We had planned this trip for months – it was the first big “together” trip for my family since our family has grown by marriage and babies. Along with my youngest sister Sarah and her husband, Andrew, we decided to visit Yosemite National Park first, and then rendezvous with everyone several days later in Lake Tahoe. Extension to Yosemite was worth every second. As you know, Kris and I love hiking and photography, and Yosemite is a paradise for both.

We stayed outside the southern entrance to the Park; each day we drove in with plans to hike new trails.  We technically hit the Park in its off-season, so the crowds were down.  That was a nice perk on many of the trails and in-roads so we could take our time and stop whenever we pleased.  Kris and I should have made a sticker for the back of our rental car: Vehicle Makes Frequent Stops to Photograph.  Our feet were the best mode of transportation though – with the vast trail system, we were out and about every single day.

We hiked with all of our camera equipment, which made the hike a little heavier, but worth the effort after seeing the processed photos.  Long exposures, HDR, and macro photography – all things that I had the time to play with and the scenes to shoot.  If we had had more time and the appropriate gear, I would have jumped at the chance to do some back country camping and backpacking.  However, this trip focused on the highlights – Yosemite Valley, Glacier Point, Mariposa (Giant Sequoia) Grove, the various falls, Tuolumne Meadows, and the glacial lakes.  Maybe next time on the backpacking?

[Full Set of Yosemite Photos on Flickr]

Since we took over 20 gigs of photos in the Park, I have many more to add to this photo set… it takes time to go through them all!  As you can see, we had beautiful weather and clear skies – a perfect combination for memorable hikes and photographs.

My sister and brother-in-law were great hosts, and little V needed no warm-up time – she hugged me and kissed me right when I walked in to her nursery!  Maryn had some great activities planned while I was there – a farm / farmer’s market, bike rides, walks, game nights… it was the perfect mix of seeing the beautiful area and just really getting some great time with my loved ones. (Being four months pregnant doesn’t slow down my sister one bit!)

“The Farm” – a petting zoo / market / working farm in Salinas.  Maryn and V talking to the goat

We drove down to Point Lobos State Reserve in Carmel and hiked to the lookout spots of the Pacific.  It was a great spot for an afternoon stroll.  We saw some seals, went through a cypress grove.  V was all set up in her stroller and she enjoyed the ride:

Maryn arranged for me to use her neighbor’s bike and helmet, so we rode all around Monterey and Pacific Grove with Baby V in tow.  This was a real highlight of the trip – I love bicycling, and we were able to stop off and explore wherever we wanted to.

I could talk about each day at length and all of the things that we did and explored, but I have to end with our short trip up to Santa Cruz to the redwood forest.  My brother-in-law found some tickets Roaring Camp, which offers a  train ride through the redwoods.  We packed up and headed north around Monterey Bay.  The site was so cute – perfect for outdoor events.  The train leaves from the main part of the camp and travels up the mountain through the forest.  It was an amazing trip.  V was a bit scared of the loud steam engine, but she got used to it and settled in for the ride.

Me, V (in the Owlet sweater I made last fall!) and Maryn at the top of the mountain – thanks for Daniel for snapping this pic – one of my absolute faves from the trip.

It was hard to say goodbye to California and my great family – but it was a little easier knowing that I will see them here next month!

Thank you!

This week, I will be living it up on the Central California Coast
…and most importantly, enjoying my time with these loved ones…

(my sister and niece, Baby V!)

I will be tweeting (surprise!) the trip and the places we go, so if you want to keep up with our adventures, follow me there!

Mimi and I talked about doing a small photo shoot to capture some of V’s early days, so Kris and I brought along some of our photo equipment (umbrella, remote flashes) and set it all up.  Fortunately, we had a very sweet and generally cooperative little model:

With over 200 photos, it just might be my favorite photo shoot ever

~ ~ ~

We arrived in Monterey after one of the most lovely scenic drives – up the Pacific Coast Highway from Los Angeles.  Kris and I took frequent stops and did quite a bit of photography along the way…

[one of the many...]

