#18 - Labor Day camping

Way back in September we went proper tent camping on our first Labor Day weekend.  The weekend was organised by Stroller Hikes (more about them soon), and there were about 15 families all camping on a private ranch.  Debbie from Strollerhikes and Liza (whose ranch it was) had organised the weekend awesomely - most of the meals were communal, and the campfire never went out.

We camped on a farm with loads of cool old equipment lying around...

... and acres of untouched forest

The funny thing was, I hadn't wanted to seem like a complete alcoholic in front of all these wholesome organic moms with their healthy outdoor lifestyles, so I had packed one modest bottle of wine for the weekend.  But by 2pm on the first afternoon, all the mums and kids were playing in the creek, and all the dads had set up a table playing poker, talking about guns, doing shots of whiskey with one hand and holding bottles of beer in the other.  I dispatched Alex to the store to get some beers and we rolled up our sleeves and joined in.

The real highlight for Ruth (and all the other kids) was the creek.  She played "big one tiny one" with the stones all afternoon.


She adapted to life outside really quickly, she slept really well and enjoyed playing with the other kids and the doggies.  We really enjoyed the late nights round the campfire, making s'mores and watching the stars over a beer.

More photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/gawley/109CampingWeekend?authkey=Gv1sRgCPfEoYq0y7Odeg#

Pippa Gawley: Private Pilot

Pippa recently passed here Private Pilot's License out here in the US. That's right, she's now a fully paid up Top Gun. Ruth and I are very proud of her.

As you can imagine this opens up a world of possibilities for us to travel further afield while we are here and we're all very excited about that. I'm also particularly excited about never being the 'designated driver' :-)

Since she passed, Pippa has taken me, my Mum and most recently both me and Ruth out on short trips. Of course, Mum had the best weather and so got a full on Bay Tour with views of the city, the bridge and Alcatraz. Ruth and I had to settle for the short hop over to Livermore for a burger at the highly auspicious bar of the local golf club, but nonetheless it was awesome. I am happy to report also that Ruth loved it and even kept her headphones on for most of the flight!

Anyway, here are a couple of videos from the flights (beware, the only sound you will hear is engine noise and your computers speakers just weren't made for that - go on mute!)

The first video is from my flight with Pippa and shows the massive wind farm at Altamont Pass. It's on an incredible scale (the largest in the world?) and you gets a good perspective on that from the air.



The second records Ruth's first flight. Pretty cool huh.

#17 Choo choo train

Last weekend we went to the Roaring Camp railroad, for the dual benefit of our visiting friend Elliot, and also Ruth, who are both are obsessed with choo choo trains.  They have an impressive hundred-year old steam engine which takes people up on a trip up through some beautiful redwood trees.

Ruth was a bit scared on the way up the mountain, because there was a lot of noise and steam.  But she soon recovered to sing her favourite train song all the way down.  We had a really nice picnic afterwards, with Ruth continuing to shout "choo choo train!" urgently whenever a train went past.  And this was pretty often as the organisers had struck upon the brilliant idea of not just regular trips up the mountain, but also a steam train shuttle to the car park to keep kids happy.  The icing on the cake was the fact that Thomas the Tank Engine - yes, the Thomas - was visiting this week.  Ruth doesn't know who he is, but hey, another choo choo train has to be good news, right?

(more photos here http://picasaweb.google.com/gawley/108ChooChooTrain#.  All photos taken by Elliot - thank you!)

#16 - Flying

I started learning to fly in January.  It's something I've always wanted to do, and to do it out in California felt like a good idea - it's a lot cheaper than the UK, and the countryside around here is spectacular.  There is a little airport at the end of our road, and there are lots of similar little airports close by - probably about 30 within a 90-minute flight.  This adds up to lots of potential for fun weekend trips.

I have been learning in a Cessna 152, a tiny two-seater single-engine propeller plane which I find more comfortable than my 6'4" instructor.  I've found the experience incredible - I love the feeling of flight, and seeing the ground from the air.  I finally went solo and passed my written test in June, and I am hoping to take the practical exam to get my licence in the next month.

Here are some photos from my first solo flight:

Until I get my licence, I can't take up passengers.  But I can if my instructor is also in the plane.  In May, I took Dad up for a tourist flight around the Bay, and last weekend I was lucky enough to repeat this with our friends Elliot and Julie (of toilet roll video fame).  They took some great photos of San Francisco and the Bay:

The financial district and the Bay Bridge

The salt flats on the east side of the Bay

The mudflats and estuaries near the airport (and our shadow)

I'll keep you posted on progress!

