Big Sur

Friday, April 18th through Sunday, April 20th, a large group of us went camping at Pfeiffer Big Sur. With over 20 people camping, we took over three campsites. It was fun for me to have some of my high school, college, and work friends all hang out in a beautiful spot for the weekend. It only took three rounds of reservations to get us there (long, anxiety-producing story), but we made it!

Our campsites were large and completely shaded by giant redwoods. Each campsite had its own fire pit and picnic table and offered plenty of personal space.

Steph and I left Morro Bay around 3:30 pm. on Friday. Having just left Palmdale that morning, it was a busy day, but I was prepared, having packed the weekend before (thanks to good genes for inspiring me to pack ahead of time!). Steph's dad was nice enough to let us use his big truck - we used every square inch of it. Bear, Puck, and Nugget were loaded into the camper shell (left) while Steph and I enjoyed the comfy cab. The drive from SLO to Big Sur is one of my favorites, it is so BEAUTIFUL. We reached the campground around 5:30, just about 15 minutes before Nikki and crew showed up - Good timing!

Since I was busy on travel for work that week, Nikki and Ryan (left) did all the grocery shopping - such a huge help! We hate so well that weekend, especially with all the treats (80 cupcakes - chocolate, vanilla, strawberry with add your own frosting - brownies, muffins, and cookies). That night we settled in and tried to get comfortable, though it was a bit cold (around 40 degrees F at night and only in the 50s during the days).

The next morning we had a family breakfast, with pancakes, eggs, bacon, and potatoes (our baked potatoes took to long to cook the night before but Ted had the great idea to fry them up in the bacon grease - so good and totally allowable while camping!). It was fun to all share food and help with the cooking. Then, we went on a short, easy hike to the waterfall near the entrance to the campground.

The waterfall

Christy, Michelle, Ryan, Zandra, and Nikki pose in front of the waterfall



There were so many of these beautiful irises popping up along the trail.

That afternoon we went for a longer, more strenuous hike along the Ridge Trail in the National Forest. It quickly warmed us up! Steph and I were desperately searching for a condor sighting, but alas... no condors :(

No blog of mine would be complete without a weird wildlife picture. Here's a cool banana slug that Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay are so famous for






Below are pictures of Steph, Bear, Nikki, Ryan, Zandra, and Michelle hiking.














After the hike we returned and started making our family dinner, which included chicken and steak fajitas with all the fixin's. It was so nice for everyone to only have one thing to cook and yet still have a big meal. Thanks to Ted for the family dinner suggestion, it was a hit! The next morning we packed up and went for one last hike. It was an overlook hike that ended up being a lot longer than we thought it would be, but it was worth it. Here's a group shot:

Some more fun pics:


Mike has made fire


















Zandra and Ryan at the campsite











She may look like me, be wearing my jacket, and be stretched out over my husband, but it's Nikki getting her back stretched by Mike

Tree huggers

The Mullen Family

Thanks for a Great Trip Everyone!!

Palmdale

On Thursday, April 17th, 2008 and Friday, April 18th, 2008, I went to Palmdale for work to do small mammal trapping and bird surveys. I was so glad this trip was scheduled in April, when the weather was pleasant (in the high 70s, perfect!). Now, many of you may not know this about me, but I LOVE trapping small mammals. Let me be the first to tell you: native mice and rats are actually VERY cute (not like those disgusting house mice and rats living in attics!)
Here is a kangaroo rat (Dipodomys agilis), which is called such because of its huge hind feet that it hops on. They also have big 'ole cheek pouches which they store seed and grains in. They are super cute! We caugh lots of 'em

Another cool trap was a California pocket mouse (Chaetodipus californicus), who liked Tom's arm very much. Check out that extra long black and white tail!

And here is a very young Coast horned lizard. It was very small (you can't tell from this picture, but it was only about 4 inches long) but so cute. At first, it was really difficult to see but then after holding it for a while and putting it back down, it was much lighter. I learned that Coast horned lizards can blend in which their environments.

The Coast horned lizard after we put it down, a bit easier to see. Look at that little nubby tail.

California red-legged frog workshop

On Monday, April 14, 2008 and Tuesday, April 15, 2008 I attended a workshop on surveying for California red-legged frogs (CRLF), a threatened species. CRLFs are found in wetlands along the California coast from San Francisco Bay south to San Diego. Needless to say, we are continually surveying for them at work! You need a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to monitor them (I go along with my co-workers under their permits) - I am currently working towards getting my own permit (which means LOTS of surveying). This workshop was a big step in the right direction - I learned the proper techniques to survey for them at night and for their eggs and tadpoles. The workshop was held at the Elkhorn Slough near Moss Landing, CA. It is a beautiful place - I highly suggest taking an afternoon to visit or go for a little kayak ride if you're in the Monterey Bay Area.



A picture of a CRLF I took at Guadalupe in February. You're probably asking yourself, where are the red legs?! They're on the inside of the thighs (if you look closely you can see faint red on the frog's left hind leg), but they can vary from not red to scarlet. They are the largest native frog in California.


