Vacation in San Francisco

Last week I took my little family on vacation to San Francisco. We were originally planning on going during the summer, but I figure we cut the cost by about 40% by going during our oldest kids' spring break instead. The risk, of course, was that the weather would be bad, but in the cold calculus of our cheapitude, a lot of money saved outweighed the threat of a little rain. Even so, we still spent a pretty penny (there goes our tax return ...), but it was well worth it. As there is absolutely no way that I have time to do a complete run-down of our experiences, I'm going to show one picture from each of the places we went, most of them NOT the typical tourist pictures, which hopefully will give a feel for what we did ...

Sunday, April 17th

We drove up north on Sunday, which is something we always try to avoid, but it just didn't make sense to do anything different. Even so, we wanted to have some religious content to our day, so on the way up we stopped at the Oakland Temple, where we took a lot of pictures. Again, I'm only going to show one, but suffice it to say that we took pictures of the temple, of the awesome view from the temple (we still have to assemble the panorama shots), of the inside of the visitors center (there's some amazingly beautiful paintings in there), etc. In what was to become a pattern over the next week, the children each had their own cameras, which they used to take pictures of everything from their legs to black walls.

Of course, being in Oakland, we were on the wrong side of the bay, so we went across the Bay Bridge. My wife had purchased a San Francisco travel guide, and read to the kids the history and information on the bridge. The older two didn't really care, but our youngest son, who is into all things mechanical, thought it was awesome. Their biggest complaint was that they couldn't see the bridge very well from the back of the van.

We were hoping to see Fort Pointe Sunday night before it got too late, as it is only open Friday through Sunday. Alas, in making our way there, we got stuck due to construction and by the time we figured out how to get there, it was past closing time. Even so, in part of our unexpected detour, we found ourselves in the Presidio military cemetery. My wife had never been in such a place, and it was a good reminder to everybody of the sacrifices that people make so that we can enjoy our freedom. We noted many tombstones that showed many people had actually participated in more than one war.

Even though Fort Pointe was closed, the wiggly part of Lombard Street, arguably the crookedest street in the world, doesn't ever really close, so we went over there to show the kids. We made the mistake of going east on Lombard Street towards the top of the hill, which meant we were in a row of cars many blocks long all trying to go down it. While waiting, I had the wife and kids get out of the van and walk up the hill a few blocks to get there and they actually were able to walk down and then back up it and return to the van before I had moved more than two blocks closer. We eventually bailed from the long line, and determined that we could skip it altogether by coming from the south along Hyde Street and simply turning right at the intersection. The kids were alarmed that we were "butting in line", but to me it was a demonstration of great wisdom rather than a show of a lack of ethics. Note to all future Lombard Street tourists: do what we did.

Monday, April 18th

Monday morning we set off for Golden Gate Park, a beautiful tract of greenery cutting a swath through urban San Francisco. Within the park was the Japanese Tea Gardens, which was free to go into if you got there before 10 am. We arrived just after 9 and walked through the gardens. It was slightly drizzly (the worst weather we had all week, actually), so the kids were a little anxious about that (remember, they're Southern California children ... rain is very much akin to a meteor shower in both their frequency and their potential impact). Even so, the walk through the gardens was beautiful and we were able to convince our daughter, at least, to just be still and enjoy the peaceful surroundings.

After we went to the Japanese Tea Gardens, we walked across the street to the Academy of Sciences, a museum that had lots of different sections. We walked through the butterfly infested rain forest, stared down the albino alligator, grinned at the sharks, and played with the starfish. The kids love that kind of stuff, even if they'd rather look and run rather than gaze and read. We spent nearly the whole day there, and were so very happy that we were able to get in to the planetarium for a star show. The children had never been to anything like that and they were truly in awe as we appeared to zip through the stars and swerve between planets. It was very, very cool.

After we left the Academy, we went over and, after a bit of difficulty, found some parking near the Children's Playground. The kids had a great time going down the concrete slide and climbing the rope tower. My oldest son was too afraid to go all the way to the top until his younger sister showed him up (after I demonstrated to her it could be done -- yeah, I'm a big kid). I think it was that night that we came back to the hotel and went swimming at the hotel pool, which waters were quite warm, but the air was SO cold. The kids got in, but my wife and I didn't. In fact, my wife stayed back at the room because she was so cold. Undeterred, the kids had a blast, though.

Tuesday, April 19th

No trip to San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf would be complete without stopping at Pier 39 to watch the harbor seals. The noisy, smelly, rude animals always make me laugh. The kids were under-impressed, though, so we moved on.

We walked over to the Aquarium of the Bay and got there just as it opened. A relatively small aquarium (we were used to the likes of the Monterrey Bay Aquarium), we only spent a few hours there. The kids enjoyed it, though, particularly the really long tunnels that wrapped around under their big tanks. The kids had their cameras out and were taking picture after picture of sharks and rays and schools of fish floating over their heads. It was a great time.

When we were done at the Aquarium, we walked down the street to Joe's Crab Shack for lunch. It's totally bad for your body, but it is arguably one of my favorite places to eat. I'm a big burger fan, so when I saw their "Surf 'N Turf Burger", I was sold. It's a big hamburger with shrimp on top with deep fried onions and sauce (okay, there's lettuce and tomatoes on it, too). Again, it was totally bad for my body, but it was so totally worth it. Oh, and the wife and kids enjoyed it, too.

After lunch, we walked/sauntered/rolled over to the Hyde Street Pier. We just wanted to take a quick look at the ships from the pier, but then discovered that all of them were open to visit for free that day. Never ones to turn down free stuff, we happily clambered aboard each of the ships in turn. Our favorite of the bunch was most definitely the Balclutha, which not only had an interesting story, but was well-fitted for visitors. The kids were well-engaged and had a great time walking its decks. There was actually some kind of a youth program going on at the time, too, with people pretending to be sailors instructing a bunch of pre-teen kids on how to take care of a ship. Judging by all the sleeping gear left in one of the cabins, I think it was an overnighter for them. Such an amazing ship, we were stunned at its size and, given how we are used to such a mechanized world, amazed that such a huge thing (fully loaded, even!) could be moved just by wind power alone.

That night, we drove over to the Financial District. The kids wanted to see the Transamerica Pyramid. We drove around and the kids again took lots of pictures, most looking up at the buildings around us. They're city kids, but not city kids, and thought it was really neat. I still don't think they comprehend just how many people live in the big city, being so densely packed in compared to where we live.

After the Financial District, we drove up to Coit Tower and were stunned to find we could drive all the way to the top and get parking! All the previous times I'd been there, traffic to the top was a nightmare and we ended up parking down below and hiking up, so parking at the top was a real treat. We went inside, but declined the ticket to go to the top. Even so, we enjoyed the murals on the inside (the kids finding the part where a guy was being held up) and the view from the outside. We took some playful pictures, and also some great shows of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Wednesday, April 20th

Wednesday morning we went to the U.S.S. Pampanito. See my innermost thoughts on this here. We had a great time climbing through the submarine, and the children were very impressed by how cramped the quarters were, how tiny the kitchen was, how the sailors just slept wherever there was space, how there were pipes and wires and knobs and dials practically everywhere in sight, and how huge the torpedoes were. I don't think they truly appreciate the challenging life of a sailor, particularly one at war, but I'm confident I don't, either.

Later that afternoon, we took the ferry over to Alcatraz Island. For a place with such a dark past, the island is actually quite delightful to visit. The National Parks Service has done an excellent job, and the ranger/guide we followed for a 45 minute walk was engaging and entertaining. We were regaled with stories of people who attempted to escape from the prison, which was a wonderful lead-in to the actual audio tour itself. Each of us donned a pair of headphones and walked the halls of the prison. I walked with my six-year-old son as we listened to the stories of the place. Occasionally, he would hear something and look up at me with a long face and surprised eyes. It was priceless to watch his expressions change as he heard about the inmates' misbehaviors. I think each of my children appreciated that prison is not someplace they want to be. We'll be renting "Escape from Alcatraz" soon.

