Geof, Jennifer, Clay, Adriana and Nacho (behind the camera) joined us to watch the “Barbie” movie…
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Mark’s Retirement Party
Mark organized a party to celebrate his retirement from FileMaker/Claris, gathering together old and new coworkers at K1 Speed in Santa Clara for some electric go kart racing. The go kart racing was fun but it was really great to see everybody again!
I rented their provided cameras for the first two of our three runs. The first run wasn’t captured (they didn’t start it properly) but here’s our second run:
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Peterson Automotive Museum
After our stay in Anaheim to visit the Disney parks, we spent a couple of hours on Friday at the Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. They’ve got a large collection of historic and iconic cars including vehicles from Hollywood movies featured in various changing exhibits. There’s currently a large Tesla exhibit there which was unexpectedly pretty cool.
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A Return to Disneyland
Darlene and I decided to make a little road trip last week to Anaheim to visit the Disney parks. It had been 27 years since I’d been to Disneyland, a little longer for Darlene, and neither of us had ever been to Disney’s California Adventure Park. Happily, Hoan was able to join us for the day at Disneyland.
We were all most impressed with the new-to-us Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge area in Disneyland. It was fun to see both old and new stuff, including the holiday versions of classics like the Haunted Mansion and Small World. At California Adventure Park, we were impressed with the many detailed environments created around the park, but particularly the Radiator Springs area from the Pixar “Cars” movie. Some rides weren’t available at each park though – like the Indiana Jones ride was under maintenance all week and several had delayed openings or multiple temporary breakdowns. We actually missed out on Space Mountain entirely as it broke down during our assigned window late in the day.
Unfortunately, despite our mid-week attendance, the normal standby lines were often pretty awful (often 50-80 minutes) and Disney’s paid extra “fast pass” Genie+ system isn’t that great. You can only schedule something every 90 minutes, the most popular ride in each park isn’t included and you’re often assigned a window several hours later so you don’t really get to make use of the “lightning lanes” very many times over the course of the day. Plus, as we experienced, there’s no recourse if the ride breaks down during your assigned window.
Anyway, on the third day we rested, had lunch in the Downtown Disney District between the parks, attempted (and failed) at an escape room in Irvine and met up with Hoan’s family for dinner.
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Eclipse from the Ruby Mountains
Scouting over maps of the path of October 14’s annular eclipse, I spotted a potentially nice area to view it in the lovely Ruby Mountains of central Nevada (south of Elko) – an area I had never explored before. Darlene was off to visit Maine with her sister and Hera had been having more health issues but she seemed to have stabilized again when I decided to go ahead and pack up my bike and telescopes in the van and head out a couple days in advance to secure a nice spot.
I found a spot with a gorgeous panoramic view on Harrison Pass that was somewhat isolated from the access road – and the soon-to-be-gathering small crowd of vehicles and campers. I set up and tested my cameras and telescopes the day before the eclipse and also did a bit of exploring by mountain bike on what turned out to be some nasty steep ATV roads.
The sky started out fairly clear as the eclipse began but unfortunately the cooling air seemed to form more and more clouds as the time of max eclipse approached. It looked like we were going to be completely overcast and I could see and hear lots of folks jumping in their cars and driving down the highway to try to find some open sky. As it turned out though, the clouds thinned enough to give a filtered view of the full annular “ring of fire”. And sure enough, the clouds dissipated as the moon began to uncover the sun again. Maybe a mountain ridge viewing point wasn’t such a great idea given that mountains tend to attract cloud cover even without the cooling effect of an eclipse. At any rate, the eclipse viewing was a success.
I decided to cut the trip short due to Hera’s deteriorating health but then the van broke down as I got to Elko: check engine light on and lots of codes saying half the cylinders were misfiring – and on a Sunday when all the repair shops are closed. I eventually got a 24/7 mobile mechanic service to check it out but they recommended taking it to the one Ford dealer in town as it was going to be an extensive diagnosis and repair, and should be under warranty anyway. (Only 21,000 miles on the van.) Apparently driving it too far in this state could cause serious engine damage so I spent two nights in the Ford service parking lot. First waiting for them to open on Monday morning and then waiting most of Monday for a technician to become available. Something’s failed with the VCT (variable camshaft timing) system and it’s going to be a multi-day repair job (engine take-apart) but they can’t even locate parts right now due to the UAW strike including closures of many parts warehouses across the country. So I decided to rent a minivan, transfer everything out and head home with Hera. Once again, the van is kaput and in a shop far away.
