Tag: Family
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Yosemite is Awesome
The only way to sense the scale is to look at the trees on the left, and realise that they are … trees. Language is funny. You spend the year throwing around superlatives, describing new features on Facebook or the texture of your new favourite Burrito, and are then totally disarmed when you go somewhere like Yosemite, and faced with things that really are ‘awesome’ (in the base sense of the word), ‘massive’ (as in, unimaginably heavy’?) and ‘amazing’ (oh come on). Without the ability to describe anything in a meaningful way, all you can gawp and try in vain to compare it to other places that you have been, and mostly failing.
Yosemite is ridiculously, completely unnecessarily gorgeous. Like a set from a Star Trek movie (perhaps one of the pleasure planets where people run around in togas and seduce secondary members of crew into a life of endless procreation), there is forever a CGI waterfall in the background and vistas stretching off into the distance.
Four days of unbroken sun above our heads, snow underfoot, and yet weather warm enough for t-shirts was a perfect backdrop for enjoying a birthday with my family. Great food, wonderful company, and an awesome location; literally.
Entrance to the valley, on some of the finest roads in California (not saying too much, there). 
Mum and Dad enjoy the vista. It's impossible to stop yourself from screeching to a halt in each siding to enjoy the views on offer. 
El Capitan rock – a genius of naming. 
Incredible arcs of rock look like an impressionist; the brain is not capable of dealing with such scale for more than a few minutes. 
A good day to fly overhead 
First major hike of the weekend, up past the snow line. 
The same waterfall features in most of the images. 
Switchbacks – ah for my mountain bike. 
Don't look down! 
Oh look. 
Half dome on the left, and more waterfalls on the right – we hiked up to the first one the next day. 
Attempting to link up with the previous day's hike … we turned back after we decided it was getting a bit hairy … it's hard to appreciate, but there was a substantial cliff to the direct left side of this. 
Instagram delivering the goods again the next day in our hike up to the falls. 
One thing I love about my Mum is that we notice the same things at the same time. 
Back to the house for the most delicious possible artichokes. Mum & Dad drove through the 'Artichoke Capital of the World', and we spent the weekend laughing about it until we actually tasted the things. -
Take Me Out to the Ballpark
Loonies inhabit all corners of the city. The baseball stadium is no different. One of my minor ambitions during my stay in the USA was obviously to head to baseball game. It was extra-special to go there with my old man, and reminisce about all the other baseball games he didn’t take me to as a child while not growing up in America.
Sell-out crowd 
I spent much of the match trying to remember the rules, and then recount them to Dad with some semblance of sense. The guy in front of us almost caught a ball, though, and the crowd around him berated him for the rest of the game for having dropped it. Good times. 
Bleachers. 
The rush to get home. -
Marin Weekender
Mum & Dad, having completed their main tour from San Diego back up to San Francisco, now have a couple of weeks with me in the Bay Area. We took the opportunity of having good weather to cross the Golden Gate and spend the weekend in Marin. Day 1: antique shopping in Petaluma, and Day 2: a fantastic walk in the sun, retracing our steps to Alamere Falls. After the manufactured saccharine charms of SoCal, I think it was a breath of fresh air.
Dad navigates the streets of San Francisco, to the accompaniment of the Bullett theme tune 
Crossing the bridge never gets old – it's stunning. 
Objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are 
Hold onto your hats! 
Dad, clearly enjoying the Mustang 
What a team. 
We retraced the steps we made in the summer hike to Alamera Falls, back in July 
Even though 99% of people make the detour to the beach, the rangers seem to ignore this fact, and mark it unmaintained. 
View out to Point Reyes – very much need to go there some time soon. 
Dad negotiates the frankly slightly scary cliff down to the beach 
Unconventional team photo 
Don't go chasing waterfalls 
Dad and I, standing above the cliffs 
One more for good measure 
The trip back … and you are reminded that you are in Marin – the wackiest collection of individuals this side of, well, San Francisco 
Sunset Strip 
The breathtaking return through the tunnel back to the city -
Alcatraz in the Sun
Leaving the Rock, and thinking of the ROC I am lucky enough to have my parents visiting at the moment; here for a few days before heading down to San Diego, and taking a leisurely drive up the coast. While the first Saturday was a wash-out, the sun came out to play on Sunday, and we counted ourselves lucky to have such a pleasant day to visit one of the most famous tourist destinations in America; Alcatraz.
It certainly is a tourist trap, but the constricted numbers (book ahead in the summer, folks) and unbelievable location make it a must-see attraction. The audio tour – usual a gimmick – adds tremendous depth and atmosphere to the experience … very much recommended, and even better followed-up with hot clam chowder.
STOP 
Mum, in the spotlight 
Beautiful decay on the old buildings; it's just a shame so many of them were being left to rot. Sea air, concrete, and steel are not a good mix. 
Jail birds 
The audio tour exceeded my expectations … I am looking forward to going back to do the tour at night next time I have visitors. 