Thursday, April 21st

Thursday morning we went to the Exploratorium. My wife and I had visited there when we lived nearby just after getting married, and loved it then. In the years since, it hasn't changed beyond recognition, and still was quite enthralling to the kids. (Okay, and us, too. Blast it, it's just so hard to hide that we're nerds!) Again I went with my youngest son while my wife stayed with the older two children; their paces were just too different to stay together. We had a great time exploring each section, and actually ran out of time (which made the kids kind of grumpy when we left). They wanted to stay all day to play with the various exhibits. I think that of all the stuff there, a few favorites were the iron filings that could be assembled into structures on two opposing magnetopoles (you could actually see the magnetic field lines in the structures that could be assembled!), the sound tube that ran for 100 yards that you could talk into and hear yourself echo, the camera that took multiple frames that superimposed images with slight time offsets (my wife had, like, 30 arms!), and the wall where you could assemble tubes and ramps to make marbles roll down. My older children also really enjoyed all the stuff on electricity on the upper floor, a concept my youngest didn't quite understand (though he did really enjoy putting wires together in random, meaningless ways).

After we left there, we walked the Palace of Fine Arts briefly, so that we could take some pictures. Even with how beautiful the place is, its history is equally enthralling. However, I was struck with a sense of disappointment in that there really wans't much symbolism or meaning associated with the place. In comparison to the monuments and churches and other things we have seen in London and in Germany, it just seemed kind of ... second-hand. Still beautiful, but without the emotional resonance.

That night we took the cable cars over to Chinatown. Our first stop was the Sam Wo restaurant in San Francisco. I remember that place from over 20 years ago when I went there with my parents and siblings. Ever since then, every time I go to Chinatown I have been able to stop for dinner there. It is such a quaint little place with wonderful food. You have to walk through the kitchen area to a flight of stairs that takes you to the seating area where the waitress, if that's what she is, took our order. The food was delivered by dumb waiter to the second floor and we had to be careful to order water in cups, otherwise they bring bottled water and charge you for it. My youngest really doesn't do mixed or saucy foods, so he pretty much just ate rice, but the other two children really enjoyed it, as did I. My wife had a great meal of mostly meat and vegetables, which is just what she needed to keep her hypoglycemia at bay. We all walked out with smiles and slightly distended bellies.

Walking around the rest of Chinatown, we wandered the streets somewhat, stopping at a fortune cookie "factory". It was really just a garage where fortune cookies were assembled by two older Chinese men. I'm not really sure how food establishments pass food inspections in Chinatown, because nothing seemed terribly sanitary, but the kids thought that was interesting. We also did our shopping for souvenirs there, and the kids loved spending their hard-earned money on random things. Between the wooden sword, the really cool dragon paperweight, and the Baoding balls (and more!), we got sufficient touristy stuff to keep everybody happy.

Friday, April 22nd

Friday was our last day in San Francisco. We had ridden the cable cars the night before, but wanted to ride them again during the daytime. We took a different line this time, which still landed us in the Financial District, but this time we were able to get better pictures. The kids enjoyed the ride, especially my youngest son, who would often turn around and just watch the cable car operator as he worked the handles. We spent a bit of time learning about how they worked (which was different than we thought ... check it out). My two older children were excited to be able to hang off the side, and while they were somewhat disappointed that they weren't allowed to jump off it while it was still moving, and that they weren't allowed to hang out over the street, they greatly enjoyed themselves nonetheless. Truth be told, the time I ended up standing was actually a better experience because you can see a lot more of the buildings around you from that vantage point.

