Climbing Adventures at Green Valley Lake, CA

L-R: Samuel, Will and Luke enjoy the view.

San Bernandino National Forest is the land of big boulders.  And we climbed over and under and in between them this past weekend.  My friend Tamara invited Samuel and me down to their family cabin at Green Valley Lake for a weekend of board games, wood chopping, fishing, and boulder bounding.

Luke looks out toward Lake Arrowhead as the sun sets

Tamara finds a nook among the boulders.

Socked in at Lake Arrowhead

Steven is attending a retreat for M.D./Ph.D. students and Samuel and I went along  The event is at the UCLA Conference Center at Lake Arrowhead, about two hours northeast of San Diego.  The retreat was to have been in September, but the holiest day of the Jewish year got in the way.  It was rescheduled for a particularly cold day in October, with lots of rain, fog and some hard hitting hail. While Steven was providing wisdom on the dual M.D./Ph.D. career track, we worked our way over to the deserted dock at Lake Arrowhead.  I've heard it's a nice lake, but I couldn't see it (as evidenced by the picture above).

Nonetheless, the retreat is really that.  We're nestled in the woods here, with a wood burning fireplace in our "condolet" and outside it really is Fall.  Samuel and I collected some acorns and crunched through some fallen leaves.  We are enjoying the time away from the big city.

Once a Logger, Always a Logger

Benjamin outside his new home away from home.

It felt like the first day  of kindergarten, except the kid in question is a legal adult, and when you wave goodbye at the end of the day, you board a plane and fly home a thousand miles away and leave him to the care of professors and resident advisors.  You hope he can play nicely, make new friends, and figure out how to use his meal card.  You also hope he can diligently pursue his studies and blossom intellectually.  We think he's make a good choice in this small liberal arts college in the Pacific Northwest.  The University of Puget Sound has an enthusiastic and articulate upper class that welcomed us in the most heartwarming way.  After a spirited convocation at Peyton Field, the freshman and their families walked through a cheering crowd of students and staff, including the school mascot "Grizz T. Logger." I hope it's beginning to feel like home to Benjamin.  

How to furnish your dorm room

Before picture.  Bed, desk, two chairs, bookcase, dresser, freshman.

Add one area rug.

Add one Puzzles and Dragon wall hanging (adhered with "Fun Tak").

Add "Campus Value Pak" linens and towels, large stuffed bear.  Add computer and snacks.

It is now easier than ever to furnish a dorm room.  Your college directs you to a online shopping site (in our case, Campus Market) and you buy a "Value Pak" of everything a college student could possibly want.  We got the "Complete Campus Value Pak" with two complete changes of linens in two coordinating colors, towels, "fluffy" pillows, blankets, pop-open hamper, a "bedside buddy" and more. We also added in an area rug to avoid cold feet and a heavy duty storage trunk with wheels.  The storage trunk also doubles as a coffee table and seat. So handy! And last, we plopped the large stuffed bear on the bed. If he's forgotten anything, the orientation team has arranged a special midnight run to the local Fred Meyer's.  

After picture. Everything a freshman needs. 

Road trip to college: Big Sur and Nepenthe

 Have a seat at Nepenthe's and watch the world go by...

Benjamin and Betsy on the patio of Nepenthe in Big Sur

Before the kids came along, (we refer to this time period as "B.C.", "before children"), Steven and I visited the institution known as Nepenthe.  Now sixty years old, this restaurant/coffee shop/funky shop, perches on a hill 3 miles south of Big Sur State Park.  We visited again, this time with our 18 year old son.  The view had not changed, but this time it was our teenager who was parking in the crazy-tight parking lot and walking with us up the stairs to the patio and heart stopping view.  Nepenthe still sells the Ambrosiaburger.  Sixty years ago, the Ambrosiaburger was a mere 60cents, now it's $15. But I have no complaints.  The view and atmosphere is priceless.  

Road trip to college: Elephant Seals

Male elephant seals snuggle up for a nap at the Piedras Blancas rookery.

We watched this guy make some load honking noises, then plop down for a nap.

