Yesterday we went to the White House, Ford’s Theatre, the National Archive, the Hard Rock Cafe, and Chinatown. We learned a lot of things, but some things still remain a mystery to me. At Ford’s Theatre I saw these hats. Now I know which side the blue was on, I know which side the gray was on, but can someone remind me which team was the pink on?
You’d think they would of said something on the tour about that…
Today was the first two days of our trip. I know you probably think that was a typo,but it wasn’t. To get to Washington DC from California it takes a lot of traveling. For our trip we first took the car to the Ontario International Airport. There we waited and took a plane to Phoenix, to Baltimore. After a brief (4 hr) sleep in Baltimore we took a train to Union Station, Washington DC. It has definitely been a a very interesting trip so far. I hope to slowly get that all out here in the blog soon. For now, however, let it be known it has been a long trip and I am very glad to get some shut eye.
Fridays is the our traditional pizza day for our family. Many of you are undoubtedly confused by the title. For those of you not in the know Taco Bell is a “sort of” Mexican food place. Taco Bell is definately not known for their authenticity, but I think they really “jumped the shark” on this one (see wikipedia for further details on the phrase). Now as a Mexican American I can definitively tell you that pizza is NOT a Mexican. As an American however I can tell you that the mere conventionality of tradition has never stopped us from inventing yet another crazy way to make ourselves fatter. So behold, Taco Bell’s Mexican Pizza:
A strange concoction it is made of two flour tortillas that have been fried to the point at which they are stiff. Inside the two tortillas are re-fried beans and ground beef. On top is red sauce and a blend of American and cheddar cheese. Surprisingly, the taste is not that bad. It is kind of like a deranged quesadilla. I think if I had to give this creation a new name I would call it the Pocho Pizza. Not only is that name catchier, it would much better describes what is going on here. Anyhow, if you want to try it yourself it is available across the nation for the low, low price of only $2.99.
Our last day in camp was a rainy day. We had scheduled to stay longer and maybe do some more fishing, but with the rain everyone just wanted to pack up and go. So after a quick breakfast that is exactly what we did. The only thing that was interesting was the night before one of the leader’s tents was attacked by an army of red ants. We tried everything we could to keep them away from the tent. In the end the only thing that worked was drenching the area around the tent with lots of water.
On the morning of our last day it was interesting to see the pollen pool. It was kind of like a river of yellow fuzzy things:
Day Four saw us back on the trail. This time we were camped out at the Clyde group campground in Big Pine Canyon. Working on our 10 mile hike we had two goals: see First and Second Falls and Palisade Glacier.
For Palisade Glacier we didn’t climb all the way to the top but we got pretty close. Along the way we saw a bunch of trail workers:
It is amazing how strong they are, I was huffing and puffing my way up and they climbed that trail as if it were nothing. What is more is they had a lot of equipment with them.
After checking out the glacier we turned directions and went to look for the falls. The first one we saw was First Falls:
This was relatively easy to get to, it was fun to see it. It is amazing to think of how much water runs through that water fall.
(video here)
After staring at First Falls for a bit we went on to Second Falls. The idea was to hike up the trail and just see it from a distance. Which we did:
It was cool, but decided that we needed to get closer so up we went. The view from up close was amazing. It is fun to feel the power of the mist hitting against you. After climing up to the falls we had to make the descent down:
After getting down it was just a matter of following the creek back to camp:
On the way back we some interesting stuff.
A horse outfitter:
A old abandoned house:
And a Cottonwood tree:
After 10 miles it was another exhausting day, but it was very beautiful.
Just a bit ago, from across the room, I heard the soft sounds of AJ talking to himself. I went to go investigate and found him laying on his back on the floor, head cushioned on a pillow he had pulled off the couch, holding a book above his face. He was “reading” this book to himself. (It was a soft one, from Grandma Jackman, with many objects , each the same color, on each page). aaaahhh…
Where is the sweet sweet picture of this sweet sweet moment you ask? Well, I went to (quietly) grab for the camera and AJ immediately perks up, “PICTURE”, he says. I try to get him to re-create the moment, only to discover that the memory card is not in the camera and I have no idea where it is. ARGGHH!!
In a related note, he is gradually catching onto the concept of colors. He help up his breakfast fruit this morning, and with no prompting, said, “GREEN Grapes.” Yea!! The two colors he can most reliably identify are pink and green, so Lilly Pulitzer here we come!
Day 3 found us back at camp, which was good because I was tired from the day before. Although our feet got a little bit of rest it was still a busy day. On this day we finished the Fishing Merit Badge which basically meant a bunch of knot tying and talking about fishing emergencies. What is a fishing emergency you ask? Well basically just think hooks. Anyhow, it was also Wilderness Survival day. To start Wilderness Survival Day we had to first find a wilderness.
Not too far away from our camp we found this really cool grove of Aspen trees:
It kind of reminded me of the sacred grove. First thing the boys did was start building shelters. We told them they could use anything they had on them and anything they found. Here is a picture of one of the shelters:
In this particular case the scouts found an old palette and what looked to be an abandon burlap sack, kind of wierd finding that in the middle of the forest, but it is what they found so it was valid. To complete their requirements they had to sleep in the shelter one night, and it rained a little bit. I have to say they did a better job than I did when I got this merit badge. When I did the Wilderness Merit Badge I did it in the winter and built an Igloo, building an Igloo is a lot easier than building a leantoo. Anyhow, since it was taking a lot of time for the scouts to build their shelters I went with another Coach (in Varsity Scouts the leaders are called Coaches not Scoutmasters) and did some of my own reconanse. After some time we soon found a town called Aspendale. It was a very small town, but there was a resort there:
In this town we found a pay phone and overpriced ice cream sandwiches. We decided the scouts didn’t need to know about that so we went back to camp and didn’t say anything about it.
Back at camp we found the scouts demonstrating fire starting:
The bow method is really one of the harder methods. My favorite method involves a 9 volt battery and steel wool. Try it one day, but watch your hands, wouldn’t want you to burn yourself.
Fire was started and it was one to preparing food. For food we made what is called a Hobo Pack:
Basically all you do is cut up a potato, some meat, vegetables, and wrap it up in aluminum. This is then cooked right on the coals of your fire. It is very simple. Also simple was our refridgerator. Yes, we had a refridgerator out there and we had nice cold milk everyday:
It was a fun day, I didn’t make a shelter. I just “cowboy” camped by showing the scouts how a shelter and hiking pole make a great shelter:
It worked well, but there was a lot of mosquitoes out there and I got bit pretty good.
(click on pictures to expand)
Day 2 in the Sierras was the first of two “trail” days. For our first destination, we made it our goal to get to a place called Donkey Lake. To reach Donkey Lake we would have to climb to an elevation of 10,594 feet on a trail 5.2 miles long. The scouts are working on their hiking merit badge so the round trip would help them get one of their 10 mile hikes done (for the merit badge they have to do five 10 mile hikes).
We started our hike at Lake Sabrina where the trail head begins. The first thing that struck me was the wildlife. As soon as we got out of the car we saw a marmot.
I can only describe it as a cross between a prairie dog and a squirrel:
Not to be surpassed however was Lake Sabrina itself:
It was kind of daunting at this point to look up to that ridge in the background and know that you were going over it.
The first section of the trail was a relatively easy 1.3 miles that ran around Lake Sabrina. This afforded excellent views of Lake Sabrina and chances to see a lot of wild flowers:
At the end of this 500 ft. climb there was a big stream to cross. The only way you could cross it was by jumping across the rocks:
My hiking buddy Jerry did this just fine. I however fell on one of the rocks, got wet, and ended up with a big bruise on my knee. Not fun, but that is the way it goes.
The next section would prove to be the most difficult part of this hike. The second section was 2.5 miles and climb 1,500 to Blue Lake. It was very interesting to me how the topography changed in this section. It went from very woody to very rocky very fast:
Nevertheless, I trodded onwards. At this point the air got very thin and I my lungs felt very heavy. I ended up making it to Blue Lake, but I was very tired:
It was very tiring, but as you can see from this picture it was worth it:
As stunning as that picture is, Blue Lake was not our final destination. We had lunch and continued climbing up to Donkey Lake. This section was 500 ft. higher, but the incline wasn’t as bad. The only problem was the trail which got kind of tricky to follow. Eventually, we did find it and this is what we saw:
You will notice in this picture that there are no trees. It was very stark, just water, ice, and rock. Another thing that you have to know is that it was about 90 degrees outside, which made the presence of snow that more striking. This of course was glacier ice and so it never really melts away. We fished some more at Donkey Lake and then made our way down.
The way down was interesting in itself. I am a big guy and the path was very rocky. It definitely wore on me after awhile. The switchbacks were the worst for me. I named this particular one “Lombard St.”:
Anyhow, I did eventually make it back. When we got back to camp I taught the boys how to make Ramen Chop Suey and Apple Cobbler in a Dutch Oven, it was really good after a long day of hiking.
Here is a little video of some of the sights I saw on this second day:
(click on the pictures to expand)
Last week I took my Scouts from Team 253 (we are Varsity Scouts so we call ourselves a Team) to the Sierras. It was a wonderful trip that took us to heights of 11,000 feet and across 21.5 miles in this series I plan to write a few notes about each day of our trip.
Our first day concentrated on getting to the Sierras. Our destination for this trip was the Inyo National Forest, specifically it was the John Muir Wilderness area. After about 5 hours of driving from Crestline we arrived at the Bishop Park Campground. It was kind of an interesting drive to me because I live in Crestline which is part of the San Bernardino National Forest and to get to Inyo National Forest we had to drive up the 395 which is basically all desert. It just reminded me how diverse California actually is, it is amazing to me that you can traverse so many different ecological systems in one day’s worth of driving. The Bishop Park Campground was really nice. We were in the group site that came equipped with a fairly large bear box, several fire pits, and a flush toilet (that even had a sink). This was all set next to a beautiful river:
With a river like that it was obvious the first thing to do after setting up our tents was to go catch dinner. My friend Neil (another Adult leader) told me he saw a fish under a log in the river. I put some Powerbait cheese on my rod and put it in the river, 30 seconds later I had a fish.
I really couldn’t believe how easy it was. In a matter of about 2 hours our Team had caught seven fish. During the whole trip the scouts caught dozens (I lost count after about 12) of fish. It seemed that every stream and lake we saw had multitudes of fish ready to eat. Anyhow, after cleaning out our fish and eating them we settled in for our first night with full stomachs.
As this blog is now functioning as our family journal, I’m going to add a quick note, so I won’t forget later.
AJ and I have a fun trend going. Several mornings each week AJ pops out of his bed and comes and runs into our room and snuggles in our bed. Usually this happens when John’s alarm has woken him up. He NEVER falls asleep in our bed, just wiggles, kicks, and gives lots of hugs.
This doesn’t happen every morning. Sometimes he goes straight to the kitchen looking for breakfast and other mornings he checks in with me and tells me “toys” and I tell him, “that’s okay I’ll get you when breakfast is ready.”
However, those 3 or 4 morning of the week when he comes under the blankets with us are precious.
(His favorite times are when John and I are both in bed and he can come in between us. If we are both in the bed, he won’t go anyplace but between us. Not, on my side, not on John’s side, only between.)