Carpinteria Camping

After spending Christmas with the family in Orange County, we headed up the coast for a few nights of camping at Carpinteria State Beach near Santa Barbara.

• Hike along the beach
• Explored the first section of the Mt. Montecito trail - priceless views from the overlook
• Explored the amazing asphalt still bubbling up from the bluffs
• Hit some great restaurants
• Did the tourist thing on the SB pier - it was boring
• Visited the Maritime Museum which was great

Weekend Activities

• Hit Cowles Mountain for the first time.  I wanted to see how my glute and hamstring held up.

• Balboa Park: Model Railroad Museum, San Diego History Museum
• Lunch at Slaters 50/50 in Liberty Station
• San Salvador building site at Spanish Landing Park

Weekend Activities

• Holiday parties
• Hike at Lake Hodges with lunch at Hernandez' Hideaway

Thanksgiving in Baltimore

My brother recently moved to Baltimore to accept a new position.  It is a great deal for him but moving to an unknown place is tough on the family.

We packed a ton in to the week:

• Gettysburg National Battlefield

• Museum of Visionary Artists
• Edgar Allan Poe memorial
• Spy Museum

Not to mention the eating, shopping, etc.

My uncle and his family including cousins from all over Virginia came for Thanksgiving.  It was an awesome family reunion.

Weekend Activities

• Battle of San Pascual re-enactment - Bengt made a hand-dipped candle and a corn husk doll he named "Corntez", we also picked up a iron bottle opener made the blacksmith as we watched

Books

More books...

• From Yao to Mao: 5000 Years of Chinese History by Kenneth J. Hammond - a good audiobook primer on Chinese history
• The Everything Guide to Edgar Allan Poe Book: The life, times, and work of a tormented genius (Everything (Biography)) by Shelley Costa Bloomfield – a great book on Poe that read in preparation for our recent Baltimore trip
• Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales (Library of America) by Edgar Allan Poe - read the highlights

Colorado River Trek

This past weekend, Troop 774 took a canoe trek down the Colorado River.  I had taken canoe training with the council but had never been on the river.  Most of the others were new to it as well.  We had a skills training day earlier so everyone knew what to expect.

We headed up Friday evening.  I was the first one to arrive at the our base camp at Park Moabi.  After grabbing a camp site, the others slowly trickled in until late at night.

In the morning, the outfitters (Jerkwater) showed up with the canoes.  They gave us a safety and navigation briefing and we headed off to the departure point.  We put in at a park in Needles.  The idea was to canoe back to base camp today, then float the gorge on Sunday.  Bengt and I were in the point and the float down was great but uneventful.  The only drawback was the view.  The river is below grade for most of this section, so you can’t really see anything.  When we got to the entry for the Moabi, the wind was picking up and we had to drag the canoes back up to the camp from the shore.  We had an awesome dinner and campfire before everyone headed to bed.

Sunday morning, we got an early start so we could make our exit time.  Everyone was excited as we floated under the bridge and entered Topok Gorge.  The gorge had great scenery!  We made a rest stop on a sand bar then made a lunch stop at the petroglyphs.  Since we were in the point, we had to find the path through the reeds to get to Castle Rock.  It was harder than it sounds but we finally found it.  It was so narrow we could hardly paddle.  For the day, we got lucky since we had the wind at our backs and we got to Castle Rock early.  We called Jerkwater and they can and picked us up.

Before heading out on the long ride home, we had one snafu.  One dad lost his car keys.  Since it was a rental, he need to get a tow to Las Vegas and get a new car on Monday.  But I lent him my cell phone and we had plenty of food for them so it worked out great.

Can’t wait for the next trip out there.

Books

• Before 1776 - another wonderful installment in the Great Course series for my commute
• 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles C. Mann - very enlightening book on the Columbian Exchange
• Estate Planning Basics by Denis Clifford - good intro to the confusing world of estate planning
• Crash Proof 2.0: How to Profit From the Economic Collapse by Peter D. Schiff - had some decent spots but the advice wasn't to my liking

Weekend Activities

• Bengt got his blue-green belt!
• Dog walks at Pipe and lagoon nature center
• Moonlight Beach time
• Birthday dinner at Greek American

Weekend Activities

• Moonlight Beach time (twice)
• Ran a mile on the beach in 6:09, a personal best (although I probably ran a faster mile at the Bootcamp Challenge it wasn't timed)
• Disneyland for Bengt's birthday

Canoe Day

Troop 774 had a canoe day out on Mission Bay.  We trained on the canoes for our upcoming Colorado River trek.  The kids also took out some kayaks and a small catamaran.

Weekend Activities

• Kayak with OEX at Ja Jolla Shores - great guides
• Tim Lyons Dinner Theater at St. A's

Bacon!

Did another batch of bacon this weekend.  Very tasty!

Burnt Rancheria Camping

Troop 774 headed out to Burnt Rancheria in Mt. Laguna for a tent camping event.
When we got there Friday night, it was very cold and the ground was still pretty damp from the rains earlier in the week.  The kids did great setting up tents in the dark and getting everything setup.
On Saturday, we did a nice 7 mile hike to Monument Peak and back along the PCT.  The afternoon was for advancement and skills.

Very fun time!

Weekend Activites

• Some home-schooling beach time with Bengt
• Boot Camp Challenge at MCRD

• Parents visited for the day
• Got the new water softener installed and had the central vacuum fixed

Books

• The Medieval World (audiobook) by Dorsey Armstrong - another great listen during my commute
• Desert Lore of Southern California by Choral Pepper - interesting but sometimes hard to follow
• How to Trade In Stocks by Jesse Livermore and Richard Smitten - must read for those interested in IBD-style trading
• The Getaway Guide to the JMT - a re-read from a while back
• Essential Muir: A Selection of John Muir's Best Writings (Essential) (California Legacy Book) by John Muir - short intro to Muir

Green Valley Camp

The first Troop 774 camp of the year was at Green Valley in Cuyamaca State Park.
The highlights:

• 6 mile hike along the Monument Trail to the airplane monument then up to the saddle near Jamacha Peak; downhill from there back to camp.
• The patrols had their first event and did great!
• Awesome meals for the dutch oven competition.
• Great skits at the campfire.
• One casualty during Totin' Chip axe training :(
• Fun time at the falls

Weekend Activities

* Spend most of Saturday at Jaya's field hockey tournament.  I am surprised the girls didn't pass out from the heat!
* Saw a great rehab job from Jay
* Got the toilet installed in the never-ending bathroom remodel...

Weekend Activites

• Beach time at Moonlight and Cardiff
• More work on the bathroom

San Clemente Island trip

Bengt, Lucas and Evan from Troop 774 took a snorkeling/fishing trip to "forbidden" San Clemente Island.
The boat ride was over 4 hours in each direction.  Going there was fine but coming back was a bit boring, especially when the sun when down.
We did some snorkeling near the shore and the kids got to swim ashore on the forbidden island.  The boat got caught in some high winds and some of the group was stranded for a while as the boat motored back up.
The highlight of the trip was fishing.  Bengt caught a sheephead and a calico.  Very fun!