This picture is nearly a month old, and Kim is quite a bit bigger now.  We’ve had several nice showers thrown by generous friends, spent a lot of time getting things ready, and I’m starting to feel ready.  We’ve taken the classes.  We’ve read the books.  I know, full and well, that there is no way to be prepared fully for the life altering things that are about to happen, but I’m confident we’ll do well.  I can’t wait to meet my daughter.  10 days to the due date.  Wow.

A few weeks ago, Geno had the idea to run Mill Creek, near Fresno. When I was trying to find information about it, I kept seeing write-ups about a Mill Creek in N. California, and it looked good. I put it in the brain as “Paddle someday” run. Went and did Mill Creek near Fresno. there were some really fun rapids on that one, but not many and miles and miles of mank to deal with. I didn’t care for it much, though others in the group were more enthusiastic. …

Last weekend I did the L’etape de California.

From the website:
“L’Étape du California provides serious recreational cyclists the opportunity to ride a complete stage of the Amgen Tour of California – and the most challenging stage of the 2011 race at that. Riders will cover the same route as the professionals on Stage 7 of the Amgen Tour of California, from the City of Claremont to the Mt Baldy Ski Area. The route is breathtaking in its beauty and difficulty, covering some of the most …

The North Fork of the Kaweah is an absolute gem of California paddling. This was my first trip down, and I love, love, loved it. 6.5 miles of classic class IV-V whitewater. We took our time, only Geno had done the run before, so we looked at a lot of rapids. There are a lot of rapids. We did a fair bit of read and run too.
Bill Pooley has rapid by rapid description of the run on his site,
http://c2.com/kaweah/log_n​orthfork.html
but take my word for it, it’s just awesome. Absolutely a favorite …

Mill Creek is an infrequently run creek that feeds into the King’s River. We didn’t have much information about the run, only the barest of descriptions from American Whitewater. It said there were some junky miles, some good bedrock drops, and a few significant rapids. I searched, and couldn’t find a single photo of a rapid online, a rarity in often photoed California paddling.
We got to the put-in, did a hasty put in due to testy locals, and paddling a …

Many years ago, I used to be quite an avid runner. I ran regularly with a wild group of fun folks, the Hash House Harriers. Through that group, I ended up meeting Michelle, and we ran quite some number of marathons together. All on dirt, mostly tough courses. I ran a couple without her, and then Kim and I ran a couple. Then I stopped. I did some running in training for some triathlons, but …

My father, Malcolm, and step-mom Deborah invited Kim and I out to Utah for a long weekend. Unfortunately, Deborah wasn’t able to make the trip, she was missed, but we had a good time anyway.
We spent a fair bit of time wandering Salt Lake city, checking out the capital, downtown, and the temple. We sampled some good food, and enjoyed catching up. We also had a great day snowshoeing in the gorgeous mountains just outside the city. Good times!

Kim and I planned and led a beginner friendly climbing trip to Joshua Tree in Feb. We drove out through rain, but the weather was pretty nice at the park. Cold, but nice.
We had fun climbing, ate well, and enjoyed everyone’s company. Aside from some tents trying to join the space program, the weekend went off without a hitch. It felt good to be back on the rock.
Many of the photos were from mitzi.  Thanks.

I had a work trip to the Seattle area, and tacked on one day of paddling with my friends Arn and David , and a few days to explore with Kim. It was a very quick trip.   Gorgeous cities, some delicious food, and a chance to hang out with my Aunt Helen, Uncle Keith and Cousin Claire in Vancouver.  Way too short, but a really nice weekend.  Good times.

Kim’s Uncle Hoa was in town in January, and we decided to take him kayaking. Kim’s mom joined us, along with Kim’s brother Ton and sister in law Cecilia. Kim’s mom was a little nervous, so we put her in the tandem with me, and rented a single for Kim, while her uncle paddled my single sea kayak.
It was a gorgeous day, warm and sunny for January. We stuck to the Newport Harbor, but had a very nice paddle.