Introducing Sabine!

So Diego decided he wanted a sister. He had me (trav) start the search online. Sitting at work one day (on break of course), I stumbled across a cute female puppy, a blue heeler/aussie shepard mix. My favorite part was the video of her chasing her tail while she knocked over things. I thought, perfect. I quickly emailed Beth and got the thumbs up. After a quick burst of emails we were set to meet the pup on Monday of Presidents weekend.

After a fun filled weekend of skiing (see post below) we headed south from Mt. Shasta to Lake County (a bit out of the way, but nothing we aren't used to). We pulled up to Katherine's house (the pup's foster mom), which had an amazing view of Clear Lake. Shortly after, we were running around the front yard with the pup. From then on she has been known as Sabine (Sah-bean).

Once home, we introduced Sabine and Diego. Diego wasn't too sure about the new addition but over the past week he has begun to see the light. Once she is fully house broken, they will get to play all day while we work. Perfect!

Below are some picts of the first week with Sabine.

Just kick'n it on the way home.


Stretching the legs at a park

My two partners in crime

Beth's new little girl

Sabine & Diego!

-BnT

Weekend at Mt. Shasta

Presidents weekend couldn't have come at a better time.

The week before I was skiing at Mt. Bachelor (near Bend, OR) on, what was then the best snow in five weeks, 5 inches. During that same stretch of poor precip, Mt. Shasta had dwindled to a dismal base of 20 inches or so. I didn't think we were going to be able to ski on Presidents weekend, but it was too late to back out of our rented cabin. Little did I know how big a treat we were in for.

On Friday, I had a hard time getting out of work at a decent hour. Beth and I didn't get on the road until 7PM. It was raining hard on the coast and within 20 miles, it was snowing. Highway 299 is not a friendly highway in snow conditions. We went slow.

We pulled into Mt. Shasta City at 1AM or so (usually a 4 hour drive) to find mounds of snow around our rented cabin. We went in to find a warm fire and to met some new friends.

The weekend was put together by our friend Greg. He had invited a few high school friends who we hadn't met. Neal and Bren were there too, our friends that now live in Davis. In all there were ten: Greg and Teresa, Neal and Bren, Spencer and Veronica, George and Sarah, and me and Beth.

The next morning we woke and got dressed for snow. I wanted to demo a randonee ski set up (alpine like boot and binding that allows a free heal for climbing) so we first stopped by The Fifth Season shop. After, we headed for the resort.

Beth and I getting the day underway


Teresa and Greg

Spencer comes out of the trees
to a catrack

I don't know if it is evident from the pictures, but the snow was amazing. It was light and fluffy, which is very uncharacteristic for this area. We had a blast.

After skiing we went back to the cabin for warmth, cocktails, and food. We decided to have some fun and dress up a bit.

Greg's the best dressed deep fryer in the land

Sushi... you can never go wrong with sushi

That night it dumped.

The snow was heavier than the day before and after an hour and a half of digging the cars out, we decided to just ski out from the cabin. So Beth got her hands on some XC skiis (I think it was her second time ever on skiis) and I slipped the skins on my randonee set up. Off we all went.

Next, the Olympics (a bit long, but worth it)

Since it was Beth's birthday the next day and we wouldn't all be together for it, it was party time.

The Birthday Girl


Teresa and Bren


Spencer and Veronica

Neal doin' the limbo


Bren, the Queen of Limbo


Of course it wouldn't be a party without a ring toss


Homemade Lasagna!


The crew


There's always time for a late night, inebriated
snow ball fight


Happy Birthday To My Girl!

The end.

-BnT

Two Days of Boating on the Northcoast

Two great weekends. Two Sundays ago (1/11), Beth, Teresa, Greg, and Jay all went Kayaking on the Trinity River (Pigeon Point Run). The flow was at 1,300 cubic feet per second (cfs), which is a great flow. We had a blast, but no camera. The next day I broke down and bought a waterproof housing for our little digital camera. It is great, it fits in my pfd pocket. So, last weekend Saturday Beth, Greg, and I headed back to the Trinity. Since we haven't had any rain, the flows had dropped to about 1,000 cfs. We had a great day. Here is a couple picts from the day.

Me, Beth, and Greg before put-in

Nothing like boating in 43 deg. water in January


Beth running Z-Drop
(more challenging than it looks here)


Greg running Hell Hole


Travis running Hell Hole

I couldn't resist putting this one in.
Color was accidental. Looks like an album cover.
Beth is the lead singer, Greg plays the recorder, and Jay is the dancer.

After boating, we drove back to the coast and watched an amazing sunset over the ocean while having a couple beers at Six Rivers Brewery. During the beers, we decided that we should head up to the South Fork of the Smith River the next day (1,500 cfs). The Pigeon Point run on the Trinity is pretty, but the Smith is amazing. The river is so clear. As you float along, you feel like you are flying. Here are some picts and comments from the day.

Jay, Beth, and Greg


Me and Beth

Lunch time

No river running videos were shot this day, but there was lots of fun water. In all, it was a great weekend.

-BnT

Pre-Xmas Crab Dinner

Since Beth and I were heading out of Town for Xmas, we decided to have a Xmas dinner with a few friends. So we headed down the the docks and picked up some live crab from one of the boats.

Woodley Island Marina (~12 blocks from our house)

Greg, Teresa, and Jay came over and we started cooking.

Be careful, Jay has crabs

Don't they look happy?

The Crab is Ready

Teresa and Greg

When it was all finished, we played Catan.

Good times!

-BnT

Thanksgiving in LA

This year we decided to head south for Thanksgiving. We left after work on Tuesday for Laura (La) and Lucinda's (Lu), Beth's sister and girlfriend, house in Sierra Madre. We had not been in the LA area for quite a while and we were excited. That night we found a public campground and got the Subie converted for the night.

We slept to a light rain and woke early. By 7AM we were in the Great Valley heading south on the 5. We first went to La's school (she is a teacher at a Community College). We got the tour of the school and then headed to lunch. It didn't take long to get one of the things we miss most about urban living: a variety of restaurants. We had a great lunch and went to a cool bakery that sold baklava in a ton of varieties.

We left La to finish her day and headed to REI to wander through the store as Lu still needed to finish her work day too. Not long after, we headed to their house where Diego got to meet his cousins!

Sam


Neiko

Tikka

On Thanksgiving, we headed to Lu's father's house (which is really close to La-n-Lu's house). It was to be the first large family Thanksgiving in a long time. La and Lu kicked ass on a huge meal.

The day after Thanksgiving, we went to hang out with Seta (Beth's good friend), her girlfriend Tricia, and Lyndy (Beth's other good friend). Seta lives in Long Beach. Long Beach is cool. We had a good Vietnamese meal and then headed to the beach.

Left to Right: La, Lu, Tricia, Seta, Lyndy, Beth, Travis

After crossing the vast LA area, we ended back at La-n-Lu's.

Our final day in LA was spent playing frisbee with Diego and going out the Pub for beer.

On Sunday Beth and I piled into the car at 7AM. We listened to This American Life as we went up through the Grapevine, north in the valley, skirted the Bay area, cruised through Napa and Calistoga, and finally back in Humboldt County at 7PM.

It was too bad that we didn't have more time to hang out, but long weekends are short. Thanks LA crew for hanging out with us. We had a blast.

-BnT

Ukiah Triathlon, 09/07/08

Beth competed in a triathlon this weekend in Ukiah, CA, which is almost half way between our house and San Francisco. We arrived Saturday afternoon to 104 degree weather, ouch! After a three hour drive, pre-race check-in and scouting the swim course we were ready to chill-out, literally, in the aircon Super8.

Sunday arrived fast. By 6:15 am we were on our way to Mendocino College to setup the run transition and then to "Lake" Mendocino, about two miles down the road, for the swim and bike transition. The "Lake" is actually a reservoir that shows the use and abuse of the northern/southern California water wars. Don't forget, conservation is the best policy!

Beth did very well despite very little specific training. Perhaps the cross training of hiking, rafting, and kayaking is the secret to her success. She took first in her age group with top ranked swim and bike times. The run, on the other hand, was a different story. She blames her stiff legs and the heat for her slow pace, which kept her out of the lady's top ten overall (she was 11th). By the way, a hard-core 50 year old won the lady's race and all but one of the top ten ladies were 35+ years young! Nice motivation for all. Below are some of the pictures from the race.