Update (11/10/2023): It took three weeks but eventually the UAW strike ended and they repaired the engine over three days. Darlene and I drove out in my car (with Hera) to pick it up.
Before heading out of Elko, I noticed the fresh water tank was empty – which seemed very weird. Why would they go to the trouble to find and open the dump valve? We found a place to refill and it was nearly full before I stepped out and noticed all the water draining through the side door of the van. Turns out the water pump filter/strainer had burst. I should’ve emptied the tanks and pipes before leaving it because it apparently got cold enough to freeze and bust things. I didn’t think about it before I left the van there amidst all the worry about the engine failure, my sick cat and being stranded in Elko for who knows how long.
The scary thing was that the water was flooding the electrical compartment. It was right on the edge of submerging the fuse box. It was dumb luck I caught it when I did. I don’t know what would’ve happened – shorted out, started a fire? Anyway, I stopped the fill and we sat there for a while letting things drain before moving the van for fear of shifting the water and making contact and then who knows what.
When we got home I investigated further and found that I was able to replace the little $10 pump filter part and there were no other leaks.
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Carson/Ebbetts Passes
One year after the camper van was rear-ended and a very long time at a body ship plus several more months getting rebuilt and outfitted, Darlene and I (and Hera) were finally able to head out in the van again for some exploration. We ended up camping out in four different dispersed spots we found over not quite two weeks in an area of the Sierra Nevada between Carson and Ebbetts Passes (often near the Pacific Crest Trail), going exploring by mountain biking, hiking and geocaching.
We had nice weather the whole time except for some wildfire smoke that started to blow in on the last couple of days. We cut the trip a couple days short to avoid getting caught out in a bit of snow forecast for the higher elevations.
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A Tahoe Layover
Heading out in the newly restored camper van, Darlene and I had a bit of an unexpected layover in Tahoe as several house maintenance and repair chores ended up taking a lot more time and Hera developed a new health issue. We did take a few days off for some mountain biking including some of the trails from the house near Brockway Summit and taking the Emigrant Trail out to Stampede Reservoir from Prosser Creek.
We also joined Mike and Nanci on the Flume Trail (a well known trail that overlooks Lake Tahoe along the east shore). We started at Spooner Lake, climbed up to Marlette Lake where Mike went for a brief swim and we took a snack break:
We then joined the Flume Trail where Mike promptly tumbled off trail somehow and tangled himself in his bike frame. Happily no one chose to tumble off the steep slopes of the Flume Trail proper but then Nanci had a nasty fall on the ride down the Tunnel Creek Road. With help from several others, we ended up waiting for emergency services to drive a buggy up to treat her with pain meds and move her down to a waiting ambulance. At the Truckee hospital, she was found to have broken a clavicle and a rib. Ouch, not the most fun way to end the day!
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Summer Board Gaming
This is a gallery of pictures from another summer season of board gaming, including: 49, Flamecraft, Plague Inc., Thunder Road: Vendetta, Yedo, Merv, Atlantic Star, Eclipse, Middle Earth Quest, Chinatown, Quacks of Quedlinburg, Dominant Species, Dead by Daylight, Camel Up!, Hegemony, Clank! Catacombs, Evolution: Climate, Cosmic Encounter, Brian Boru: High King of Ireland, Horrified, Heroes of Land, Air & Sea, Burgle Bros 2: The Casino Capers, Game of Thrones, Bus, The Networks, Thunderstone Quest, Campaign Trail and Heat.
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Whose Live Anyway?
Darlene and I were able to join Nicole, Luno and Nacho in Salinas for a live show from the Whose Line Is It Anyway? crew last Friday – they’re currently on tour. Darlene and Nicole even went up on stage to participate in their “move the frozen improv actor” game. (No pictures during the performance.)
Home Theater Upgrade: Taller Screen
With more and more “blockbuster” movies being released in tall aspect ratios (apparently optimizing for IMAX screens) or even frequently switching aspect ratios midstream (Christopher Nolan!!), my existing, 12-foot wide 2.4:1 aspect ratio screen hasn’t been so useful as it used to be. These taller aspect ratios meant that the image ends up quite constrained, not using much of the screen real estate to the left and right.