What must it have been like, to look out and see this? Apparently, if the wind was right, you could hear the sounds of party revellers in San Francisco wafted across on the breeze. 
Thoughtful moments 
The sun was pouring in through the windows; I am glad we went on Sunday, instead of the rather wetter and colder Saturday. 
Atmospherics 
Looking across at my adopted home 
Zebra doors 
There are swimming races each year, but the of legends inmates not being able to swim across alive stand. 
Original signage, combined with the 1969 Indian protester signs, during the Nixon era. 
Bird on the breeze 
I wonder as well how long the piers are going to last – the concrete pillars not looking too strong at the moment. 
Shutters, and back on dry land we are. -
UK Return
Sadly, last month we received that Granny, Catherine John, had passed away. A central figure in our family, her influence permeates through her children, her grand children and now their own families. Her creativity, humour, voracious appetite for news and love for her family, will be greatly missed.
In contrast to previous trips back home, visiting friends, spending time with family or attending weddings, this was a more sombre affair. Still, it was a fabulous opportunity to meet with family members that I have not seen in years, and marvel at the rate of growth of the youngsters, many now with their own dreams and aspirations.
One week is not a huge amount of time, but it was enough to complete a solid round of decompression and tea drinking in Cambridge, run up to the Derbyshire hills to get some hiking in, and across to Wales for the service.
Cambridge
I wanted to spend as much time as possible with the folks, Ele and Dave, and of course Benjamin as possible. So, predictably perhaps, most of my photos feature the star of the show!
Benjamin is king of the world 
Obviously a candidate for a modelling competition 
He is still in the early stages of learning to talk, so his powerful pointing finger is key in his ability to communicate. I was deeply impressed with how much information he could convey through the sign language he as been taught, though. 
Taking Benjamin on the guided bus out to St. Ives for the first time. What fun! (the bus even had wifi!) 
Butter would not melt in his mouth … 
Clotted cream, on the other hand, very much would. 
Marvelling at the physics-defying helium balloon that we had found for him. 
He was emphatic in wanting me to sit down next to him. The step somewhat suited his leg length more than mine, however. 
A view of The Fens; windmill, cyclist, and a flat landscape. The guided bus really shifts though – 60mph along those concrete tracks 
Taking Benjamin out for the day at the park 
Working out how to use the slide feet first 
Slightly less sure about spinning around and around 
Even less sure about the height of the slide … but getting more confident every day! 
On Skype back to Taiwan – do they have to try to be this cute? 
Benjamin gives me a snuggle for good measure. Wales
The ceremony was very moving, tied together with a thoughtful speech from my cousin Hannah, who managed to speak for all of us on the day.
Taking it all in – we all had our own stories 
… and evidence was everywhere that she was not too far away 
Despite the sad day, it was still fantastic to see family 
Messing around on the grass 
Family members catch up 
The local rugby club did a great job of hosting drinks after the event. 
Making a run for it! 
Picture updates of the next addition! 
Mums look proud Derbyshire
With construction on the house on-going, we managed to grab a couple of days up north, staying at The Cavendish Hotel in Baslow. Retracing some of my early mountain biking steps, we hiked along the ridges overlooking the valleys, and spent the next day sauntering over to Chatsworth before being stunned by an impromptu Red Arrows display while packing the car up. Derbyshire always delivers the goods.
Our hotel in Derbyshire, near Chatsworth was great, although it was all we could do not to continually quote Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan's 'The Trip' 
DEAD SLOW. HOOT 
Exit sign 
A walk through the hills I think was what we needed 
Views across the peaks were not spectacular, but a good reward for the climb (and even better preparation for a pint at the pub). 
Bouquet 
As we were just getting back to the house, we were amazed to see The Red Arrows fly by overhead. We were treated to a fifteen-minute display – their first day since they sadly lost a pilot – for the crowds down at the country fair at Chatsworth house. Granny would have loved it. -
Mountain Biking in the Snow
Yes, it’s that time of the year that you get the obligatory ‘going mountain biking then head to the pub’ post. But we know you love it, Michael!
Dad and I headed over to Thetford Forest, which is usually a quick blast and great for blowing out the cobwebs after eating and drinking too much during the festive period. However, this time, the melt water from the snow and ice settling nicely in the sand, and not an awful lot of human activity, meant the ground was muddy and waterlogged like I have never seen before. Two hours of hard slog for me … not sure how my Dad was feeling at the end of it!
This is how mountain bikes used to look.
Some people better prepared than us.
Naturally, Dad had a puncture in the middle of the most severe mud. Here he is trying to find the hole. Using CO2 in these conditions is always a risk, and again we ended up pulling the valve out of the tube as it froze. Great. At least we didn’t need to urinate on our own hand to release it (like one story I have heard!).
Truly waterlogged
Grinding paste.
Playing with another camera app; 360 Panorama
And an image taken with my ‘app du jour’, Instagram. Mud, mud as far as the eye can see!
