Brigid Travels

Updates from The Road

Mammoth Mountain [2017]

Womens March San Diego [2017]

I attended the Women's March in San Diego because I believe in government policies and action informed by compassion and empathy, balanced by realistic economic progress and scientific/studied basis. I do not see that being a motivating approach by current policy makers (and those going through the nominating process). Here are some of the signs from the march - the crowd was estimated at 40,000!

And some people shots

Sarah + Brian Jansen Wedding [2016]

And where we stayed, first at the Madonna Inn, then in a tree house by the Mystery Spot!

South Lake Tahoe [2015]

We booked this trip a few months ago, banking on El Niño giving us early snow! And the little guy delivered!! Monday We traveled all day, arriving in time to unload at our home for the week - the Stardust Lodge - and have a great Mexican dinner with Larry & Jean at a hole-in-the-wall nearby, Maya's.

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Tuesday Started off the skiing portion of the trip with yummy breakfast at Red Hut of course! Went skiing/boarding for a few hours at Heavenly - the snow was not plentiful, but it was nice and there was good coverage on the groomed runs - exactly what you need on the first day of the season 🏂

Afterwards Jean and I had fun creating our first tie dye shirts! Steve and I stopped by the Tahoe Sports Ltd shop, always great, where I picked up elusive snowboard boots and Steve got new snowboard pants. Success! And then we all headed down to JJ's in Minden to have dinner with Butch and Michael.

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Wednesday After a late breakfast at Red Hut, we found it was too windy and icy to hit the mountain today, so we hung out with Michael at McP's and had dinner at Base Camp Pizza. We should get a big storm tonight!

Thursday Lots of rain overnight, and at 9:30am it turned to snow! We had a great breakfast at the Driftwood Cafe, and toyed with heading on to the mountain but it would be cold and soggy and not many runs are open... so we hunkered down in town. We did a little shopping, and lunched at Azul Latin Kitchen. That night we took advantage of a free lasagne dinner at the Stardust and watched The Manchurian Candidate. What a great movie!

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Friday Powder day!! Overnight we got 2+' and so after another great breakfast at the Driftwood Cafe, we jumped on Heavenly's Gondola and hit the slopes! It was snowy with limited visibility early in the day, but that eventually dissipated.

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A few runs in, we decided to go down a run that ended up being tons of deep powder. Unfortunately I got stuck a bunch of times... exhausting. But it was a great day!

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We topped it off with a marvelous dinner at Azul Latin Kitchen (with margaritas) after trying to go to the Tahoe Adventure Film Festival at Montebleu, but it was too smoky in there and my asthma told us to Get Out!

Saturday The crowds have certainly hit South Lake Tahoe! Breakfast at the Driftwood Cafe was very busy, which reinforced our decision to drive to Kirkwood for the day's snowboarding. Very fun day, the roads were good and the crowds were pretty light!

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One odd little incident - there was a little mouse hopping around in the snow at the top of one of the chairlifts at one point. We think she might have had a baby gripping her back... couldn't figure out how to help her, and by the time we got back, she was gone.

It snowed a bit here and there, made for a gorgeous winter wonderland.

By the time we got back 'home' the crowds were crazy, so we picked up a pizza at Base Camp Pizza and watched Pan's Labyrinth. Odd movie, but good.

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Sunday We got up early and headed down the to the valley so that we would miss the brunt of the new storm, and had brunch with Butch at Bodines. The weather was a bit gnarly so we headed to the airport early, played some cribbage and relaxed before heading home.

Great trip!

South Lake Tahoe 2015
South Lake Tahoe 2015

Jaimi + Beau Jansen Wedding [2015]

We stayed in a lovely little house about a half mile from the ocean, and had a fabulous time with the Jansens during the wedding weekend celebrations, reconnecting with family. Such a beautiful couple!

Pacific Crest Trail - #1 [2015]

Inspired by the book and movie Wild, we decided to check out some day hikes on the 2600 mile Pacific Crest Trail, close to home in San Diego County. Here is a great website that has detailed maps - Halfmile's PCT Maps. Our first foray was a short hike out of Warner Springs, Eagle Rock.

Eagle Rock - 6.6 mi out and back, elevation gain/loss 967', @ mile 106.2 (Eagle Rock) - mile 109.5 (Hwy 79) on the PCT (S->N)

 

Idyllwild [2014]

We went to Idyllwild for our 5th Anniversary in August - a cute mountain town with lots of good hiking. It cemented my choice of manzanita as my favorite tree! Restaurants: Gastrognome - yummy asparagus and portobello penne in creme sauce, Nature's Wisdom - ok sandwiches, La Casita - good veggie burritos and veggie tamales, Mile High Cafe - a little out of town, yummy veggie burger and nice salads and great art.

note: a decent number of highly rated restaurants were closed, e.g. Swiss Fondue

Fun place to hang out: Idyll Awhile Wine Bar - they have music on the weekend evenings, and a tasting option which was fun!

Hiking: We did Suicide Rock (~7 miles, on the upper end of difficult just below strenuous) and Ernie Maxwell (~5 miles, moderate). Nice views of the forested vista and mountain peaks, plus both had a decent amount of distance under the canopy of trees so we didn't get too hot. Gorgeous groves of manzanitas.

Walking around town: they have painted deer around town - fun to check out!

Lake Tahoe - Alabama Hills - Trona [2014]

There wasn't much snow in Tahoe, but it was still fun. On the drive home we stopped overnight in Lone Pine, staying at the Dow Villa Motel, so we could explore the Alabama Hills and take a gander at Trona and the Pinnacles. 

pulling into los angeles [2013]

its 6am and we are pulling into our disembarkation port.

awesome photo by Mom

awesome photo by Mom

it was supposed to be 8am so i wonder if they will let us off early. need to pick up our rental and figure out where to go to church before heading home to see yin yang and the rest of the family this afternoon.

it's been a wonderful trip. i'll do another post later with thoughts on the cruising experience in general. it has been so wonderful to spend two whole weeks with mom and gert. and share such adventures :)

yesterday was a sea day and our last progressive trivia session - we didn't come close to winning but learned so much and had a blast.

our progressive trivia team – Team YinYang!

our progressive trivia team – Team YinYang!

yesterday was also a final art event. i've been a bit of an art auction junkie... but only ended up with the piece i won in a raffle. some of those peter max paintings were calling out...

Cheers to Dad on His birthday!!

and last night was a show where lots of the staff was brought on stage for a thank you... the housekeeping staff all had towel animals in their hands! so cute!! we had collected an adorable menagerie but they were all taken this afternoon so i suspect some of ours were in their arms.

Our towel menagerie!

Our towel menagerie!

off to do the final pack and have the final breakfast!