The end of the trip was quieter and more reserved – it was all about Baby V, helping my sister and her husband, and generally enjoying our time together.  They just so happen to live in a spectacularly beautiful location… so Kris and I were quite happy!

One day, we went to nearby Pacific Grove for some sightseeing – a yarn shop, lunch, and then a walk by the water.  It was perfect!

~

The trip was wonderful and came at a special time.  Baby V is such a blessing.  She is quite the topic of conversation!

Thanks for all of your comments on my trip photographs!  It is a joy to take them, as well as to share them.  Plus, writing the vacation blog posts takes a little pressure off from the return to the norm around here… the knitting is happening at an alarming rate, but inches of stockinette don’t quite seem as blog-worthy as sharing photos of beautiful scenery and new family members!  Alas, the trip photos are done (but you can see all the ones I have uploaded here on Flickr) for now… but I have other exciting news to share, so stay tuned!

]]> http://lollygirl.com/blog/2009/11/28/new-bud/feed 33 http://lollygirl.com/blog/2009/11/22/love-hockey-will-travel http://lollygirl.com/blog/2009/11/22/love-hockey-will-travel#comments Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:26:46 +0000 lolly http://lollygirl.com/blog/?p=2442 As you may recall, Kris and I are huge hockey fans. Kris has been in to it since he was a kid, and when we started dating in high school, I really got in to it too… and since we got married in 2002, we have had this informal lifelong goal of getting to every National Hockey League arena in North America…

This trip to California was precipitated by the birth of our niece (first and foremost!) but… it also coincided with the western roadtrip of our team, the Pittsburgh Penguins.  So, yeah.  Kris and I were totally roadies.

…We followed them to Anaheim…

…where we happened to meet up with a very lovely lady!  Stacey and I have known each other for years (through the blogs, Rav, and Flickr), and we finally had the chance to meet.  She managed to get last-minute tickets to the Anaheim Ducks game, and although we didn’t sit together, we texted throughout the game, and then met up afterward at the pub across the street.  She was with her hockey-loving (albeit Ducks-supporting) friend, Nicole.  The Penguins managed a win in this game, so it was a fun night!  I also met some very nice fans (season-ticket holders) that were sitting next to us, and they were so much fun.  They bought us a Ducks puck, and a hat to remember the occasion.  (The Ducks have a pretty “gritty” reputation in the NHL, but their fans were the nicest of all!)

(We had so much fun that we planned *another* date night with Stacey and her partner Randy for the next night.  Lots of hockey talk!)

…next up to see the Los Angeles Kings at the Staples Center…

The tide really shifted in this game, unfortunately.  The Penguins, who had a great start to the year, got hit really hard with injuries – broken bones and strained muscles everywhere!  The LA game was a loss, but it was still really great to watch.  As a general hockey fan, it is really neat to see a team that hasn’t done that well in years put together a fabulous line-up.  Since the Kings are in a different conference, we rarely see them play.  This is all my justification to make myself feel better about the 5-2 loss

Final stop: San Jose Sharks at HP Pavilion aka “The Shark Tank”

…Let’s just say that we are smiling *before* the game…

It was an abysmal loss (5-0) for our guys.  They were so beat up by this game.  I felt a little beat up after the game too, considering the heckling that we got in the stands.  Yikes!  Whatever happened to that mellow California vibe?  It wasn’t present at the Sharks game.

The good news is that our team is slowly getting better – they beat Atlanta last night!

So, the new list for North America arenas is updated to:

Washington Capitals (DC)
Tampa Bay Lightning (FL)
Boston Bruins (MA)
New York Rangers (NY)
Carolina Hurricanes (NC)
Pittsburgh Penguins (PA)
Anaheim Ducks (CA)
Los Angeles Kings (CA)
San Jose Sharks (CA)

We have several more to go… but it’s a fun goal to work towards, and be able to see a little more of our continent in the process

Next up – saving the BEST for last!  You get to meet Baby V!

