up pant legs, we got a little wet. And, the water was freezing cold.

After the creek crossing, the trail began to climb and showed little signs of use. As we crested a ridge and Saxonia Lake came into view we came upon a wonderful, gently sloped snow bank—perfect for some snow play and tossing snow-balls at each other. The lake was down in a bowl and since it would have required some serious boulder hopping (the trail didn’t go down to the lake) we didn’t go any farther.

On the way back down the trail, we stayed on the uphill side of the pond and walked by the cabin (probably a good thing no one was home). The creek on the inlet side of the lake was more flat and marshy and we picked our way through the wet and muddy area with no more than slightly wet shoes.

At a trail junction below the pond, Karen and I split off and headed back up hill toward Tamarack Lakes. We followed a 4×4 track about half way there, until the amount of snow just discouraged us. We did get to see some great views of Sierra Buttes, and the trail does continue on past Tamarack Lakes to the summit of Sierra Buttes. I’d like to go back and do that hike to the summit.

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Short loop hike in Lakes Basin near Graeagle

Phil — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 04:41:58 +0000

Karen and I did a short loop hike in Lakes Basin today. I had thought we might do a longer loop hike that goes on the west side of Long Lake, but as we climbed from the trailhead up towards Big Bear Lake we were soon trail finding on solid snow. We passed by the picturesque lakes of Big Bear, Little Bear, Cub, and Long Lakes. I like this area and hope to get back for some further trail exploration.

Tantalizingly, there was an unfound geocache on top of Mt. Elwell. I think the hike was doable, but Karen does not enjoy snow hiking. That’s another reason to return.

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Hiking along Little Jamison Creek

Phil — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 05:39:04 +0000

Some parts of Plumas Eureka State Park are closed for toxic clean up—not uncommon in old gold mining areas. We drove to a trailhead along Little Jamison Creek and headed out toward Grass Lake, and perhaps even Rock Lake and Jamison Lake, depending on conditions.

With lots of snow still on the surrounding peaks, the creek was roaring, especially at the falls. We had lunch at Grass Lake. After relaxing and playing around, the kids headed back to the trailhead—some to go geocaching and some to hit the swimming pool. Karen and I decided to continue on up the creek to see what Rock Lake was like. We started to run into more snow (at about 6,000 ft) and saw evidence of avalanches (broken off trees and debris). About half-way to the lake the trail crossed the creek. Have I mentioned the creek was roaring? We didn’t want to get wet, and we’re not keen anymore about balancing on narrow logs that are 3′ to 6′ above the water. So, we turned back.

After returning to the trailhead, we hiked through the nearby (closed) campground and up a fairly nice dirt road that wasn’t yet open due to big rocks and tree falls. We found a geocache that overlooks a couple of small waterfalls on Jamison Creek—although with the amount of water in the creek they were pretty impressive.

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Upper Salmon Lake

Phil — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 04:33:02 +0000

Upper Salmon Lake

We headed to Upper Salmon Lake for a day hike today. On arriving we discovered the lake still had some ice in it, and the surrounding mountainsides had quite a bit of snow. We wanted to go past Upper Salmon Lake to Horse Lake, or maybe even Deer Lake.

After missing the trailhead and struggling to find a way to move from the lakeside use trail to the real trail up the hill, we had a clear trail back to the lodge. There are no roads to the lodge—guests take the water taxi. We quickly discovered that to go up the hill toward Horse Lake we’d be completely on snow. This was a bit more than the little kids could manage in their tennis shoes, so we found a bare rock on the hillside, ate our lunch, and headed back to the trail head.

Mark, Annmarie, and the kids headed back to the swimming pool. Dan, Janet, and the twins were off to find some geocaches. Karen and I drove over to Portola to explore and buy some groceries.

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Exploring in Whitehawk

Phil — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 05:01:42 +0000

Just a laid back day

Our first full day in Whitehawk near Graeagle was pretty laid back. We played around in the house, explored the ponds in the meadow, grabbed a few groceries in Graeagle, and went swimming at the pool.

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Family vacation in Graeagle

Phil — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 05:23:36 +0000

For several years, we have rented a house for a week in a special, fun location and invited our kids and grandkids to join us. It has become a special tradition for us. As the family has grown we have needed a larger house and this year’s rental house in Whitehawk near Graeagle, CA was the largest and nicest yet.

In Whitehawk, overlooking the meadow and golf course

Looking out over the back yard and deck

The house sat on a small rise overlooking a large meadow to the east. Sunrise was gorgeous. The creek, swollen from snow-melt, was just down the hill, and listening to its rushing sounds in the evening was especially relaxing.

Except for the the lack of advertised internet/wifi, this place was almost perfect. We are a family that heavily uses the internet. Between us, we had 8 wifi devices, and my son-in-law was expecting to handle some work-related (possibly emergency) issues via the net. It was clear the owner/agent didn’t understand, nor particularly care about the false advertising. I guess I’d recommend the place, with the proviso of verifying any features that are really important.

Stay tuned for more on our daily adventures.