This weekend was the 21st Annual Spring Rosarito - Ensenada 50 mile fun bike ride. It runs from Rosarito Beach to Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. We had quite a group this year, with our friends John and Ginny inviting friends and our friend Terry also bringing Tracy along. We had 14 in all. We stayed at the Hotel El Cid in Ensenada as has been our recent habit. We did the race in 4 hours and 15 minutes, but we stopped twice for 20 and at least 25 minutes, so we rode the 50 miles in about 3.5 hours.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
NCAAs in Chicago, March, 2007
This year, Rodney took his annual trip to the first and second round of the NCAAs to Chicago, IL. His friend Jim spearheaded getting a luxury box, which meant the trip had 16 participants, double the normal 8 or so that usually go.
They stayed at the Hotel 71, which was on the Chicago River, downtown. The event itself was at the United Center. The first round had no upsets, although Texas A&M Corpus Christi gave Wisconsin a scare, which they didn't learn from, and promptly were upset by UNLV in the second round.
Saturday was St. Patrick's Day, which is a big deal in Chicago. Ray and Rodney actually attended a breakfast broadcast from the Irish Pub around the corner on WGN Friday morning. On Saturday, they dyed the river green (see the pix, not just green, but GREEN).
They stayed at the Hotel 71, which was on the Chicago River, downtown. The event itself was at the United Center. The first round had no upsets, although Texas A&M Corpus Christi gave Wisconsin a scare, which they didn't learn from, and promptly were upset by UNLV in the second round.
Saturday was St. Patrick's Day, which is a big deal in Chicago. Ray and Rodney actually attended a breakfast broadcast from the Irish Pub around the corner on WGN Friday morning. On Saturday, they dyed the river green (see the pix, not just green, but GREEN).
Amy and Greg's Wedding, Feb 2007, in Leavenworth, WA
Late February, we flew from Orange County to Leavenworth, WA. Ok, we flew to Wenatchee. The purpose was for one of Rasila's friends from growing up in Seattle, Amy, was getting married!
Her soon-to-be husband, Greg, had done some academic seminars at this neat place they got married, called The Sleeping Lady Inn. We arrived a day early, and just in time to have dinner and drinks with the family.
The next day we spent driving up US 2 to Stevens Pass Ski Area to ski with Rasila's Dad and his girlfriend. We actually hit a powder day and skied hard! Rasila suffered a migrane that night, so she slept while I went to King Ludwig's for an authentic German rehearsal dinner.
The next day, we work to a beautiful snowfall that lasted all day. We spent the day playing games and reading before the wedding started at 6:00 PM. It was a wonderful ceremony with a great appetizer spread afterwards and a fabulous dinner afterwards.
The next day we cleared the 12" of snow off the car and drove back to Wenatchee for the flight home. It was a wondeful trip!
Her soon-to-be husband, Greg, had done some academic seminars at this neat place they got married, called The Sleeping Lady Inn. We arrived a day early, and just in time to have dinner and drinks with the family.
The next day we spent driving up US 2 to Stevens Pass Ski Area to ski with Rasila's Dad and his girlfriend. We actually hit a powder day and skied hard! Rasila suffered a migrane that night, so she slept while I went to King Ludwig's for an authentic German rehearsal dinner.
The next day, we work to a beautiful snowfall that lasted all day. We spent the day playing games and reading before the wedding started at 6:00 PM. It was a wonderful ceremony with a great appetizer spread afterwards and a fabulous dinner afterwards.
The next day we cleared the 12" of snow off the car and drove back to Wenatchee for the flight home. It was a wondeful trip!
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Trips to Mammoth
Another winter, but no vacation for Rodney. This means more trips to Mammoth. We have made 2 trips so far. Once in January and one in February. The January trip was about 2 weeks after the last snowfall and they were hurting for coverage. The February trip was on the front end of a big storm that took the total from 4-6 feet (120 cm- 180cm) to 7-9 feet (210-270cm) of coverage. I discovered my 4WD was broken on the second trip (thankfully, I have chains), so it's in the shop while I anticipate another trip soon!