]]> http://lollygirl.com/blog/2009/11/22/love-hockey-will-travel/feed 22 http://lollygirl.com/blog/2009/11/18/cultured http://lollygirl.com/blog/2009/11/18/cultured#comments Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:00:08 +0000 lolly http://lollygirl.com/blog/?p=2431 Southern California offers some world-class museums and cultural institutions.  Since my own career is very closely aligned to these museums, libraries, and such, they are often at the top of my list.  I often have to entice Kris with architecture and gardens (in other words, photographic opportunities) for him to go along with my plan.  Luckily, that wasn’t too hard to do with the amazing weather that we had while we were in the LA area…

The Getty Center, Los Angeles

We took a docent-lead tour of the gardens and heard all about the architects and how they designed the buildings along with the adjacent gardens.  It was fascinating.  We got there a little later in the afternoon and didn’t have a full day to enjoy the galleries, but we made the most of it – I particularly enjoyed the photography exhibit on the Irving Penn’s “Small Trades” photographs of workers in three cities.  You can see many of the photographs online (click link above).  Kris and I had some very interesting discussions about it as we browsed the gallery.  We also enjoyed some of the modern galleries, the sculpture, and a quick peek into the other galleries.  This amazing painting by Lawrence Alma-Tadema was a highlight  I loved the detail and the emotions on the faces:

It is entitled “Spring”, and you can see the full painting here.

The Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens, San Marino

Living in the DC area provides many opportunities to see amazing exhibits (I am excited to see the terra cotta warriors at NGS this year!) but I never turn down the chance to go to more in new cities that I visit.  We spent the majority of our time at The Huntington in the gardens – it was a beautiful sunny day and there was so much ground to cover. 

[See more photos from the trip...]
Reading through your peaceful memories and moments made me feel at peace! thank you so much for sharing with me. I encourage you all to think about those peaceful moments and invite new peaceful times into your daily life!

Thank you also for the birthday wishes!

Next stop on the roadtrip: Kris and Lolly are hockey fanatics (but you already knew that, right?)

…

I figured I would let the photos do the talking

…

Can you feel the magic of this amazing place?  Being in Joshua Tree National Park was a little slice of heaven.  Peaceful with amazing sights are every turn in the road.  Kris and I were just in awe of this foreign landscape.  Neither one of us had spent that much time in a desert environment; and Joshua Tree is even a different class of desert.  Between the trees and the rock formations, we were clicking hundreds of photos.  As you can see, the day was *perfect* with stunning blue skies as a backdrop for the white, red, brown, and occasional greens of the desert.

The Park is the intersection of two deserts – the Mojave in the north, where the Joshua Trees are, and the Colorado/Sonoran desert in the southeast of the Park.  The two deserts are distinctively different, and when you cross over into the next one, the landscape really changes.  We spent the day in the Park enjoying every minute of the hikes.  We saw so much beauty.  We traveled from North to South through the Park and ended the day in the otherworldly landscape of the Colorado Desert, distinguished by the unique chullo cactus and the rugged mountains.

… and perhaps the best treat of all…

Was ending the day with an absolutely stunning moon rise.  Kris and I pulled our car off the road, walked into the nearby field, set up the tripod, and just enjoyed every minute of the moon rising above the mountains.  The bats were coming out, but there was not a single sound.  It was a stunning silence.  One of the most peaceful moments I have ever experienced.

– All Joshua Tree photos here –

… …

Do a birthday girl a favor, and tell me about the last place where you felt absolute peace -

I would love to hear.

We also were able to see the lovely trees in the park and the museum-lined streets of El Prado in the early morning light…

We planned to spend the day at the world-renowned San Diego Zoo.  Once they opened, we headed that way.  It was a very auspicious beginning to the day:  a woman was standing near the entrance gate and gave us a free ticket inside.  She said “Remember how nice the people of San Diego are!”  and so I do

…Once inside…the cameras were clicking all day!