After that, we checked out of the hotel and drove up to Twin Peaks. Having lived near San Francisco, in hindsight I'm surprised that I'd never been up there before. The views were great, but that particular morning it was cold. We originally anticipated that we'd have a leisurely lunch and climb the nearby hills to the top, but it was just so cold that we had a quick lunch, snapped a few pictures, and left as soon as we could. The next time we're in town, we'll try again.

We then drove over to Fort Pointe. After finally navigating there successfully, we had a very nice visit at the fort. The kids like climbing all over the place, and while they weren't interested at all in the historical exhibits, they did like climbing the neat stairs and looking out at the Golden Gate Bridge and the bay.

Finally, we actually drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and stopped on the other side. By this time, everybody was cold and tired and had sore feet. My daughter being the most vociferous of the bunch, she actually threw something of a tantrum about not wanting to walk out across the bridge. After much difficulty, we got her out there in time for her to see a few seals playing in the waves. It was really cute to see my youngest periodically stick his head between the rails so he could see if we were over water. We walked out to the first/north tower and took lots of pictures there.

We had a wonderful visit to San Francisco, and we are so glad we took a week to see the sights. As always, I was happy to be able to spend the time with my wife and kids.

I think there was much more we could have done, and it would have been good to have a few more days, but we all left satisfied with the experience. After the long drive home, we found all mostly well at home: our cat was still alive, we only lost one fish, and only one of our two frogs had croaked (sorry, couldn't resist).

(Postscript: it took me a week to assemble this! *phew!*)

Father's Day

This past weekend was a Father's Day extravaganza. It started on Thursday, when we went camping at the beach at El Capitan, just north of Santa Barbara. We've been there before, and we appreciated it so much we decided to go back. The camp sites are relatively large (Meaning that we didn't have to try to sleep five feet from our nearest neighbor's fire pit where people stay up until 3 am regaling each other with pointless stories at which time I drag my tired butt out of bed and very rudely tell them we have children trying to sleep -- who are actually still asleep at that point -- and can they please keep it down, already!? We had none of that, and we are grateful!)

Anyway, so we went to El Capitan and we had great weather. It stayed between 50 and 75 the whole time we were there. At night, of course, the kids played with the camp fire as much as they could until we had to banish them because they were being unsafe with their "poker" sticks. They wandered the vicinity looking for dead wood to burn (which we were later told by another camper that we weren't allowed to do that ... well, too bad!).

When we packed up, our van was filled to the brim. In actuality, for the two days of our trip, we didn't actually have that much by way of "necessities"; we had a cooler and a few small boxes of food with us and a single suitcase with clothes in it. But then all the camping gear had to go in: the firewood, the tent, the camping tote (with everything in it from a hatchet to pots to decks of cards), the sleeping bags, and the pillows. And then all the beach gear had to go in: the tote with sand buckets, shovels, and sunscreen; the beach umbrella, the beach chairs, and the body-boards. We recently purchased a trailer hitch to mount to the back of the van so we could put a 5-bicycle rack on it, which we put to good use (5 people = 5 bicycles!), which also implied we had to squeeze in the helmets into the van.

But the best part: my wife recently bought me a two-seater ocean kayak! This was something we've wanted for a long time, and she took a small bonus I got from work and invested it there as a joint Father's Day/Birthday/Christmas/Valentine's/Anniversary-through-2015 gift. She found a deal on craigslist or somewhere with a guy who was getting rid of his kayak because of a split with his girlfriend for whom he'd purchased it; he was selling everything that went with it, including the life jackets, the seats, the roller wheels, and paddles. My wife also bought mounts to attach to the van's roof (we didn't want to buy a trailer). So ... we had life vests to cram into the back of the van, too.

It was very full, and a real puzzle to assemble.

