Giants Baseball!

As we prepared to leave the Bay Area, we picked up some tickets to see the Giants play at AT&T park in San Francisco.  Jeff and Katie were able to join us and it turned out our seats were awesome--the front row of the upper deck right behind first base:

The anthem was accompanied by a helicopter escort:

AT&T park is simply a spectacularly beautiful place to watch baseball.  The view of SF Bay, the Bay Bridge and the East Bay is stunning.

At the top of the sixth inning, a foul ball came flying our way and Jeff shifter his beer from his right to left hand and deftly CAUGHT THE BALL!  This was caught on TV during the game:



But the best part was that as soon as Jeff caught the ball, he looked around for a kid to give it to and tossed it to a 9-year-old seated a few rows above us.  He and his family were visiting from Southern California and they were all thrilled!

A wonderful night at the ballpark.

San Jose rose garden

Tucked in an old neighborhood of 80-year-old homes, the Rose Garden was selected the best in the country last year by the rose honchos. It is very beautiful even if it is a little late in the season. Just photos from my cellphone this time :-(

Falafel Drive In

I first ate here 40 years ago. They haven't changed the recipe or expanded beyond the one location in San Jose. The outside eating area is a huge mural with Silicon Valley landmarks.

Best falafels ever!

Playing Tourist in San Francisco

We are spending a few weeks visiting friends and revisiting old haunts in the Bay Area.  In fact, we will be spending longer here than we have since we moved away in 1991.  Our first couple days we stayed in Marin County and spent a day playing in San Francisco.

When we lived in California, the Presidio was still a US military base, but in 1995 it became a park open to the public.  We had a great time exploring trails, beaches and historic sites around this amazing part of San Francisco.

Old home and landscaping in the Presidio

We watched a film about the building of the Golden Gate Bridge, then spent nearly all day in the vicinity of this iconic landmark. For anyone who saw my previous post on Yosemite Falls, the Golden Gate Bridge holds the same kind of place in my heart and creative focus.  Here are some of it's many faces.

This view shows the WW2 gun batteries facing the Pacific

An update from Lynnae

Hi everyone, this is Lynnae (for a change).

We are about to end our stay in Lake Tahoe and head to the Bay Area for a few weeks (without the trailer) to visit old friends and family. Our month in Lake Tahoe has been wonderful. It is a beautiful area with lots to do and very dog friendly. It’s so refreshing to swim in clear, clean water and hike to vistas overlooking Lake Tahoe and other glacier formed lakes. Tucker has proven to be quite the retriever and will not stop until forced when going after his water toy. He usually announces loudly in his beagle howl/bark that he wants to do it again, and again, and again.

Looking back a month or so to Auburn, we had planned to have dinner with Susan and Tony Freitas, fellow Waldorf School parents. It was going to be a small dinner with another couple as well. When we got there, they had tables set for many more than that! They wouldn’t tell us who else was coming so it was a very pleasant surprise to greet everyone who came. When Jeff and Lucas attended the Live Oak Waldorf School, we spent a lot of time volunteering and socializing with these folks, mostly parents who had children in our son’s classes. Here’s a picture of the women; most of us were involved in creating and running the school store.

Pualine Callaghan, Ruthann Jahoda, Lisa Johnson, Susan Freitas, Joan Stockbridge, Gina Johnson, Barbara Wauters, Lynnae

 

The Live Oak Waldorf School is situated on a beautiful piece of property.  This is the amphitheater where we attended the Rose Ceremony:  the graduating first grade students give a rose to the graduating eighth grade students (the reverse happens at the beginning of the school year).

 

 

Life Oak Waldorf School Rose Ceremony

 

 

It was grand finding out where each of the children are now and what paths they have taken. It was also grand to find out what these parents are doing. (When you’re in Sacramento, check out Metrojuice currently offered at farmers’ markets. Unique, delicious, yummy mixes of vegetables, fruits and herbs.)
Then it was off to Grass Valley for the annual CA Bluegrass Association’s festival. What a great venue and setting!

At last we arrived in Lake Tahoe and stayed at Meeks Bay Campground. Tony and Susan (and labs Beaux and Amy) came for a few days which overlapped with visits from Jeff and Lucas. We missed not having S&T’s son, Nick, with us (Nick was in Jeff’s Waldorf class). The beach was walking distance so we used their kayaks and played with the dogs in the water.

Tony and Susan Freitas, Labs Amy and Beaux on the shores of Lake Tahoe

 

Tony, Lab Beaux, Susan, Lab Amy, Jeff, Denis, Lucas

 

 

 

Lucas and Tucker on the beach at Meeks Bay

 

Jeff at Crag Lake, a wonderful hike

 

After two weeks, we moved to a beautiful campground at Fallen Leaf Lake very near South Shore, Lake Tahoe. We’ve hiked, gambled at the casinos in Stateline, swam, kayaked and generally hung out in this beautiful area. Susan & Tony came again to visit, as well as Keith & Mary and Joanie & Jack. Fun!!

 

 

Our retrieving Tucker at Fallen Leaf Lake

 

 

Jack Ciardelli and Susan Freitas

 

Tony Freitas, Denis, Joanie Ciardelli

 

 

 

 

Sunset and moonrise from our campground

Over the Carson Pass

We read that the fishing at Caples Lake was supposed to be very good (due to the fact that the lake was recently replenished with the entire population of a fish hatchery near Sacramento that had to close due to the drought), so we left the Tahoe basin for a day trip south over the Carson Pass.  After a beautiful 45-minute drive through the mountains we reached Caples Lake and made the short hike down to the creek inlet.  Lynnae caught her limit of trout in a few hours.

Caples Lake is pretty large and sits at over 8,000 feet

A beautiful fishing spot

The wildflowers around the lake were abundant and beautiful.  This is an Alpine Lily.

After fishing, we drove to Wood Lake upstream and found a lovely spot with a campground that we could never fit our trailer into.  See if you can find the goose below ;-)

Up the Mt. Tellac trail

With Tony and Susan visiting, we all (4 people and 3 dogs) went on a hike part way up the trail to Mt. Tellac.  None of us were up to the full hike, but we could go halfway up and pass two lakes and get some nice views of Fallen Leaf Lake, where we were camped.  We had a very nice day, including the dogs!

Lake Tahoe in the background and Fallen Leaf Lake on the right. Our campsite in in the trees between the lakes just about at the edge of the picture.

Mt. Tellac towering above the trail.  We weren't going that far today, but we heard from other hikers that a man hiked to the top carrying 45 pounds of dry ice and ice cream which he gave away to all the hikers up there!

The Labrador and Labrador wanna-be

No, it's MINE

Susan and Tony

At Floating Island Lake

Tony and Susan with another view of Fallen Leaf Lake from the trail

Almost down

Tucker the retreiver

Tucker has always liked to swim in the water and fetch a stick or a ball, at least until he got bored.  At Fallen Leaf Lake, though, he really got into it.  We threw his fetch toy as far as we could until our arms were tired and Tucker just kept on chasing it.  We enjoyed doing it partly because the scenery at the lake was just beautiful.