And then there were three...

The driving is definitely different with 2 kids! Yesterday's drive was long, boring, slightly sad but fortunately broken up with a side trip to the Grand Canyon. Dani had been asking to see the Canyon so of course I couldn't resist! Ironically, it was Dani who wanted to see the Grand Canyon and it was Dani who was terrified of the Grand Canyon. She got out of the car long enough to realize how high she was and then just to go potty. Best laid plans...



The highlight came on the drive from the Grand Canyon. We took a side road to avoid the interstate and were rewarded with beautiful views, an enormous herd of elk, the teeniest, tiniest roadside Chapel and then dumping out in the middle of Flagstaff...a quaint town that looked like an outdoor rec mecca. We ended up in a campground in Hollbrook, the petrified forest capital of the USA! I grilled hamburgers and corn and tried a smokey porter from...Alaska, of all places (ok but kinda like drinking a smoked ham or something). I couldn't find any local brew that i thought was worth springing a six pack for so i picked up a beer brewed by Alaskan, go figure?


We had the all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast and took off this am around 9. Long, long drive through several wicked storms. I made the kids stop in Albuquerque at one of my favorite dives, The Frontier. Something you may not know about me...I love New Mexican Green Chiles!! So i stuffed myself full of the goods and back on the road we went. We crossed into the great state of Texas after nearly 4 weeks and are staying at a motel in Lubbock tonight. Got a call from the LA gang and they are still looking for Mickey! Sandwiches, cereal and leftover burgers washed down with a Tangerine Wheat beer that I had picked up in California.


tomorrow...home, of course!
later, Rob

Blink....

I had told the G-man that we should cherish every moment of the road trip because we would blink and it would be over! Well, despite the two of us trying to keep our eyes wide open we must have blinked...we are on the road back to Texas!
The day after Disney most of us slept in and then stayed in a coma like trance for the morning. Eventually we put our bathing suits on, loaded beach towels, toys, kids, coolers and off to Malibu we headed! G-man took surfing lessons from the Dave man, Dani had the biggest wipe out she ever had and the rest of us did the usual beach stuff. Afterwoods we picked up cupcakes and then hit this amazing seafood dive right off the beach.







Yesterday we took the car in to have the oil changed and fluids topped off and discovered that the ol' Subaru needed a bit more love....new brakes, wheel alignment (who's been driving this thing anyway?), and tire rotation. So our plans of splitting LA around noon turned into splitting LA at the more convenient time of 5 pm! Thankfully, our bellys were full of yummy goodness from the Gridle Cafe...another LA exclusive where the crazy choices of pancakes were bigger than your Garrett's head!



The kids and I drove until about 9:30 last night all the while missing our awesome LA friends. My plans of camping were foiled by the 103 degree temps...I am not kidding! We stayed in Needles last night and it was 103 when we pulled in...here is today's forecast...
"Abundant sunshine. High 109F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph."
The drive was pretty amazing though. The Mojave is huge and you drive for miles and miles and miles and see nothing. We are off for today's adventure as we move closer to home.
later, rob

City of Lost angels...

We have been on the non stop fun roller coaster of the west coast and our tour guides The Sloans!! On Saturday afternoon we loaded picnic, kids, beer and assorted sundries into the cars and headed off to the pre show fun at the Grove...an outdoor shopping area where our dearest friend's introduced my sweet little girl to the world of "American Girl" stuff! Thanks Jan and Dave :) I do have to say they made up for the error of their ways by taking us to Bob's Donuts in the farmers market!! We road the double decker trolley back to the car and off we headed on our next adventure.


I am not one to wait in line at a cemetary but let me tell you it was worth the wait! We went to Cinespia, LA's cemetary screenings and saw The Muppet Movie. I honestly didn't see too much of the movie...I was too busy tripping on the whole scene! We had swung by Canter's deli and picked up a pound of corned beef, rye bread, cookies, etc plus all the yummy stuff Jan and I had gotten earlier at Trader Joes and the farmers market. I had picked up some local brew, Telegraph out of Santa Barbara and an IPA from Anderson Valley Brewing company. Both were decent but the Telegraph ( a wheat ale) not worth the 8 buck price tag and The IPA pale next to the Pliny Elder.




Yesterday we dragged the kids out of bed at 6 am just a few short hours after we poured them into bed the night before and off we went to Disneyland! Not sure anyone knows this about me but I think Disney is the happiest place on earth! Anyway, Maddie needed a wheelchair because she is nursing a soccer injury so we scored on some of the rides...of course she also needed a couple of Advil's after g-man pushed her all day (into walls, people, rides, etc...), he actually did get an honorary citizen award for his helpfulness :)






So, 16 short hours later we drove home and fell into bed!


what are we in store for on today's fun meter??

later, rob

The long and winding road...

We split Berkeley yesterday before lunch and I couldn't face the 5 again so we took the 101 down to LA...a rather longer, windier road that goes by all the missions.
We pulled into L.A. and the park that our friends were wrapping up their camp week at and then had hamburgers in a train car!
Slept in today after a late night of catching up and then Jan and I hit the Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Ralph's and Farm boy. After we came home and had a jello party.
We are off to a picnic dinner and the Muppet Movie in a cemetery...tomorrow Disneyland.
On another note I say goodbye to Aunt Miriam.
later, rob

All Aboard!

We had a great day with the cousins yesterday. Garrett scored "Thriller" and the Shining from Uncle John and Aunt Cindy. We went to Tilden Park and the girls saw some goats and rode the old restored carousel then all got aboard the coolio train and rode around the park.
Chicken tacos for dinner with Uncle John's smokey Chipolte hot sauce washed down with some Pliny the Elder, an IPA that is awesome :)
We get packed up this am and we are off to friends in LA!
later, rob

Family House

although the scenery wasn't too shabby yesterday the drive was uneventful. The highlight came when we stopped in Napa and I scored a bottle of Chiarello Vineyard's Cab...something impossible to find in Texas!
We arrived in Berkeley about 4 in the afternoon greeted with a giant hug from Dani. There is nothing like family! Cindy , John and Sophia made us comfortable immediately and we grilled out meat, I learned the tricks of corn husking and later John's bro and family came over for ice cream!
Currently John and the G-man are down in Berkeley at some hip music store and Cindy and I are taking the girls to the farm.
later, rob

Beer, Bikes and Bend...

so although i am not too impressed with Bend anymore (ok, maybe you gotta like a place that puts metal sculptures of mountain bikers in the middle of the national forest), they still have the mountain biking going on!!! G dog and myself found Phil and Kent and Ben and...Garrett spent about 2 hours on the jump track with some new friends. I tooled around on the single track too chicken to do the jump track :) By the time he was done he was all banged up, had gotten about a foot and 1/2 of air on the table tops and was a very happy boy. We then took off to find the 'whoops' trail which several forest roads later we found and I did the 1.7 mile climb to the top to be rewarded with 2 miles of screamin' downhill feathered with berms, mini tabletops, jumps and other fun stuff. By the time it was done my quads were screaming and i had a big smile on my face!
I have been so jealous of this area because every outdoor rec opportunity is available right out your back door but i finally figured out that if I lived here? I would do nothing but bike all day and drink beer all night! Mountain bike trails and micro brews are the name of the game here. Perhaps i am supposed to live in Austin?
Anyway, we plowed on to Ashland via the Umpqua Rogue Scenic Oregon Byway (unbelieveable views), but the 2 campgrounds that were in town were icky so we plowed on further. I finally had a breakdown in Yreka, CA and garrett suggested we get a motel. Since we have only had 1 night in a motel this trip i agreed and we pulled into a Rodeway inn and showered, ordered a pizza and turned on Food Network, a real treat!! I finished off the Squatters full suspension brew from Salt Lake City and am ready for bed. We are going to try to get to Dani tomorrow who is hangin' with her cousin in Berkely...we miss her and I think there is a small possibilty she misses us?
later gater, rob

In pursuit of good food, good drink and good times!

We left McMenamins yesterday after 1 last round of disc golf and headed to Portland. We searched and found the Waffle Window whereby G-man had the local berry favorite with blue, raspebbies and marionberries and I had the farm favorite with spinach, mushrooms, basil and goat cheese. Possibly the best waffles we have ever had!! We wandered around Hawthorne Ave for awhile and scored some Peets coffee and some fresh sourdough. Then we headed to Bend.
I remember Bend being a sleepy little mountain town...no more. Tons of big box stores and strip centers. We got some tips for cool riding from REI and then jumped on our bikes and peddaled the trail which goes around the Deschutes.
We hit a campgound near Redmond last night and had sandwiches and local brew and went to bed.
Today...Phil's Trail and more adventures!
later, rob

around the world in 80 days...or something like that!

We are out of the mountains and I'm going to try and be brief (good luck, eh?) as I recap!

Day 1
We took off July 11th about mid day. The morning was spent packing and repacking. I carried the group gear and let G-dog carry his personal stuff plus some food. We only hiked a couple of miles to get "into" the area. Oh, we were in the Wallowa range of eastern Oregon...Anyway, that day we found a pretty little meadow above little Minam river where Garrett exercised his G-man vs wild skills and did all sorts of cool things like find 'old man's beard' in the trees to start the fire and built a fish trap in the river ( guess trout aren't fond of chex mix!). Who says TV wastes minds??
Day 2
We had a big day planned with a 2600 foot elevation gain as we made our way up and over the ridge. Unbelieveable views, snow crossings, G-dog skiing, flowers, flowers, flowers, original campsite had no worthy water so we plowed on to to Lackeys lake, big ass storm!



Day 3
Slept in because it was raining, very cold day, downhill hike to the Minam river, campsite by the river, big campfire, marshmellows



Day 4
River hike, 1st Ford, yummy lunch of macs and tuna!, first people sighting (horsepackers), another river side campsite, slept in and dried everything out from the storm, elk in camp!


Day 5
river hike, hiked past our intended campsite (doh), garrett bathed (yay), slug snake (Oregon rubber snake we found out later).

Day 6
Day 6 was special for so many reasons...G-dog turned 13 !!! Then we surprised him with the Minam lodge! I had down played what the place was and had simply told him we were resupplying there...we arrived in the morning both so excited about his birthday and the resupply box!! His face went from happy to ecstatic as he realized he was getting lunch, then a shower, then dinner then...we ate, we tubed on the river, we played all day, we had an amazing dutch oven dinner, birthday cake, presents, farkel, Mike and his Jesse stories! Beth was the woman who was taking care of the place and she was incredible! She made Garrett's 13th really special...thenks Beth and the Minam Lodge!


Day 7
Beth made us a big breakfast of pancakes (Garrett's special request), eggs and sausage. We took off after breakfast because we knew we had a 700 foot climb right off the bat. Slack packed the Jim White ridge which was a big disappointment! Camped on Whiskey Flats, thumb wars, last nite...

Day 8
We treated ourselves to an entire dunkin stick with breakfast and 2 cups of coffee-wahoo! Big climb (1500 feet) out, went back to the really nice RV park, showered and went to town. Ate an entire loaf of challah, saw Harry Potter, grilled steaks and corn and had an amazing heirloom tomato washed down with a Portland, Oregon IPA!



We took off yesterday for McMenamins Grand Lodge and got side tracked in Hood River, he he. In our pursuit of ice cream we stopped in Hood River a really cool old town in the Colombia Gorge area. We found ice cream, a slalom skate boarding competition and of course the local bike shop which guided us to the local freeride trails about 4 miles away in the national forest. So off we went up the mountain with awesome views of the impressive Mt Hood, cherry trees and lots of little birds! We rode all over the freeride park and G-man perfected his bunny hop on my 29'er, learned how to ride those crazy wooden bridges you see in the movies (well, just a liitle), and had a blast on the middle school trail! What impresses me so much about this area is all the public land with so much cool stuff on it. Texas is so different...everyting is private.
Anyway, we drove thru Portland and got to our destination about 5:45 just in time to make the 6 o'clock show of Land of the Lost...the lodge has a way cool old theatre that they show movies in...kinda' like the alamo draft house in Austin except much smaller. G-man had a burger, I had some sweet potato fries with chipolte ketchup washed down with McMenamins own home brew...Hammerhead! We played some disc golf and had a merry old time! It was our first bed in weeks and it felt gooooood!


We are off today somewhere...not sure yet. we are on the hunt for the Mckenzie River trail...
later, rob