Leavenworth: Lodge

[Way behind on blogging, sorry, better late than never.] We had so much fun on our snowy weekend in Leavenworth last year, we were excited to do it again, and rustled up a bunch of friends to join us. We stayed in the same luxurious lodge as last time, with its eight bedrooms, two living rooms, huge double kitchen, hot tub, home theater, and yard full of snow. We played board games. 

We worked together on crossword puzzles. I usually do crosswords on the NYT app, but this was a device-free weekend for those under 18, so in solidarity I printed a bunch out. This made it way more fun to collaborate, and I have to say we were a killer team.

Some snuggled in with books.

Some played foosball.

Some just hung out.

We cooked delicious communal meals, poured gallons of cocoa into the children, and just generally enjoyed the heck out of each other. And this year there were no major injuries! We have already made reservations for next year.

Bike tour

We rented bikes and spent a couple hours riding in Golden Gate Park, which is mostly closed to traffic on Sundays. What a great time! We all enjoyed it so much.

We started up on Haight Street, cruised past the Conservatory, wound around the museums, and zipped all the way down to the polo fields, where the boys did laps around the cycling track. I used to run around the dirt path when I was in track in middle school, with my running buddy Jocelyn. I wonder where she is now.

We saw a bunny. This bunny was extremely tame and looked suspiciously fat and domestic to us.

Our turnaround point was Spreckels Lake, which is right near the house where Selena lived when she and I were in middle school. There has always been a community of model boat sailors there, and their boats were pretty fun. One was a miniature steamboat that puffed steam and made noises.

Memory day

We spent an afternoon revisiting my San Francisco memory places: dim sum on Clement street, Dad's former apartment (only from the outside), donuts at his favorite donut shop, Mom’s memorial bench in Golden Gate Park, and a walk around Stowe lake. Here we are at Mom’s bench, then at Stowe Lake.

Dad loved Stowe Lake and walked around it a few times a week. The boys decided to go on a pedal boat, and they had a wonderful time.

They chased a duck, who kept the same distance from the boat at all times. My theory is that the duck was amusing himself by leading them around.

Ocean Beach

Our kids love the sand. We spent a couple hours at Ocean Beach letting them have their fill.

The rest of us hung out on the street overlooking the beach, keeping the sand out of our shoes.

Golf

Jes, who adores golf, took the boys out for some driving and putting at a range near Lake Merced. Jordan enjoyed it a lot and seems to have a natural ability; he frequently hits the ball, which is unusual for a beginner. 

Aaron was thrilled that Jes managed to borrow clubs his size from a friend so that he could participate as well.

Elephant seals

We are having a terrific San Francisco visit with Jes and Deena. We did something this year that none of us had ever done before, which is to drive up to Point Reyes to see the elephant seals. It’s a two-hour drive, which we unfortunately made a lot longer by trying to go to Muir Woods on the way… there was literally no parking, and we had to just leave. I’m glad they’ll be starting a shuttle system in January.

Once we finally got there the elephant seals were pretty awesome. Here's a number of them on the beach.

There was a newborn pup, which appears in this picture as a dark blob down by its mother's tail. This baby was less than 24 hours old and was working very hard to nurse; its mother was making it inconvenient. I learned that baby elephant seals take months to learn to swim, so a sheltered beach is essential; if they are washed out with the tide, they drown. Oh no! They are also sometimes crushed by the big males, who pay no attention to them as they galumph around fighting with other males. More often, though, they just get kind of splooshed into the sand by all the blubber, and aren't harmed.

It was also a beautiful drive, with gorgeous views of the northern California coast. We must have seen a dozen eagles.

Here's what the eagles saw.

On the way back, we paused at a rocky viewpoint for some Last Jedi photography.

Tough week

A couple weeks ago, when I was backing out of my parking spot at work, I heard a horrendous crunching-metal sound. There were no other cars around. I got out and found that the front under-bumper had caught on the curb; in backing up, I ripped the whole front piece of the car halfway off. Whaaat? How does that even happen? Parts of the innards of the bumper actually fell out on the ground. I put them in the trunk, checked that the front bumper wasn't going to fall off while I drove it, and went on my way. We had it fixed within a few days, during which time Dale learned that there is a very good express bus from our house to his work. Fortunately, the car was covered by comp, and it turned out to be a cheap repair - just reattaching a bunch of clips that had formerly attached the nosepiece to the rest of the car.

Then a few days later I hit my head really hard on a metal corner at forehead level in a parking garage. It was part of some kind of fan. 

It hurt so much! The boys did a concussion check on me ("What is your full name? Who is the president?") and I was cognitively unimpaired, so, okay. The garage was for the boys' dentist, who gave me a very helpful ice pack. I told the garage owners about this safety hazard.

I maintain that none of this was my fault. Still, it's the sort of stuff that happens when you are moving too fast, and I have tried to take it a little slower since then.