Keeping up with the Bragassas: November 2010

Friday, November 19, 2010

Sequoia National Park

Last week, we found out that Brian was going to have a 4 day weekend for Veteran's Day. Instead of just staying around here all weekend, we decided to go somewhere! After some quick research about where we should go, we decided on Sequoia National Park in south eastern California. I immediately started searching for a cabin and luckily found one that took dogs (of course we brought Vida) and that was big enough so we could invite some friends! Within only 2 days to plan, I think we did a pretty good job at planning a vacation! Our trip started on Thursday morning with a car packed with enough food and stuff to take care of an army for a year! We literally packed our car full with everything we could think of! The drive only took about 4.5 hours and the scenery was beautiful. Now having been the person who did all of the research, I was convinced that the town right outside of the park had to be a decent sized town considering that there is only one lodge inside the park, meaning that all of the other visitors would have to stay outside of the park. Boy oh boy was I wrong! The town was tiny and had a gas station, a few motels, and a pizza place! Oh well...at least we brought our own food! Anyway, Brian and I decided to go to the park first thing so we could get the maps and information we would need for the following day. Driving up to the park, I felt pretty optimistic about our trip, considering all the research I had done over the past few days regarding road conditions, trails, weather etc, but I'm beginning to believe in Murphy's Law more and more (Murphy's Law says that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong!). Finally, the park gates are within sight and what do ya know? There's a sign outside the park stating that tire chains are required to get into the main parts of the park due to snow...WHAT?!?! I checked the weather channel about 500 times and the park website equally as much and neither mentioned anything about snow or tire chains! I slightly freaked out when I heard that chains would cost $80/day and not to mention would ruin your car. Oh well! We took the information from the park ranger and proceeded to find our cabin and break the news to the rest of the group.

Our cabin was a 4br/2ba cabin in the middle of nowhere! It was a 7 mile drive down a super curvy, narrow, mountain road (without side rails! Yikes!) and where "wild" cows and steer liked to hang out. Honestly, it was a beautiful drive! We finally reached the cabin and met up with our friends who made it there minutes before we did. Speaking of friends, two families were going with us...the Stiners and the Cones. The Stiners (Sarah and Kollin) have a little girl names Isabel who is one and a half, and the Cones (Randall and Mindy) have a little girl named Aubrey who is 2 and a little baby named Patton who is 5 months. We, of course, have our dogter Vida who is 3 - haha! Back to the cabin...We walked inside and were kind of relieved to see that it was a very "lived in" place, meaning that it was very kid/dog friendly where we didn't have to worry about breaking much or ruining anything. There were about 7 couches, a huge table, huge living room for the kids to play in, a movie projector, and 4 big bedrooms with king size beds:) Not to mention the entire property was fenced in so Vida would just go outside and sniff around. The only downside was that the house was solar powered so no blow dryers or toasters but we did just fine. Thanks to our friend Kollin, we got the heat and the water heater turned on...Brian and I didn't know what a pilot light was nor how to get the appliance from pilot to on so we're lucky we brought Kollin along, otherwise we would have been taking cold showers in a really cold house. Once everyone got there, we cooked out, let the kids (and Vida) play and then played some games.

The next morning we were up early, the Stiner's made pancakes, and then we packed up our bags and got ready to go to the park. After some discussion, we decided that we would take our chances with the chain thing and just not do it. If the park rangers asked, we would just tell them we had them in our car. We piled into two cars and drove down the 7 mile windy road to the park, then proceeded up the windy roads in the park. About 10 miles in, there was road construction that only let people through every hour on the hour. Unfortunately (of fortunately for those of us who don't like windy mountain roads) we had to wait about 30 minutes at the construction but it was a nice break for the kids to get out of the car and to run around a little bit. Finally, we made it into the Giant Forest and to Moro Rock. It was significantly colder up there, and there was SNOW! The roads were fine though and we would have been the only people with chains on our tires - apparently everyone decided to not get them! We parked our cars and decided to hike Moro Rock. The views were beautiful from up top! After that, we hiked around a little bit more near the giant Sequoia trees, drove to the General Sherman tree (the largest living thing on the planet), and drove through tunnel tree. Since it's starting to get dark earlier, we left the park around 4 and headed back down the mountain. We cooked lasagna for dinner and watched Elf when we got back, then all headed to bed pretty early.

The next day, the Cones had to head back to Vacaville, but the Stiners and Brian and I were able to stay for another night. We decided to head back into the park to hike to Tokopah Falls. On the way up to the trail head, poor little Isabel was kinda fussy for no apparent reason. When we were about 10 minutes away from the trail head, she got car sick:( I felt so bad, but she apparently felt much better!! After a few minutes of cleaning up, and getting Isabel in some clean clothes, we were back on our way. The trial head was way up elevation wise and there was tons of snow...it was amazing! We hiked the 1.75 miles to the waterfalls which were gorgeous! The snow really added something to the scenery too! Isabel felt great and rode on her daddy's back the whole time in a little carrier thing until we got to the falls, where she proceeded to eat tons of snow - haha! That night, we ate pizza in the town of Three Rivers and then went home and played some more card games. Our trip went by super fast but we had a great time!

Half of our cabin...couldn't get the whole things because trees were in the way. There was nothing out here but the night sky was unbelievable! I've never seen so many stars.

Aubrey and Isabel riding on Vida...Vida didn't even care.

At the entrance of Sequoia.

Waiting near the construction with a view of Moro Rock.

Sign at the top of Moro Rock...glad it wasn't raining.

Kollin carrying Isabel up Moro Rock.

Kollin, Sarah and Isabel on top of Moro Rock.

Brian and I on top of Moro Rock.

Brian at the end of the Moro Rock trail.

We saw a mama bear and her baby so they aren't joking about this sign.