Camping, we had a blast. Aside from the fact that putting the kayak on top of the van is a real chore (bringing it down is surprisingly straightforward), we are very happy with it. I took it out four times this weekend. The first time went very badly. I had my oldest son in the kayak and tried to get through the breakers at high tide and it simply didn't go well. With everybody watching us from the shore, we were rolled and tossed and hammered with wave after wave until finally we were pushed back to shore with grim expressions on our face. It wasn't going to happen. My son just couldn't swim past the breakers and I couldn't haul both him and the kayak that far.

I tried again a little later when it seemed the waves had calmed (deceptively), and it went almost as badly. I managed to get the kayak out beyond the breakers by pulling it behind me as I dove and pushed through, and by the time I got out there, I was already exhausted. Once I hauled myself up on to the kayak, I started paddling upwind and up-current and actually went quite far out. The swells were high, and one time when I was at a bad angle to a swell and an adverse wind came, the kayak flipped beneath me and I was plunged into the water. The entire time on the water was a ceaseless battle to keep the kayak pointed the right way and to prevent myself from drifting too far down the beach where the rocks were.

Finally, after what seemed like a long time, but could only have been about ten or fifteen minutes, I turned around and headed back to shore. I was tired by this point, and with the wind at my back and huge breakers behind me, of course the kayak flipped as I came into shore. I planned for it and ditched away as best I could. After hauling the kayak up off the sand with my wife, I was shaky and cold and a little disheartened, but still happy that I had had the strength to get out there and make it back safely.

The third time was the next day (Saturday) during a low tide and much calmer waves. I went out with my daughter first, and we had a great time. We paddled out away from the shore and headed upwind and up-current.

She really enjoyed just bobbing on the waves and looking around.

After about twenty minutes, we headed back to shore and on the way in, we capsized again. Even with my specific instructions to jump away from the kayak away from the shore in the event of capsizing, so that the kayak wouldn't hit her, she wasn't able to do so as she just didn't think about it and also got tangled in the rope that attaches the paddle to the kayak. She was dunked soundly, and ended up underneath the kayak when she tried to come up.

After she finally got out, the next wave was upon us and it knocked the kayak soundly into her. I was really quite worried for her well-being, but after I finally got her extracted from the kayak and away from it, she was all smiles, laughing and giggling about the whole thing.

What an amazing little girl!

The last time I went out, I took my oldest son, who was quite reticent given his experience from the day before. But having seen his sister do it, and with his mother not giving him a choice, he finally hopped onto the kayak and I hauled us back out beyond the breakers. There, we started paddling out and headed towards some pelicans that were bobbing on the ocean a bit further out. On the way, we saw these dark shapes rising above the water in the distance, and after staring at it for a bit, I finally realized that they were seals leaping out of the water!

What's more, it occurred to me that I had seen dolphins the day before at about the same time of the day, and less than a minute later, here they came! We were at just the right distance from the shore to almost intersect the path of the dolphins, who were surfacing in the swells. We watched as three of them passed within about ten feet of us as they swam parallel to the shore. We turned and tried to follow them, but, of course, they were much faster than us. Still, what a great experience! I'd seen dolphins at Seaworld before, and "wild" ones at the ocean, too, but always from shore. This was something else!

Happy with our experience, we finally headed to shore. I fully expected to flip again in the breakers on the way in, but we managed to ride the kayak all the way in to shore.

My son was much happier, but being the pre-teen that he is, his praise of his experience was much less than effusive. I, on the other hand, was delighted.

We spent the balance of our beach time just sitting around doing very little. My wife and I mostly sat underneath the beach umbrella enjoying the sun, the sounds, and the sights, and even had some time to enjoy reading books. The children, of course, spent hours erecting sand fortresses with the aim of preventing the waves from overwhelming them as the tide rose. Of course they failed in the long-run, but they enjoyed the process even so.

We also did quite a bit of body-boarding, which is always fun. My youngest doesn't quite have the vision for it, yet, and after a few tumbles in the waves, he was reticent about going out. He had a wonderful time, anyway, with his sand trucks.