We didn't have time to visit Hearst Castle, but we found another equally fascinating attraction just four miles north of Hearst Castle on California Highway 1.  Since 1990, elephant seals have been using the Piedras Blancas beach to nap, mate, pup and molt.  In 2014, 5,300 pups were born on this stretch of beach.  That's a lot of pups.  And these guys get big.  The females can weigh up to 1800 lbs. and measure 12 feet long, while the males can grow to 16 feet and reach 5,000 lbs.  That's what some cars weigh. A good dozen of these enormous males, with their distinct bulbous noses, were cuddled up next to each other taking a snooze.  A short distance away a few males were bobbing and honking in the water.

Lest you think that the life of a elephant seal is all a day at the beach, it is not.  These seals spend 8-10 months at sea, traveling as far as the Aleutian islands, and making dives as deep as 5,000 feet as they forage for food.  Orcas will take one in three males before the year is out.  After all that, you can't blame them for laying around on the sand a few months of the year.

Road trip to college: Beautiful Buellton

Bags of clothes, gear, large computer, and 

....one large stuffed bear.

Today we started our road trip from San Diego, California to Tacoma, Washington to take Benjamin to the University of Puget Sound.  We got a late start on account of the length of time required to stuff a four door sedan with most of Benjamin's clothes, shoes, outdoor gear,  notebooks, computer and one oversized stuffed bear.  Okay, we didn't have to bring the stuffed bear, but I insisted.  Every college kid needs a stuffed bear in their dorm room.  Right? Right.

After fighting the traffic in San Diego County, then Orange County, then Los Angeles County, we managed to veer off onto the California coastal highways, and enjoyed the ocean breezes and views.  We stopped in Buellton, CA, population approximately 4,500, for dinner.  Buellton is apparently known for its split pea soup, but we just weren't up for the green stuff.  Instead, we used Yelp to lead us to Industrial Eats, a delightful eatery in the "industrial" section of Buellton.  The restaurant had wood fired ovens and was so chic and the food so delicious it could have been removed intact to the tonier sections of San Francisco.   It was Tuesday night, and bursting at the seams.  We finished our dinner with "crack" pie, which was some out-of-this world toffee custard confection.  Frankly, I'm still not sure exactly what it was.  Benjamin deemed it "not bad," which is high praise from him.

Tonight we are in the coastal town of Cayucos.  I'd describe it, but we arrived in darkness.  You'll just have to wait for the next blog posting. Tomorrow more California coastal adventures await.

Canoeing Lake Louise

Steven and Ben on Lake Louise

There is really no need for words here, except to say that this is not a doctored picture.  The water is really that color.  Lake Louise is a deep cold lake at the base of a glacier.  In spring, the water is a brilliant blue, but a dark blue.  By midsummer, the glacier has deposited "rock flour" into the lake, and the lake has changed color again, to a brilliant turquoise.  

How to drive the Icefields Parkway

1. Drive Carefully.  Or, if French Canadian, Soyez Prudent. 

2. Bring snacks, preferably something Canadian.  Might I suggest ketchup flavored potato chips?  

3. Share the road.  That RV is going through a wildlife overpass.  

4. Enjoy the scenery.  Breathtaking miles and miles of it.

The elk in the hedge and on the lawn

Notice the antlers above the hedge?

There aren't too many traffic jams in Jasper, Alberta.  But if you're a tourist, and you notice a largish elk grazing on someone's front hedge, you tend to stop.  So we, and a few other tourists, stopped and snapped some pictures.  As tourists from San Diego, we're entitled. What you can't see clearly in the photo above is the house owner completely ignoring us and his wild visitor.

Wild elk make themselves at home at Jasper Lodge.

This juvenile is keeping the grass trimmed right outside our cabin.

When we arrived at our lodge in Jasper, we were delighted to find more elk loping about.  They were on a mission to trim the grass and couldn't be bothered to acknowledge us.  "They come, they go," a lodge employee told us,  "it's their park, after all."

Athabasca everywhere

Athabasca Falls

It's hard keeping track of all the natural wonders in the Banff area.  Luckily,  Albertans came up with a friendly solution.  Take "Athabasca."  This is a a word that comes from the native Cree language and means "place where the reeds grow."  It was initially just the name of a river.  But now there is an Athabasca mountain, lake, glacier, and assorted roads.  Oh, and one last natural wonder: the Athabasca Falls (pictured above).  It's hard to be heard over the roar of these falls, which you can view from many angles.  We saw several rainbows as we were gently pelted by the fast moving spray of glacial water.