Brian and I in front of a giant sequoia...they're huge!

Hanging Rock

Pretty picture from the top of Moro Rock.

Moro Rock.

Aubrey and Isabel deciding if they should go inside the hollow Sequoia Tree.

Me, Mindy and Aubrey inside the hollow Sequoia Tree.

Tunnel Log

Hiking up to Tokopah Falls

Hiking up to Tokopah Falls.

Snow covered Tokopah Falls

Tokopah Falls

Random picture of a lady who drives on a motorcycle with her Yorkie...he actually wears the goggles.

Pretty picture as we were leaving Sequoia.

Fresh Produce

One of the main perks of living in California is the immense amount of fresh produce. Literally minutes from my house are tons and tons of agricultural farms growing all kinds of fresh produce almost year round. Living near all this agriculture is not only neat, but it's great for the wallet! Everything is soooo cheap and so fresh it's amazing! Take a look at all the great fresh food I got for only $21!

I got a huge box of strawberries, bananas, apples, tomatoes, celery, green beans, lettuce, squash, peppers, cucumbers, limes, carrots, pomegranates, and onions! That box of strawberries alone at the grocery store would have been about $15 and it was only $6! I love fresh food:) Believe it or not, we ate the whole thing too!!

Brian's Birthday

Last week was Brian's 27th birthday! To celebrate, we went over to one of our friend's houses who was also celebrating their daughter's 2nd birthday. We had a great steak dinner along with birthday cake! Here are some pictures...

Brian getting ready to blow out all 27 candles.

Brian and Aubrey celebrating their birthdays.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Halloween and Corn Maze

Not many people know that the Guinness Book of World Records 2009 largest corn maze is right here in Dixon, California. Since we live about 25 minutes from there, it decided that we had to go! Brian and I, along with another classmate of his named Tyson, geared up and decided to take on the corn maze...how hard could it really be?! We're all smart kids right? Either way, we got there and at first, we were considering trying to beat the corn maze without a map, but after talking to a few of the employees, we decided that we should probably use a map since none of us brought a flashlight along and it was about 5 p.m. and boy oh boy are we glad we did! Even with the map it took us about 2.5 hours to get out of the maze and we didn't even make that many mistakes...it was actually getting dark when we finished and the maze is not lighted which would make it really hard to find your way around. We took turns navigating and had a great time! Afterwards, Brian and I picked out some pumpkins and went home and decorated out house for Halloween:)

Ok so this sign says 2007 Guinness Book of World Records but their website says 2009 so I'm going with that:)

Pumpkin patch and teepee

Entering the corn maze

Brian already feels lost...

I know this looks like a crossword puzzle but believe it or not, it's actually the map.

Pretty sky with corn...

Picture from the top of one of the pit stops in the middle of the maze.

Sunset over the corn..

Our carved pumpkins and Uga.

Our spooky house - haha!

We escaped from Alcatraz to see Navy Fleet Week!

I don't know how many of you have been out here and visited San Francisco, but personally, I don't think a San Francisco trip is complete without a visit to Alcatraz. For those of you who don't know what Alcatraz is...you should look it up! The history is pretty fascinating but I'll give you a little info on it...Alcatraz (aka The Rock) was discovered by a Spaniard in 1776 and given the name La Isla de los Alcatraces or Island of the Pelicans. Eventually, a lighthouse was built on the island to help guide ships through the bay. During the civil war, the island served as a fortress, arsenal, and in 1861 it began to house Civil War prisoners. In 1933, the prison was deactivated as a military prison and turned over to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. During its 29 years of operation, the penitentiary claimed no prisoners had ever successfully escaped. 36 Prisoners were involved in 14 attempts, two men trying twice; 23 were caught, six were shot and killed during their escape, and three were lost at sea and never found. Many famous criminals, such as Al Capone, were housed there and many movies have been filmed there, including some about the island itself. After the prison was shut down under President Kennedy in 1963, the Native Americans took over the island and tried to make it their own. This didn't last very long, and eventually, The Rock was turned into a National Park and is toured by hundreds daily...you're welcome America for all that interesting info about Alcatraz!

Anyway, getting tickets to tour this crazy place is kinda ridiculous! They sell out about 2-3 weeks in advance, so you really have to make a plan to go here. We bought our tickets online early so we knew we had a seat on the ferry over to The Rock. Coincidentally, the weekend we were planning on going was also Navy Fleet Week in San Francisco which mean extra traffic. We left our house early to make sure we made it in time for our 10:30 ferry. Luckily, we made it to Alcatraz Landing with plenty of time to spare, got on the ferry and embarked on our journey. Let me first tell you, I would not want to be in this prison...it's close enough to San Francisco that the prisoners were able to smell the food sometimes, hear the people laughing and partying, and even see the lights and fireworks if there was a party. Not to mention, the idea of escaping was ludicrous. The currents are crazy strong, the water is freezing and...infested with sharks. Basically this is a great place for a prison, but the cost of maintaining it is just too much! Once we got to Alcatraz, we got our little headsets, and started our self-guided tour of the prison. It was so interesting and neat to think about all of the crazy stuff that went on here! The cells were so small that Brian could touch from wall to wall by putting his arms out by his side. Can you imagine living in one of those?!

At the very end of out tour, we were sitting in what once was the cafeteria when we heard a fighter jet fly overhead. Brian immediately made a bee-line for the door to the old recreation area where we had a perfect view of the Navy's Fleet Week Air Show. We seriously lucked out and got to see the air show from probably the best view in the bay! We got to see the Blue Angles flying right over our heads as well as some other fun planes. After the air show was over, we got in line to get on the ferry back to San Francisco and walked to Piccinos, an Italian restaurant in the wharf area! It was a long day but we had a great time:)