We spent almost all our camping time at the beach. When we weren't at the beach, we were back at the camp where the kids mostly just played in the fire. We inherited some wood from nearby campers who were leaving, so they had a great time burning everything they could. On occasion, we got them onto their bicycles and we rode around the campground. The weather was great, my wife did wonders with the food, as always; and it was a great time.

The only downside is that I still feel totally beat up. Having fought with the kayak and the waves, I have bruises from my top to my bottom. Seriously, even my toes hurt. I somehow managed to keep from getting sunburned, though, which is always a very good thing for me.

I believe that El Capitan is now my favorite campsite. If only it weren't so impossible to get reservations there ...

Yesterday (Sunday), was Father's Day. At church, all three kids went up to stand and sang the typical Father's Day songs, and it was fun to see them. The meetings were good, and I spent the rest of the day trying to milk the holiday for all it was worth (even at my wife's encouragement!). I would say stuff like, "I'm going to clear the table ... on Father's Day!" and the kids would squeal and make me sit down and then do the work themselves ... sorta. Towards the end of the day, it got kind of old with them, and they weren't quite as responsive as at the beginning.

We did try to play some games together, but the two older kids were a little grumpy because all they wanted to do was read their books. We played Skip-Bo, and my pre-teen got all huffy because his younger sister was *gasp* using some strategy and blocking his plays. Then we played Star Wars Trivial Pursuit, the DVD version, and the kids liked that, but that ended prematurely, too, when some fighting ensued. So, not altogether a peaceful day, but it was good for me to sit around and recover a bit.

My wife and I did call our own fathers, though, and expressed our gratitude and appreciation. We're making plans to see them in a few weeks, and that is always exciting for the kids. Both of our fathers are good men, and we are grateful for them.

My wife, too, is so amazing. I am so grateful for her and for all the hard work she puts into caring for our family. She's the reason I am a father, and I'm grateful for her in every way. I wish it were possible to express it better, and in a way that would last, too, so that she would feel truly uplifted, appreciated, and strengthened, particularly when the burdens of family life seem heaviest. I love her dearly, and thank her for who she is. And for my new kayak! :)

All My Hawaii Vacation Posts

This is a list that I'm keeping of all the posts related to Hawaii that I have written or intend to write. When I write a new one, I'll update the time-stamp on this entry to make it the most recent, and then I'll add the hyper-link to the post in this list. Entries that have no hyper-link are those which I have yet to write (of which, when I'm done, there shouldn't be any). The order is time-listed with the oldest post listed first.

-- Getting Ready for Vacation
-- Pre-Vacation Checklist
-- Back From Vacation
-- Hawaii Trip - Day 1
-- Kayaking, The Sunken Island, and The King of Kapapa Island
-- The Halona Blowhole
-- The Laie Temple
-- Sea Turtles
-- The Polynesian Cultural Center
-- Diamond Head
-- Snorkeling in Hanauma Bay
-- The Spitting Rock
-- The Arizona Memorial
-- The Dole Pineapple Plantation
-- Sunrise Atop Haleakala
-- Little Friends: Lizards, Birds, and Bugs
-- Funky Flowers and Other Green Growths
-- Olivine Pools, Dragon's Teeth, and A Mighty Banyan Tree
-- Snorkeling in Halona Bay
-- The Road to Hana
-- Swimming in O'heo Gulch
-- Red and Black Sand
-- Striking Images
-- Just Me and My Wife

Sunrise Atop Haleakala

Okay, so it's been about a year and a half since we went to Hawaii, and I never did finish up the blog posts recording the experience. However, some friends of ours are headed to Maui tomorrow, and we were reminiscing about all the awesome things that we saw when we were there, and it occurred to me that I need to work on finishing up these posts. So, I'm going to try to get back to it.

