San Francisco!

Ed and I had an AWESOME time in Point Reyes National Seashore Park, but let's start off by giving you our thoughts on San Francisco or as the locals call it "The City" from this past weekend! The City is a spectacular display of spastic movements that would make an ADD individual feel right at home. The multitude of undulating streets that went off in different directions left us speechless and dumbfounded when it came to navigating the ins and outs of The City. One way streets changed directions without warning, Two-way streets turned into one-way streets and some streets just ended abruptly. The hills were definitely not for the faint at heart and the constant chilly temperature required layers of warm clothing.

Now The City was not all bad you see. When we were not attempting to navigate the streets we got the chance to walk the streets down to Fisherman's Wharf. We made it a point to walk around and see some of the key tourist spots. We viewed Alcatraz from afar and it lived up to is intimidating reputation. We also got to take in the Sea Lions at Pier 39. Now we didn't get to traverse Lombard St or Chinatown and Little Italy, but we did pass by them in our travels. Next time we will definitely hit these hot spots. Check out our photos below.

Gardening in April 2009!

Ed and I have been busy busy in the garden this year! We've planted blueberries, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, chamomile, chives, cilantro and many flowers: Impatiens, Day Lillies, Columbines and more! Plus many of our plants from last year are doing wonderfully! With the wonderful Houston Spring weather, we've been spending lots of quality gardening time every weekend. Below are some pics of our garden so far! We'll post more once the Day and Canna Lillies start blooming.

I forget what this one is called - but it looks pretty cool!

Native Texas Columbines

Multi-colored Columbines

Blooming Amarylis

Front yard - slowly coming together

Big Tomatoes on their way!

Bell Peppers on their way!

The climbing rose is finally blooming after a year!

Blooming Lavender

Multi-Blooms from the original rose garden (only thing that remains)

Free Wine and Huge Pile of Crawfish!

After the super successful 5K, we all headed to Vintropolis for SuperVin 2009! It was all free wine tastings and food sampling on a really beautiful Spring day! After the wine, we headed back to our house for some delicious crawfish and...more drinks! It was a great time and a perfect Saturday!

5K for Yuri's Night!

Christina and I ran the Yuri's night 5K on Saturday - we did AWESOME! We cheered each other on and even cheered the crowd and other runners on! It was really a blast - although as we crossed the finish line someone felt the need to pass us up and mess up all our finishing pictures! WHO DOES THAT?!!?

Hail in Houston!

On March 15th, 2009 we had a freak hail storm come through West Houston - Ed and I got some pics of the hail before it melted! Luckily we do not see any major damage to either vehicle. How weird!

Home Projects

If you read Christina and Paul's recent blog, you know that I am starting to get into sewing. Their pillows were my first project and since then, I've been finding tons of stuff to make! This past week, I decided to make some things for our new rock climbing hobby - a chalk bag (will make another one for Ed) and 2 gear bags to hold our harnesses, chalk bag and shoes. Below are some pics - who knew you could combine sewing and adventure sports!?!!

An action shot!

My chalk bag on a clip I got for $0.89 from REI!

My bag - fairly simple - drawstring with a canvas bottom and shoulder strap

Ed's bag - with a zipper pocket for keys and a wallet. (Ed's trying to climb our wall...for proper effect)

Leave No Trace Training Weekend

Sorry it's been so long since we had a post, but this weekend was definitely post worthy!

This weekend Ed and I joined some students from the University of Texas at San Antonio to attend a Leave No Trace training course at Government Canyon State Park. We had a blast - it was a few hours of classroom learning, and then an overnight backpacking trip. It was beautiful...although VERY cold!!! We definitely tested out the "30 degrees" rating on our bags!

Government Canyon Park is not currently open to campers, so this was a real treat. In addition, we did a challenging night hike with no head lamps or flashlights! It took a little while to adjust our eyes, but it was a great time. The Rangers directed us on the trail so we didn't get lost and we hiked up to a peak where we could see all of San Antonio! It was quite bright at night! We met a lot of great people and learned a lot about respecting the land and wildlife while camping and hiking.

Below are a few pics and links:

Tons of Spanish Moss
Pair of Antlers Ed found in a Tree...he took a picture, but left the antlers!
Tracey - one of our Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers

Seven Principals of Leave No Trace:

1. Plan Ahead and Prepare

2. Always Camp and Hike on Durable Surfaces

3. Dispose of Waste Properly

4. Minimize Camp Fire Impacts

5. Leave What You Find

6. Respect Wildlife

7. Be Considerate of Other Visitors

Website for Leave No Trace Organization

Article done on our trip by San Antonio Newspaper