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Christmas in Wyoming
We spent the holidays this year with Rodney's family. Traveling at Christmas or Thanksgiving is always an adventure, some years more than others. This year, there was a huge snowstorm through the Rockies and into the Great Plains about Wednesday before we left. It closed the Denver Airport until Friday at noon. I made the mistake of saying how happy I was to not be flying through Denver since we had decided to fly to Salt Lake City (now known to us as "The Lake") and drive to Riverton, WY with Rodney's brother and his wife. When we arrived at the OC airport at 6:30 PM Friday, we were informed our flight was delayed and would not depart until 9:59 PM (it was scheduled for 8:35 PM). I should have suspected that time, as I later realized it was picked due to the fact that you cannot take off from the airport after 10:00 PM. As we waited, at about 8:00 PM, it was announced the flight was canceled. I have Delta's number in my mobile as I have had previous problems with Delta. I called as we walked back to the counter and finally got through. The earliest available seat was the 8:35 PM flight on Saturday. I was evidently being re-booked out of Palm Springs by someone else, so I had to have the agent work to book me as I wanted. As I went to ask about where to get my bags, the agent announced they had booked everyone on a flight out of Palm Springs and would bus everyone over in the morning. I thought I was glad I was not doing that, but maybe I shouldn't have been so happy. The next day, our flight got canceled before we left for the airport! We were now on the 9:30 AM flight Sunday morning.
Sunday morning was crowded at the airport, but we made it with relative ease, although we had to go in a special line because we were taking Ziwi. The only consolation was we had First Class this morning. We arrived about 1:00 PM, then left our skis and boots at Roger's house, then drove the 5 hour drive to Riverton, which put us in about 7:30 PM on the 24th. Rodney's brother Bob arrived about 5 minutes later from Billings, MT.
We had a nice Christmas, playing 9 different games (Harry Potter Uno, Yahtzee, Tripoly, Hearts, 5 Alive, Pass the Pigs, Gridlock, Dominos and one other, hmmm...), as well as getting 2-3" of snow, which delayed our drive back to The Lake by a day.
We drove back to The Lake on Friday, played Rummikube that night, then skied at Alta on Saturday. We played Sequence that night. The next day, we had a 8:10 AM flight to allow Roger and Julia to ski if they wanted, which had us arriving at 6:30 AM. We barely made it through the check-in line (once again, a special line due to Ziwi), and the baggage x-ray line, and the security line, to get on the plane at about 7:55 AM.
We arrived a little late due to needing de-icing on the wings, but spent 45 minutes waiting for luggage, which we received all except our skis. Delta thought they should have been on the flight, but couldn't tell us where they were, so they gave us a tracking number and promised to call when they arrived (don't want $1500 in ski equipment left on the sidewalk).
We hoped it would arrive on the next flight at 12:30 PM, but couldn't check the status on line, or on the phone. We ended up calling their main line and being persistent about getting help and eventually were told it should arrive on a 4:08 PM flight. It turned out the tracking number had the letter 'O' in it, not the number '0.' The online tracking never worked.
We headed to the airport about 5:15 PM to see if they made, which they had. As I claimed it, the guy told me he had just called. Turns out our skis flew United through LAX to make it home. Fun, fun.
Sunday morning was crowded at the airport, but we made it with relative ease, although we had to go in a special line because we were taking Ziwi. The only consolation was we had First Class this morning. We arrived about 1:00 PM, then left our skis and boots at Roger's house, then drove the 5 hour drive to Riverton, which put us in about 7:30 PM on the 24th. Rodney's brother Bob arrived about 5 minutes later from Billings, MT.
We had a nice Christmas, playing 9 different games (Harry Potter Uno, Yahtzee, Tripoly, Hearts, 5 Alive, Pass the Pigs, Gridlock, Dominos and one other, hmmm...), as well as getting 2-3" of snow, which delayed our drive back to The Lake by a day.
We drove back to The Lake on Friday, played Rummikube that night, then skied at Alta on Saturday. We played Sequence that night. The next day, we had a 8:10 AM flight to allow Roger and Julia to ski if they wanted, which had us arriving at 6:30 AM. We barely made it through the check-in line (once again, a special line due to Ziwi), and the baggage x-ray line, and the security line, to get on the plane at about 7:55 AM.
We arrived a little late due to needing de-icing on the wings, but spent 45 minutes waiting for luggage, which we received all except our skis. Delta thought they should have been on the flight, but couldn't tell us where they were, so they gave us a tracking number and promised to call when they arrived (don't want $1500 in ski equipment left on the sidewalk).
We hoped it would arrive on the next flight at 12:30 PM, but couldn't check the status on line, or on the phone. We ended up calling their main line and being persistent about getting help and eventually were told it should arrive on a 4:08 PM flight. It turned out the tracking number had the letter 'O' in it, not the number '0.' The online tracking never worked.