(More photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/gawley/108Flying#)

67th birthday party

Yesterday we had a belated joint birthday party where we celebrated being 67 with some of our friends that we have met out here. We wanted to share it with you.
http://picasaweb.google.com/gawley/10767thBirthdayParty?authkey=Gv1sRgCL3R8aL-2qa74QE#

I spent the morning preparing food - cupcakes, salads, marinades. Alex took Ruth to the Discovery Museum where they really enjoyed the water area.

The party started at 4pm, we had about 25 people and 10 kids enjoying themselves in the sunshine.

The kids liked the paddling pool.

The food went down well, especially the tri tip steak (from Costco! We are so American now...). Alex's friend Jerry needed to choose some wine for a family party, so he organised a blind wine tasting.

Most people with kids left by about 7.30pm, but luckily a few couples were able to stay around for a more relaxed after-party. We sat out in the garden finishing off the wine tasting until late.

The morning-after clear-up was livened up by Ruth who managed to make my hang-over more bearable with her new "Dingle Dangle Scarecrow" obsession:

6 month-a-versary

We recently celebrated our 6 month-aversary of when we moved out here, which prompted me to think about the things that we like about life in California compared to the UK. Please join the debate....

Things California has got right

The weather - although this has been the coldest and wettest winter practically on record, the weather is still so much better out here. It's rare to get a day without sunshine, and California does sunshine so well. Massive blue sky and bright bright sun. My tomatoes are shaping up to be some kind of record size, and for the first time in my life I have managed to keep a basil plant alive for more than a month.

Friendliness - everyone here is very positive and friendly. You go into a shop, they ask you how you are and they smile and they mean it. They seem to actually take pride in being nice. When I go out with Ruth, I am routinely stopped by people wanting to tell me how beautiful she is, and than chat for half an hour about babies. I actually haven't met anyone grumpy and negative at all (apart from Alex). Initially this can seem a bit fake, but you soon realise that people are genuinely cheerful a lot of the time. And that is nice.

Pride - people seem very proud of being American, and of themselves. It is normal and expected to celebrate success in a most un-British way. It is normal to see bumper stickers telling you that the occupant is an honor student at their school, or to have a building/facility/trail named after a local benefactor.

Community involvement - I have been struck by the levels to which normal people are involved in the community here. There seem to be so many volunteer opportunities and so many chances to get involved with the running of things, and everywhere we go we seem to be invited to contribute, much more so than the UK. This ranges from volunteering to lead tours at museums, to rangering at the kiddy farm, to parent-run schools. It is also much more common to go to church and to be involved with it. People also wear their allegiances on their sleeve more openly - we see lots of political banners outside houses supporting a particular candidate or suggesting that you vote a particular way on a referendum, and we have been invited to a coffee morning to support a candidate for assembly - I can't imagine anyone we know bothering to do this in the UK.

Playgrounds - there are 28 parks in Palo Alto, and they all have absolutely lovely playgrounds. Ruth asked me to put this one in.

Things the UK has got right

Pubs - we really miss pubs. There is no equivalent in the US. And weird commercial zoning laws mean that all shops & cafes are in particular groups, and you don't get corner shops or pubs sprinkled through residential areas like you do in the UK. Our walks seem oddly goalless now.

Roundabouts - I can handle the four-way stop signs, they even seem quite sensible after a while, but trying to get onto the motorway via a short slip road that has cars both accelerating to get on, and decelerating to get off, while all frantically trying to change lane to avoid being pushed off at the next junction - just crazy.

Electricity - 110V is wimpy. It takes a good 10 minutes to boil a kettle. By the time the toaster pops, Ruth has had a hunger melt-down. Safety shmafety - give me 240V anyday.

TV - thank goodness we can get the BBC over the internet. I always thought it was good, but American TV brings a whole new meaning to the appreciation I have for the Ten O'clock news. And there are so many adverts! You can flick through 50 channels and well over half will be showing ads at any given point.

Supermarkets - yes, Wholefoods is nice, but I would swap it anyday for a nice big Tesco down the road. Overall, groceries are more expensive than the UK, and there is no one place you can go to to get reasonable quality for reasonable price on the whole range of things you might want to buy. In any given week, I go to four different supermarkets to get different groups of things. And only Safeways does internet delivery.

#15 - California Avenue Farmer's Market

 
 
 
Not technically our first visit to the Farmer's market, but the first time I have remembered to take any photos.

This is the California Ave Farmer's market. So yes, it is on our road, but it is about a mile away. To get there we walk from the grotty end of California (where we live) through the posh bit to the commercial end, where there are lots of nice cafes and organic-y shops. Today we cycled, hence the photo of Ruth looking grumpy in her chariot.

The market is every Sunday from 9am to 1pm. There are lots of lovely happy vegetables and food stands, and good live music. Ruth had a felafel for lunch, then she cheered up a lot and danced to the music.

I saw a homeless man with a sign begging for - I kid you not - organic vegetables. Palo Alto - a more discerning class of homeless person.