Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Spring Time 2009

SAN FRANCISCO
The weather has finally stabilized as warm and sunny and I'm in between jobs again. After Squaw Kids terminated, it rained for about a week, which meant I didn't feel guilty relaxing inside all day! But Casey and I decided to hit the coast to get away from the Tahoe chill and gloom. So we packed our bikes in the car and headed to our friend's house in San Francisco where we did the typical city thing and spoiled ourselves by buying expensive makeup from a shop downtown =0)
[Chris, Casey and Kim with San Fran in the background]

SANTA CRUZ/CAPITOLA

Then we headed to the best camping spot: New Brighton Beach near Santa Cruz. We rode our bikes into the nearby small town of Capitola and took lots of walks on the beach. Oh yeah! And
on our way down we stopped at a lighthouse and saw Blue Whales migrating north for the summer!!! We also learned how to swim away from riptides at a little museum we ran into on one of our walks.







BENSON HOT SPRINGS
The next camping excursion took place in the middle of the desert with my two bosses Karen and Robyn. Robyn took the two of us seriously into the middle of nowhere: Benson Hot Springs; Population 13 1/2. We had our own hot tub at the site with the local hot water source flowing from a spring nearby. As we set up camp I thought to myself: what in the world are we going to do for the whole day tomorrow? Well, we attempted a hike that led nowhere into the hills, we drove to a local river that was more of a stream, and then headed to Mammoth Lakes to get a cup of coffee. It was actually a great and relaxing trip with lots of reading and good eating involved (Robyn is a wonderful cook). Pictured below are Robyn and Karen at the campsite, a view from our hot tub and exploring the river.

















And of course with all the melting snow we had to explore all the new waterfalls exploding all over the place. So here are two hikes taken in the Tahoe area:

HORSETAIL FALLS, past South Lake Tahoe
[Bradford, Katie M., me and Katie Kuber scrambling up the granite rock]












SHIRLEY CANYON
Located in Squaw Valley, all the snow melt caused some raging waterfalls!
[Ryan, Joy, Jack and Kim]

HAPPY SPRING! Enjoy the changing of the seasons. XOXO