Our Chico Nieces and Nephew

Following Norman's birthday bash, we hung out and played with the kids. Amanda couldn't make it, so no pics of her here, but here's the rest of the gang.

Me with Rebecca










William and Maya in a hard-to-get pose









Me and William





Maya looking cute





Maya and her balloons





The gang, featuring William and his beloved Starwars lightstick











Mozart at the piano

Norman's 75th Chico Birthday

Our beloved Grampa Norman, the Man, Stormin' Norman, celebrated his 75th birthday in Chico and we were honored to receive an invitation. Great party, wonderfully hosted by my brother Dan, his wife Judy, and our niece Rebecca handling drinks, clean up, coats, and looking super cute. William is helping Norman get ready to blow out the candles

Norman has wonderful friends and we got to meet nearly all and eat good grub. Great meatballs, crab dip, stuffed mushrooms, and other goodies.

Maya arrived just in time to say "Happy Birthday, Grampa Norman". Actually, she was just happy to get a balloon. Go figure.

Mt. Diablo Snow Trip

In late Feb. 2007, Lisa and I drove to the summit of Mt. Diablo to see the snow at the 3800 foot (or so) summit. We stopped briefly at Rock City to see the view, but it was mostly hazy and not great. Just the opposite at the summit: clear, cold, breezy, and somewhat exciting, we hiked up the road to the overlooks, telescope, and stone hut.

CBS was doing a news story there and sent interviewers and a cameraman. This seemed odd to me given that snow falls on Mt. Diablo every year. How could the interview have gone? CBS: "Uh, Mr. Ranger, we're scratching our heads here, what do you call this white, cold stuff on the ground?"

Ranger: "Uh...snow..."

What a great day. Everywhere we looked, it was a view and a "Kodak Moment". Lisa said it looks like Tahoe. There was snow in the trees and on the ground.

Then, as we were driving home and off the mountain, we look up and see this guy flying around overhead in a hang-glider. What a view he must have had! (Assuming he lives to tell about it)

Sunol Hike With Mellissa

In Feb, Lisa and I did a five-mile hike through the Little Yosemite section of Sunol Regional Park. It was a beautiful day for hiking and taking photos. We stopped to check the maps and took off along the creek towards the small waterfall.


Here is Lisa taking a shot of the canyon that makes up the Little Yosemite area. These pics don't do justice to the vastness of the area.







Here I am at the creek and small waterfall. This part of the hike follows a fire road, but then cuts into the wooded area and up a steep hill.


After a couple of miles, it warmed up enough for us to strip down to our shorts and t-shirts and make us grateful for the California weather.

Here's a cool-looking growth from one of the Sunol trees looking forward to Spring.

...and at the other end of the flora scale, here's a mushroom growing out of a cow pie.


A couple of other early wildflowers popping up. Milkmaids and a Calif poppy.

I kept looking at this Sycamore thinking that there had to be a shot here somewhere.

In one of the dead oaks, we found this woodpecker storage center for his acorns. It's amazing how tightly packed these are. It is very difficult to pry any out.


It was wonderful to be able to spend some time with my honey and get out into the woods. For me, it is rejuvenating to walk along the trails taking pictures, looking at the plants and animals, and feeling the sunshine.

Coyote Hills Hike

I recently hiked Coyote Hills Regional Park with my trusted friend and fellow adventurer, Yanni. Scoping out dangers with his field glasses, Yanni keeps us safe from tigers and polar bears.






After the tiger and polar bear attack, Yanni was carried off in this rescue helicopter.







Goats, along with a goatherd, are brought in to graze the grassland and protect from grass fires. The goats here vie for supremacy with each other to see who is King of the Mountain.






Coyote Hills is an interesting mix of hiking trails, marshlands, shorebirds, and great views. It is a popular bird-watching spot and runner/biker workouts.


Here I am after climbing 3,000 feet (ok, about 3 feet) with views of the SF Bay behind me. This was the perfect day to hike. Actually, it was Valentine's Day and the weather was beautiful. Wish I could say the same for my date.







We got off of the paved bay view path and followed the dirt trail up the hill for some great views.

The first of the California Poppies were coming up perhaps signaling an early spring.

One cool feature to this hike is that you get beautiful views of the SF Bay on one side and the marshy East Bay hills on the other.

At one point, we walked out along a path near some swampy areas of the park. Nice and quiet out there, except for the occasional group of nerdy birdwatchers led by volunteer docents. We, on the other hand are cool hikers, with our cool hiking sticks, compasses, and waterproof matches.

Until next time...

AT&T Golf ProAm

On Feb 9, 2007, I was invited to attend the AT&T ProAm Golf Tournament in Pebble Beach.

My friends Chris and John invited me to go, play golf, and stay at the Borg's Oceanfront Motel.

The Borg's Motel is kind of a "low-rent hotel in a high-rent area". Interesting place.

Borg's is in Pacific Grove, a wonderful place near Camel and Monterey. The walls of the motel are paper-thin, and I could actually hear the guy next door snoring. For attending the AT&T golf event, the $75. a night was fine.

Lattitudes is a great place to eat in Pacific Grove and I would go back in a heartbeat. They have a great bar and the food was excellent. I had the steak with a seafood salad and a tasty bottle of Cab.

The proximity to the ocean and the Lover's Point section of Pacific Grove was a great spot. I could hear the crash of the ocean waves from my room.

Here's the view just 50 steps from my room.

I arrived Friday morning and it was raining. When it stopped, I was able to walk across the street and take a couple of pictures.

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A seagull flew by looking pretty happy.

We took a required bus to the AT&T ProAm at Pebble Beach to see the pros and the stars. It's pretty exciting to walk around and look for the pros that you've followed for years. Here's VJ Singh on the 18th green after hitting his ball into the crowd.

The film crew at the tounament.

Here's Tom Brady, NFL quarterback walking with Emmit Smith, winner of "Dancing with the Stars". No cameras were allowed in the tounament and I was the only one tha I saw who had a canera. I "snuck" it out to take these shots of these NFL greats.

This was the first shot I took after we entered the tournament. It was a beautiful day, although windy and cold.

We found some seats at the bleachers and sat and waited for the pros and stars to come through. We did well: we saw Kevin Costner, Andy Garcia, Kevin James, Ray Ramano, Bill Murray, Tom Brady, Emmitt Smith, VJ Singh, and several others.

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Here's Bill Murray playing to the crowd.

As the day went on, it got windy and cold with intermittent rain. Sunny and clear, we braved the wind to see the show and survived on sandwiches and beers.

Despite what this board says, Phil Michelson went on to win the tournament and pocket a lot of money. Around 3pm, we left the course for the warmth and comfort of the Borg Motel and a great dinner at Clint Eastwood's place in Carmel.

While hanging around at the Carmel Mission, I shot this great prickly pear cactus. While in Boy Scouts, a hundred years ago, we used to cut these "pears" off and scrape out the insides into our hands to eat. I was tempted to cut these, but church was in session this Sunday morning and I refrained.

This statue was at the Carmel Mission. The weird thing was that at the base of it lie a skull at his toes. Not sure what that meant.

These guys were just hanging out at the local cemetary in Pacific grove. They don't look real and never moved.

And the rest are random shots of the grounds at the Carmel Mission nearby.