Yosemite June 2010 Day 1 Mariposa Grove

Our first family adventure of the summer of 2010 began on June 21st when we drove down to Bass Lake to meet up with my mom who was staying at one of her timeshare condos. Some other family members had been there the previous couple days, but they had left before we got there (I guess they heard we were coming--smart people).

As soon as we rendezvous-ed (I took three and a half years of French, but have no recollection whatsoever of how to conjugate verbs in the past tense. Rendezvous-amos?--sorry Ms. Hires) with my mom, we made the trip to one of the truly best and happiest places on earth--Yosemite. This was our second trip to Yosemite, the first being the previous year 2009, on my birthday, September 5 (I'll wait while you update your calendar).

Welcome back. Our destination was Mariposa Grove, which is close to the south entrance of the park. To be honest, I wasn't very enthusiastic about looking at a bunch of trees. You're probably having a hard time believing that, thinking back to this previous blog post and all of its pictures, not to mention the other 174 pictures from which I spared you, but it's true. In fact, I spent a good part of the trip saying, with feigned enthusiasm, things like "Hey guys, come look at this. It's a tree," and, "Oh my goodness, check this out. It's a tree!"

I believe we're looking at Fallen Monarch

Despite my sarcastic comments, I did make a positive contribution to the hike: I gave us trail names. (Well, I didn't necessarily come up with all the names, but I came up with the idea and thus feel I can take credit for the names). Lennon was Cougar (after the fearsome cat, not the equally fearsome, and sometimes alluring--to men other than me of course--female), Abby was Digicam (guess what she was doing during the hike), Meghan named herself "Long-Trail" because she felt like the trail was going on forever--5 minutes after we started. Rachel was "Hiker" (I didn't make that one up). I cannot recall my trail name. Trail names always make hiking better. (Just ask my favorite contemporary magazine writer, Steve Friedman. By the way, check the date on this hilarious story, it was published after our trip. So I can still take credit for deciding to give the family trail names. I wasn't influenced by him. Although it's quite possible that he was influenced by me.)

A bachelor and Bachelor and Three Graces

Grizzly Giant

Long Trail inside a tall tree

Mariposa Grove museum--closed when we got there.The cool lady in the baseball hat is my mommy.

As we were walking back from the museum, we took a smaller trail--it's always best to go back a different way than the way you came when possible, more adventurous--we saw a weasel trotting up the trail with a mouse or something resembling a mouse in its mouth. It walked right up to about 3 feet in front of us, then hopped off the trail passed around us, jumped back on the trail,and just kept on going. It was AWESOME, one of my favorite animal sightings ever. Here's the sad part: The picture below is the closest we came to documenting the sighting.

There was a weasel here a second before we took this blurry picture

We had some bad luck with our camera on this trip. A lot of our pictures turned out blurry, including a picture of Rachel and I posing in front of the two trees growing together called Faithful Couple, as well as some pictures of a really cool woodpecker. Dang it! (I apologize for my language.)

Faithful Couple

Photo courtesy of Gayle Green  (and her reliable camera)

Our wildlife sighting didn't end after we left park boundaries. On the way back to the condo, we spotted an unusual sight, did a u-turn and documented this:

Some random peacock on some random person's property

As excited as I was about going to Yosemite, the kids were equally excited about going swimming in the pool at the condo. They would have been super happy just staying at the pool for the few days that we were there. So on the hike we heard a lot of comments such as "how much longer till we get to go swimming?" and "I wish we were swimming." It was starting to get late as we were heading back and I was afraid that we wouldn't make it to the condo before the pool was closed, so when we got there with only about 15 minutes before Adult Swim, I pulled up next to the pool, and Rachel and the kids headed over there while I went back to the condo to fetch the towels. As I was watching them walk away I realized I had just dropped the kids off at the pool--literally! I chuckled to myself and went to get the towels.

So Cal pt 4 Disneyland

Disneyland was the reason we made the trip to SoCal in the first place. Rachel, my sister Kelly, and my mom had all participated in the "Give a Day, Get a Day" program where you did some sort of service project (they made quilts) and you got a free pass for Disneyland. So on July 8th we made our way to the allegedly "happiest place on earth." 

One day in Disneyland isn't enough to do everything (even I will concede that point, although 2 days is plenty for me), but I think we did a pretty good job packing it all in.

Here are the highlights:

One of Meghan's favorite things about Disneyland is the Winnie the Pooh ride, and her kind-hearted aunt Kelly took her there while the rest of us were waiting in line for Splash Mountain.

Meghan and Jace and a churro

Pooh and Tigger! Jackpot! or should I say Honeypot?--heh heh heh

The biggest highlight for me had to be basking in the presence of and learning wisdom from some Theme park Masters. Let me set the stage: Anyone who knows me knows I am cheap. Anyone who knows anything about Disneyland knows it is a financial black hole that sucks money out of people's pockets and into some other dimension. You should be able to recognize the conflict. How do we come to resolution, you may ask? It's simple. Disneyland sucks away most of my money, but to keep a little spare change, I carry a backpack with snacks and drinks with me. And I thought that I was pretty smart for figuring out this way to keep at least a small percentage of my money away from the grubby paws of Mickey and his empire, but while waiting in line for Splash Mountain, I was a witness to true genius. Pay attention to the following group of photos, or as the cliche goes, observe and be instructed:

Note the cheese and crackers that Abby is holding. This is typical of Green family trip snackage. Now, allow your eyes to travel to the space above Abby's head. Notice the girl in the green shirt and the guy in the white shirt further back and to the left. Now look at the same photo cropped and enlarged:

In case you can't tell, those real men [and women] of genius (the girl in the white shirt and the guy whose face you can just make out above Rachel's head are in on it too) pulled out a huge roast beef sandwich from one of their backpacks and divided it up amongst themselves. Seriously, when I saw that, I felt as if I had been in the presence of enlightened beings. My Austin snack assortment was nothing in comparison. The whole experience opened up my eyes to the possibilities. . . And then . . .  I saw the apex of self reliant snacking when one of the guy's reached in his backpack and pulled out a full size bottle of French's Mustard. See photo below.

If I drank Budweiser (which I don't), I would raise my glass in salute to Mr. I carry a fully stocked deli in my back - pack.
The trip continued:

It's A Small World was a ride we missed on our first Disneyland trip.

See my button? We all got one for being part of the Give one, get one program

The requisite Disneyland photo

My favorite part of the Disneyland trip was the last ride of the night. My parents watched our kids, and Rachel and I rode the Matterhorn together. It was very fun. Unfortunately, I have no photographic proof of the event, not even to verify that there is such a ride as the Matterhorn. (Allusion to previous post and reader comment--see Joshua Tree)

The next day we were all up and getting ready to go back home, except Meghan who is our late sleeper. I was messing around taking pictures, as I tend to do, when I just serendipitously captured one of the cutest and funniest wake ups ever. The following collage gives you a quick taste, but the stop motion video captures it better.

On the way home we made a side trip to the beach and pier at Santa Monica, and drove past the LA temple, and then 6 hours or so later, made it back home where the next item on the agenda was painting the exterior of the house, which just illustrates that it's not all fun and games with the Greens--just mostly fun and games.

Willow Creek Exploration 1-25-2011

The first time we went to Willow Creek (on Lake Natoma--the entrance is on Folsom Blvd. across from the outlets) we saw a cool island that we wanted to explore. Yesterday we made that happen. It's finals week at Burbank, so we have minimum days. I was caught up on grading (a rarity for me); the sun was shining; it was time for an adventure. 

Now I love being in the canoe, but sometimes the kids aren't as excited as I am about it. I guess for them, it's just a lot of sitting around. So this time, I decided we'd change things up a bit. When we put the canoe in the water, Rachel and I sat in the middle and we put Abby in the front and Lennon in the back and handed the paddles over to them. It seemed like we were forgetting something, but off we went. (Just kidding, Meghan was in front of Lennon and we gave her a paddle too.) 

I expected that we'd spend a lot of time going around in circles, but the kids did pretty well and got us to the island. We did some exploring. Here's what it looked like:

While exploring, Lennon came across a length of rope, and being well schooled in Man vs Wild, he knew that it could be put to use, so he picked it up. And then, with Rachel's help, he was able to utilize it.

On a side note, I'm still not confident in my poison oak identification skills, but I'm pretty sure the plant in the photo below is poison oak.

Poison Oak, right?

The photo above was taken right next to where Lennon's left foot is in the picture below. I found more scattered about. Luckily, we appear to have escaped  unscathed.

That's my boulderer

The far side of our island (I first typed back side of our island, but that's a different picture)

 When we got back into the canoe, we set our sights across the lake on what I thought looked like an exploded mini volcano, and what Lennon argued was a plateau (read pla-too). We decided we needed to further explore so we headed over. Unfortunately our expedition arrived too late. The territory had already been claimed by a lone explorer (read homeless dude taking a nap), so team leader Rach decided to postpone the summit attempt for another day. She then began to amuse herself by launching large rocks off the side of the hill. Abby promptly followed suit.

So Cal pt 3 Missions and Mexico

Day 3 of our So Cal trip (July 7, 2010) was reserved for some California History (although the history lesson would take on a slightly broader scope than we had originally planned). We started the trip out by visiting the Mission San Luis Rey de Francia. It was very cool and it made me wonder what it would have been like to be there back in the day. Of course the photo model on this excursion was none other than 4th grader Abby Green (thus making these shots applicable to her California history project).