So I finally decided to go through the trouble of buying and installing a new screen. It’s the same width as before (12 feet) but now in a 16:9 aspect ratio. So now I’ll have “Constant Image Width” (CIW) rather than “Constant Image Height” (CIH).
It’s another retractable screen (Luxus) from Stewart Filmscreen using the same screen material (Ultramatte 130 and still 30% gain) but this new unit was quite a bit heavier than the old one. It weighs somewhere between 125-150 lbs depending on which documentation you believe. I installed another set of mounting blocks with 2×6’s on the wall to clear the window sill but there was no way just two of us could lift it in place. Four of us were able to do it though! Many thanks to Tim, Geof, Jennifer, Richard and Nacho for volunteering to help Darlene and me:
The new taller screen is filled out wonderfully with the likes of all those tall aspect ratio movies – making these films feel much more immersive again. And so far, the upper and lower “black bars” with 2.4:1 material haven’t been distracting.
Darlene’s Family Visit
Darlene’s mom Alice and her sisters Kathy and Shel came out for a visit to Santa Cruz. They hit up the Monterey Bay Aquarium, stayed overnight at the Monterey Zoo, visited the Santa Cruz boardwalk, visited Alice’s sister Betty, did a few laps of indoor go cart racing, experienced a drone flight over the bay, a little virtual reality and a bit of video gaming.
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In Memory of Pan
I’m writing this four months later… we lost Pan on July 3rd after an attempt to treat a reoccurrence of his heart failure. This was really hard to take. He was my best buddy. Whatever I was doing, he was always nearby. He would follow me from room to room, hang out with me while I was on my computer, be in the midst of whatever project I was working on or in my lap while reading or watching TV. He just had to be on the table with us when we were playing board games. He’d run to join me if I went out to the garage or in the yard and cry and pout in the litter box if I couldn’t take him with me when I was going out.
On road trips, he insisted on being in my lap or on the countertop behind my shoulder in the camper van. He was up on the bathroom counter sink to watch me and wait while I brushed my teeth and then get his drink from the tap. Then he’d immediately leap to the bed to join me on my pillow when I went to sleep. He slept curled up against my face, under my chin or on my head every night – as close as possible. His signature greeting was his head butt to the face and nose-to-nose rubs – the same initial greeting he gave me when I got down on my knees at the animal shelter way back in March of 2009 and he picked me out. He’s been a near constant, joyful presence ever since. Darlene and I miss him terribly.
In June, he started refusing his meds and not eating enough to get his meds that way. Over a few weeks it became clear that his breathing was starting to become more labored again. The last time this happened, a couple of years ago, the vet was able to tap and drain the fluid from his chest, start him on some medications and he bounced right back. He did just fine over the next couple of years despite their warning at the time that he probably only had limited months left. So when I brought him on the Friday ahead of the 4th of July weekend to request a repeat of the chest tap, I totally expected that it would go like before.
He was happy and active when I brought him in for the procedure on Friday and it seemed to go well but his health deteriorated over the subsequent 48 hours. By Monday morning, it was clear he was in serious trouble and we took him to the emergency hospital in Santa Cruz. On a phone call a few hours later, we were told he was in a terrible state with three opposing conditions – the treatment for any one of them would exacerbate the other two. It would apparently take many days of intensive care with a highly unlikely probability for success. To avoid putting him through all that, we made the decision to go with their recommendation to euthanize.
Here’s a gallery of selected pictures and videos from my 14 years with him:
Winter 2023 Time-Lapse
This is a time-lapse recording at the Tahoe house over the 2022-23 winter season – from November 1st to June 1st. The house is at 6800 ft.
Spring Skiing in Tahoe
Tahoe got just a little bit more snow in the first week of May, but Darlene and I couldn’t make it up until this past week – just as the temperatures climbed back into the high 50’s and low 60’s. We got in three short days at Alpine and Palisades – bailing mid-day each day as the snow started getting grabby. I got to try my new X-Wing pilot costume and Darlene borrowed my Marvin the Martian outfit:
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Nacho & Adriana’s Fiesta en España
As a follow-up to their “Not-A-Wedding” in Costa Rica last August, Nacho and Adriana hosted another party in late April – this time in Palencia, Spain so that more friends and family could join in the celebration. Darlene and I were able to join and we made an extended trip out of it with a coastal hiking trip in Portugal and a multi-city tour through Spain before joining everyone in Palencia.
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An Intrepid Tour of Spain
Upon completion of our hiking trip in Portugal, Darlene and I flew to Madrid and immediately joined the guided group tour we booked with Intrepid Travel. We met our guide, Sergi, who quickly proved to be both quite enthusiastic and entertaining, along with our nine fellow travelers (mostly Aussies) and David, a guide-in-training preparing for his upcoming first tour.
Here’s the link to all the galleries from the trip.
Day 2: Toledo
Our first full day was a day tour to Toledo from Madrid to explore the old walled city – and for Darlene to buy boxes of marzipan from the nuns at the convent.
Days 3-4: Seville
We were then off by high-speed train to Seville where we spent two days and nights to see the city. We lucked out at the normally very crowded Plaza de España as it was being cordoned off in preparation for a concert and we swung by the replica of the Victoria, the only ship to return from Magellan’s circumnavigation voyage. We skirted around Seville’s bullfighting ring, Plaza de Toros de la Maestranza and wandered through the shopping district. We had a wonderful local guide show us around the amazing royal palace and gardens, Real Alcázar de Sevilla (also home to scenes of Dorne from the Game of Thrones tv series) and we wandered around the immense Seville Cathedral (one of the largest in the world), which was originally a grand mosque. Lastly, we attended a flamenco performance on our final evening.
Day 5: Córdoba
Our next overnight stop was Córdoba, home to an amazing and incredible grand mosque – a mosque so large that a huge cathedral could be built within the center of it. Our walking tour continued around the old town and that evening we got to see an Andalusian equestrian show. (No pics or video allowed during the performance.) The following day, on the road to Granada, we stopped in at a olive oil mill and learned first-hand how olive oils are taste-tested.
Days 6-7: Granada
We stayed two nights in Granada whose star attraction is The Alhambra, a medieval fortress and series of palaces chiefly built by the Moorish monarchs of Granada. We enjoyed a walking tour through various parts of the old city and there was also much shopping. For the Alhambra, we had a daytime tour of the fortress (or Alcazaba) and the Generalife palace and gardens but then we were able to return after dark for a mesmerizing tour of the Comares Palace grounds and a quick peek into the more recent Palace of Charles V.
Days 8-9: Valencia
On the way to Valencia, we had a short stopover in Elche as a break for the long drive, where we saw a couple of renditions of the “Lady of Elche”. Unfortunately our bus broke down and we had to wait for a replacement to come and get us. We made it to Valencia eventually and the following day we walked around the impressive structures making up the City of Arts and Sciences – a substantial public space including science and art museums, opera house, planetarium and aquarium. Would’ve been fun to check it out in more detail but our day was already filled with a trip out to and boat ride on Albufera Lake with a lunch of traditional Spanish paella and then a walking tour around the older quarter of Valencia.
Days 10-11: Barcelona
We had a long drive from Valencia to Barcelona and our group tour with Intrepid Travel came to a close in Barcelona, but not after a walking tour of the Gothic Quarter including La Rambla, the Mercat de La Boqueria (a popular marketplace), the Barcelona Cathedral and a farewell dinner. We stayed on an extra night and took a tour of one of Gaudi’s amazing architectural and design wonders, the Casa Batló – so very worth the admission and the crowds. We also explored the Gothic Quarter a bit more on our own and went through the Maritime Museum of Barcelona – before Darlene collapsed asleep on a bench.
Days 12-13: Madrid
The Intrepid Travel trip actually started in Madrid and some folks took in some of the sights ahead of the trip start but we didn’t have time between our Portugal trip and this one, so we flew back to Madrid after Barcelona for a day and a half of sightseeing with Jennifer before we all boarded a train for the upcoming party in Palencia. We managed to get in a Segway tour of the huge El Retiro Park and visit the Prado Museum, the Cathedral of Santa Maria and take in the full royal palace tour (Palacio Real de Madrid) – mostly no pics allowed in the palace though.
Click through for the full gallery of our Spain tour!
Also, here’s a flyover I recorded in VR in MS Flight Simulator of several of the cities we visited:
