Fun at the Science Museum

Here are a few phone pics from our trip to the science museum in Balboa Park this past Monday.

 Susanna flexes.

 Soren flexes.

 Susanna clowns around.

 Gail builds a....  Mars lander?

 Soren gets honors for using the most wood - and having a cool, organic style.

 Engineers at work.

 Tower of Baba.

Nora is all concentration.

James Hubbell Open House

James Hubbell is a San Diego County artist of many talents.  He and his wife Anne are in their eighties, and each year open their home for one day.  This year, it was yesterday, June 21.  James is a sculptor, metal worker, stained glass artist, painter, poet, and all around free thinker.  They bought ten acres in 1958 in the mountains outside of Julian, about an hour and a half drive to the east of us, and started building their home and studios.  They acquired more property later.  Half of the 8 buildings burned in the Cedar Fire of 2003, and were slowly rebuilt over the past 12 years.

 The structures are flowing, organic shapes, designed to blend into the rocks and terrain.  The following pictures are of just some of the structures we saw.

 The Hubbells have formed a foundation so that the property and their projects can continue on as art and learning studios after they are gone.

 James' mosaic touches in the kitchen.

 Anne graciously answered questions and told us about their living room.  The beams are from native cedar trees that were killed in the fire of 2003.

 Stained glass and metal sculpture is apparent everywhere.

 The furniture was designed by James and handcrafted by a friend.

 A rooftop sitting area above Ann's room.

 Their four sons were given the choice of having a bedroom or a pool.  They chose the pool.

 Another side of Ann's room.

 The living spaces and studios are all separate by design.  It allowed the Hubbell's to feel and see nature as they passed between living and working areas.

 The temperature was in the 90's and it was very tempting to "accidentally" fall in the pool.

 This is the boys' room which was built after the pool - well worth the wait!.  The roof is quite fantastic, as is the inside.

 Inside the boys' room.

 Looking up in the boys' room.

 This is the boys' bathroom.

 Another side of the boys' room.

 We loved all the little touches!

 This is the entrance to the largest work studio.

 Gail was a volunteer for a few days back in the nineties helping to build this school in Tijuana - just one of James' projects.

 That is James in the blue shirt, greeting visitors.

We left the studio through these awesome doors, inspired and awed by what we saw.  James and Anne Hubbell are famous internationally, but seem humble and down to earth in many respects.  We felt fortunate to have seen the place they call Ilan-Lael.

More Snakes!

I've been in boyhood heaven, lately, with some interesting snake sightings.  While doing my usual hike at Calavera on Thursday, I saw two different snakes within minutes of each other.  I have found that warmish, overcast days seem to bring good luck.

 First was this Rosy Boa, a first for me.  I had a captive bred one in my classroom for over ten years, and was very excited to find one in the wild.

They are slow moving, gentile snakes, so I brought her home for the night to show my grandchildren.  Gail and I returned her to the same location in the evening.  In this soil, among gray sticks, she is just about invisible.

The second snake was this California King Snake.

 Tasting the air.

Nora with the Rosy Boa, which she named "Sage".  Susanna also held Sage, but Andria took the pictures on her camera while I supervised.

Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne

My friend Jim, up in Santa Rosa, cooked up a backpacking trip for Yosemite National Park that would take us through the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne.  This took several months of planning, and in the process, we decided to invite Dave along, as he and his family are moving to Colorado in July.  Jim figured that due to the drought, going in early June would be possible this year, and hopefully we would see the Canyon's raging river and waterfalls in action.

 Dave and I entered the park from the east, driving up Tioga Pass, which tops out at 9,945 feet.  Jim entered from the west.  We spent the first night, Sunday, at the Tuolomne Meadows Campground.

 Monday morning at the White Wolf trail head, we prepare to descend almost 4,000 feet into the canyon.

 Lichen covered branches.

 Snow flower was still evident.  This member of the heath family is parasitic, and uses a fungus to gain nutrients from certain tree roots.  It can pop up right through snow.

 Descending down, down, down to Pate Valley. Pictures don't do justice to the huge scale of everything in Yosemite! (Unless you're Ansel Adams).

 There were a variety of flowers in bloom.

 After awhile, we could see most of Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, the water supply for San Francisco.

 10.6 miles later, we reached Pate Valley, tired, sore, hungry, and searching for a campsite.

 We found an area near the Tuolumne River that suited us just fine.

 A bit of alpine glow as the last rays of sunlight left the peaks.

 Tuesday morning, and we are headed up river.  The construction of the park's trails in the 1930's involved some astonishing work that still lasts today.

 Dave spotted a garter snake at water's edge...

 and Jim spotted this small Northern Pacific Rattlesnake that retreated into a crevice.

 There was actually quite a bit of rain and snow that fell in May, so the river and creeks were running strong, along with numerous waterfalls spilling over the canyon's granite faces.

 The 60 foot waterfall at Register Creek.

 This was our first major cascade on the river.  We were so impressed, we decided to camp nearby.

 My home next to the river was thundering loud.

 Wednesday morning we knew we had a lot of climbing to do to get around Muir Gorge, which is practically impassable.

 The river slices violently through this narrow slot.

 We paused at the top of our detour around Muir Gorge to admire the huge rock faces around us.

 Jim and I glad to be on top of the hump.  You can see the river far below.

 A little later while we were eating lunch near the river, Dave spotted this large rattlesnake cruising along at water's edge.  I spotted him again a few minutes later moving through the brush.

 The waterfalls started increasing and so did the steepness of the trail.

 It was time to find a campsite, and this was a dandy!  It had a little beach, no bugs, a great fire ring, and plenty of wood.

 Our new home!

 Dave was our master fire builder.  Pine cones added an exciting flare!

 Thursday morning and just another unnamed spectacular waterfall.

 I noticed that at the top of each big fall there was usually a placid section of river.

 We called that tall vertical rock face "Little El Capitan".

 Waterwheel Falls doing its thing.

 Art in nature.

 The trail and surrounding area was submerged here.  I ended up carrying my boots and walking this barefoot.

 The sky started clouding up and drops began to fall.  We made it to Glen Aulin High Sierra Camp just in time to set up our tents before all hell broke loose.  We had hail, slush, rain, and thunder and lightning  fractions of a second apart.

 Jim got soaked trying to fix a stubborn door on his tent, which is too low to sit up in, so I invited him over.  We pretty much spent 14 hours in our tents. Notice that ball of ice slush at the bottom of the tent side.

 The rain stopped briefly, so I checked out nearby White Cascade.

 Looking down the river not far from camp.

 Friday morning and we headed out, determined to beat the impending afternoon storm.

 This is the area before Tuoloumne Meadows, our exit point.

 One last group shot at trail's end...

and the rain began.