Green Valley Campout

Troop 774 headed out for what is becoming on annual new scout camping event to Green Valley in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park.  Green Valley is a perfect first event because it is close and easy to get to; has great sites and the everyone’s favorite, the falls.

The highlight of the trip was the emergency preparedness drills that the older scouts did using the younger ones as victims.

The lowlight was some fellow campers that spent all Friday night raising heck.  Thankfully they left Saturday evening to leave us in peace.

Starting the move

We started the move to our new digs in earnest this weekend.  A large quantity of stuff was packed from the garage and the downstairs and moved across town.  The place is still being cleaned and touched up but hopefully will be completed soon.

Books

• Building Great Sentences by Brooks Landon - first volume was a useful introduction to better prose; the second volume dragged on a bit
• The Chinese Takeout Cookbook: Quick and Easy Dishes to Prepare at Home by Diana Kuan – not much for the primal eater, but lots of good stuff if you want to make your own fast food Chinese
• Day and Section Hikes Pacific Crest Trail: Southern California (Day & Section Hikes) by David Money Harris – great book on some short term PCT hikes; can’t wait to try some out

Sheep Canyon Backpack Trek

Troop 774 spent the last weekend on a backpacking trip to Sheep Canyon in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.   On Friday night, we drove up the canyon a few miles and parked at the gauging station.  It was dark but we got camp setup fairly quickly.  The night was quite windy and my tarp had problem staying up.  The primary issue was the trekking poles I was using.  The guy lines did not stay put on the poles.  In the middle of the night, I got up and replaced them with sticks.  Next time, I will try the poles upside down with the lines above the baskets.  That should keep them up.  The night was also the debut of my newly created Ray-Way quilt.  The quilt worked great but took some getting used to.

In the morning, the scouts prepared breakfast.  We had procured new water filters and canister stoves for each patrol.  This was their first time using the stoves so we had some training to do.  After eating, we packed up and started along the trail.  We crossed the creek twice before hitting the Granite Staircase.  This was the hardest part of the hike.  We then headed down into Collins Valley.  It was quite warm and we took several breaks as the new backpackers needed some time to get used to it.  After 5 miles and a few hours, we arrived at the primitive camp at Sheep Canyon.  The camp had some sites with picnic tables and some pit toilets (sans roofs).  We spent the day exploring the nearby hills and teaching the scouts how to pump water with the new filters.   After dinner, Roger the Scoutmaster had hauled in a log for a small campfire.  The night was windier that the last.  My quilt was blown off me a couple times before I turned around.  The tarp held up much better but a couple stakes came out due to wind.

I tried out a couple of primal backpacking foods.  My Saturday dinner was a turkey and pepper dish I dehydrated a few weeks ago.  Lunch and snacks were jerky, bars and trail mix, all primal, all delicious.

Weekend Activities

Jyoti and Bengt were in Atlanta visiting Aji and Ajoba, so Jaya had the week to ourselves.

• Jaya went to grandma's to visit for a couple of days and spent the time shopping and watching movies.
• When I picked her up, we had dinner at Umami Burger in Costa Mesa.  Very friendly very tasty, very expensive.
• Enjoying the weather at Moonlight Beach - the new concession building in progressing nicely

• 6 mile urban hike - got some hot spots but no full blown blisters

• Lagoon walk with the dog
• Liquid nitrogen powered ice cream at the newly opened Subzero
• Best of all, one-on-one time with my teenage daughter

Westlake Village Getaway

Jyoti and I took little getaway this weekend up to the L.A. area.  Jo found a good Travel Zoo deal for the Westlake Village Inn.

We headed up Saturday morning and avoided any traffic.  In Santa Monica, we stopped at a Starbucks for a pit stop and then visited our favorite wine store from our L.A. days, The Wine House.

Our next stop was a hike at Paramount Ranch.  This park was featured in an episode of California’s Gold and looked like a neat area.  In the parking, we noticed the huge number of ground squirrels; Sophie would love this place!  The first thing on the hike was the western town.  A movie set, the town was pretty impressive especially since it is open to anyone who wants to walk through it.  We then continued on our loop hike and ended up doing about 3 miles.

We next drove a short distance to the Reagan Ranch.  One of Ronald Reagan’s former properties, it serves as a trailhead to the MASH set.  We only did a mile here since the weather started to get windy and cold.

After leaving the ranch, we drove west along Mulholland Highway.  We passed some very nice mountain communities and passed the legendary Rock Store biker café.  Just past the café, we stopped at a hairpin turn to check out the views.  There were also some photographers there taking pictures of the bikers and cars making the curve.  We took the highway all the way down to the beach.  From there, we turned right and headed along the coast.  Rather than get back on the freeway, we chose to take back roads to return to Westlake Village.  However, these back roads had the city on one side and the park on the other; not very scenic, but better than the 101 freeway.

We got back just in time to check in to our room which was very large, with a high ceiling, a comfy couch next to a even comfier bed.  There was a gas fireplace but it was more decorative than functional.

Part of the TZ deal, we got a free wine tasting at their new wine bar, Stonehaus.  The flight featured five of their private label wines, wines that we greatly enjoyed.  We got a couple of others off their modest list including a local Los Angeles County Chardonnay, its grapes grown in Malibu, a wine that turned out surprisingly good.  They also had a great cheese plate and graciously left off the crackers to appease our grain-free palates.  We then headed over to the hotel restaurant, mediterraneo.  I ordered a fabulous roasted chicken and Jyoti go the tuna.  We overdid it and ordered two desserts.  It was nice to have a long, lazy evening without having to worry about getting back to something.

The next morning, we ate again at mediterraneo.  I had the yogurt and granola while Jyoti had the oatmeal.  I normally don’t eat breakfast but the yogurt was quite good.  After breakfast we headed on back to Encinitas.  Traffic was very light and we only needed a single Starbucks stop.

I highly recommend the Westlake Village Inn.  They have a golf course, banquet facilities, great restaurants and a friendly staff.  Being located so close to the mountains, you can get some great hikes in as well.  I would love to visit the mountains again in the near future for more hikes.

SDA Winter Formal

SDA has their Winter Formal this past weekend.  Jaya joined a large group of kids who arranged for a bus to take them to the event and back.  Prior to, we had dinner at Buca di Bepo with two of the other families that also had kids going to the event.  Jaya looked great in her black dress, curls and Converse All-Stars.