Jacki and Katie Visit!

After tons of travel for the month of May, we decided to take Memorial Day weekend off and just relax and clean the house a little.  The rest and time was very much needed since we had to prepare for Jacki and Katie's visit the first weekend of June!  We met them down in San Fran on Friday and had fun exploring a little bit of California. 

First stop: Point Reyes National Seashore

At the lighthouse

Sea lions on the beach

Katie running to catch up with Alee...who's waiting for her behind the dunes...

Jacki and Katie

Kristin and Katie

Reverting back to childhood...

 After exploring the park in the cloudy weather, we set up camp right outside the park and started a fire for S'mores!  The fire was great, the S'mores were great, the company was great and right about 9pm, the rain decided to join.  We headed to bed in our tents and slept in heavy rain ALL NIGHT!  Luckily the tents held up for the most part...

Our camp site near the park...in the rain

Our little "lap dog" Alee

Saturday we headed to go rafting on the Stanislaus National Forest but the nasty rain and super high river flows had other plans, so we decided to explore Lodi and some wineries instead.  Luckily, Alee's brother, Leo, lives near by and badly wanted a play date with his sister, so we dropped her off for the day.  They were definitely siblings!

Alee leading the chase

Making the getaway!

First we stopped at the Delicato Wine tasting room - the makers of lots of different wine including Bota Box - fine wine in a box!  (Our favorite camping wine.)  Then we headed to downtown Lodi to taste some cheese at Cheese Central.  On the way we passed a science museum called World of Wonder - perfect for Katie!  It was only $6 to get in and they had tons of cool things to play with....I think Jackie and I may have enjoyed it more than Katie! 

Katie and I learning how ball bearings help to prevent buildings from collapsing in an earthquake

Jacki putting together the "human body" puzzle after Katie and I failed

My buddy!

After the museum and cheese tasting, we headed to our cabin in Groveland to make dinner, try out our boxed Riesling and prepare for Yosemite the next day!

Friends for almost 2 decades!!!

Friends for almost 2 days!!!

We headed out towards Yosemite National Park (which doesn't allow dogs to hike) and stopped for a hike on the Stanislaus National Forest (which does allow dogs to hike).  The hike was 4 miles one way along a river to a waterfall, BUT with 3 tired adults and a 4 year old...we decided to hike 2 miles in and then head back out - so no waterfall, but still a beautiful hike!

River out of its banks

Jacki enjoying the hike in the most glamorous way

We love taking our Subaru all over the country!

After our hike, we had 1 tired little girl and 1 tired pup!  We headed to Yosemite for some low-intensity exploring of the valley.  On the drive in we started seeing waterfalls and the Merced River - it was so gorgeous!  We headed straight to the Valley since Tioga Pass is still closed due to snow.

Yosemite was probably the MOST beautiful place we had ever seen - there were waterfalls EVERYWHERE!  When you are in the Valley, you are surrounded by these beautiful vertical rock cliffs with waterfalls in every direction and on the ground is lush green grass split into segments by a gorgeous rushing river.  If it weren't for all the people, it would be the perfect spot for...well...just about everything!  After our exploring and some short hikes, we headed out for pizza where Ed and Katie enjoyed a game of checkers. 

as you can tell, the game was VERY serious!

On Monday we had planned to just head back to San Fran but decided to take a detour to Alee's birthplace in Pacific Grove/Monterey.  We enjoyed a nice lunch on the beach and explored downtown Monterey.

Katie's photography at lunch

After Monterey, we headed back to San Fran to drop Jackie and Katie off with Jackie's uncle for the evening to get ready to head back to VA the following morning.  It was great seeing them and sad to say good bye but we hope to see them again soon!

Vegas for Andrea and Chris's Anniversary!

Kristin's cousin Andrea married her wonderful husband Chris 3 years ago and they have been so happy every since.  In order to celebrate, they booked a trip to Vegas for the week of their anniversary!  Since Vegas is a whole lot closer than Atlanta, we decided to join them for a few days. This was a classic Vegas trip and we had a blast!

We saw 2 shows: KA and Peep Show - both fantastic, but KA was very impressive from an engineering point of view. 

After KA - great show!

We got to visit our absolute FAVORITE breakfast spot again - Hash House A Go Go for their amazing french toast while Chris enjoyed their famous rosemary chicken and waffles.

Hash House A Go Go!!!!!

 After a great breakfast, we headed to the arts district to visit the Neon Sign Museum.  This place is awesome!  It's run by a non-profit organization and currently their tours are by appt only.  It's only $15 and well worth it!  Soon they will have a full building and will be open more often.

This was used in the movie "Casino"

All handblown glass!

Ugly Duckling used car lot

That night we hit up Peep Show to see the famous Holly Madison.  It was exciting to see Holly (and our seats were so close we really did SEE her!) but she was not the biggest star of the show - there were some amazing dancers and singers! 

Cabo Wabo before Peep Show

Friday we visited the Carnegie Deli in the Mirage for some ENORMOUS sandwiches and then headed to downtown to explore Fremont Street.  We won a little money and lost a little money, but didn't pay for our trip this time.  