We headed to the airport about 5:15 PM to see if they made, which they had. As I claimed it, the guy told me he had just called. Turns out our skis flew United through LAX to make it home. Fun, fun.
Friday, December 22, 2006
Grand Canyon Last 4th of July
Since people are starting to look at this more as I mentioned it in our Christmas letter, I noticed I completely forgot to put an entry about our trip the Grand Canyon.
We drove over on Saturday, leaving at 6 AM and driving up I-15 to I-40. It was a relatively easy trip, making it to Kingman, AZ by lunch time. We hit some amazing rain storms through the mountains towards Williams, AZ. Williams was a neat little town that we stopped for coffee at. There was a significant line to enter, even the dedicated line for passholders. It took about 30 minutes to enter the park. We camped, and then hiked over to the rim for a look before heading back to eat dinner. It was a pretty good hike to the canyon rim, since it was about a mile just to leave the huge campground!
We hiked the rim towards the Bright Angel Trail the next day. Dogs are allowed along the rim, so we never went far down (although we went a little down to take a picture). We had deer run through the campground in the morning. The fire danger had lowered enough to allow us to have a campfire, but not all campers knew (we got berated by one, who I don't know if they believed me when I said it was ok).
The next day, we hiked the opposite direction and then drove to the Watchtower and back. Rasila also wanted to see the IMAX film, which she watched while Ziwi and I bought her some Indian earrings.
We took the scenic route back, driving down through Flagstaff, Sedona, and Jerome on the way to the I-10. It seemed like a good choice as the scenery was great and the traffic light. I always dread the I-40/I-15 merge at Barstow which we did sit through on the way back from the Great Basin.
We drove over on Saturday, leaving at 6 AM and driving up I-15 to I-40. It was a relatively easy trip, making it to Kingman, AZ by lunch time. We hit some amazing rain storms through the mountains towards Williams, AZ. Williams was a neat little town that we stopped for coffee at. There was a significant line to enter, even the dedicated line for passholders. It took about 30 minutes to enter the park. We camped, and then hiked over to the rim for a look before heading back to eat dinner. It was a pretty good hike to the canyon rim, since it was about a mile just to leave the huge campground!
We hiked the rim towards the Bright Angel Trail the next day. Dogs are allowed along the rim, so we never went far down (although we went a little down to take a picture). We had deer run through the campground in the morning. The fire danger had lowered enough to allow us to have a campfire, but not all campers knew (we got berated by one, who I don't know if they believed me when I said it was ok).
The next day, we hiked the opposite direction and then drove to the Watchtower and back. Rasila also wanted to see the IMAX film, which she watched while Ziwi and I bought her some Indian earrings.
We took the scenic route back, driving down through Flagstaff, Sedona, and Jerome on the way to the I-10. It seemed like a good choice as the scenery was great and the traffic light. I always dread the I-40/I-15 merge at Barstow which we did sit through on the way back from the Great Basin.
Friday, November 17, 2006
College Football Season
Fall means another college football season and we did our usual buying of SDSU season tickets. Hope sprung eternal until the first game, where the starting QB went down and the Aztecs lost 34-27. The proceeded to lose the backup and the starting RB in the third game, against Utah. They didn't win until they played Air Force, which they followed up by losing to Championship Division (formerly D-1AA) Cal Poly. They have since beat UNLV and may actually end up with 3 victories by the end of the season.
Wyoming, in the meantime, started out 1-4 with overtime losses to Syracuse and Virginia, and 7 point losses to top-25 Boise State and to the Air Force Academy. They then won 3 in a row, before crashing back to earth with a loss at TCU. They have beat SDSU and lost horribly to BYU. They can become bowl eligible with a victory at UNLV this weekend.
The pictures are from Wyoming's Homecoming game, where Wyoming ended 6 years of futility against Utah by opening up a 31-0 halftime lead before coasting to a 31-15 victory.
Wyoming, in the meantime, started out 1-4 with overtime losses to Syracuse and Virginia, and 7 point losses to top-25 Boise State and to the Air Force Academy. They then won 3 in a row, before crashing back to earth with a loss at TCU. They have beat SDSU and lost horribly to BYU. They can become bowl eligible with a victory at UNLV this weekend.
The pictures are from Wyoming's Homecoming game, where Wyoming ended 6 years of futility against Utah by opening up a 31-0 halftime lead before coasting to a 31-15 victory.
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