So I expected some church history, but I expected it to be Catholic church history. Turns out Mormons have a little history here too. The army barracks in the 2 photos above housed members of the Mormon battalion. On the back side of the barracks was a small square monument with the following plaques:

look carefully at the refection. Do you see my head gear?

 The next part of the journey was to drive to the U.S.- Mexico border. Ace, my brother in law, was particularly curious to see the border. Personally, I was a little scared. I didn't really want to go. I was afraid we'd miss the last turn off or something and end up in Mexico with no way out or anything. I don't know. I just wasn't really enthusiastic, which is why what happened is kind of funny.

Construction going on at the San Diego Temple. We have a history of visiting temples when they are closed for renovation.

We made it to the last exit before the border without any problems. It was very clearly marked. There wasn't any way to mess up. My fears turned out to be unfounded.

The border fence and Mexico beyond

One for the 4th grade project

This is probably where the trouble started. Once I was so close to the border, I felt this overwhelming urge to cross it. I mean wouldn't it be cool for the kids to be able to make casual remarks like, "When I was in Mexico last summer . . ." I mentioned that it would be cool to just cross the border real quick, just to say we've been outside the country. In my defense, someone could have quickly squashed my burgeoning enthusiasm simply and completely by saying, "We can't go into Mexico. We don't have passports." Instead, they mentioned that they had heard that if you're just visiting for the day all you need is a driver's license. Well, I had a driver's license baby! Game on.

Again, this is the place where someone could have said, "I don't know Bill. This seems kind of crazy. I think crossing international borders is pretty serious and we should probably have some definitive answers before we do something like this, especially with the kids." Instead I got, "well, let's go take a look."

As we approached the border, let me first describe what there is not: There is no sign whatsoever that says "In order to return to the United States you must have a U.S. passport." Sure, there's a fence and a revolving gate that only allows one way passage. Definitely, there is a sign that labels the "International Border." But again, there's nothing at all about what you need to get back to the U.S. And, there are all kinds of people just nonchalantly passing through those revolving doors.

The path leading to the border gate

So as we're walking, we're talking about going through the gate. As I understood it, we were committed, the decision had been made. Apparently I misunderstood. As we got up to the gate, I decided I wanted a picture of the family coming through (by now, you know how important photographic documentation is for me), so I went ahead of them. Well, when I turned around after going through the one way revolving gate, they had stopped. They weren't coming. My mom did the loyal thing and followed me, but no one else.

One thing we had discussed on the way was how to get back once we had gone through the gates. You can't see the return gate because it's on the other side of the freeway. There was an overpass and so it seemed like you just walked over the freeway and there you were. We just couldn't see how to access the overpass. So the rest of the family wanted to know how to get back before they came across. (Talk about irrational!) There was some type of tourism booth a little further down, so my mom and I went over there and I asked how we get back to the other side. He gave us simple directions and it was just as we had assumed, and he didn't mention anything about passports or any other requirements (although looking back, I realize I didn't ask any specific questions about that topic either and he probably didn't think I would be stupid enough to come over without the necessary items--he was wrong.) So I went back to tell the family to come on over, but I had walked down a corridor that had a couple of armed guards and other military looking people, and as I approached the first, he told us we couldn't walk back that way. Thank goodness for cell phones. I called Rachel up and told her it was no problem and to come on over.

Here come the international travelers

This is a second gate after going through the corridor.

By this point I was a little nervous. (I guess my brain was starting to work again). Earlier I had been thinking about maybe doing something in Mexico, buying some food, something, but now I just wanted to make sure we could get back to our homeland (and hotel). We found the overpass and began to make our way back.

Notice the huge lines of cars going in one direction (towards the U.S.) and the empty lanes in the other direction. That should have been a clue that getting back wasn't going to be as easy as getting in.

At this point in the trip, I was feeling what I often feel when I'm nervous, so I started to look for a bathroom. Thanks to my excellent Spanish vocabulary I had no difficulty finding el bano (I know there should be a tilde, but I don't know how to do that). I did have difficulty however when I read the sign that said that it cost 5 bucks for caballeros (guys) to use a less than picturesque bathroom. I decided I was gonna hold it.

Here's the sign leading to the bathroom. Oh, does it say "restroom" in English, next to the spanish "banos?" I didn't notice. I was too busy reading espanol.

