We took advantage of President's Day weekend to go on an overnight cycling and camping trip to Mount Diablo. We stayed at Junction Camp, about half way to the top, in a grove of beautiful gnarled oaks that were magical in the morning mist. On the second day, Nathania and Jon drove up from Fremont to join us for a hike up the mountain. I took a bunch of photos.

And here are photos of a recent trip to Ventura (ladies only: Marilisa, Mom, and Grandma Julie), and some random shots of life in Berkeley.

posted at 17:37 on Thu, 28 Feb 2008 | path: marilisa/ | permanent link to this entry

January is over, and Marilisa is one year old. Unbelievable.

On a Saturday in mid-January we all rode the steam trains in Tilden Park to celebrate the birthdays of Marilisa and her cousin Christopher, who is just a couple weeks older.

Some photos.

posted at 00:45 on Tue, 05 Feb 2008 | path: marilisa/ | permanent link to this entry

As always, we went camping over New Year's, but this year for the first time we had a little person with us. It was Marilisa's first overnight camping trip.

We packed our camping gear onto the bikes—some of it in panniers, some in Marilisa's trailer—and headed for the hills. We spent two nights at Hawk Camp, a beautiful spot nestled in a grove of Bishop pines high above Gerbode Valley in the Marin Headlands. From our campsite we could see the city of San Francisco—including the fireworks on New Year's Eve—and the coast towards Santa Cruz. A short hike to the ridge above us afforded awesome views in all directions: Mount Diablo, San Pablo Bay, Mount Tamalpais, and the Marin shore.

Marilisa had some trouble with the strong winds, but she loved being in the tent and playing around the campsite. Apparently pine needles taste good. I think there are more trips like this in our future.

You can see some photos here.

posted at 00:42 on Tue, 05 Feb 2008 | path: marilisa/ | permanent link to this entry