Top view of Athabasca Falls.  A churning cauldron of water.

Columbia Icefield

The Columbia Icefield covers roughly 125 square miles.

Our specially designed arctic bus rests comfortably on a thousand feet of ice. 

On one of the world's most scenic drives, midway between Banff and Jasper, lie a half dozen glaciers within the Columbia Icefield.  These are relics of the great ice age, and a lesser ice age from1844.  All the lower glaciers are receding.  Nonetheless, the Columbia Icefield is still as big as the city of Vancouver.   Because it's dangerous for a novice hiker to walk on a glacier, we were smart and took a tour, riding on a bus designed for use in the Arctic.  Each bus has six massive wheels that are designed to navigate ice as well as steep moraines, which is the fancy word for the pile of rocks left over when a glacier recedes.

Tasting pure glacial water 

We got a chance to step out on the ice, which can be a thousand feet thick.  It was a bit slushy.  Water poured from the edges of the clearing and we all took a drink.  I was the freshest, purest water imaginable, but also bitterly cold.

Beautiful Banff, part 2

Downtown Banf

After walking around at the Sulphur Mountain summit and working up a little sweat, we rewarded ourselves with a shopping trip to downtown Banff.  Our first stop was a late lunch at the Banff Brewing Co., which overlooks the main drag of Banff Avenue.

Old fashioned Canadian Poutine (french fries and gravy)

My niece Ann advised me to try the poutine, a distinctly Canadian dish.  What is poutine? It's a bowl of french fries smothered in cheese curds and gravy.  Really, it's a brilliant combination. It pairs well with the local pale ale too.  

After lunch we strolled down Banff Avenue, which is chock-a-block with sweet and gift shops and sporting goods stores.  We did run into a western wear shop, where Ben pretended he was a cowboy.

Ann helps cowboy Ben with a hat fitting.

We concluded the day with dinner for Sherman, who turned a young 78 years old this  July 2nd.  He was the mastermind of this trip.  He said the best gift for him was having his family all together.

Beautiful Banff

Rimrock Resort Hotel, Banff, Alberta

After watching fireworks over the village of Banff last night in celebration of Canada Day, we had a sound night's sleep at the Rimrock Resort Hotel on the edge of Banff.  The Rimrock is nestled on the edge of the Canadian Rockies.  I'm sitting in the lobby of the Rimrock as I write this, looking out toward one of the peaks.  The lobby is on the seventh floor, with all the rooms stepping down the mountainside below me.

Just around the corner from the Rimrock Resort  (and next to some hot springs) is the Banff gondola, built between 1958 and 1959. It's still whisking tourists up to the top of Sulphur Mountain and Sanson Peak, where the air gets considerably thinner at 8,000 feet.  It's an ear popping experience.  Once you arrive, you can ascend to a rocky outpost with even better views and a weather station built in 1903.  Mr. Norman Sanson manned this weather station for nearly thirty years, surviving hail and lightning and lots of cold weather.  He was compensated with great views through the single window of his one room stone cabin.

Steps up to Sanson's weather observatory.

View from McD's in Calgary

Today we roused ourselves at 5 a.m. to journey to Calgary, the largest city in Alberta, Canada.   Cowboy clad volunteers greeted us at the Calgary airport on our way to customs.  We were in a foreign country, but we felt at home.  There was that cowboy theme after all and the freeways had those familiar green signs.   Everyone spoke English and I recognized most of the franchises. But there were some differences.  All the signs were in French and English and the Canadians have sensibly converted to the metric system.  It was a balmy 23 degrees Celsius and we zipped along the freeway at 110 km an hour.   We also arrived on July 1st, Canada Day, otherwise known as "Canada's Birthday" and Canada's equivalent of our Fourth of July.  A lot of Canadian flags were in evidence. 

Quel est le secret? 

We were on our way to the town of Banff, so we did not dally in Calgary, which is getting ready for their famous Calgary stampede and rodeo.  Instead we headed west on the TransCanada highway, stopping briefly at McDonald's on the way.  Now, we inevitably visit McDonald's in every foreign country we go to and why not?  McDonald's always adjusts its offerings for the locals.  We consider it a good cultural education.  This time, all the packaging was in French and English (pictured).  That was all good.  But more interesting was that our McDonald's was just across the street from the 1988 Winter Olympics venue.  We had a few french fries while viewing massive ski jumps across the street.   