As we came around to the other side of the overpass, I realized that my decision to "hold it" may have been premature. We saw a HUGE line of people that looked like it stretched for at least a quarter of a mile. At first I wasn't worried, because I thought it was a line for the bus. There were signs that looked like bus signs. Then this older guy came up to us and asked if we wanted to take a taxi to the customs station (or whatever the official name is of the place where they decide if they're going to let you back into the U.S.). It seemed kind of scam like so I was going to say no, but my mom started asking how much. The guy said 20 bucks for all of us (3 adults and 4 kids) and he explained that we wouldn't have to wait in this crazy line. My mom went for it. (Bless her heart). We got in a big van; the guy we talked to took our money and got back out leaving us in the van with the driver and another Mexican dude who had some kind of a function in the taxi and one other gringo passenger--although he seemed pretty experienced and knowledgeable. The van ride was pretty short, covering the quarter mile or so to the entrance of the Customs station, but a little slow it probably took about 10 minutes. And the whole time it seemed a little shady and we didn't really know what was going on, although, I'm one to look at the bright side of things, and I thought it was pretty cool that we were listening to the end of the World Cup Semi-final between Spain and Germany. It seemed pretty cool to me to be listening to the game in Spanish in Mexico. (I was calculating how it would sound when I was discussing the World Cup and casually mentioned "Oh, yeah, I remember when Spain beat Germany. I was in Mexico and . . ."). Well, when we got to the building, the taxi guys let us out and we went inside and what we saw there was even worse than the line leading up to the building. There were tons of people in lines that wrapped back and forth between snaking lines of chains, like a busy Disney ride. Luckily, the taxi was our fast pass. We got to bypass that line and go through the taxi line and the only person ahead of us was the other white guy from our taxi. So this whole time, the question that was going through my mind was, "What's gonna happen when we get to the official and we don't have our passports?".

So we told the guy we didn't have passports, we had just walked across the border just to say we've been to Mexico, and we heard that all you need is a driver's license if you're there for the day. He told us that we were mistaken. That was no longer the case. He asked us if we had the drivers licenses. When we produced our licenses, he asked us what we had to prove that the kids were ours and not some kid we picked up off the street. So he's giving us the third degree, as they say, and is stone serious, but at the same time it seemed like he was just giving us a hard time to mess with us. So finally he tells us that what we did wasn't very smart. We should take crossing international borders more seriously and sends us on our way. HUGE Sigh of relief. For the record, my mom promised that we'd never do that again, (But I didn't . . .).

So the funny thing is that it seemed like we had just gone through the serious and lengthy ordeal and had been gone for hours, but after doing some calculations, we realized that we probably spent less than a half hour in Mexico.

In conclusion, it wasn't one of my smartest moves, but you know what, the Green family's international now: we went to Mexico for our summer vacation, baby!

So what does a family do after such a harrowing ordeal? First, we went to McDonald's, where there was, among other things, a bathroom that was free of charge--I made it. Then we went to the Mission San Diego, California's first mission (as you'll see documented below). The way I see it, we were just tracing the steps that the early Franciscan friars took when they started out in Mexico and then made their way to Alta California.  See, I was just trying to get my kids to have a little bit more of an authentic historical experience. That's just the kind of dad I am.

Mission San Diego

One for the California History Project

At this point,  you're probably thinking, "Wow, what a day the Green's have had. I'm sure they're done. I know I would be." But you know what, we'd been staying at Oceanside for 3 days and we hadn't been to the ocean yet. So that's where we went.

And while we were there, swimming and boogie boarding and just having a good time, we experienced an earthquake. Well, Rachel and my mom and my sister Kelly experienced it. The rest of us were in the water and didn't notice a thing. Rachel said that she was sitting on the sand and felt a rumbling kind of vibration and at first thought it was from a wave, but then realized it wasn't. She said something like, "oh my gosh, did you guys just feel that?" and Kelly, who is knowledgeable about a great many things, was the one who recognized the rumbling as an earthquake. And sure enough, later we heard that there had been a 5.4 earthquake, which according to www.nbcsandiego.com occurred
"about 13 miles north-northwest of Borrego Springs" and was a "trigger quake," an earthquake caused by an earlier earthquake that occurred on a different fault line, (but I have come to my own conclusions and will share them in the caption of a later photograph).

still shot of Jace and Meghan auditioning for Baywatch

Lennon and Josh running into the waves, while BJ apparently smells something bad (If you enlarge the picture you can kind of see some bubbly water behind him. I don't know if there's any correlation).

Lifeguard Nana and some happy kids (Ace included)

The most awesome picture of me ever! I look like Poseidon coming up out of the sea to wreak destruction on the puny mortals of this world. (I'm not the only one seeing that right?) In fact, looking back, I was probably the cause of the earthquake we felt.

After the earthquake we decided it was time to call it a day. Not that we were scared, we just felt like we had accomplished enough for one day. It was time to get some rest because the next day we were bound for Disneyland!

Stay tuned.