[More animals here... and more to come in the coming days]

Photographing animals is an absolute joy, but also a challenge;  for each photo you get, you miss about a dozen more funny faces.  It was such a beautiful clear day in San Diego, so the factors were right for great photos.  The San Diego Zoo was truly a beautiful spot!

We calculated our walking distances, and it was over 13 miles… no wonder we were so dead tired when we walked out of the zoo.  It was late afternoon, and we were in a bit of a haze, but as we walked back to our hotel through the beauty of Balboa Park, we stopped a few times to rest our feet.  That was when I recognized a familiar group… it started with the sighting of an adorable dachshund… then a very cute baby boy… and then a beautiful familiar face from blogland.  It was one of those funny moments when I was thinking, “Is this real?”

The serendipitous meeting between Disentangled Jenifer and Lolly in the Park!  Millions of people live in San Diego, but what are the chances that 2 knitters who met online years ago  would be in the same area of the Park at the same exact time?  The probability just blew my mind.

…perhaps it blew my mind too much to even take a photo with the camera that hung around my neck…

Either way, I was so happy to meet Jenifer, her husband, her adorable son, and her sweet pup!  I am still shaking my head at the serendipity of that

… We spent two days in San Diego and didn’t even scratch the surface, unfortunately.  It is a lovely city and I truly hope to have the chance to go there again. We totally lucked out when we found one of the pinnacle restaurants of our whole trip on our very first night in the city:

Here I am enjoying the delicious veggie delights of Spread restaurant.  Local produce, prepared in the most delicious and savory way (the chef came out and discussed with us beforehand)  It was sort of a tapas-style, where you order several plates and share.  So memorable.  Now I want to try to figure out what we ate so I can re-create!

Next stop on the SoCal Roadtrip: Mojave and Sonoran desert – Joshua Tree – Palm Springs

The Frida Kahlo-loving throngs / SFMoMA  

I like to watch people.  Even more so, I really like to watch people in museums.  I like to see how people respond to art.  What draws some people to take a closer look while others can’t stand to look at all? 

Last Thursday, I spent the entire evening at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.  I was by myself with no particular agenda or time limits.  It was one of the few times when I can say that I went through the whole museum – all of the special exhibits as well as the permanent collection.  It was bliss.  I attended that particular night to catch the Frida Kahlo exhibition.  It has been running all summer, so I was pleasantly surprised to see the huge crowds in the galleries.  There were timed tickets, but it still took a little energy to get close enough to the artwork in order to actually read the placards.  [More SFMoMA photos here]

Frida Kahlo’s work clearly had a large following, but I also enjoyed some of the other ongoing exhibits. Those galleries were quieter and allowed more time for study and reflection: particularly that of Lee Miller, one of the first female war correspondents / photojournalists on the European front during WWII.   Her photography is quite haunting; a series of images that stays with me is her photographs from Hitler’s apartment, taken after his suicide in 1945.  Everyday items, but in the context of events, so much more. 

…perhaps this whole “people watching” thing is what lead me to enjoy photography so much…

Earlier in the week, I enjoyed watching and photographing my friends as they worked on their knitting projects.  As we sat in the small cafe, we each had a project in hand. 

Rangsiwan’s finished hat  / BrooklynTweed’s Habitat Hat 

Nova’s new square / Barn Raising Quilt 

I started a new project before I headed out west – a simple slip stitch scarf in a luscious yarn.

Much longer now and almost complete.  Once I finish, I will tell you more about it.

**Have you seen any good museum exhibitions lately? 
  Where is your favorite place to people watch?

Risa and I met up to knit for a little while before meeting Nova and Steph and heading over to the restaurant (the fabulous Khan Toke Thai House) to meet Rangsiwan and Vanessa.

In our cozy dining room!

Over a delicious five-course meal, the six of us shared numerous stories and upcoming plans.  Minutes turned in to hours and the night slipped away…

Going home, we made elaborate plans for the next day… plans that spanned the San Francisco Bay even! We started early with a yummy breakfast at Stacks in Hayes Valley and a little photo shoot with the sculpture in the park across the street.  We formulated a plan, and jumped into Rangsiwan’s sweet ride and headed over the Bay Bridge to visit an amazing little shop in Berkeley:  Stonemountain and Daughter.  It is primarily a fabric shop, but they had quite a beautiful supply of notions and even some yarn for knitters too.

The store name button mosaic

I spent a long time looking at buttons. There were hundreds to choose from, and I was looking for something special for my Moldova Coat… and I found a couple of choices, so I got them both! (and a few other pretties too for future cardigans and pullovers.)

Everyone else came away with lovely fabrics and elaborate plans for quilts and garments.  I really can’t wait to see what comes of all of the lovely inspirations!  One day, I would love to devote more time to sewing (and this would be such a great place to go for all of that inspiration!) but I feel like knitting and weaving are keeping me busy now.

We drove through Berkeley and headed back to Oakland towards the storied Article Pract store:  the shop’s reputation proceeded it, and it lived up 100%.  Especially when I saw their sale room with 40% off bagged yarn… I picked up 2 bags and the new Vogue.  Evidently I was in a tweed frame of mind… Rowan Summer Tweed and Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed came home with me! (click for photos).

The Bay Area had higher than average temperatures last wee, so we were all looking for some refreshment.  We headed back to San Francisco and went to the MIssion neighborhood, anticipating our next yarn shop stop at Imagiknit… but first, we needed some sustenance.

Aloe Juice at Samovar (I want to find a recipe for this!)

Once we cooled off and filled our bellies, we were ready for more yarn shopping/browsing.  We walked across the street to Imagiknit… we all seemed to have agendas to look at yarn, books, magazines, and in my case, the sales wall.  I am happy to report that they had an amazing selection of sale yarns. In fact, the owner Allison was begging us to help her make some room for all of the new autumn yarns that were sitting on boxes on the floor.  I did my best to oblige.

Rangsiwan, Steph, and Risa picked up a few things too…

The shop has such an amazing selection of yarns and such a great space – everything is so well-lit and the people are very friendly.  My basket was filled a few times as my eyes tended to gravitate towards all of the pretty colors with no real plan for patterns.  So, I pulled out a little list that I made earlier when consulting some patterns on Ravelry.  So, I got 3 bunches of yarn that will make some great things.

Hemp for Knitting Hempwol – also Kraemer Tatamy Tweed and EL Silky Flammé

And just when you think “how can they fit any more in?”  well, I told you we got an early start, so by the time we were finished with Imagiknit, it was still early afternoon.  We had plenty of time to spare… and after stopping by Tartine for a spot of tea and some knitting (Nova was craving one of their pastries) and we all agreed that it was photo time.  Everyone in the group is into Flickr as much as I am, and we wanted some fun shots to document our day.  We headed to a nearby high school and set up my camera and remote for the infamous JUMP shots!

(Risa, Steph, Nova +baby, Rangsiwan, and me in air!)

Jump shots are known to induce laughing fits, so if you attempt such things at home, BE READY!  We did about 6 of these, and this was the best one where we were all in the air.  Rangsiwan even went for the pirouette!  We also posed for some fun shots that Rangsiwan turned into clone shots on Flickr.

We headed north to Japantown to check out Kinokuniya’s craft books – so many great things (but I left empty handed, you may recall my little spree at the NYC location back in April) and then we ended the amazing day at the delicous Cafe Lettüs.  We were a tired bunch, but so happy.  I think we all had tired grins on our face as we said our good byes.

As I entered the elevator in my hotel, it became very obvious that I would need another bag to get all of the yarn home!  I sat in my room with that familiar “afterglow” feeling: amazing people and an amazing city!

…and lest you think it was fun and games all the time – this free day aside – I worked diligently for the rest of the week in my work conference.  I made some great connections with other archivists (a few knitting archivists even!) and attended some enlightening sessions that got me “fired” up about my own work at my institution. That is a good feeling.

One more post about SF coming – all knitting and art related!

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