It's not everyday you see an Olympic venue. 

Massive ski jumps used in 1988 Winter Olympics. 

Birthday brunch

Birthday kids posing in front of Fletcher Cove Community Center

I was inspired last year when my sister had her own blowout party for a certain significant birthday.  And since Steven and I both had a significant birthday this June, I thought why not have a big party?  I'd also had a hankering for years to do something at the Fletcher Cove Community Center in Solana Beach. This 1100 square foot building was a former military barrack.  It sits on a bluff overlooking the ocean and was completely renovated a few years back.

Brunch time.

 We had bagels and knishes and blintzes and Toll House chocolate chip cookies. The requisite birthday slideshow played silently in the background.

Friends enjoying the view of the Pacific from the bluff.

Hmmm.. could that be my sister Cindy?  Better check out the name tag.

If you didn't want to look at the ocean, you could paint beach rocks, play lawn games (Flickn Chicken anyone?), enjoy an old timey soda, or play a guessing game (people, places, events of 1964). And my family came down from Washington state. Everyone was able to relax and enjoy the day.  It passed too quickly.

Samuel and Grandpa Sherman paint beach rocks.

And last, but not least, we had cake, graciously provided by Sherman and Marlene.  It was a chocolate vanilla creme concoction from the locally famous VG Donut and Bakery shop.  Steven's parents had to wait in a line that snaked around the corner to order it.   All our tastebuds appreciated the effort.   

Graduations day

It was Friday the 13th and it was graduation day, or more precisely, graduations day. 

Big brother congratulates Samuel 

In the morning, Samuel graduated from Earl Warren Middle School.  It was "bring your own lawn chair" casual, with some great singing by three teens.  If I had closed my eyes, I wouldn't have known 14 year olds were singing.  They were that good.  I will miss this middle school.  The only word to describe this school is "chill." Every time I arrived on campus I began to relax.  Was it the sea breeze?  Was it because everybody looked like they had just returned from the beach?  Was it the tired but homey 1954 architecture? Whatever it was, I will miss the vibe.  After an hour of effortless ceremony, we packed up our lawn chairs and left to get ready for the big graduation ceremony.  

Benjamin points toward the future for his grandparents.

Benjamin, after some serious senioritis (and consequent nagging from his parents to make up that Statistics test, already!), donned a cap and gown and marched out with his nearly 700 other classmates at Torrey Pines High School at 4 p.m. on June 13, 2014. Amazingly, all 600+ senior names were read out loud. Three enthusiastic readers team- tagged the names, reading each name in turn with real excitement.  My hats off to those thespians.  Even more cleverly, the names were NOT read in alphabetical order.  That way the ginormous crowd in the football stadium was forced to pay attention until the very end.  I call that good planning.  And then it was done.  The seniors all moved their tassles to the other side of their caps and let out a big whoop.  After a meet and greet on the field (see Marlene and Sherman with the graduate above), we asked Benjamin where he wanted to go to dinner. Some place expensive perhaps?  No, he had a hankering for an In-n-Out Burger. It was just as well.  When he's off at college in Tacoma, a thousand miles away, there will be no In-n-Out burgers to be had.  

Germs and the Japanese

Masks for sale at the local 7-11

Based on my totally unscientific count, it appeared that every fifth person in Japan was wearing a mask.  Was this because they were sick, getting sick, or trying to avoid getting sick?  I never figured that out.  But I can tell you that when I first arrived I thought I'd been deposited in a cancer ward.  On the other hand, you are never exposed to sniffles in Japan.  How polite is that?  So polite.

All your mask needs can be met at the local 7-11 or Family Mart where an endless selection of masks await you, including a lavender scented mask. 

And look at how beautifully the Crunky is packaged!

The masks were right next to delicious chocolate bars, including the Crunky.  Now, I don't know about you, but "Crunky" would not be my first choice for naming a chocolate bar.  I think the name is meant to refer to crunchiness, but as they say, something has been lost in translation.  Nonetheless, it was one of the tastiest chocolate bars I've ever had.