One of the things we told our friends about was about Haleakala Crater. It is a volcano with a rim that rises above 10,000 feet, and we had been told that we should get up about 3 a.m. and drive to the top of the mountain up the very windy road in order to see the sunrise. We did so, even though we were totally exhausted, with hopes of seeing some beautiful sights. We were definitely not disappointed.

First off, though, we went prepared. It is a very strange thing to pack winter clothes when you are preparing for a trip to tropical Hawaii. Nevertheless, we had read how cold it gets up there, so with some of our excess space in our luggage (ha!), we packed in our heavy winter coats with hats, gloves, and scarves.

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We were very happy to have them! Some of the people who also went to see the sunrise arrived wearing shorts and T-shirts, and clearly hadn't done their homework. When the sun came up, they snapped their pictures and fled back to the warmth of the lower altitudes. We were amused by that.

The road to the top of the crater is a windy road with more switch-backs than we were willing to count. At that time of the morning, I was tired, but excited enough to keep awake for the drive. Truth be told, I absolutely loved it -- I'm one of those kinds of guys that really enjoys driving, and driving windy roads greatly amuses me. (Hawaii as a whole kept me grinning goofily through much of our driving time ...)

When we got to the top, we were impressed by how many people were there. There was a large parking lot a little lower than the peak where tourists could park, and one higher where those who worked at the observatory could park. Choosing our parking space, we got out and set up our tripod for the pictures. My wife instantly went into recording mode and started snapping pictures about every 30 seconds.

The view, though, was certainly worth it. We were amazed as we watched the sun rise above the clouds. Yes, we were high enough that we were actually above the clouds and the sun rose above them! From where we were, you couldn't really take in the magnitude of the crater below us because of its massive size. Nevertheless, the winds blew from the east and pushed clouds over the tops of the opposing crater rim.

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We loved how the sun lit up the edges of the clouds, like golden lace on a down pillowcase. It was spectacular.

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As the sun continued to rise, my wife snapped picture after picture. I can't really include them all, but you can see that the colors were splendid. The crater was dark below us, contrasting sharply with the light shining across the "floor" of the cloud-deck.

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As the sun continued to rise, we were able to discern more details in the crater beneath us, and the clouds began to thin somewhat as it slowly "burned off".

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Behind us, the crater was so large that it cast a magnificent triangular crater across the ocean to the west. I took this picture a little too late, but you can get an idea of its size.

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Later, we went on a little hike down into the crater. We were suffering preliminary effects from altitude sickness by this time, though, and dehydration, so didn't spend a lot of time there. We did get some great pictures, though, such as:

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Here's the east peak, surrounded by clouds:

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Here's a series of cinder cones inside the crater itself:

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You could even see the snow-topped peaks of the Big Island off in the distance:

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We truly felt like we were on top of the world.

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Of all our experiences in Hawaii, we think that the trip we took to Haleakala Crater was probably the most memorable. Just thinking about that experience makes my wife and I want to go back to Hawaii and enjoy the islands again. We want to do more hiking and more exploring. The trails into the crater were tantalizing to us, and if we had been better prepared we certainly would have taken advantage of that.

It was truly an extraordinary time. As pompous as it may sound, we felt like we were closer to our Savior up there, in a place that was special and holy. We have a better understanding of why it was in ancient times that the Lord came to the tops of the mountains when he spoke to His prophets. There was a peaceful feeling, an isolation from the burdens of the world, and a focus that didn't have anywhere else on our trip. It truly was a wondrous experience, and we are grateful for it.

A Little Bit of Catching Up

A lot has happened since I last posted. We had General Conference, both of my older children had birthday parties, we went camping to Big Sur (finally!), my daughter got baptized, and at work I had a big review for a software development that I'm leading.

A few words about each of these. First, General Conference: it was awesome.

Second, my kids' birthday parties: they were very loud.

Third, camping at Big Sur: it was a wonderful time.

Okay, okay, I'll say more than a few words ... and add far more pictures than I usually do ...

