Christmas traditions

Our family has developed a number of Christmas traditions over the years and even though our kids are grown with homes of their own, we still keep a few of the traditions.  We still chop our Christmas tree.  This year we went to Dog Valley, which is a much closer location, but required driving on a muddy slippery road in the beginnings of a snow storm.  We went with Peter and Roque and another couple who are friends of theirs.  I like a fir tree, but we were in a primarily Ponderosa pine forest, so I was not finding a tree I liked.  After about half an hour of tromping through an increasing storm Calvin declared a Ponderosa the tree we were taking.  I grumbled but it looked like the best option. Actually I rather like it now, but it took a while to warm up to it.

You can see that it is a little thin on the branch count.

I went traditional with my attire.

As with all trees, it looks bigger in the house.

Another tradition is decorating gingerbread men. We had gingerbread cookies on our tree when I was growing up and it is a tradition that I enjoy, but not being a very artistic person myself, I try and recruit a little help with the decorating part of the project.

I think we had about 40 cookies, so everyone had to get to work.  As usual friends and in-laws had the best cookies while the rest of us go for a more unusual look.

It was fun to have Katie in town to help this year.

And the good news is that even though the cookies were a little softer than usual, none of them lost their heads jumping off the tree.

Thanksgiving 2014

We celebrated Thanksgiving in traditional fashion this year. We got an early start at the Sparks Turkey Trot.  The events included a 10K race and a two mile walk around the Sparks Marina.  Here we are getting ready for the start.  Can you guess who ran and who walked?

That's right Peter and Roque breezed through the 10K and and Calvin kept me company as I strolled around the marina.
Here are the runners at the start...

and here they are 10K later at the finish looking just as relaxed.

Mid day we put together a traditional meal of turkey, stuffing, cranberry relish, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie.

We went to movie in the evening and I declared it to be a very satisfying Thanksgiving Day.  Still not quite the same as tacos on the beach, but a good day nonetheless.

Sayulita 2014

Turkey Day is lurking just around the corner and this year I don't get to spend the day eating tacos on the beach.  Of course we got to celebrate Halloween in Sayulita this year, so I have no room to complain. 

We spent most of the week hanging out here...

and occasionally we would bestir ourselves to watch the green iguana eat all the hibiscus flowers.Trust me, the iguana is in there, but he is green.

Once in a while we'd hike through the jungle to find a beach without a crowd.

And as a grand finale we watched the Halloween celebrations in the square from a balcony restaurant.

It was a great trip, but I'll still miss Thanksgiving tacos on the beach.

Santa Barbara weekend

We spent a lovely weekend with family in Santa Barbara a bit ago.  October is usually beautiful there and this year was no exception.  Rosie had planned all kinds of fun things for us to do, but as usual the best part for me was just being with family.  The only thing that would have made it better was having Roque and the Bordelons there too.

So here we are in no particular order:

Having fun at the pool

Hanging out at the Wrights house

Doing a little rock and tree climbing

 and playing at the beach

So many pictures...so much fun

Big Sur Tour

A few weeks ago Calvin organized a bicycle tour of the Pacific coast along Big Sur.  He has been talking about doing this ride for a long time.  He talked Vance, Jim and Jay into going with him and I had a great time following along and enjoyed spending time with Rosie and Alice.  I did get a few pictures of the bike riders, but mostly I took pictures of Alice.

Waiting for all the riders to get ready, Alice isn't quite sure who these guys are.

Day 1 start from Carmel

Day 1 waiting for the riders Rosie Alice Diana and I enjoyed shopping in the shops in Carmel and then eventually caught up with the riders for lunch. Then waited for them again at an outdoor cafe where a cold drink was really welcome.

 Day 1 after some long hot hours

 Day 1 relaxing before dinner

taking pictures of ourselves

and admiring a gorgeous sunset.

Day 2 start after a fun night of camping

Rosie and Alice and I took a beach stroll while giving the riders a head start.

The riders had a really challenging morning riding over Naciemento pass. We regrouped at the top and Rosie and Jay rode the rest of the day on Jim's tandem.

We met up again at the Mission San Antonio de Padua for a picnic lunch.

The final stretch into King City was very hot, the pool was very cool and the crew started day 3  glad to know that ride would be short because everyone had a big drive home.

More Rosie and Alice time for me.

Budapest or Buda and Pest

The last stop on our cruise was Budapest.  We stayed an extra day there and really liked the city.There are people out on the streets at all hours just enjoying life.  I'm sure there are a lot of tourists, but I got the impression that there were a lot of locals in the mix.  It is a very walkable town and we did a lot of wandering around. So here are a few of the highlights.

These represent the original Magyar tribes that established Budapest.  I loved this monument.  It is in the newly developed "Hero Square." 

 Also near the square I saw this really cool bicycle stoplight, just for the bike lane.

Budapest was recently the "Las Vegas" of the Soviet Block. Their liberal leaning allowed the first McDonalds behind the Iron curtain.

Another reminder of the Soviet era is this wonderful "Liberty" statue.

And they have preserved the bullet holes in the royal palace from WWII.

Budapest's best architecture comes from between 1890 and the start of WWI  They were looking for a distinctive Busdapest style.  I love this building.

We found a hidden gem in an empty building.  We walked inside and found this wonderful stained glass rotunda.

They have a magnificent parliament building modeled after the one in London.

You can't visit Budapest without visiting their famous bath houses.  The majority of the people seemed to be 20 somethings, but as advertised there were older men in speedos playing chess. 

Calvin however did not play chess with them.

After a long day of sight seeing there is nothing like dinner at a sidewalk cafe.  This was, I think, the best meal I had on our entire trip. Eggplant, peppers, onions mushrooms and Hungarian paprika.

I could happily go back for the food alone!