Taking time off from her first year of college and a hectic summer. And finally getting a chance to relax at the beach and do some fishing and crabbing.
And she hauls it in!
A much needed spring break at the Carmel Valley Ranch with her generous and gracious host family…. happy and relaxed after a grueling semester.
Wild deer, domesticated cat on Adirondack chairs and a bunny… gentle hikes and good food. Life’s good!
Carmel Valley Ranch Swimming Pool
Amelia had a chance to revisit her rock along the Lower Yosemite Falls Trail where she had been in June of 2003.
We visited Glacier Point, Lower Yosemite Falls, Mirror Lake, Tuolumne Meadows, Lee Vining and Bodie my new step-sister, Vivienne and step-mom, Maria!
AMS takes the 5th kyu aikido test (highest level blue belt). She passed with flying colors! She’s now the highest ranking teen in the teen class.
Group Photo
Arrived at CYO, Occidental.
B: “Nice… how’s your ankle? How are you liking it so far?”
A: “Ankle is doing okay. Having allergic reaction to pollen. 6:30 am aikido is my next class”
B: “How’s that working out – being the only teen? How’s the food?”
A: “food is great. i have to eat a lot more since i’m doing 4 hours of aikido. kinda tweaked my sprained ankle today in the last class; sitting out of afternoon zazen. it’s alright, nobody is super talkative and we all just sort of sit and chill on our own, so there isn’t a lot of pressure on me.”
B: “Glad the food is good. So you’re not sitting zazen? Other women besides Emily? The retreat is for reflection and camaraderie. ”
A: “I’m gonna sit zazen in the morning. I didn’t this afternoon bcuz of ankle and cough. there are 3 other women besides me n emily”
Raising funds to be able to go on the Tole Mour Tall Ships Sailing Camp by bake sales, baby-sitting, dog-walking, plant watering and asking for donations. We gotten donations from several friends and family members. Plus Dad added another $100.00.
Bake Sale!
We sold over 100 cookies and scones. That’s $100.00! Wow! That helps. Dad create a Google docs spreadsheet for us to keep track of earnings and expenses so we can tell how much we actually made and how much it cost us to make it. Really useful.
Bake Sale No. 2
We made $67.00 today and completely sold out all the cookies and scones.
Bake Sale No. 3
We only made $22.15 today. We think it was because of the cloudy weather and it was a Sunday.
Bake Sale No. 4
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Our net profit today was $37.08 after expenses. Dad has me keeping an account spreadsheet so we can see how much money we’re actually making versus how much we’re spending to make the cookies.
We finally get a real vacation after years of staycations! Departing from San Francisco International Airport (SFO), we head off to Costa Rica via Houston, TX.
Vamos a Costa Rica!
At George W. Bush International Airport, Houston, TX.
We’re just hanging out at Casa de Luz visiting with a retired NASA colleague, Brenda.
We’re staying at El Cafetal Inn, Santa Eulalia de Atenas. While waiting for the bus to Atenas, we witnessed a pigeon landing on a power line and getting electrocuted.
There was a ball of bright white light, a very loud explosion sound and the bird dropping from the the power line pole. It had it’s tail feathers and parts of its wings totally blown off and couldn’t fly. People came out of their homes to see what had happened. The bird was stunned for awhile but then revived enough to try and evade some kids who had come out to look. Later, a man from one of the houses came out and caught the bird and went inside his house. I don’t know what fate befell the bird
We went to Atenas and got my data card (dongle) set up. Amelia bough a pair of boots and we had lunch. Headed back to El Cafetal to fetch our things and head off to Casa de Luz. We’ll stay at Casa de Luz for some days and join with Christmas Celebrations there.
Later we went to visit at local family who work and live around Casa de Luz. It was really nice to see a Christmas Celebration in a village. Amelia made friends with a girl in the family about her age and she was able to speak in Spanish – I think her Spanish teacher would be very proud of her
Hung around Casa de Luz most of the day and enjoyed the company of Albert and his son A.J. from the British Virgin Isles.
Brunch with the neighbors. Swimming pool time with my new found friend, Maria S.
We’re going swimming at a neighbors pool.
AMS is off to Atenas with her friend Maria. They both wanted to get hamburgers in town. AMS also will get a SIM card for her phone so she can make calls and send text messages. They will take the local bus and be on their own]
Went to Dona Anna Beach. Fed wild monkeys living in the trees. Ate chicharones and a great meal at Cases de Cafe on the way back. Really tired.
Spending the day in Atenas at an Internet cafe getting caught up on our Internet fix. Planning the rest of our trip in Costa Rica.
Tomorrow we go to Alajuela and play. Tonight dinner at Don Yayo’s.
Travelling by bus from Casa de Luz to Atenas then to Alajuela and spending the rest of the trip there at Club Martino Costa Rica (dropped off at Zoo Ave). The bus leaves at 1:15 PM from Casa de Luz and goes to Atenas (420 colones). Then we transfer to another bus departing Atenas at 2:00 PM for Alajuela (640 colones). From there we’ll be able to go out on day trips in all directions and yet still be close to the airport.
Visiting Zoo Ave and checking out the rescued animals and the small canopy tour (zip line).
Zoo Ave animal rescue and rehabilitation….
We rang in the new year with fireworks and sleep. Went to Canopy San Luis and did a canopy tour (zip line). They had a very long (1,500 meter) Superman zipline.
[Today we take a quick trip into San Jose.] Walked to Barrio San Jose and had lunch at a “typico Tico” restaurant, La Princessa Marina. Very good, very typical local food.
Then by taxi to Cuidad San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica for some urban culture. We visit the Museos del Banco Central, San Jose, Costa Rica.
We return by bus Tico style for $1.20!
We return to Casa de Luz via public bus in preparation for our return trip to the San Francisco tomorrow.
Enjoyed our last hours at Casa de Luz. Hugs and good-byes. A drive to the airport and we begin the long return to our home in the US.
Arrived exhausted in SFO around 11:10 PM. Shuttle ride home and a long sleep. It’s really cold in Palo Alto!
Garden grown mandarino marmalade from Casa de Luz returns with us to Palo Alto as a souvenir!
My new ride. It’s a 2012 Trek District S (52 cm), the replacement for the Trek Soho S that got stolen. Like the Soho, it’s a single gear bicycle and that means it’ll be really light and easy to carry on and off the train.
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We picked it on August 24, 2012. Rode with Maya R. around downtown Palo Alto.
Aboard the SSV Tole Mour in the Summer of 2012
SSV Tole Mour Expedition 534, August 4 – 10 (click here)
[They’re sailing around the Channel Islands off the coast of California. They’ll be learning seamanship, marine ecology, marine science, oceanography – but mostly they’ll be having a very memorable and awesome time. What a great way to cap-off the summer. What a journey!]
The journey begins. Flight from San Jose (SJC) to Los Angeles (LAX). It’s just two of us, my best friend Maya and I, on our first air flight by ourselves.
AMS:
When we got to LAX, one of our counselors, Shannon, a.k.a “Shanananana”, picked us up and we met the other kids who also flew into LAX. They drove us to Rainbow Harbor, Long Beach where we gave our bags to the Tole Mour crew. We then got our bunk numbers, our watch group assignments, and got outfitted with wet-suits and snorkeling equipment.
75th Anniversary |
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