Driving up Highway 1 is the Best. Drive. Ever. I don't think we ever get sick of taking pictures along this coast. Here's one of the few pictures I took during the entire trip. My wife is sort of a camera hog (I don't really mind), so it has to be a special occasion for me to take a picture, and an even more special occasion to get it with her in the frame.

And of course the sun over the ocean is always gorgeous.

And we couldn't pass up a picture of a bird.



While camping, we took a tour of the Point Sur Lighthouse where the kids listened with rapt attention to the stories of how people lived up on the rock, hauling their stuff up the cliff face, and dealing with storms and the isolation. They loved hearing about the ships that wrecked (and the air ship that wrecked) and really enjoyed the experience. One funny thing was that the hike up the hill is about half a mile around the back of the light house, and at the top when the tour was over, my oldest son asked if there was going to be a tram to take everybody back down to the bottom. The guide about fell over at that question, but then couldn't help but laugh. Silly boy.



We also took a day and went to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium. It was totally cool, as always. With the kids being a bit older, we can move a little more quickly, which was good because we were late getting there. The kids did get a little bored at times, even with so much to see and do. It is a really neat thing to see them reading the plaques on the displays and aquariums and learning about everything. We always love standing next to the kelp forest and watching it sway back and forth.

We also love the huge tank where this time they had the only great white shark known to be in captivity. It was awesome.

My wife and I really do enjoy museums of any type (except maybe art museums) and it is nice to see that my kids, readers all, seem to enjoy them, too.



My wife is kind of crazy for jellyfish, by the way. This is only one of about six million photographs she took.


The kids didn't really enjoy hiking that much. It was "too hard" and "too hot" and "too steep", but, of course, when we reached the end of where we were going and they saw the waterfall, they were glad they had done it. However, we couldn't convince them to go on any more hikes after that.

We did spend some time at Pfeiffer beach, which is always a treat. The kids loved it, and my daughter found a way to voluntarily fall into the water, so she was soaked and cold by the time we left. They had a wonderful time climbing the rocks and playing in the sand, even though we had no swim suits and no sand toys.



But, of course, camping is all about the fire. We paid way too much to buy firewood from a grocery store (a grocery store! for wood!) and were very pleased to inherit firewood left behind by other campers, so we had a huge amount of wood to burn. The children, of course, were delighted to have "poker" sticks that they would light on fire and then wave around (yeah, we put a stop to that pretty quick ...). We had s'mores and cooked many of our meals over the fire. The campsite we were at was pretty good, too, with hot water for showers and a playground. Not exactly roughing it, but since we were there for a whole week, it was nice to have a few comforts. And the weather was great, too. Had we come the week after, we would have been drenched by a fierce rain storm that swept the state.

Oh, and we had our bicycles, too.

My daughter's baptism was awesome. We originally expected to have my parents and my brother and his wife in town for that, but it didn't work out that way (my brother's wife's father passed away). It was a little disconcerting to realize that I didn't have any priesthood holders who I knew was going to be there to be witnesses to the baptism and to stand in the confirmation circle with me, but a few well-placed calls later and some of my good friends from the ward were happy to come and join me.

My daughter was so happy to finally be baptized. It is something she's been looking forward to since her older brother was baptized two years ago. Her anxiety was compounded by the fact that she is the youngest in her primary class and thus the last to be baptized. Both of her friends from her class were at the baptism, and it was a very nice event.

Afterward, we had dinner at our place for all who wanted to join us. We had quite a few people show up, and it was a lot of fun to socialize. The kids were well-behaved and we actually had some grown up conversation. We haven't entertained in so long, I had forgotten how much I enjoy doing it. Good thing the holiday season is upon us!

In any case, now that my daughter is baptized, I am so very proud of her as she is trying her hardest to keep her covenants, to act more mature, to be more kind, and to obey more promptly (though she still is a total book-worm, particularly now that we let her read the fourth Harry Potter book ...). She is a sweet and wonderful young lady, and I am very happy to be her father.