Here’s the pictures and video from our annual week of skiing and tabletop gaming, this year back in Tahoe again with Jon, Jim, Bill, Kat and Brin. We were unfortunately in a bit of a very warm and dry spell for California at the end of February. This kept us to the freshly groomed runs, rather firm in the morning, soft in the afternoon and refrozen over night, but we hit up Squaw Valley, Alpine Meadows, Sugarbowl and Northstar over the course of the week.
Mike & Nanci hosted a Halloween party at their place in San Jose this year. Mike showed he was practicing to be a member of the Blue Man Group and Nanci tried to make rain as El Nino but it was more of a dribble. I showed up as an Arabian desert prince with my lovely genie-of-the-lamp, Darlene.
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Pictures and video from this year’s annual Pirates of Cache Creek event with the Outdoor Adventure Club – click through for the full gallery:
And a short video montage (130 seconds) of the weekend:
Last weekend, Darlene and I attended both nights of the Edwardian World’s Faire and Ball in San Francisco again:
And then on Sunday we spent the day at the California Academy of Sciences:
Darlene and I headed out for Halloween night as the Princess Bride and Westley (aka, the Dread Pirate Roberts), having not entirely escaped the R.O.U.S.’s of the fire swamp:
Our first stop was to try to score some trick-or-treating at the Riggles. Dave then took us over to see this year’s incredible pirate house/manor at a nearby home in Los Altos. It was an amazing display – comparable to a large portion of the Pirates of Caribbean animatronics at Disneyland:
Here’s their web site: http://www.piratemanor.com and a story about their efforts in the local town paper.
Then we were off to a super-decorated 80’s costume theme party with Martha and David hosted by some friends of theirs in San Jose.
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Darlene and I went up to San Francisco this past weekend to attend both nights of the Edwardian Ball and World’s Faire, January 17th and 18th. On Saturday, we also visited the Exploratorium in its new location at Pier 15.
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Pictures from a Halloween night out in Palo Alto – left to right, Martha, Maryanne, Darlene, me, Rachel and John:
Pictures and video from this year’s annual Pirates of Cache Creek event with the Outdoor Adventure Club – click through for the full gallery:
Dressed and on our way to the Pirates of Cache Creek weekend event with the OAC:
And Darlene discovers what happens when you rely on striped nylons for sun protection:
Got some friends together on Sunday to try out Artemis — a “spaceship bridge simulator” game where each person takes on a different role and we work together to successfully complete the mission: helm, weapons, science, engineering, communications, command. We did have some “technical difficulties” and some “minor disasters” (our ship sometimes completely destroyed) but everybody enjoyed the experience — it was a lot of geeky fun!
Darlene was busy working but she was there in spirit — particularly after she sent a photo of herself in uniform. (Yes, those boots may not be “Starfleet regulation” — but I wholeheartedly approve!)
Just messing around with some watercolor paints and Darlene as my willing canvas:
Over-dressed but oh-so-cute for a spanish-themed dinner party:
Pictures from another weekend of skiing in Tahoe with the Outdoor Adventure Club at Squaw Valley. Darlene and I ended up on our own for most of both ski days:
