San Diego Ex-Ed

Location:  San Diego CA

Pacific Soul Surfers Experiential Education Course

The beach is in our blood and the desire to be in the ocean a constant pull on the psyche.  Cara and I designed a trip to meet these needs and also introduce the love of the ocean to others.  Our course was called Pacific Soul Surfers:  Surfing and Sailing in San Diego.

We took 21 high school students to CA for one week.  Camping on Carlsbad beach and surfing/sailing in Mission Bay.  The weather was brisk and sunny, the water tumultuous, and wind  consistent.  Our campsite was very different from those in CO.  It was basically a paved strip with motor homes and camper trailers.  We were the only ones in tents!  I was happy to hear the kids say, "this isn't camping."  

We sailed every morning for about 3 hours.  Cara and I had never done this before and were instantly hooked.  The feeling of harnessing the wind and using it to get from point A to point B evoked feelings of freedom and escape.  The wind some mornings was very strong, gybe turns were potentially dangerous, Cara found out the hard way, bobbing in the cold Pacific bay.   Watching the students was hilarious.  Imagine 24, 6ft sail boats cruising around in circles, captained by squirrly teenagers, laughing the whole time!

The surfing was definitely the most challenging.  The seas were rough, wind, and constantly throwing down waves 8 to 10ft high.  The kids were troopers and stayed in the whitewash, again laughing, freezing, and trying to figure out the art of surfing.  I managed to paddle out past the breaks and got only a few rides.  The rest of the time I was battling, cursing, and way in over my head.  At one point my leash ripped off leg and I was left out there swimming in the boils and tumbling surf.  This was probably the scariest moment I've ever had in the ocean.  

The rest of our time we spent in camp, the kids cooking meals, sleeping, and doing dishes.  We treated them to In & Out and they were in heaven.  It was such an awesome experience for the students and for us.  Hard work and well worth the laughs, waves, and full sails.    

Aiden the A-bot and his 4th year of Life

Location: Virginia Beach, VA

Purpose: Aiden's 4th birthday party

Fun was had by all during the family vacation to Vanessa and Adam's house in VB.  It was a full house and we celebrated Aiden well!   The little A-man is growing up, is such a great conversationalist and is always up for a good game of "dinosaurs".  Tori is just a little doll- we wanted to take her home!  Here are some pics of the party:

Sunburns Galore

Castle Creek, Colorado

Destination:  Pine Creek Cook House

70 Degrees and not a cloud in the sky is a recipe for heinous sunburns.  Below are the pics before melanoma set in.  At the end of the hike Cara's chest was so red you could see where each individual bead of her necklace rested.  Other notable incidences included $100 lunch, a sweet mustache sighting, and Finn deep throating a stick so bad I had to pull splinters out of the roof of his mouth.  Thanks Mia for the Birthday Hike...

Running out the Mitten Slab

The Mitten Slab is found on the left side of the picture below.  The route follows the right side of the slab and ends about the same level as the "thumb."  The route was pretty chill with one crimpy pitch of 10b slab.  The other routes were in the 5.8 to 5.9 range with sometimes exciting run-outs and crumbly holds.  

Jamie Hozack local math teacher

Looking south at winter

One of the smaller belay ledges on the route

Coming down, 5 raps to go, 2 PBRS at the bottom

Found: Australian bush dog feeding on carcass of unknown animal

Agh criky...what we have here is the elusive Finn Dog.  Often seen patrolling the hillsides of Sopris Creek, he only hunts under the waxing gibbous moon.  Here he is seen with the front leg of a Whapati, also known as an elk.  Like an apparition he appeared out of the sage, soon to return to the shadows of pinon and stone.  

ValenThaiNes Day and Tattoos

Zola:  "Where's my ball?"

Cara at Mighty-O-Donuts

Tom Kah and Butternut Red Curry squash soup

Practicing

Kennedy Grace

Bad hair day for Cara

Hour one of the 6 hour session

Here is what 6 hours of work looks like.  The needle does 3600 holes a minute, times 6 hours, is roughly 1.3 million ink holes!  There are a few hours to go, need to finish the water at the top and bottom.  Can't wait for that burning pain again!