MGM Pool area - look how far it is from the actual hotel!  It was a long walk!

We headed home on Saturday after a Mexican breakfast in the Miracle Mile shopping mall.  Ed and I had a little time to kill before our flight so we hung out by the pool at the MGM grand...with about 1,000 other people.

Snow in May!

Well, after so much traveling and more to come, we decided to take the Mother's Day weekend off to clean house and for Kristin to get ready for a 4 day work trip to Denver.  We decided to go on a hike with friends and their dog on Sunday somewhere in the Cascades. We headed out to numerous trailheads and they were all snowed in!!!!  While Klamath Falls was a decent temperature, a little higher in the mountains it was snowing!  So we decided to scratch the hike and just let the pups play at a near by park - Daphne actually got Alee into the freezing cold water!!!  She didn't seem to thrilled about it, but still it was the first time we'd ever seen her jump into the water!


"oh - I see how this works - the humans throw the stick into the water and you go get it and bring it to me...perfect!"

 

"Thanks for getting the stick so we can play..."

"I think I'm goin in this time!!!!!"



Spring in the Bay Area!

After a hard, cold week at work and many headaches, we headed out this past weekend to visit Ashley and Matt for a green hiking weekend.  We were really excited to do some "short sleeves hiking" but we were even MORE excited when it snowed in Klamath Falls on Thursday and Friday!  It's definitely not spring yet here, so we headed south to see the blooming flowers and smell the fresh green grass.
We arrived Friday night and had a grill out with artichoke, Teriyaki shrimp and a rice pilaf - delicious!

Saturday we headed out to Sunol Regional Wilderness area for some fun hiking with Ashley, Matt, Alee and Ashley's friend Danny.  The hike was gorgeous, the weather was perfect and they allowed dogs to be off-leash!  It doesn't get better than that!

Alee with her new pack loaded with 2 Nalgene Bottles

Family photo/Rest break

Ed and Alee hiking...great shot of Alee

Kristin and Ashley

Alee climbing on some rocks near the non-existent falls

After the hike on Saturday, we headed out to another on Sunday!  Sunday's hike was at Mission Peak Regional Park.  Alee was still exhausted from the hike the day before, so we left the pack at home and headed for the very populated trail!

Hittin the trail!

Mid-hike photo!

Apparently the park land was also open-range

A rattlesnake on the trail...and NOT afraid of people!

Great view of the Bay Area

Ashley and Kristin

With us both exhausted and Alee just pooped, we headed home to get ready for our next adventure!

Reno to end the Season!

For our birthday weekend we decided to head to Reno to meet Ashley and Matt for one last weekend on the slopes!  We headed out Friday afternoon to head to Reno with our Alee girl in the car.  Kristin had to be in Sacramento for work that day, so it was a short 2.5 hour drive over the pass.  Before the trip (after cleaning the car seats NUMEROUS times for Alee's fur), Kristin decided to make a "car blanket" - basically a 2-layer fleece blanket with elastic straps to connect it to the headrests.  The goal: keep Alee's fur off the car seats and give her a more comfy ride.  Alee seemed to really enjoy it...

Alee's new car blanket

Once we got to Reno, we picked up a backpack for Alee (see the pack in action in the next post!) and looked for a pizza shop.  We drove by this place called Blind Onion which boasted being the best pizza in Reno...we figured it was worth a shot.  Turns out this place was AWESOME!!!  GREAT pizza, awesome beer, relaxed environment and games to play while you wait! 

Enjoying a beer while playing Connect 4 while waiting for our pizza

Afterwards, we met up with Ashley and Matt for a quick visit at Grand Sierra Resort (which thankfully accepts pets) and headed to bed to prepare for snowboarding. 

Saturday we got up bright and early to drop Alee off at Pet Play House for all-day fun.  This place is really great, offering kennel-free playing all day and night!  If you opt for a "suite" there - it's definitely NOT a kennel!!  Alee only played during the day, but we're bringing her here for 4 days while we're in Vegas in May!

One of the suites at Pet Play House

With Alee taken care of, we were off to the slopes with our new boards!  We decided to check out Homewood Mountain Resort - it's a smaller resort on the westside of Lake Tahoe.  We chose it because, frankly, they were just running a super cheap deal on Liftopia.  We were very thankful for the cheap tickets because this place was great!  There was hardly any one there, no lift lines and great conditions for April.  We had some really great runs, but by noon things started to melt and get pretty sticky.  Ed and Matt wanted to "tough it out" on some hard runs while Ashley and Kristin were content with a beer in the lodge.

Ed heading down a run

Kristin and Ashley in the Lodge

The weather was great for snowboarding, but not great for photo ops.  We still tried to grab one along the side of Lake Tahoe near the resort.

Lake Tahoe!

After a great day of boarding, we checked out the EXPANSIVE El Dorado Buffet and hit the tables to try our luck.  Ed came out a few bucks ahead but Ashley made it BIG by trippling her money!

Waiting in line at the El Dorado Buffet

Sunday we tried to go to the GREATEST BREAKFAST PLACE EVER (Hash House A Go Go) since they just opened up a new restaurant in the Hardrock Cafe Casino in Reno.  Unfortunately when we arrived there was a large sign saying "coming April 27th" - grr!!!  We were just a few days too early!  Oh well - we opted for the very wonderful Old Granite Street Eatery in downtown for their delicious dishes.  After a great weekend, we headed home to prepare to see Ashley and Matt again the next weekend in San Francisco.

Alee...always sad when we have to leave...

Beach and Waterfall Weekend

For those of you who don't know, our trips have been rather limited over the last 2 weeks because Alee was spayed on April 4th.  The surgery went fine, but she was up and ready to go within 24 hours!  Although it was nice to see our girl feeling better, she unknowingly ripped a stitch through her muscle by either a jump or a stretch at some point on the second day.  As a result, she had to go BACK to the vet to have surgery again and we were under STRICT instructions to limit her activity till this past weekend and even after that to not let her exhaust herself till today (when she got her stitches out!).  SO - the past couple weeks have been filled with lots of chew toys, bones, car rides and naps for Alee and this past weekend she got to enjoy herself a little for the first time!  We knew we couldn't do too much with her, but we got the "ok" from the vet to play with her on the beach and do a little hiking/walking.   As a result, this weekend we headed out to Coos Bay for a little fun!

On the way to Coos Bay, we stopped at Abacela Winery for a tasting and a picnic lunch in their gazebo.  The temperature was warm enough to eat outside, but the rain made it a little less than ideal.  The winery had a beautiful view though!

Abacela Winery along the way to Coos Bay

Alee waiting patiently for us to enjoy our lunch...

Once we got to Coos Bay, the weather was awful!  So we decided to grab a seafood dinner at Hide Tide Cafe and then head to our hotel room and wait out the rain.  Sunday the clouds were still out, but the rain was gone - so we headed to the beach!

Alee playing in a little hut on the beach

Here's a video of Alee getting into the cold ocean water for the first time...I don't think she was pleased...

After the beach, we headed home via the scenic route on Hwy 138 to see some waterfalls.  Before the waterfalls, we stopped in Glide, OR to take a look at "Colliding Rivers" where the North Umpqua River and the Little River collide head-to-head to form the Umpqua River.  The place where they joined was intense!

Alee checking out Colliding Rivers

 A little after Glide, we stopped off to hike up to Falls Creek Falls - a waterfall that we hadn't checked out yet.  April is the best time for waterfalls because it's when all the snow is melting and creating the highest flows of the year!

Falls Creek Falls - Alee was not happy about getting wet from the spray...

Ed standing on top of the beginning of the Falls

Ed and Alee hiking back down to the car

After the falls the rain decided to catch up with us so we headed home with a slightly tired pup for the first time in weeks!  Now we can get ready for our next trip: Reno!

Ashley Visit!

This weekend Ed, Kristin and Alee got a special treat - Ashley and Reeces came to visit!  Ashley made the long drive up to Klamath to see a little of Oregon.  Friday night they enjoyed a new favorite restaurant in K-Falls: Pho Hong!  This is really the best Vietnamese we have ever had and the staff is so friendly and nice!

Saturday morning we loaded up the car and headed to Bend for snowboarding, good food and some sightseeing.  After dropping Alee off with SYM, we hit the slopes...and we literally mean "hit" - it was all ice!  Really awful conditions!  The weather at the bottom didn't look so bad, so we headed to a lift to try out some blues and greens.  At the top of the lift...TOTAL WHITEOUT!!!  We literally couldn't see ANYTHING!  The crazy part is that people were jumping off the lift and flying down the mountain at full speed!  We luckily got a ski patrol to guide us out of the cloud to where we could see trees and variations in the snow.  Even out of the whiteout, conditions were icy and rough.  We soon headed out to enjoy some more of Bend...which had absolutely beautiful weather off the mountain!

We did a little shopping with the pups at Pet Express and explored some fantastic deals at the Columbia Outlet store before heading to 10 Barrell Brewery for some great beers and a fantastic dinner.   There was a little bit of a wait, so we enjoyed some beers out on the patio with Alee! (They allow leashed dogs on the patio!)  Dinner was fantastic so we'll definitely be back!

Patio with Fire Pit

Ashley and Ed enjoying local brew - "Irish Red"

Dinner time!

Sunday we tried to hit up a waterfall on the way back to Klamath Falls but our trail was covered in snow!  We could hear the falls and see the river, but couldn't find the falls...we'll try again in June!

After the failed hike, we headed to Crater Lake to show Ashley the beautiful site of former Mount Mazama!

All 3 of us at Crater Lake

Kristin and Alee next to a snowbank near the Crater Lake Lodge

Ashley and Reeces!

Once we got back to Klamath, we had to say good bye to Ashley so she could make the long drive home to San Fran.  It was great to see her and Alee was happy to have a little doggy friend for the weekend!