Beth getting ready for the start

Beth comes out of the swim, 1st in her age group

The transition

Diego cheering Beth on the run

Me and Diego with our superstar

-BnT

Labor Weekend in the Trinity Alps Wilderness

Beth, Diego, and I took advantage of the long labor day weekend to head out in the Trinity Alps Wilderness with Greg and Teresa. We headed out Friday and after a three hour trip inland we were at the Scott Mountain trailhead. This trail is part of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) that runs from Mexico to Canada.

That night we hung out at the trailhead and slept under the stars. Well at least the humans did; Diego stood watch all night.

In the morning we packed up and headed into the back country. We hiked about 8 miles west to the East Boulder Lake Trail, which diverts from the PCT to the north towards the East Boulder Lakes and to the south towards the Marshy Lakes. Both lake systems are high altitude. We decided to head over towards the Boulder Lakes. This involved hiking up over a ridge and dropping down into the Boulder Lake's watershed. Almost instantly we realized there were other people camped along the four lakes (three pretty small). After striking out on a great campsite, we debated taking a less than great site. Luckly, we all felt good enough to do some more hiking and decided to head back over the ridge and drop down into the Marshy Lake system.

Hiking into the East Boulder Lakes


Diego and his pack

BINGO! We found a lake all to ourselves with great views, a great rock to swim from, refreshing (but not to cold) water, and a great cooking area. We set up camp and headed straight for a swim. A lot of times high altitude lakes are really cold, but with the snow gone and the sun hot for most of the summer, the lake was perfect.

Big Marshy Lake (rock in below picts
is on right side)

Chillin' on the lake's shore

After some swimming and hanging out in the sun, it was time for some dinner. Greg and Teresa made up some killer chili with fresh avocado, tomato, and cheddar cheese. We were stuffed. It was about this time the wind started.

That night the wind blew hard. It blew harder than I have ever camped in. After hanging the food (to keep the bears from eating it), we headed to bed. We all thought the wind would die down once the valley below cooled off, boy were we wrong. Beth and I went to sleep without the rain fly on, but by 12:30 it was apparent the wind was here to stay and was getting stronger. I reluctantly got out of the tent and put on the rain fly. I hoped it would be easier to sleep with us more protected, but the wind was so loud that sleeping only came in bursts. By morning, the temp must have been in the 40's and the wind was still blowing. We climbed out of the tent to find Greg and Teresa had the same difficulty sleeping as we did and had already found another campsite on the other side of the lake where it was better protected. We packed up and headed over.

Our new tent site on the northwest edge of the
lake after the windy night

Later that morning the wind died down and all was good. We decided to go for a hike up and around the rim above the lake. There was really cool views of Mount Shasta, the lake, and all the other mountains around. We found a really cool meadow to come back down through.

Video taken while above the camp.
Greg is the goofy one with the other camera.

Teresa and Greg

Greg and Diego enjoying the view

After we got back in camp it was time for some reading and a nap in the sun.

Doing nothing!

Later we did some swimming. Since Beth had a triathlon the following Sunday, she took the opportunity to get some open water training in. She had her own private lake and since it was at altitude (~7,000 FT), she really got in a good workout.

Beth swimming in her private lake

That night it was our turn to cook dinner. We brought tasty bites (Indian food). During dinner we were all wondering if the winds would start again. Although it blew a couple of strong gusts, the previous night was not repeated and so we slept like superstars.

Beth and I woke early to watch the sunrise. We crawled out of the warm tent into the crisp mountain air with warm clothes on and our sleeping bags in tow. We hiked to the east end of the lake and found a protected spot on the cliff overlooking the lower lake. The sun came up just south of Mount Shasta where three months ago, to the day, we got engaged. It was a great way to start the day.

Sunrise


Our trio

After watching the sunrise, we returned to the tents for some breakfast. We spend the rest of the morning laying around enjoying the last few hours of our private retreat. At about 1:00 we packed up and headed back towards the car. We had a really good pace and reached the car in just over two hours.

On the way home, we stopped in Weaverville for a late lunch and then continued home. Beth, Diego, and I reached home at about 8:00, which is really early compared to our other recent trips.

Well, that is that. We had a great time. We highly recommend the Trinity Alps.

-BnT