The family took a nice road trip to the back country. We started heading east on the 78, through Escondido and its numerous lights and through the San Pasqual Valley into Ramona. We took a quick stop at the Santa Ysabel Open Preserve West to stretch our legs. This somewhat new trail is something we will surely want to come back to. Back on the road, we turned north at Santa Ysabel and took the 79 past Lake Henshaw.
The meadows here were spectacular with flowers and green grass. A right on S2 and S22 took us down the curvy road into Borrego Springs.
We stopped in at the Anza Borrego Park headquarters and checked out the nature center. It was very educational for us. We then headed up a bit to do the Palm Canyon hike. However, the rangers at the site informed us that dogs are not permitted on park land. With nowhere to hike, we drove around a bit to see if we could some wildflowers from the road.
Along Borrego Springs Rd., a landowner has installed life size sculptures of pre-historic creatures. The statues are made of steel and very impressive. We caw sloths, camels, turtles, smilodons, pigs and even velociraptors. Thanks to the Galleta Meadows people for displaying these. We tried heading up a dirt road, but thought the better of it and heading out of Borrego Springs.
We headed south to catch the 78 into Julian. I love going to Julian and it very nice weather there and not crowded at all. The dog got a walk through the old cemetery and the kids got ice cream at the soda fountain on the main corner. On the way out of Julian, we stopped at the Inaja Memorial Park and did a dusk hike on the nature trail there. Wonderful views!
We then headed home the way we came.

We had our very first PIPE at South Carlsbad State Beach. Lots of fun and great food.
Friends pix can be seen here.

* Company picnic at Liberty Station. Got there early to grab some geocaches, then enjoyed some great food and games. Liberty Station is a very nice neighborhood, it has so much within a quick walk. We enjoyed the small museum at the NTC Command Center.
* Saw "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" - was decent, but quite different from the book.
* Dog hike at San Elijo Lagoon - too hot even for the lizards
* Quick trip to Cardiff Beach - nice way to beat the heat
* Harp and flute concert at La Costa Valley - wine and Subway subs!
* Installed a new reverse osmosis system - finally found one that fits our new sink cabinet, a Whirlpool model that has a smaller storage tank. The install went well consider I had to rebuild the drain system from the p-trap up.

My sister-in-law, who is a fabulous photographer, is having an open house for her new studio.

* Jyoti's cousin Abhi was in town so we did a very typical San Diego experience and went to the zoo.

My parents took me and my brother's families on a 7-day Disney Cruise recently to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. This was my first cruise and didn't know what to expect other than the stereotypical cruise experiences.
Disney ships leave from Port Canaveral so we flew into Orlando the night before departure. We stayed the night in the airport Hyatt. It was a decent hotel with a nice pool the kids enjoyed when reuniting with their cousins.


Orlando Airport
The next morning we boarded Disney buses for the 45 minute trip to the port. The buses had a video to inform us on what to expect. They were very nice and the trip was pleasant. At the terminal, there was the usual security theater. Everyone gets a "Key to World Card" which acts as a room key and credit card. The kids cards were supposedly set to "no charge" mode but some shops did not seem to recognize this feature. We had to get our pictures taken so they could visually verify us when getting on and off the ship. There was a cool model of our ship, the Magic, in the lobby. We also registered the kids for their respective activity centers.


Disney Buses


Terminal
We finally boarded and we were immediately slammed with the sales pitches. The first was two guys selling bottled water and beer by the case (at much less than bar prices they claimed). We ate the buffet and hit the pools while waiting for our staterooms to be ready.
The rooms were small but nice. Better than a mid-range hotel room. The kids had bunk bends to sleep in (the bottom bunk was formed from the sofa). Our room was on deck 2 (second lowest) and toward the stern. I like having the lower deck since the motion was less. However, our aft location gave us some noisy nights. We eventually complained about it and an crew member came by to check it out. He made some adjustments to the bunk bed but after that the weather improved so the creaking mostly stopped. The loudest noise came from the thrusters which are using when pulling into port which usually happens early in the morning. I didn't mind since I like getting up early but if you are sleeper, make sure to get a room amidships.

Towel Sculpture
Our first two days were at sea, heading south. The winds where quite strong and made being on the top deck interesting. The crew said this was one of the windiest cruises they have ever had. Thank goodness for stabilizers or it would have been ugly. In spite of the wind, we hit the pools, the arcade and the of course the food.

Kiddie Pool

Hot tub
Our first port of call was Tortola, the largest of the British Virgin Islands. Most of our group went on a swim-with-the-dolphins excursion. The rest of us when on a guided mini-bus tour of the island. Our driver, Mr. Quick, drove up and down and all around the island. He was very proud of his home and pointed out all the interesting facets of it. One thing that I found particularly fascinating was the way the BVI'ers handled construction. They usually only build one floor at a time, but they left all the plumbing, electrical and re-bar fittings sticking up into what will someday become the next story. Its looks like the house was devastated by a hurricane, when in fact the opposite was the case. This was the Magic's first call to Tortola and Mr. Quick might get a comment to two regarding his saucy description of a local bar and its full moon festivals; let's just say the stories of panties did not mesh with the Disney crowd. Overall, I thought Tortola was bit shabby, but the people were nice and welcoming.

Overlooking Tortola

Opposite side of Tortola

The second port of call was a mere 30 miles away at St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. We didn't have any shore excursions planned, so we wanted to get some snorkeling in. A guidebook suggested a couple of beaches so we went to get a taxi. A tip for you: get the price before piling in the cab. We weren't thinking and probably got ripped off. Obama's stimulus money hard at work. Anyway I made it back in booze savings. The snorkeling was average. The beach was crawling with "waitresses." They weren't mean or pushy, but they kept coming by asking if we wanted something to drink or eat. After a couple hours, we had enough. We did find time to get to a couple geocaches which was fun. As for the booze, here is a tip: don't go to the place closest to the dock, walk another 50 yards and save loads of money. I simply crossed the street to "Al's Booze Barn" and saved tons on some Johnny Walker Swing a friend asked me to get for him. I also picked up some Cointreau for myself and Kevin.

Shark outside Al's Booze Barn
After another day at sea, we pulled into Disney's own island, Castaway Cay. Right from the dock, you knew this was an extension of the ship and of Disney, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. First, the snorkeling was great. They filled the lagoon with a bunch of old buoys, boats, etc. to attract tons of fish. The only drawback is it takes a bit of swimming to get out to the good stuff which limits the range of the kids. Second, the food was great. My brother and I did an morning 5K. The heat was brutal, but I did pretty good.

Flying Dutchman at Castaway Cay
The highlight of any cruise is the on-board entertainment. I was expecting some B-level Disney shows rehashed from the parks, but I was woefully mistaken. The shows were first rate amazing productions. My favorite show was the "Golden Mickeys", a take on the Oscars which features the big Disney animated films. The girls' favorite entertainment was karaoke; they participated every night it was offered. I even joined in for a song or two. The crew members who ran the entertainment were very professional and really kept things going.

The New Rat Pack

Jaya and Dad dominating Disney trivia

Pirate Game

Fun on Deck
The other focus of a cruise is the food. The quantity is a given, but the quality is what matters to me. Breakfasts were average. We usually ate at the buffet in order to save time. It is hard to mess up oatmeal, donuts and bacon and Disney didn't. Lunch was usually taken on deck at the fast food stand. Decent burgers and fries. I don't expect much for lunch and I wasn't disappointed. Dinners were excellent. I like how the menus changed each night. I tried to stay on the lighter side but everything was great. The service was also top notch, better than almost any restaurant you find on the mainland. I especially enjoyed the black tie nights where I could break out my James Bond Mk I tuxedo.

Three Good Looking Guys

One Good Looking Guy and Two Good Looking Girls

Three Good Looking Girls Looking for a Good Time
After boarding, we set off for the final leg home. We pulled in quite early and I was able to watch the resupply operations for a while. It was amazing to watch the amount of stuff they are able to move off trucks and onto the ship with their little fork lifts. They only have a few hours to get everything squared away before they ship leaves again.

Disembarking
We had an evening flight but we got to the airport quite early. I checked for any earlier flight and we just made one which turned out to be very lucky for us. Our bags were already checked through on our later flight thanks to the Disney baggage handlers but we figured we would just pick them up later. At Dallas, we quickly checked the board for our connecting flight and noticed a gate change. We hustled on the train to the gate and just made the flight, very lucky for us. After landing, I checked on the status of our later flight which had our luggage; the leg from Dallas had been canceled. Had we stuck to our original itinerary, we would have another involuntary day of vacation. Now, we just had to wait until morning for our bags. Tip: get on the first flight you can AND you get to the Orlando airport in plenty of time for an early afternoon flight.

Thanks, Mom and Dad

Spent last weekend at Camp Marston for another Woodcutters Weekend. We cut wood in the rain, sleet and snow but thankfully the wood lot had a cover on it. The kids were relieved of duty and spent most of the time playing Ga-Ga.

The kids and I have been going to Camp Marston near Julian for several years now. I always wanted my wife to go to see what all the fuss was about. It turns out that the camp has a Woodcutters Weekend that families can attend. Your family gets to stay at the camp at no charge, but in return you have to cut wood, literally. We spend 8 hours on Saturday and a few more on Sunday turning big pieces of wood into little pieces wood.
Here is a before picture of the wood pile.

Here is the after picture of the pile; it is more impressive in person.

The family operating dangerous machinery

* Hiked Elfin Forest Reserve for the first time.



* Adventure Guides event at Indian Hills.

Just got back from a wonderful week long family vacation on the Garden Isle of Hawaii, Kauai.
* Discovered Queen's Bath in Princeville. It is a very steep and muddy hike down to the lava rocks. The adventure was better than the snorkeling.
* Rented bikes and rode the new pathway along the Kapaa coast.
* Shore-dived Tunnels on the North Coast. Saw a couple of sleeping white tip reef sharks, eels and two small turtles. The current was rough coming in on the first dive. IMHO, Tunnels is a better snorkeling spot than scuba.
* Caught a luau at Smith's Tropical Paradise. The grounds were wonderful, the food delicious, and the show was great. I highly recommend this luau.
* Did the 2 mile Kalalu trail segment to the first beach. When we reached the beach, we some locals returning from a pig hunting party. They had about a dozen dogs that rounded up the pigs which the men then killed with a knife. These guys already had one pig dressed and one fellow carried like a backpack. Jaya thought it was very creepy.
* Kayaked up the Wailua River to Secret Falls. The hike to the falls was worth it. The kids did some great paddling even with the fierce winds coming back.
* Got a lot of beach time right in front of the condo. The kids were old enough to tolerate the waves.
* Good eats: Chaka Taco in Kapaa, Brick Oven Pizza in Kalaheo,

We recently went to Atlanta to visit family. Some of the highlights:
* Stone Mountain - awesome time at the small amusement park. Loved the SkyHike even with its two hour line. Bought a fire poker made the resident blacksmith. Took the gondola to the top. Took the tram to the top of the mountaingiant rock. Pretty nice views from there given the flatness of the area.
* Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield - this time we drove to the top and saw the amazing view (better than Stone Mountain). Also went to the Dead Angle on Cheatham Hill. Over 5,000 soldiers were killed during the battle, many on Cheatham. For prespective, 19 soldiers died at our local battle site, San Pascual.
* Smyrna Historical Museum - had a nice chat with a life-long resident. My wife may donate some of her high school yearbooks next time we go.

Went to Washington D.C. for a week to see the sites.

• Washington Monument - always awesome. We didn't have trouble getting tickets since we stopped by early in the day. Apparently there is a walking tour that shows off some of the interior; I will give that shot next time.
  
  
  


• World War II Memorial - a bit underwhelming; it seems as though the designers went for quantity over quality. While deserving of a memorial, this detracts from the view from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument.


• Lincoln Memorial - a classic.
  
  
  


• Korean War Memorial - having never seen this, I really liked it. The statues were impressive.


• Vietnam Veterans Memorial - goes without saying.


• Capitol Building - very worthwhile. Since we had to go through our Representative's office, we also got to visit his staff (although he was not there). Found out there is a staircase that leads up to the top of the Rotunda but is not open to the public. Make sure you find out about John Adams and how we use the acoustics in the original House chamber.
  
  
  
  
  


• National Mall - must have walked the Mall several times getting to all the places.
  
  
  
  
  


• White House - a difficult ticket to get and probably not worth taking little kids.


• National Gallery - didn't even get to a quarter of it; plan on spending days to see everything.


• National Portrait Gallery - unexpectedly nice.


• American Art Museum - ditto.


• Air and Space Museum - gets better all the time.
  
  
  


• Hazy Air and Space Museum - still a work in progress, but the sheer volume of historic aircraft make it a winner; the SR-71 is worth the trip just by itself.


• International Spy Museum - if you are interested in espionage, you can miss this. Don't expect much James Bond stuff, there is just a small homage to 007. The kids enjoyed it even though they didn't understand it.


• National Archives - first time here. They are trying to make it more than just the Charters of Freedom by adding some additional exhibits. Well worth it even thought the Magna Carta is no longer there.


• Natural History Museum - ours kids get to the San Diego version of this so this wasn't as big a deal to them.


• Marine Corps War Memorial - much more impressive in person.
  
  
  


• Flew in a helicopter (an R-22) with my uncle.
  
  
  

As everyone knows, San Diego was consumed by several spectacular wildfires over the past few days. Here is our story.

Sunday afternoon

I had read on the internet about a fire starting in Ramona but didn't give it much thought. We left for the kids piano recital in Del Mar. In the space of just a few miles, the air got very thick and smoky. The recital was canceled due the the air so we went to George's beach to walk the dog. The air there was getting bad and in fact you could see the smoke cloud starting to creep northward. Went to bed without any concern.

Monday morning

I woke up as usual and headed to the office before dawn. It was smelly but I still wasn't concerned.

Monday 1000

Jyoti calls and says the air is getting very bad. I have been watching the news all morning and now it seems the Witch Fire has started to head west. Jyoti says a neighbor got a voluntary evacuation call, but we never receive one.

Monday 1100

Jyoti packs the car and kids and heads up to my parents in Orange County (they are well away from the fires there).

Monday 1200

I decided to leave work and head up to OC as well. I first stop by the house to see what is going on. The air is almost unbearable with ash and smoke.

Monday night

I spend most of the evening checking the news for information. The following are my best resources:

• UT's Fire Blog - once they moved it to blogspot it became the best news sources


• SD County Emergency - had the best maps (better than the Google mashups IMHO)


• Cat Dirt Sez - the best blogger following the fire


• Channel 10 News - had live streaming video, covered the western edge of the Witch Fire

Tuesday morning

Things got pretty tense as the Witch Fire headed westward into the Rancho Santa Fe. If you look at the map, we live a couple miles directly west of the Bridges community. The fire looked like it would wipe out a few estates in RSF and Olivenhain and head for us. Later reports said that the fire would have most likely follow Escondido Creek to the ocean. That is about a half mile from our house. Since our area is more dense than the areas to the east, I doubted that the fire would actually get to our neighborhood.

Tuesday afternoon

The wind died down and with it, the fire's advance. The flames headed back eastward towards Del Dios. A coworker of my mom's who lives in Encinitas and stayed the entire time, says the air is already getting better.

Tuesday night

The decision is made for me to go back tomorrow morning and see how things are. If they look ok, then the family will come down as well.

Wednesday morning

I got up early anticipating getting back home. My dad, says the 5 has been closed due to fires in Camp Pendleton. I wait until the freeway is open again and cruise the near-empty highways to home. The house is dusty but looks fine. Off to the office for a few hours work.


I was here during the 2003 fires and it is interesting to compare this event to that.

• Reverse 911 - although we didn't get a call, this great idea undoubtedly saved lives


• Evacuations - it seems that people evacuated sooner and in greater numbers; this might be due to the memories of 2003


• Air Support - the criticism of air support has already started, just like in 2003. I know the high winds prevented some flights on the first couple days, but it still seems that there is still some work to do to get Federal/Military assets to the scene


• Big Government - useless as usual. Didn't anyone care that FEMA had arrived? Most of the relief effort was already organized and rolling within hours. Is anyone else sick of those worthless interviews with governors, senators and presidents?


• Firefighters - continue to amaze me in their ability to handle multiple huge fires at the same time; our friend is a Cal Fire fighter and we know he was in the Ramona area but we will have to wait for details

I wonder if the Natural History Museum will update their Cedar Fire exhibit?

First Guides trip of the year!

The family and I went to the Nighttime Zoo this past weekend. I always love the evening zoo hours as most of the animals are more active, especially the cats.
One thing my son and I noticed about the bathrooms is that they don't have child level urinals. This is quite puzzling since half the patrons at the zoo are kids. Even my office has low urinals and kids are never there. Most of the bathrooms look like have been refitted with the no-water units, so why didn't they make them lower then? Very strange.

We recently had an ice cream man starting coming around the neighborhood. He has the typically van with all the advertising stickers on it. He also has the corny music. But this ice cream also smokes like a chimney and seems to hate kids. Once my two heard him coming and, after getting permission of course, ran to get their money. The guy saw the kids hurry off but didn't bother to wait and drove off. Now maybe his compensation packages is tied to mileage instead of ice cream treats sold, but now the kids aren't really excited when he comes by anymore.

My reign as the Dorado Tribe Chief ended this past weekend with our last event at Dos Picos. I had a great time as Chief and had a great group of guys in the tribe that make things easy.

My wife got me a Coach wallet for my birthday a long time ago. Over the years, it has started to wear along the spine. The Coach site describes their lifetime warranty, so I sent it in for repair. A few weeks later, the wallet was returned untouched. The response letter said that it was unrepairable; in exchange, they gave me 40% off any item. The discount isn't bad, especially if I get something pricey, but they should have sent me a new wallet. Maybe I will get one of these, or these.

For Jaya's birthday, I took her and a friend to Disneyland on Saturday. We had a blast. Got there right after it opened and staying almost to closing. We did every ride the girls wanted except for Peter Pan, which had 60 minute plus lines the entire time.
I also did a few things that I had never done before:

• Parked in the Poombah lot. If you get the opportunity to park in this lot, DON'T! It is located across Harbor Blvd. and there is no shuttle service. This wasn't a big deal in the morning when we are hyped up, but at 11:00 at night with two tired girls, the walk is no fun.


• Saw the story at Aladdin's Oasis. It is easy to miss this attraction wedged between Jungle Cruise and the Tiki Room, but I highly recommend it if you have kids. The actors did a great job telling the story of the movie.


• Got dinner and a show at the Golden Horseshoe. I don't think I have ever been inside the Golden Horseshoe, but they have food (a limited menu though) and great entertainment. The band was country/hillbilly with a frontman that looked very much like Neal Young. Very entertaining, but a tad bit loud.


• Rode Roger Rabbit spin ride in Toon Town. This had the longest line of the day and right before we were about to board, the ride broke down. As the current passengers were unloaded, they announced a 20 minute wait and we decided to stick it out. After almost exactly 20 minutes, it was back up and running again.

Each weekend, we try to get out on a hike that is not too difficult for the kids and we can take the dog. Out favorite is on the Manchester Trails just a short distance away. We call it Pipe Hike for the gas pipeline running through the park. Most of it is buried, but there is a wash that was exposed the pipe so it acts like a bridge. The kids like to cross the over it.
One our last trip, I took my eTrex and tracked our route. Through the wonders of Google Maps and GPSVisualizer, I made a map of our trip. Our route is 1.7 miles which is just right for the tykes. There is one steep stretch where we climb 160 ft. in little over a tenth of a mile.

I spent the last week in St. Louis visiting my brother and his family. He has a girl and a boy that are year behind my kids (my mom got grandkids in four straight years) plus an infant. The kids got along great even though they are very different personalities.
My family has deep roots in the St. Louis area. My mom grew up in Cahokia and met my dad while he was attending Parks College. My brother also attended Parks and worked for Anheuser-Busch before moving to Merrill Lynch.
We hit some great sites this trip:

• St. Louis Zoo - an awesome zoo and free to boot! It was pretty cold so alot of the animals were off exhibit keeping warm. However, the antelopes and other hoofed animals were in a big barn. You could get very close to them and the highlight were the giraffes.


• The City Museum - probably the greatest playground/children's museum I have seen. It has to be seen to be believed. If you have kids and are in the area, plan a day to go here. We stayed for over 7 hours and kids didn't want to leave.


• U.S. Grant Historical Site - a small, but very interesting park. It contains the house that the Grant's owned. The rangers where extremely informative. I plan on visiting this park again when the museum is finished.


• Jefferson National Expansion Memorial - best known for the Gateway Arch, this park also has a good museum and a great film on Lewis & Clark. The arch is not for the claustrophobic or altophobic. Imagine getting into a large clothes dryer and going straight up for over 600 feet. The angle of the viewing windows at the top let you see behind the arch.

Had an awesome Thanksgiving week. Took some time off work to burn off some accumulated vacation days. My brother and his family flew in from St. Louis and we all had a great time. Of course we did some Black Friday shopping but didn't find nearly the deals as in the past. It seems that retailers are spreading it out over the year.
Spent one night camping at San Onofre State Beach, San Mateo campground. This is nice campground, but has become a bit pricey.
On Monday, we spent the day at Disneyland. It was a bit wet in the morning, but that just served to keep the crowds to a minimum. There was hardly any lines and even though the park closed at 8:00pm, we got on everything we wanted to. My daughter loved Star Tours but I can only ride it once before getting motion sickness. My son, on the other hand, wanted to ride the Storybookland Canal Boats and Its a Small World. I like the movie additions to Pirates but hated the Christmas version of Haunted Mansion.
Can't wait to visit St. Louis in December.

Does anyone hate Halloween as much as I do? Here are some reasons for my dislike:
* Standing out in the cold
* Standing out in the dark
* Kids who change their minds about their costumes on an hourly basis
* Having to go to work/school the next day
* Sugered up children

I must be getting old, since those are the reasons I like Halloween as a kid.

* Bike ride
* Recaulk bathtub
* Haircuts
* Family day at Lux Art Institute
* Birthday party
* Devine guitar school concert at Cardiff Seaside Market

One week after the first Indian Princess event (my first as tribal chief), I had my first campout with Bengt in the Indian Guides. This event was at Mission Trails, one of my favorite spots. We got there Friday evening and were quickly swarmed by mosquitos. I have been to Mission Trails several times and hadn't any problem with bugs, but we were practically eaten alive. Then the rain soaked our tent and we had to make a midnight move into the car to stay dry. A light rain accompanied us on our morning hike but then stopped for good after lunch. Overall, I was very pleased with Bengt and he had a great time.

The dog saga continues...
As you know, we had to give Sophie back to her original family. The dog and kids were very sad. But it seems that she wasn't doing back in her new (old) home. Her owner said she was barking alot and the neighbors were complained. So my wife, being a big softy, agreed to take Sophie back. We surprised the kids when we picked her up at Mission Bay on Saturday. She's a good dog and it is nice to have her back with us.