Stardate 63773.75 - Megan and Pov's Wedding

Back on September 26th my cousin Megan got married at Blackwater Falls State Park in West Virginia. Because of the horrible experience with Kate on long car trips back in June, and because I had some air miles on USAirways that were about to expire, we flew from LGA to Pittsburgh and then rented a Toyota Sienna minivan and drove to the park (around 3 hours). Not sure if it is because Kate is older, or was over tired, or because Cheryl could sit comfortably between the girls in the back, but Kate did much, much better on this trip. Still not sure I'd want to do a 8+ hour trip with her, so we may have to do a combination airplane/drive at Christmas time to get down to Virginia...but we'll see.


The wedding was at the lodge inside the park, so we had great views from a short stroll behind the facilities.



Later we took a short stroll down a paved path to get a glimpse of the actual falls. Because it was Fall, the water level was pretty low.




Afterward, Loren and Cheryl (Kate was asleep in the van) walked down a few hundred steps to the observation platform closer to the falls. Loren did a great job walking all the way down and back!




Here is a view of the rehearsal Friday evening. Unfortunately, it rained all day Saturday and the wedding had to be held indoors.


Saturday morning we killed time before the wedding by driving over to the town of Davis for a little race and festival that was going on there.



It started raining while we are at the festival and then rained pretty much the rest of the day. The mother-of-the-bride was really trying to hold off as long as possible to see if it could be held outdoors, but when the harpist showed up she flatly refused to take the harp out in the damp rain and so the decision was finalized to hold it indoors.


Here Aunt Ginger holds Kate at our table.


The bride and her parents come down the aisle.


Kate shows off her rocker side.


I pose with the bride and Kate.


The sister of the bride takes a turn holding Kate.


And Nanna holds Kate while Kracker looks on from the background.


Sunday we had breakfast early and then drove back to Pittsburgh and flew home. The travel was uneventful, and I have to say if we ever decide to buy a minivan the Toyota Sienna was very spacious and comfortable.

The bride and groom are now off for a honeymoon in Thailand!

NYC

Stardate 63532.33 - Highlands-Atlantic Highlands Trail

There is a pretty new trail between Highlands and Atlantic Highlands suitable for walking, jogging, or biking, with some secluded beaches and views out over the bay. We picked up a jogging stroller via Craigslist and Cheryl gave it a try with Loren on the trail.





At the end, in Atlantic Highlands, there is a playground where Cheryl let Loren have some fun.





Highlands, NJ

Stardate 62385.94 - CA Day Six

Friday was a busy day in Berkeley. After breakfast at the hotel, we walked around for a while and found a playground where Loren could play. She enjoyed it so much, that I left her and Cheryl there while I went back to the room, packed up the luggage, loaded it into the car, and checked out. I then came back to the playground where Loren still did not want to leave.


Finally we went to meet Cheryl's previous boss (who is now back teaching at Berkeley) for lunch. Afterwards we drove up to Inspiration Point in Tilden Regional Park for a short hike, during which Loren took a little nap. Did I mention that the rental we had was a Prius? We went about 830 miles during the week and only put 11 gallons of gas into the car (we did return it empty as I purchased the gas option, but that is still some really good mileage).


Here Cheryl and her former boss, John, pose at the end of our hike.


Back at John's house Loren and her kitty wanted to play with John's cat.


We then drove into San Francisco to our friends John and Jeff's place, where we planned to spend Friday night. John had a photo show that evening so we went to take a look at his (and other's) photos on exhibit at Fort Mason. Here John poses with some of his photos.


Loren enjoyed the food, especially the strawberries. She even was using the cheese knife to put cheese on crackers and eating them. Unfortunately, she also licked the cheese knife at one point which led one exhibitor to have a conniption.


The sun was setting as we left the show to drive back to John/Jeff's place.


NYC

Stardate 62383.25 - CA Day Five

I'm now back from my 4-day sailing adventure (an early birthday present), so I can continue with the California vacation series.


Because we thought Loren was getting a little bored in the evenings at Yosemite, we purchased her a magnetic Yosemite scene that she could add animals to in different locations. She really liked her "game" and played with it a lot. Here we are just about packed up on Thursday morning, ready to check out, and she is still in her PJs, playing the game. As you can see below, we finally got her dressed and she wanted all of her berets in her hair.


It wouldn't be a long car trip without a picture of Loren in her car seat.


We went into the valley for the last time and let Loren throw rocks into the creek for the last time.





And then we had a hellish time getting to Berkeley. The route we wanted to take, 120, was completely closed by a rockslide (but we didn't know that), so we got sent off on 140 (which also was partially closed by a rockslide). In several places (like the one pictured below), the road went down to a single lane with 2-way traffic. We we waited and waited and waited before we could go. I won't go into all the details, but Loren was pretty good for the first hour or so of delays, but then she wanted out when there were no places to get out and finally fell asleep as we cleared the last of the hideous traffic jams. At that point I was ready to beat someone to death so Cheryl took over driving the rest of the way.


Here on 140 you can see how the road is covered in rocks. They had temporary bridges set up to send you to the other side of the river and back to avoid the slide, but it was taking forever to switch traffic from one direction to another, and at one point a huge truck was 3-4 spots in front of us and was turned around because the temporary bridges were insufficient to support its weight. So that took something like 15 minutes to get sorted out while we sat, and sat, and sat.


As we approached the bay area there were hundreds and hundreds of windmills on the hills, spinning and generating power. Go green!


Here in Berkeley Loren literally stops to smell the flowers at the Doubletree Marina, where we stayed one night.


Across the street from the hotel was a park (Cesar Chavez Park), and Loren enjoyed running in the tall grass.


And watching this kite be skillfully flown.


That evening we met an old High School classmate of Cheryl's for dinner, and Loren was very good at the restaurant. It was then back to the hotel to sleep.

NYC

Stardate 62369.78 - CA Day Four

On our last full day in Yosemite we took the Mist Trail to a bridge below Vernal Fall. The hike up was pretty much hell. It was a 1.6 mile round trip, and we though that it would be alright for Loren. I think she got tired of the elevation gain, but she refused to go into the backpack carrier. So it was a long, hard slog up the trail with an unhappy Loren. She was in a much better mood once we arrived at our destination.



Luckily, she accepted a ride on my shoulders all the way down so we made much better time going down the mountain. And we needed to make better time, because I had my fourth and final interview scheduled for that day. Yes, after 12 years I am leaving the consulting firm I work for and moving to another consulting firm that is local here in NYC. I had a phone interview scheduled for mid-day, so I conducted my final interview over the phone while sitting in the car in Yosemite Valley. It looks like I'll be starting on June 2. No more telecommuting!

After the hellish hike, we decided we needed something more calming so we went to see some giant redwoods. Loren was fascinated by the "not allowed" sign, and tried to figure it out for a while. After I told her what all the symbols meant, she still stared at it for a while, whispering what I had just told her.




After that we were done for the day and went back to the "little apartment" for our last night in the park.

NYC