On Monday night I attended an eye-shine survey from 8pm to 12am. We all got in our waders and surveyed for frogs from the bank. We got to catch them and look at them up close - they're super easy to catch since they don't scare easily. The ponds we surveyed had 500-700 frogs in them, so there were plenty to look at (usually I only survey ponds with less than 10 frogs in them!). It was cold and wet (the right leg of my wader was leaking) but a lot of fun!



Here is a picture of a CRLF egg-mass I took at Guadalupe in February. Of these thousands of eggs, on average only one male and one female frog make it to adulthood to reproduce.

On Tuesday morning we had a classroom session and Tuesday afternoon we went and studied tadpoles and good habitat. It was time well spent!

Chicago

The Sears tower from Little Italy. Those two antennas give it 200+ extra feet of height. I kinda think that's cheating, but it was still an impressive view!

Nikki and I visited our friend Evann in Chicago from Saturday April 5th, 2008 to Monday April 7th, 2008. Evann and her fiance Steve are moving to Philadelphia, so Nikki and I thought we'd get a trip in to Chicago while she was still there. Steve was already in Philadelphia, so we had a girl's weekend. It was a blast! Evann and Steve's apartment is in a very nice part of Chicago, not far from Michigan Ave and Millenium Park. It's for sale, so if you want to move to Chicago, now's the time, it's prime real estate!
Our first day there, we immediately went for stuffed pizza (or deep dish pizza to us West Coasters) at Giordano's, a famous chain in Chicago. YUM! Couldn't resist a cheesy pose with the pizza.

Then we walked up and down Michigan Ave and did a little bit of shopping (as you can tell from the Banana Republic bags). There were so many stores, there were actually duplicate stores not even two blocks away from each other.

Here, Nikki and I pose in front of a metal moose. The moose was very anatomically correct. I guess the artist was trying to stay true to its subject?

That evening, Evann took us up to the top of the Hancock building for drinks. The Hancock building is the second tallest building in Chicago and has FABULOUS views at night. The lounge at the top takes a little bit of a wait but the view was worth it. The best view is actually from the ladies bathroom. Go figure! Oh, and watching Nikki try and walk through a mirror to get to the "other side" of the lounge was worth it - she didn't realize it was a mirror and was trying to dodge her reflection. She couldn't understand why that person kept getting in her way! TOO FUNNY, we had a GOOD laugh over that one. I will give her this, it was dark in there. Here are some pics of us:

That night we went to bed pretty late and got to sleep in a bit. Then we got dressed and headed out to lunch, at a fantastic sushi restraunt - Chicago has GREAT food! Then we went to Navy Pier, which has a cool boardwalk vibe to it, with vendors and a farris wheel. It also has a neat indoor atrium and a Shakespeare theatre. The view of Lake Michigan and Chicago is quite impressive - if you didn't know better, you'd think you were looking out over the ocean or a bay - that lake is huge!

The view of Chicago from Navy Pier. A bit windy but a beautiful day.

After Navy Pier we walked to the Sears tower and went up up up to the top. It was great. I'll download more pics onto here when I get a chance.

Our next stop was Millenium Park, which is a newer park (one of the 10,000 in Chicago! - when you fly over Chicago, all you see are parks and baseball diamonds) which different art structures. Our favorite structure was Cloud Gate, this giant metal orb. Here's a pic of us looking into the orb.

After Millenium Park, we hailed a taxi to Little Italy, where we ate a fantastic Italian dinner at The Rosebud restaurant (a famous Chicago restaurant). After dinner we walked all over Little Italy (not that large of a place, mind you) looking for gelato, but didn't find any (it's ironic that Little Italy has just as many Thai, Arab, Japanese, and American restaurants as Italian). We ended up returning to The Rosebud for desert. We had the same waiter and he got a kick out of us returning an hour and a half later for dinner. We did find a little side street that was reminiscent of 1950's Chicago. I like to think it looked like the neighborhood my mom grew up in.

We hailed a cab back to Evann's apartment and got picked up by "the party cab" which was basically a really kinda creepy cab driver with all sorts of music and lights and decorations in his cab. He was a little sour at the Chicago PD because they made him take down most of his decorations because it was too distracting to other drivers. He also made a few comments about women being able to take off their tops in his cab. YUCK. But way funny, only in a big city, right?

Here's a favorite site in Little Italy (love the Italian pride!):

One thing I forgot to mention was I came down with a bad cold Saturday morning before we left. I was pretty energetic on the cold medicine I was taking religiously, but it really dehydrated me. Poor Nikki and Evann had to accompany me on scavanger hunts for a store which sold Gatorade and then had to listen to me rave about how good it is at rehydrating you. They were nice and patient and didn't once remind me that athletes have been drinking that stuff for years, why was I just figuring it out now...?

Two more highlights of our trip:
Evann's favorite market, which is now my favorite market (how pathetic it's my favorite market and I can't even remember the name): all sorts of ethnic, gourmet, natural foods and a huge bakery and deli. Oh and all the fun flowers and candles and such. We tried chocolate with bacon bits in it (definitely different...) and had some wonderful chocolate covered boysenberries and vanilla marshmallows.

And the best highlight for last.... spending time with Evann and Nikki, talking about books, relationships, friendships, weddings, family, and books. It was a fantastic weekend :)